Caesar,
Gaius Julius (100-44 BC), Roman general
and statesman, who laid the foundations of the Roman imperial
system.
Caesar
(died 44 B.C.E.)
By Plutarch
Written 75 A.C.E.
Translated by John Dryden
After Sylla became master of
Rome, he wished to make Caesar put away his wife
Cornelia, daughter of Cinna, the late sole ruler of the commonwealth, but
was unable to effect it either by promises or intimidation, and so contented
himself with confiscating her dowry. The ground of Sylla's hostility to
Caesar was the relationship between him and Marius; for Marius, the elder,
married Julia, the sister of Caesar's father, and had by her the younger
Marius, who consequently was Caesar's first cousin. And though at
the beginning, while so many were to be put to death, and there was so
much to do, Caesar was overlooked by Sylla, yet he would not keep
quiet, but presented himself to the people as a
candidate for the priesthood, though he was yet a
mere boy. Sylla, without any open opposition, took measures
to have him rejected, and in consultation whether he should be put
to death, when it was urged by some that it was not worth his while to
contrive the death of a boy, he answered, that they knew little who did
not see more than one Marius in that boy. Caesar, on being informed of
this saying, concealed himself, and for a considerable time kept out of
the way in the country of the Sabines, often changing his quarters, till
one night, as he was removing from one house to another on account of
his health, he fell into the hands of Sylla's soldiers, who were
searching those parts in order to apprehend any who
had absconded. Caesar, by a bribe of two talents,
prevailed with Cornelius, their captain, to let him go, and
was no sooner dismissed but he put to sea and made for Bithynia. After
a short stay there with Nicomedes, the king, in his
passage back he was taken near the island of
Pharmacusa by some of the pirates, who, at that time,
with large fleets of ships and innumerable smaller vessels, infested the
seas everywhere.
When these men at first demanded of him twenty talents for his ransom,
he laughed at them for not understanding the value of their prisoner, and
voluntarily engaged to give them fifty. He presently despatched those about
him to several places to raise the money, till at last he was left among
a set of the most bloodthirsty people in the world, the Cilicians, only
with one friend and two attendants. Yet he made so little of them, that
when he had a mind to sleep, he would send to them, and order them to
make no noise. For thirty-eight days, with all the freedom in the
world, he amused himself with joining in their
exercises and games, as if they had not been his
keepers, but his guards. He wrote verses and speeches, and
made them his auditors, and those who did not admire them, he called to
their faces illiterate and barbarous, and would often, in raillery, threaten
to hang them. They were greatly taken with this, and attributed his
free talking to a kind of simplicity and boyish playfulness. As soon as
his ransom was come from Miletus, he paid it, and was discharged, and proceeded
at once to man some ships at the port of Miletus, and went in pursuit
of the pirates, whom he surprised with their ships still stationed at
the island, and took most of them. Their money he made his prize, and the
men he secured in prison at Pergamus, and he made application to
Junius, who was then governor of Asia, to whose
office it belonged, as praetor, to determine their
punishment. Junius, having his eye upon the money, for the
sum was considerable, said he would think at his leisure what to do with
the prisoners, upon which Caesar took his leave of him, and went off to
Pergamus, where he ordered the pirates to be brought forth and
crucified; the punishment he had often threatened
them with whilst he was in their hands, and they
little dreamt he was in earnest.
In the meantime Sylla's power being now on the decline, Caesar's friends
advised him to return to Rome, but he went to Rhodes, and entered himself
in the school of Apollonius, Molon's son, a famous rhetorician, one
who had the reputation of a worthy man, and had Cicero for one of his scholars.
Caesar is said to have been admirably fitted by nature to make a
great statesman and orator, and to have taken such pains to improve
his genius this way that without dispute he might
challenge the second place. More he did not aim at,
as choosing to be first rather amongst men of arms and
power, and, therefore, never rose to that height of eloquence to which
nature would have carried him, his attention being
diverted to those expeditions and designs which at
length gained him the empire. And he himself, in his answer
to Cicero's panegyric on Cato, desires his reader not to compare the
plain discourse of a soldier with the harangues of an orator who had not
only fine parts, but had employed his life in this study.
When he was returned to Rome, he accused Dolabella of
mal-administration, and many cities of Greece came in
to attest it. Dolabella was acquitted, and Caesar, in
return for the support he had received from the Greeks, assisted
them in their prosecution of Publius Antonius for corrupt practices, before
Marcus Lucullus, praetor of Macedonia. In this course he so far succeeded,
that Antonius was forced to appeal to the tribunes at Rome, alleging
that in Greece he could not have fair play against Grecians. In his
pleadings at Rome, his eloquence soon obtained him great credit and favour,
and he won no less upon the affections of the people by affability of
his manners and address, in which he showed a tact and consideration beyond
what could have been expected at his age; and the open house he kept,
the entertainments he gave, and the general splendour of his manner of
life contributed little by little to create and increase his political
influence. His enemies slighted the growth of it at
first, presuming it would soon fail when his money
was gone; whilst in the meantime it was growing up
and flourishing among the common people. When his power at last was
established and not to be overthrown, and now openly tended to the altering
of the whole constitution, they were aware too late that there is
no beginning so mean, which continued application will not make
considerable, and that despising a danger at first
will make it at last irresistible. Cicero was the
first who had any suspicions of his designs upon the government, and
as a good pilot is apprehensive of a storm when the sea is most
smiling, saw the designing temper of the man through
this disguise of good humour and affability, and
said that, in general, in all he did and undertook, he
detected the ambition for absolute power, "but when I see his
hair so carefully arranged, and observe him
adjusting it with one finger, I cannot imagine it
should enter into such a man's thoughts to subvert the Roman state."
But of this more hereafter.
The first proof he had of the people's good-will to him was when he
received by their suffrages a tribuneship in the army, and came out on
the list with a higher place than Caius Popilius. A second and clearer
instance of their favour appeared upon his making a
magnificent oration in praise of his aunt Julia,
wife to Marius, publicly in the forum, at whose
funeral he was so bold as to bring forth the images of Marius, which nobody
had dared to produce since the government came into Sylla's hands, Marius's
party having from that time been declared enemies of the state. When
some who were present had begun to raise a cry against Caesar, the people
answered with loud shouts and clapping in his favour, expressing their
joyful surprise and satisfaction at his having, as it were, brought up
again from the grave those honours of Marius, which for so long a time
had been lost to the city. It had always been the
custom at Rome to make funeral orations in praise of
elderly matrons, but there was no precedent of any
upon young women till Caesar first made one upon the death of his own
wife. This also procured him favour, and by this show of affection he
won upon the feelings of the people, who looked upon him as a man of great
tenderness and kindness of heart. After he had buried his wife, he went
as quaestor into Spain under one of the praetors, named Vetus, whom he
honoured ever after, and made his son his own quaestor, when he
himself came to be praetor. After this employment
was ended, he married Pompeia, his third wife,
having then a daughter by Cornelia, his first wife, whom he
afterwards married to Pompey the Great. He was so profuse in his
expenses that, before he had any public employment,
he was in debt thirteen hundred talents, and many
thought that by incurring such expense to be popular he
changed a solid good for what would prove but a short and uncertain return;
but in truth he was purchasing what was of the greatest value at an
inconsiderable rate. When he was made surveyor of the Appian Way, he disbursed,
besides the public money, a great sum out of his private purse; and
when he was aedile, he provided such a number of gladiators, that he entertained
the people with three hundred and twenty single combats, and by
his great liberality and magnificence in theatrical shows, in
processions, and public feastings, he threw into the
shade all the attempts that had been made before
him, and gained so much upon the people, that every one was
eager to find out new offices and new honours for him in return for his
munificence.
There being two factions in the city, one that of Sylla, which was
very powerful, the other that of Marius, which was then broken and in
a low condition, he undertook to revive this and to make it his own. And
to this end, whilst he was in the height of his repute with the people
for the magnificent shows he gave as aedile, he
ordered images of Marius and figures of Victory,
with trophies in their hands, to be carried privately in
the night and placed in the capitol. Next morning when some saw them bright
with gold and beautifully made, with inscriptions upon them, referring
them to Marius's exploits over the Cimbrians, they
were surprised at the boldness of him who had set
them up, nor was it difficult to guess who it was.
The fame of this soon spread and brought together a great concourse of
people. Some cried out that it was an open attempt against the
established government thus to revive those honours
which had been buried by the laws and decrees of the
senate; that Caesar had done it to sound the temper of
the people whom he had prepared before, and to try whether they were tame
enough to bear his humour, and would quietly give way to his
innovations. On the other hand, Marius's party took
courage, and it was incredible how numerous they
were suddenly seen to be, and what a multitude of them appeared and
came shouting into the capitol. Many, when they saw Marius's likeness,
cried for joy, and Caesar was highly extolled as the
one man, in the place of all others, who was a
relation worthy of Marius. Upon this the senate met,
and Catulus Lutatius, one of the most eminent Romans of that time, stood
up and inveighed against Caesar, closing his speech with the
remarkable saying that Caesar was now not working
mines, but planting batteries to overthrow the
state. But when Caesar had made an apology for himself, and satisfied
the senate, his admirers were very much animated, and advised him
not to depart from his own thoughts for any one, since with the
people's good favour he would ere long get the
better of them all, and be the first man in the
commonwealth.
At this time, Metellus, the high priest, died, and Catulus and Isauricus,
persons of the highest reputation, and who had great influence in
the senate, were competitors for the office, yet Caesar would not give
way to them, but presented himself to the people as
a candidate against them. The several parties
seeming very equal, Catulus, who, because he had the
most honour to lose, was the most apprehensive of the event, sent to
Caesar to buy him off, with offers of a great sum of money. But his answer
was, that he was ready to borrow a larger sum than that to carry on
the contest. Upon the day of election, as his mother conducted him out
of doors with tears after embracing her, "My
mother," he said, "to-day you will see me
either high priest or an exile." When the votes were taken, after
a great struggle, he carried it, and excited among the senate and nobility
great alarm lest he might now urge on the people to every kind of
insolence. And Piso and Catulus found fault with Cicero for having let
Caesar escape, when in the conspiracy of Catiline he
had given the government such advantage against him.
For Catiline, who had designed not only to change
the present state of affairs, but to subvert the whole empire and confound
all, had himself taken to flight, while the evidence was yet
incomplete against him, before his ultimate purposes
had been properly discovered. But he had left
Lentulus and Cethegus in the city to supply his place in the
conspiracy, and whether they received any secret encouragement and assistance
from Caesar is uncertain; all that is certain is, that they were
fully convicted in the senate, and when Cicero, the consul, asked the
several opinions of the senators, how they would have them punished, all
who spoke before Caesar sentenced them to death; but Caesar stood up and
made a set speech, in which he told them that he thought it without precedent
and not just to take away the lives of persons of their birth and
distinction before they were fairly tried, unless there was an
absolute necessity for it; but that if they were
kept confined in any towns of Italy Cicero himself
should choose till Catiline was defeated, then the senate might
in peace and at their leisure determine what was best to be done.
This sentence of his carried so much appearance of humanity, and he
gave it such advantage by the eloquence with which he urged it, that not
only those who spoke after him closed with it, but even they who had before
given a contrary opinion now came over to his, till it came about to
Catulus's and Cato's turn to speak. They warmly opposed it, and Cato intimated
in his speech the suspicion of Caesar himself, and pressed the matter
so strongly that the criminals were given up to suffer execution. As
Caesar was going out of the senate, many of the young men who at that time
acted as guards to Cicero ran in with their naked swords to assault him.
But Curio, it is said, threw his gown over him, and conveyed him away,
and Cicero himself, when the young men looked up to
see his wishes, gave a sign not to kill him, either
for fear of the people or because he thought the
murder unjust and illegal. If this be true, I wonder how Cicero came to
omit all mention of it in his book about his consulship. He was
blamed, however, afterwards, for not having made use
of so fortunate an opportunity against Caesar, as if
he had let it escape him out of fear of the populace, who,
indeed, showed remarkable solicitude about Caesar, and some time
after, when he went into the senate to clear himself
of the suspicions he lay under, and found great
clamours raised against him, upon the senate in consequence
sitting longer than ordinary, they went up to the house in a
tumult, and beset it, demanding Caesar, and requiring them to dismiss him.
Upon this, Cato, much fearing some movement among the poor citizens, who
were always the first to kindle the flame among the people, and placed
all their hopes in Caesar, persuaded the senate to
give them a monthly allowance of corn, an expedient
which put the commonwealth to the extraordinary charge
of seven million five hundred thousand drachmas in the year, but quite
succeeded in removing the great cause of terror for the present, and
very much weakened Caesar's power, who at that time was just going to
be made praetor, and consequently would have been more formidable by his
office.
But there was no disturbance during his praetorship, only what misfortune
he met with in his own domestic affairs. Publius Clodius was a
patrician by descent, eminent both for his riches and eloquence, but in
licentiousness of life and audacity exceeded the most noted
profligates of the day. He was in love with Pompeia,
Caesar's wife, and she had no aversion to him. But
there was strict watch kept on her apartment, and Caesar's
mother, Aurelia, who was a discreet woman, being continually about her,
made any interview very dangerous and difficult. The Romans have a goddess
whom they call Bona, the same whom the Greeks call Gynaecea. The Phrygians,
who claim a peculiar title to her, say she was mother to Midas. The
Romans profess she was one of the Dryads, and married to Faunus. The Grecians
affirm that she is that mother of Bacchus whose name is not to be
uttered, and, for this reason, the women who celebrate her festival cover
the tents with vine-branches, and, in accordance with the fable, a
consecrated serpent is placed by the goddess. It is not lawful for a man
to be by, nor so much as in the house, whilst the rites are
celebrated, but the women by themselves perform the
sacred offices, which are said to be much the same
with those used in the solemnities of Orpheus. When the
festival comes, the husband, who is either consul or praetor, and with
him every male creature, quits the house. The wife
then taking it under her care sets it in order, and
the principal ceremonies are performed during the
night, the women playing together amongst themselves as they keep
watch, and music of various kinds going on.
As Pompeia was at that time celebrating this feast, Clodius, who as
yet had no beard, and so thought to pass undiscovered, took upon him the
dress and ornaments of a singing woman, and so came thither, having the
air of a young girl. Finding the doors open, he was without any stop introduced
by the maid, who was in the intrigue. She presently ran to tell Pompeia,
but as she was away a long time, he grew uneasy in waiting for her,
and left his post and traversed the house from one room to another, still
taking care to avoid the lights, till at last Aurelia's woman met him,
and invited him to play with her, as the women did among themselves. He
refused to comply, and she presently pulled him forward, and asked him
who he was and whence he Clodius told her he was
waiting for Pompeia's own maid, Abra, being in fact
her own name also, and as he said so, betrayed himself
by his voice. Upon which the woman shrieking, ran into the company where
there were lights, and cried out she had discovered a man. The women were
all in a fright. Aurelia covered up the sacred things and stopped the
proceedings, and having ordered the doors to be shut, went about with lights
to find Clodius, who was got into the maid's room that he had come in
with, and was seized there. The women knew him, and drove him out of doors,
and at once, that same night, went home and told their husbands the
story. In the morning, it was all about the town, what an impious
attempt Clodius had made, and how he ought to be
punished as an offender, not only against those whom
he had offended, but also against the public and the gods.
Upon which one of the tribunes impeached him for profaning the holy rites,
and some of the principal senators combined together and gave evidence
against him, that besides many other horrible
crimes, he had been guilty of incest with his own
sister, who was married to Lucullus. But the people set
themselves against this combination of the nobility, and defended
Clodius, which was of great service to him with the
judges, who took alarm and were afraid to provoke
the multitude. Caesar at once dismissed Pompeia, but being
summoned as a witness against Clodius, said he had nothing to charge him
with. This looking like a paradox, the accuser asked him why he parted
with his wife. Caesar replied, "I wished my
wife to be not so much as suspected." Some say
that Caesar spoke this as his real thought, others, that he did it
to gratify the people, who were very earnest to save Clodius. Clodius,
at any rate, escaped; most of the judges giving
their opinions so written as to be illegible that
they might not be in danger from the people by condemning
him, nor in disgrace with the nobility by acquitting him.
Caesar, in the meantime, being out of his praetorship, had got the
province of Spain, but was in great embarrassment with his creditors, who,
as he was going off, came upon him, and were very pressing and
importunate. This led him to apply himself to
Crassus, who was the richest man in Rome, but wanted
Caesar's youthful vigour and heat to sustain the opposition against
Pompey. Crassus took upon him to satisfy those creditors who were most
uneasy to him, and would not be put off any longer, and engaged
himself to the amount of eight hundred and thirty
talents, upon which Caesar was now at liberty to go
to his province. In his journey, as he was crossing the
Alps, and passing by a small village of the barbarians with but few inhabitants,
and those wretchedly poor, his companions asked the question among
themselves by way of mockery, if there were any canvassing for offices
there; any contention which should be uppermost, or
feuds of great men one against another. To which
Caesar made answer seriously, "For my part, I
had rather be the first man among these fellows than the second man in
Rome." It is said that another time, when free
from business in Spain, after reading some part of
the history of Alexander, he sat a great while very
thoughtful, and at last burst out into tears. His friends were
surprised, and asked him the reason of it. "Do
you think," said he, "I have not just cause
to weep, when I consider that Alexander at my age had conquered so many
nations, and I have all this time done nothing that is
memorable." As soon as he came into Spain he
was very active, and in a few days had got together
ten new cohorts of foot in addition to the twenty which were there
before. With these he marched against the Calaici and Lusitani and conquered
them, and advancing as far as the ocean, subdued the tribes which never
before had been subject to the Romans. Having managed his military affairs
with good success, he was equally happy, in the course of his civil government.
He took pains to establish a good understanding amongst the several
states, and no less care to heal the differences between debtors and
creditors. He ordered that the creditor should receive two parts of the
debtor's yearly income, and that the other part should be managed by the
debtor himself, till by this method the whole debt was at last
discharged. This conduct made him leave his province
with a fair reputation; being rich himself, and
having enriched his soldiers, and having received from them
the honourable name of Imperator.
There is a law among the Romans, that whoever desires the honour of
a triumph must stay without the city and expect his answer. And
another, that those who stand for the consulship
shall appear personally upon the place. Caesar was
come home at the very time of choosing consuls, and being in
a difficulty between these two opposite laws, sent to the senate to desire
that, since he was obliged to be absent, he might sue for the
consulship by his friends. Cato, being backed by the
law, at first opposed his request; afterwards
perceiving that Caesar had prevailed with a great part of the senate
to comply with it, he made it his business to gain time, and went on
wasting the whole day in speaking. Upon which Caesar thought fit to let
the triumph fall, and pursued the consulship. Entering the town and coming
forward immediately, he had recourse to a piece of state policy by
which everybody was deceived but Cato. This was the reconciling of
Crassus and Pompey, the two men who then were most
powerful in Rome. There had been a quarrel between
them, which he now succeeded in making up, and by this
means strengthened himself by the united power of both, and so under the
cover of an action which carried all the appearance of a piece of
kindness and good-nature, caused what was in effect
a revolution in the government. For it was not the
quarrel between Pompey and Caesar, as most men imagine, which
was the origin of the civil wars, but their union, their conspiring together
at first to subvert the aristocracy, and so quarrelling afterwards between
themselves. Cato, who often foretold what the consequence of this alliance
would be, had then the character of a sullen, interfering man, but
in the end the reputation of a wise but unsuccessful counsellor.
Thus Caesar, being doubly supported by the interests of Crassus and
Pompey, was promoted to the consulship, and triumphantly proclaimed with
Calpurnius Bibulus. When he entered on his office he brought in bills which
would have been preferred with better grace by the most audacious of
the tribunes than by a consul, in which he proposed the plantation of colonies
and the division of lands, simply to please the commonalty. The best
and most honourable of the senators opposed it, upon which, as he had
long wished for nothing more than for such a colourable pretext, he loudly
protested how much it was against his will to be driven to seek support
from the people, and how the senate's insulting and harsh conduct left
no other course possible for him than to devote himself henceforth to
the popular cause and interest. And so he hurried out of the senate, and
presenting himself to the people, and there placing Crassus and
Pompey, one on each side of him, he asked them
whether they consented to the bills he had proposed.
They owned their assent, upon which he desired them to assist
him against those who had threatened to oppose him with their swords. They
engaged they would, and Pompey added further, that he would meet their
swords with a sword and buckler too. These words the
nobles much resented, as neither suitable to his own
dignity, nor becoming the reverence due to the
senate, but resembling rather the vehemence of a boy or the fury of
a madman. But the people were pleased with it. In order to get a yet firmer
hold upon Pompey, Caesar having a daughter, Julia, who had been before
contracted to Servilius Caepio, now betrothed her to Pompey, and told
Servilius he should have Pompey's daughter, who was not unengaged either,
but promised to Sylla's son, Faustus. A little time after, Caesar married
Calpurnia, the daughter of Piso, and got Piso made consul for the year
following. Cato exclaimed loudly against this, and protested, with a
great deal of warmth, that it was intolerable the government should be
prostituted by marriages, and that they should
advance one another to the commands of armies,
provinces, and other great posts, by means of women. Bibulus,
Caesar's colleague, finding it was to no purpose to oppose his bills,
but that he was in danger of being murdered in the forum, as also was
Cato, confined himself to his house, and there let the remaining part of
his consulship expire. Pompey, when he was married, at once filled the
forum with soldiers, and gave the people his help in
passing the new laws, and secured Caesar the
government of all Gaul, both on this and the other side
of the Alps, together with Illyricum, and the command of four legions for
five years. Cato made some attempts against these proceedings, but was
seized and led off on the way to prison by Caesar, who expected that he
would appeal to the tribunes. But when he saw that Cato went along
without speaking a word, and not only the nobility
were indignant, but the people also, out of respect
for Cato's virtue, were following in silence, and with
dejected looks, he himself privately desired one of the tribunes to rescue
Cato. As for the other senators, some few of them attended the house, the
rest, being disgusted, absented themselves. Hence Considius, a very old
man, took occasion one day to tell Caesar that the senators did not meet
because they were afraid of his soldiers. Caesar asked, "Why
don't you, then, out of the same fear, keep at
home?" To which Considius replied, that age was
his guard against fear, and that the small remains of his life
were not worth much caution. But the most disgraceful thing that was done
in Caesar's consulship was his assisting to gain the tribuneship for the
same Clodius who had made the attempt on his wife's chastity and
intruded upon the secret vigils. He was elected on
purpose to effect Cicero's downfall; nor did Caesar
leave the city to join his army till they two had overpowered Cicero
and driven him out of Italy.
Thus far have we followed Caesar's actions before the wars of Gaul. After
this, he seems to begin his course afresh, and to enter upon a new life
and scene of action. And the period of those wars which he now fought,
and those many expeditions in which he subdued Gaul,
showed him to be a soldier and general not in the
least inferior to any of the greatest and most
admired commanders who had ever appeared at the head of armies. For if
we compare him with the Fabii, the Metelli, the Scipios, and with
those who were his contemporaries, or not long
before him, Sylla, Marius, the Luculli, or even
Pompey himself, whose glory, it may be said, went up at that
time to heaven for every excellence in war, we shall find Caesar's actions
to have surpassed them all. One he may be held to have outdone in
consideration of the difficulty of the country in which he fought,
another in the extent of territory which he
conquered; some, in the number and strength of the
enemy whom he defeated; one man, because of the wildness and
perfidiousness of the tribes whose good-will he conciliated, another in
his humanity and clemency to those he overpowered; others, again, in his
gifts and kindnesses to his soldiers; all alike in the number of the battles
which he fought and the enemies whom he killed. For he had not pursued
the wars in Gaul full ten years when he had taken by storm above eight
hundred towns, subdued three hundred states, and of the three millions
of men, who made up the gross sum of those with whom
at several times he engaged, he had killed one
million and taken captive a second.
He was so much master of the good-will and hearty service of his soldiers
that those who in other expeditions were but ordinary men displayed a
courage past defeating or withstanding when they went upon any danger where
Caesar's glory was concerned. Such a one was Acilius, who, in the sea-fight
before Marseilles, had his right hand struck off with a sword, yet
did not quit his buckler out of his left, but struck the enemies in the
face with it, till he drove them off and made himself master of the vessel.
Such another was Cassius Scaeva, who, in a battle near Dyrrhachium, had
one of his eyes shot out with an arrow, his shoulder pierced with one javelin,
and his thigh with another; and having received one hundred and thirty
darts upon his target, called to the enemy, as though he would
surrender himself. But when two of them came up to
him, he cut off the shoulder of one with a sword,
and by a blow over the face forced the other to retire, and
so with the assistance of his friends, who now came up, made his
escape. Again, in Britain, when some of the foremost
officers had accidentally got into a morass full of
water, and there were assaulted by the enemy, a
common soldier, whilst Caesar stood and looked on, threw himself in
the midst of them, and after many signal
demonstrations of his valour, rescued the officers
and beat off the barbarians. He himself, in the end, took to
the water, and with much difficulty, partly by swimming, partly by
wading, passed it, but in the passage lost his
shield. Caesar and his officers saw it and admired,
and went to meet him with joy and acclamation. But the
soldier, much dejected and in tears, threw himself down at Caesar's feet
and begged his pardon for having let go his buckler. Another time in
Africa, Scipio having taken a ship of Caesar's in which Granius Petro,
lately appointed quaestor, was sailing, gave the
other passengers as free prize to his soldiers, but
thought fit to offer the quaestor his life. But he
said it was not usual for Caesar's soldiers to take but give mercy, and
having said so, fell upon his sword and killed himself.
This love of honour and passion for distinction were inspired into them
and cherished in them by Caesar himself, who, by his unsparing
distribution of money and honours, showed them that
he did not heap up wealth from the wars for his own
luxury, or the gratifying his private pleasures, but that all
he received was but a public fund laid by the reward and encouragement
of valour, and that he looked upon all he gave to
deserving soldiers as so much increase to his own
riches. Added to this also, there was no danger to
which he did not willingly expose himself, no labour from which he
pleaded an exemption. His contempt of danger was not
so much wondered at by his soldiers because they
knew how much he coveted honour. But his enduring so
much hardship, which he did to all appearance beyond his natural
strength, very much astonished them. For he was a
spare man, had a soft and white skin, was
distempered in the head and subject to an epilepsy, which, it is
said, first seized him at Corduba. But he did not make the weakness of
his constitution a pretext for his ease, but rather used war as the best
physic against his indispositions; whilst, by indefatigable journeys, coarse
diet, frequent lodging in the field, and continual laborious exercise,
he struggled with his diseases and fortified his
body against all attacks. He slept generally in his
chariots or litters, employing even his rest in
pursuit of action. In the day he was thus carried to the forts,
garrisons, and camps, one servant sitting with him,
who used to write down what he dictated as he went,
and a soldier attending behind him with his sword drawn.
He drove so rapidly that when he first left Rome he arrived at the river
Rhone within eight days. He had been an expert rider from his
childhood; for it was usual with him to sit with his
hands joined together behind his back, and so to put
his horse to its full speed. And in this war he disciplined
himself so far as to be able to dictate letters from on horseback, and
to give directions to two who took notes at the same time or, as
Oppius says, to more. And it is thought that he was
the first who contrived means for communicating with
friends by cipher, when either press of business, or
the large extent of the city, left him no time for a personal
conference about matters that required despatch. How
little nice he was in his diet may be seen in the
following instance. When at the table of Valerius Leo, who
entertained him at supper at Milan, a dish of asparagus was put before
him on which his host instead of oil had poured
sweet ointment, Caesar partook of it without any
disgust, and reprimanded his friends for finding fault
with it. "For it was enough," said he, "not to eat what
you did not like; but he who reflects on another
man's want of breeding, shows he wants it as much
himself." Another time upon the road he was driven by a storm into
a poor man's cottage, where he found but one room, and that such as would
afford but a mean reception to a single person, and therefore told his
companions places of honour should be given up to the greater men, and
necessary accommodations to the weaker, and accordingly ordered that Oppius,
who was in bad health, should lodge within, whilst he and the rest slept
under a shed at the door.
His first war in Gaul was against the Helvetians and Tigurini, who
having burnt their own towns, twelve in number, and four hundred
villages, would have marched forward through that
part of Gaul which was included in the Roman
province, as the Cimbrians and Teutons formerly had done. Nor
were they inferior to these in courage; and in numbers they were
equal, being in all three hundred thousand, of which
one hundred and ninety thousand were fighting men.
Caesar did not engage the Tigurini in person, but Labienus, under
his directions, routed them near the rivet Arar. The Helvetians
surprised Caesar, and unexpectedly set upon him as
he was conducting his army to a confederate town. He
succeeded, however, in making his retreat into a strong
position, where, when he had mustered and marshalled his men, his horse
was brought to him; upon which he said, "When I have won the
battle, I will use my horse for the chase, but at
present let us go against the enemy," and
accordingly charged them on foot. After a long and severe combat, he
drove the main army out of the field, but found the hardest work at their
carriages and ramparts, where not only the men stood and fought, but
the women also and children defended themselves till they were cut to
pieces; insomuch that the fight was scarcely ended till midnight. This
action, glorious in itself, Caesar crowned with
another yet more noble, by gathering in a body all
the barbarians that had escaped out of the battle, above
one hundred thousand in number, and obliging them to re-occupy the country
which they had deserted and the cities which they had burnt. This he
did for fear the Germans should pass it and possess themselves of the land
whilst it lay uninhabited.
His second war was in defence of the Gauls against the Germans, though
some time before he had made Ariovistus, their king, recognized at
Rome as an ally. But they were very insufferable neighbours to those under
his government; and it was probable, when occasion offered, they would
renounce the present arrangements, and march on to occupy Gaul. But finding
his officers timorous, and especially those of the young nobility who
came along with him in hopes of turning their campaigns with him into a
means for their own pleasure or profit, he called them together, and advised
them to march off, and not run the hazard of a battle against their inclinations,
since they had such weak unmanly feelings; telling them that he
would take only the tenth legion and march against the barbarians,
whom he did not expect to find an enemy more
formidable than the Cimbri, nor, he added, should
they find him a general inferior to Marius. Upon this, the
tenth legion deputed some of their body to pay him their
acknowledgments and thanks, and the other legions
blamed their officers, and all, with great vigour
and zeal, followed him many days' journey, till they encamped within
two hundred furlongs of the enemy. Ariovistus's courage to some extent
was cooled upon their very approach; for never expecting the Romans would
attack the Germans, whom he had thought it more likely they would not
venture to withstand even in defence of their own subjects, he was the
more surprised at conduct, and saw his army to be in consternation. They
were still more discouraged by the prophecies of their holy women, who
foretell the future by observing the eddies of rivers, and taking
signs from the windings and noise of streams, and
who now warned them not to engage before the next
new moon appeared. Caesar having had intimation of
this, and seeing the Germans lie still, thought it expedient to attack
them whilst they were under these apprehensions,
rather than sit still and wait their time.
Accordingly he made his approaches to the strongholds and
hills on which they lay encamped, and so galled and fretted them that at
last they came down with great fury to engage. But he gained a signal victory,
and pursued them for four hundred furlongs, as far as the Rhine; all
which space was covered with spoils and bodies of the slain.
Ariovistus made shift to pass the Rhine with the
small remains of an army, for it is said the number
of the slain amounted to eighty thousand.
After this action, Caesar left his army at their winter quarters in
the country of the Sequani, and, in order to attend to affairs at
Rome, went into that part of Gaul which lies on the
Po, and was part of his province; for the river
Rubicon divides Gaul, which is on this side the Alps, from the
rest of Italy. There he sat down and employed himself in courting
people's favour; great numbers coming to him
continually, and always finding their requests
answered; for he never failed to dismiss all with present pledges of
his kindness in hand, and further hopes for the future. And during all
this time of the war in Gaul, Pompey never observed
how Caesar was on the one hand using the arms of
Rome to effect his conquests, and on the other was
gaining over and securing to himself the favour of the Romans with the
wealth which those conquests obtained him. But when he heard that the Belgae,
who were the most powerful of all the Gauls, and inhabited a third part
of the country, were revolted, and had got together a great many
thousand men in arms, he immediately set out and
took his way hither with great expedition, and
falling upon the enemy as they were ravaging the Gauls, his
allies, he soon defeated and put to flight the largest and least
scattered division of them. For though their numbers
were great, yet they made but a slender defence, and
the marshes and deep rivers were made passable to the
Roman foot by the vast quantity of dead bodies. Of those who revolted,
all the tribes that lived near the ocean came over
without fighting, and he, therefore, led his army
against the Nervii, the fiercest and most warlike people
of all in those parts. These live in a country covered with continuous
woods, and having lodged their children and property
out of the way in the depth of the forest, fell upon
Caesar with a body of sixty thousand men, before he
was prepared for them, while he was making his encampment. They
soon routed his cavalry, and having surrounded the twelfth and seventh
legions, killed all the officers, and had not Caesar
himself snatched up a buckler and forced his way
through his own men to come up to the barbarians, or
had not the tenth legion, when they saw him in danger, run in from the
tops of the hills, where they lay, and broken
through the enemy's ranks to rescue him, in all
probability not a Roman would have been saved. But now,
under the influence of Caesar's bold example, they fought a battle, as
the phrase is, of more than human courage, and yet with their utmost efforts
they were not able to drive the enemy out of the field, but cut them
down fighting in their defence. For out of sixty thousand men, it is
stated that not above five hundred survived the battle, and of four hundred
of their senators not above three.
When the Roman senate had received news of this, they voted sacrifices
and festivals to the gods, to be strictly observed
for the space of fifteen days, a longer space than
ever was observed for any victory before. The danger
to which they had been exposed by the joint outbreak of such a number of
nations was felt to have been great; and the people's fondness for
Caesar gave additional lustre to successes achieved
by him. He now, after settling everything in Gaul,
came back again, and spent the winter by the Po, in order
to carry on the designs he had in hand at Rome. All who were
candidates for offices used his assistance, and were
supplied with money from him to corrupt the people
and buy their votes, in return of which, when they were
chosen, they did all things to advance his power. But what was more considerable,
the most eminent and powerful men in Rome in great numbers came
to visit him at Lucca, Pompey, and Crassus, and Appius, the governor of
Sardinia, and Nepos, the pro-consul of Spain, so that there were in the
place at one time one hundred and twenty lictors and more than two hundred
senators. In deliberation here held, it was determined that Pompey and
Crassus should be consuls again for the following year; that Caesar should
have a fresh supply of money, and that his command should be renewed to
him for five years more. It seemed very extravagant to all thinking men
that those very persons who had received so much money from Caesar should
persuade the senate to grant him more, as if he were in want. Though in
truth it was not so much upon persuasion as compulsion that, with
sorrow and groans for their own acts, they passed
the measure. Cato was not present, for they had sent
him seasonably out of the way into Cyprus; but Favonius, who
was a zealous imitator of Cato, when he found he could do no good by opposing
it, broke out of the house, and loudly declaimed against these proceedings
to the people, but none gave him any hearing; some slighting him
out of respect to Crassus and Pompey, and the greater part to gratify Caesar,
on whom depended their hopes.
After this, Caesar returned again to his forces in Gaul, when he found
that country involved in a dangerous war, two strong nations of the Germans
having lately passed the Rhine to conquer it; one of them called the
Usipes. the other the Tenteritae. Of the war with the people, Caesar himself
has given this account in his commentaries, that the barbarians, having
sent ambassadors to treat with him, did, during the treaty, set upon
him in his march, by which means with eight hundred men they routed five
thousand of his horse, who did not suspect their coming; that
afterwards they sent other ambassadors to renew the
same fraudulent practices, whom he kept in custody,
and led on his army against the barbarians, as judging it
mere simplicity to keep faith with those who had so faithlessly broken
the terms they had agreed to. But Tanusius states
that when the senate decreed festivals and
sacrifices for this victory, Cato declared it to be
his opinion that Caesar ought to be given into the hands of the
barbarians, that so the guilt which this breach of
faith might otherwise bring upon the state might be
expiated by transferring the curse on him, who was the occasion
of it. Of those who passed the Rhine, there were four hundred thousand
cut off; those few who escaped were sheltered by the Sugambri, a
people of Germany. Caesar took hold of this pretence to invade the
Germans, being at the same time ambitious of the
honour of being the first man that should pass the
Rhine with an army. He carried a bridge across it, though it
was very wide, and the current at that particular point very full,
strong, and violent, bringing down with its waters
trunks of trees, and other lumber, which much shook
and weakened the foundations of his bridge. But he drove great
piles of wood into the bottom of the river above the passage, to catch
and stop these as they floated down, and thus fixing his bridle upon the
stream, successfully finished his bridge, which no one who saw could believe
to be the work but of ten days.
In the passage of his army over it he met with no opposition; the Suevi
themselves, who are the most warlike people of all Germany, flying with
their effects into the deepest and most densely wooded valleys. When he
had burnt all the enemy's country, and encouraged those who embraced the
Roman interest, he went back into Gaul, after eighteen days' stay in Germany.
But his expedition into Britain was the most famous testimony of
his courage. For he was the first who brought a navy into the western ocean,
or who sailed into the Atlantic with an army to make war; and by invading
an island, the reported extent of which had made its existence a
matter of controversy among historians, many of whom questioned
whether it were not a mere name and fiction, not a
real place, he might be said to have carried the
Roman empire beyond the limits of the known world. He
passed thither twice from that part of Gaul which lies over against it,
and in several battles which he fought did more hurt to the enemy than
service to himself, for the islanders were so
miserably poor that they had nothing worth being
plundered of. When he found himself unable to put such
an end to the war as he wished, he was content to take hostages from the
king, and to impose a tribute, and then quitted the island. At his arrival
in Gaul, he found letters which lay ready to be conveyed over the water
to him from his friends at Rome, announcing his daughter's death, who
died in labour of a child by Pompey. Caesar and Pompey both were much afflicted
with her death, nor were their friends less disturbed, believing that
the alliance was now broken which had hitherto kept the sickly
commonwealth in peace, for the child also died
within a few days after the mother. The people took
the body of Julia, in spite of the opposition of the tribunes, and
carried it into the field of Mars, and there her funeral rites were performed,
and her remains are laid.
Caesar's army was now grown very numerous, so that he was forced to
disperse them into various camps for their winter quarters, and he
having gone himself to Italy as he used to do, in
his absence a general outbreak throughout the whole
of Gaul commenced, and large armies marched about the
country, and attacked the Roman quarters, and attempted to make
themselves masters of the forts where they lay. The
greatest and strongest party of the rebels, under
the command of Abriorix, cut off Cotta and Titurius with all
their men, while a force sixty thousand strong besieged the legion under
the command of Cicero, and had almost taken it by storm, the Roman soldiers
being all wounded, and having quite spent themselves by a defence beyond
their natural strength. But Caesar, who was at a great distance, having
received the news, quickly got together seven thousand men, and hastened
to relieve Cicero. The besiegers were aware of it, and went to meet
him, with great confidence that they should easily overpower such a
handful of men. Caesar, to increase their presumption, seemed to avoid
fighting, and still marched off, till he found a
place conveniently situated for a few to engage
against many, where he encamped. He kept his soldiers from
making any attack upon the enemy, and commanded them to raise the ramparts
higher and barricade the gates, that by show of fear they might heighten
the enemy's contempt of them. Till at last they came without any order
in great security to make an assault, when he issued forth and put them
in flight with the loss of many men.
This quieted the greater part of the commotions in these parts of
Gaul, and Caesar, in the course of the winter, visited every part of the
country, and with great vigilance took precautions against all
innovations. For there were three legions now come
to him to supply the place of the men he had lost,
of which Pompey furnished him with two out of those under his
command; the other was newly raised in the part of Gaul by the Po. But
in a while the seeds of war, which had long since been secretly sown and
scattered by the most powerful men in those warlike nations, broke forth
into the greatest and most dangerous war that was in those parts, both
as regards the number of men in the vigour of their youth who were gathered
and armed from all quarters, the vast funds of money collected to
maintain it, the strength of the towns, and the difficulty of the
country where it carried on. It being winter, the
rivers were frozen, the woods covered with snow, and
the level country flooded, so that in some places the
ways were lost through the depth of the snow; in others, the
overflowing of marshes and streams made every kind
of passage uncertain. All which difficulties made it
seem impracticable for Caesar to make any attempt upon
the insurgents. Many tribes had revolted together, the chief of them being
the Arverni and Carnutini; the general who had the supreme command in
war was Vergentorix, whose father the Gauls had put to death on
suspicion of his aiming at absolute government.
He having disposed his army in several bodies, and set officers over
them, drew over to him all the country round about as far as those that
lie upon the Arar, and having intelligence of the opposition which Caesar
now experienced at Rome, thought to engage all Gaul in the war. Which
if he had done a little later, when Caesar was taken up with the civil
wars, Italy had been put into as great a terror as before it was by
the Cimbri. But Caesar, who above all men was gifted with the faculty of
making the right use of everything in war, and most especially of
seizing the right moment, as soon as he heard of the
revolt, returned immediately the same way he went,
and showed the barbarians, by the quickness of his march
in such a severe season, that an army was advancing against them which
was invincible. For in the time that one would have thought it scarce credible
that a courier or express should have come with a message from him,
he himself appeared with all his army, ravaging the country, reducing their
posts, subduing their towns, receiving into his protection those who
declared for him. Till at last the Edui, who hitherto had styled
themselves brethren to the Romans, and had been much
honoured by them, declared against him, and joined
the rebels, to the great discouragement of his army. Accordingly he
removed thence, and passed the country of the Ligones, desiring to
reach the territories of the Sequani, who were his
friends, and who lay like a bulwark in front of
Italy against the other tribes of Gaul. There the enemy
came upon him, and surrounded him with many myriads, whom he also was
eager to engage; and at last, after some time and with much slaughter,
gained on the whole a complete victory; though at
first he appears to have met with some reverse, and
the Aruveni show you a small sword hanging up in a
temple, which they say was taken from Caesar. Caesar saw this
afterwards himself, and smiled, and when his friends
advised it should be taken down, would not permit
it, because he looked upon it as consecrated.
After the defeat, a great part of those who had escaped fled with their
king into a town called Alesia, which Caesar besieged, though the height
of the walls, and number of those who defended them, made it appear impregnable;
and meantime, from without the walls, he was assailed by a greater
danger than can be expressed. For the choice men of Gaul, picked out
of each nation, and well armed, came to relieve Alesia, to the number of
three hundred thousand; nor were there in the town less than one
hundred and seventy thousand. So that Caesar being
shut up betwixt two such forces, was compelled to
protect himself by two walls, one towards the town, the other
against the relieving army, as knowing if these forces should join, his
affairs would be entirely ruined. The danger that he underwent before Alesia
justly gained him great honour on many accounts, and gave him an opportunity
of showing greater instances of his valour and conduct than any
other contest had done. One wonders much how he should be able to
engage and defeat so many thousands of men without
the town, and not be perceived by those within, but
yet more, that the Romans themselves, who guarded their
wall which was next to the town, should be strangers to it. For even they
knew nothing of the victory, till they heard the cries of the men and
lamentations of the women who were in the town, and had from thence seen
the Romans at a distance carrying into their camp a great quantity of
bucklers, adorned with gold and silver, many breastplates stained with
blood, besides cups and tents made in the Gallic
fashion. So soon did so vast an army dissolve and
vanish like a ghost or dream, the greatest part of
them being killed upon the spot. Those who were in Alesia, having
given themselves and Caesar much trouble,
surrendered at last; and Vergentorix, who was the
chief spring of all the war, putting his best armour on, and adorning
his horse, rode out of the gates, and made a turn about Caesar as
he was sitting, then quitting his horse, threw off his armour, and
remained quietly sitting at Caesar's feet until he
was led away to be reserved for the triumph.
Caesar had long ago resolved upon the overthrow of Pompey, as had Pompey,
for that matter, upon his. For Crassus, the fear of whom had hitherto kept
them in peace, having now been killed in Parthia, if the one of them wished
to make himself the greatest man in Rome, he had only to overthrow the
other; and if he again wished to prevent his own fall, he had nothing for
it but to be beforehand with him whom he feared. Pompey had not been long
under any such apprehensions, having till lately despised Caesar, as
thinking it no difficult matter to put down him whom he himself had advanced.
But Caesar had entertained this design from the beginning against his
rivals, and had retired, like an expert wrestler, to prepare himself apart
for the combat. Making the Gallic wars his exercise-ground, he had at
once improved the strength of his soldiery, and had heightened his own
glory by his great actions, so that he was looked on
as one who might challenge comparison with Pompey.
Nor did he let go any of those advantages which were
now given him both by Pompey himself and the times, and the
ill-government of Rome, where all who were
candidates for offices publicly gave money, and
without any shame bribed the people, who, having received their pay, did
not contend for their benefactors with their bare suffrages, but with bows,
swords, and slings. So that after having many times stained the place of
election with blood of men killed upon the spot, they left the city at
last without a government at all, to be carried about like a ship
without a pilot to steer her; while all who had any
wisdom could only be thankful if a course of such
wild and stormy disorder and madness might end no worse than
in a monarchy. Some were so bold as to declare openly that the
government was incurable but by a monarchy, and that
they ought to take that remedy from the hands of the
gentlest physician, meaning Pompey, who, though in words
he pretended to decline it, yet in reality made his utmost efforts to
be declared dictator. Cato, perceiving his design, prevailed with the senate
to make him sole consul, that with the offer of a more legal sort of
monarchy he might be withheld from demanding the dictatorship. They over
and above voted him the continuance of his provinces, for he had two, Spain
and all Africa, which he governed by his lieutenants, and maintained armies
under him, at the yearly charge of a thousand talents out of the public
treasury.
Upon this Caesar also sent and petitioned for the consulship and the
continuance of his provinces. Pompey at first did not stir in it, but Marcellus
and Lentulus opposed it, who had always hated Caesar, and now did
everything, whether fit or unfit, which might disgrace and affront him.
For they took away the privilege of Roman citizens from the people of
New Comum, who were a colony that Caesar had lately planted in Gaul, and
Marcellus, who was then consul, ordered one of the senators of that town,
then at Rome, to be whipped, and told him he laid that mark upon him
to signify he was no citizen of Rome, bidding him, when he went back again,
to show it to Caesar. After Marcellus's consulship, Caesar began to
lavish gifts upon all the public men out of the riches he had taken from
the Gauls; discharged Curio, the tribune, from his great debts; gave Paulus,
then consul, fifteen hundred talents, with which he built the noble court
of justice adjoining the forum, to supply the place of that called the
Fulvian. Pompey, alarmed at these preparations, now openly took steps,
both by himself and his friends, to have a successor
appointed in Caesar's room, and sent to demand back
the soldiers whom he had lent him to carry on the
wars in Gaul. Caesar returned them, and made each soldier a present of
two hundred and fifty drachmas. The officer who brought them home to Pompey
spread amongst the people no very fair or favourable report of Caesar,
and flattered Pompey himself with false suggestions
that he was wished for by Caesar's army; and though
his affairs here were in some embarrassment through
the envy of some, and the ill state of the government, yet there the
army was at his command, and if they once crossed into Italy would presently
declare for him; so weary were they of Caesar's endless expeditions, and
so suspicious of his designs for a monarchy. Upon this Pompey grew presumptuous,
and neglected all warlike preparations as fearing no danger, and
used no other means against him than mere speeches and votes, for
which Caesar cared nothing. And one of his captains,
it is said, who was sent by him to Rome, standing
before the senate-house one day, and being told that
the senate would not give Caesar longer time in his government,
clapped his hand on the hilt of his sword and said,
"But this shall."
Yet the demands which Caesar made had the fairest colours of equity imaginable.
For he proposed to lay down his arms, and that Pompey should do
the same, and both together should become private men, and each expect
a reward of his services from the public. For that
those who proposed to disarm him, and at the same
time to confirm Pompey in all the power he held,
were simply establishing the one in the tyranny which they accused the
other of aiming at. When Curio made these proposals to the people in Caesar's
name, he was loudly applauded, and some threw garlands towards him,
and dismissed him as they do successful wrestlers, crowned with
flowers. Antony, being tribune, produced a letter
sent from Caesar on this occasion, and read it
though the consuls did what they could to oppose it. But Scipio, Pompey's
father-in-law, proposed in the senate, that if Caesar did not lay
down his arms within such a time he should be voted an enemy; and the consuls
putting it to the question, whether Pompey should dismiss his
soldiers, and again, whether Caesar should disband
his, very few assented to the first, but almost all
to the latter. But Antony proposing again, that both should
lay down their commissions, all but a very few agreed to it. Scipio was
upon this very violent, and Lentulus, the consul, cried aloud, that they
had need of arms, and not of suffrages, against a robber; so that the
senators for the present adjourned, and appeared in mourning as a mark
of their grief for the dissension.
Afterwards there came other letters from Caesar, which seemed yet more
moderate, for he proposed to quit everything else, and only to retain Gaul
within the Alps, Illyricum, and two legions, till he should stand a
second time for consul. Cicero, the orator, who was lately returned
from Cilicia, endeavoured to reconcile differences,
and softened Pompey, who was willing to comply in
other things, but not to allow him the soldiers. At
last Cicero used his persuasions with Caesar's friends to accept of the
provinces and six thousand soldiers only, and so to make up the
quarrel. And Pompey was inclined to give way to
this, but Lentulus, the consul, would not hearken to
it, but drove Antony and Curio out of the senate-house with
insults, by which he afforded Caesar the most plausible pretence that could
be, and one which he could readily use to inflame the soldiers, by showing
them two persons of such repute and authority who were forced to escape
in a hired carriage in the dress of slaves. For so they were glad to
disguise themselves when they fled out of Rome.
There were not about him at that time above three hundred horse and
five thousand foot; for the rest of his army, which was left behind the
Alps, was to be brought after him by officers who had received orders for
that purpose. But he thought the first motion towards the design which
he had on foot did not require large forces at
present, and that what was wanted was to make this
first step suddenly, and so to astound his enemies with
the boldness of it; as it would be easier, he thought, to throw them into
consternation by doing what they never anticipated than fairly to conquer
them, if he had alarmed them by his preparations. And therefore he
commanded his captains and other officers to go only with their swords
in their hands, without any other arms, and make
themselves masters of Ariminum, a large city of
Gaul, with as little disturbance and bloodshed as
possible. He committed the care of these forces to Hortensius, and
himself spent the day in public as a stander-by and
spectator of the gladiators, who exercised before
him. A little before night he attended to his person, and
then went into the hall, and conversed for some time with those be had
invited to supper, till it began to grow dusk, when he rose from table
and made his excuses to the company, begging them to
stay till he came back, having already given private
directions to a few immediate friends that they
should follow him, not all the same way, but some one way, some another.
He himself got into one of the hired carriages, and drove at first another
way, but presently turned towards Ariminum. When he came to the river
Rubicon, which parts Gaul within the Alps from the rest of Italy, his
thoughts began to work, now he was just entering upon the danger, and he
wavered much in his mind when he considered the greatness of the
enterprise into which he was throwing himself. He
checked his course and ordered a halt, while he
revolved with himself, and often changed his opinion one way
and the other, without speaking a word. This was when his purposes fluctuated
most; presently he also discussed the matter with his friends who
were about him (of which number Asinius Pollio was one), computing how
many calamities his passing that river would bring upon mankind, and what
a relation of it would be transmitted to posterity. At last, in a sort
of passion, casting aside calculation, and abandoning himself to what might
come, and using the proverb frequently in their mouths who enter upon
dangerous and bold attempts, "The die is cast," with these
words he took the river. Once over, he used all
expedition possible, and before it was day reached
Ariminum and took it. It is said that the night before he
passed the river he had an impious dream, that he was unnaturally
familiar with his own mother.
As soon as Ariminum was taken, wide gates, so to say, were thrown open,
to let in war upon every land alike and sea, and with the limits of
the province, the boundaries of the laws were transgressed. Nor would one
have thought that, as at other times, the mere men and women fled from
one town of Italy to another in their consternation,
but that the very towns themselves left their sites
and fled for succour to each other. The city of Rome
was overrun, as it were, with a deluge, by the conflux of people
flying in from all the neighbouring places. Magistrates could not longer
govern, nor the eloquence of any orator quiet it; it was all but suffering
shipwreck by the violence of its own tempestuous agitation. The most
vehement contrary passions and impulses were at work everywhere. Nor did
those who rejoiced at the prospect of the change altogether conceal their
feelings, but when they met, as in so great a city they frequently must,
with the alarmed and dejected of the other party, they provoked
quarrels by their bold expressions of confidence in
the event. Pompey, sufficiently disturbed of
himself, was yet more perplexed by the clamours of others; some
telling him that he justly suffered for having armed Caesar against himself
and the government; others blaming him for permitting Caesar to be
insolently used by Lentulus, when he made such ample concessions, and offered
such reasonable proposals towards an accommodation. Favonius bade him
now stamp upon the ground; for once talking big in the senate, he
desired them not to trouble themselves about making
any preparations for the war, for that he himself,
with one stamp of his foot, would fill all Italy with soldiers.
Yet still Pompey at that time had more forces than Caesar; but he
was not permitted to pursue his own thoughts, but, being continually disturbed
with false reports and alarms, as if the enemy was close upon him
and carrying all before him, he gave way and let himself be borne down
by the general cry. He put forth an edict declaring
the city to be in a state of anarchy, and left it
with orders that the senate should follow him, and
that no one should stay behind who did not prefer tyranny to their country
and liberty.
The consuls at once fled, without making even the usual sacrifices; so
did most of the senators, carrying off their own goods in as much
haste as if they had been robbing their neighbours.
Some, who had formerly much favoured Caesar's cause,
in the prevailing alarm quitted their own sentiments, and
without any prospect of good to themselves were carried along by the common
stream. It was a melancholy thing to see the city tossed in these tumults,
like a ship given up by her pilots, and left to run, as chance guides
her, upon any rock in her way. Yet, in spite of their sad condition people
still esteemed the place of their exile to be their country for Pompey's
sake, and fled from Rome, as if it had been Caesar's camp. Labienus even,
who had been one of Caesar's nearest friends, and his lieutenant, and
who had fought by him zealously in the Gallic wars, now deserted him, and
went over to Pompey. Caesar sent all his money and equipage after him,
and then sat down before Corfinium, which was
garrisoned with thirty cohorts under the command of
Domitius. He, in despair of maintaining the defence, requested
a physician, whom he had among his attendants, to give him poison; and
taking the dose, drank it, in hopes of being despatched by it. But soon
after, when he was told that Caesar showed the utmost clemency towards
those he took prisoners, he lamented his misfortune,
and blamed the hastiness of his resolution. His
physician consoled him by informing him that he had
taken a sleeping draught, not a poison; upon which, much rejoiced, and
rising from his bed, he went presently to Caesar and gave him the
pledge of his hand, yet afterwards again went over
to Pompey. The report of these actions at Rome
quieted those who were there, and some who had fled thence returned.
Caesar took into his army Domitius's soldiers, as he did all those whom
he found in any town enlisted for Pompey's service. Being now strong and
formidable enough, he advanced against Pompey himself, who did not stay
to receive him, but fled to Brundusium, having sent the consuls before
with a body of troops to Dyrrhachium. Soon after,
upon Caesar's approach, he set to sea, as shall be
more particularly related in his Life. Caesar would
have immediately pursued him, but wanted shipping, and therefore went
back to Rome, having made himself master of all Italy without
bloodshed in the space of sixty days. When he came
thither, he found the city more quiet than he
expected, and many senators present, to whom he addressed himself
with courtesy and deference, desiring them to send to Pompey about any
reasonable accommodation towards a peace. But nobody complied with this
proposal; whether out of fear of Pompey, whom they had deserted, or that
they thought Caesar did not mean what he said, but thought it his interest
to talk plausibly. Afterwards, when Metellus, the tribune, would have
hindered him from taking money out of the public treasure, and adduced
some laws against it, Caesar replied that arms and
laws had each their own time; "If what I do
displeases you, leave the place; war allows no free
talking. When I have laid down my arms, and made peace, come back and
make what speeches you please. And this," he added, "I tell
you in diminution of my own just right, as indeed
you and all others who have appeared against me and
are now in my power may be treated as I please." Having
said this to Metellus, he went to the doors of the treasury, and the
keys being not to be found, sent for smiths to force them open.
Metellus again making resistance and some
encouraging him in it, Caesar, in a louder tone,
told him he would put him to death if he gave him any further
disturbance. "And this," said he,
"you know, young man, is more disagreeable for me to
say than to do." These words made Metellus withdraw for fear, and
obtained speedy execution henceforth for all orders
that Caesar gave for procuring necessaries for the
war.
He was now proceeding to Spain, with the determination of first crushing
Afranius and Varro, Pompey's lieutenants, and making himself master of
the armies and provinces under them, that he might then more securely advance
against Pompey, when he had no enemy left behind him. In this
expedition his person was often in danger from
ambuscades, and his army by want of provisions, yet
he did not desist from pursuing the enemy, provoking them to
fight, and hemming them with his fortifications, till by main force he
made himself master of their camps and their forces. Only the generals
got off, and fled to Pompey.
When Caesar came back to Rome, Piso, his father-in-law, advised him
to send men to Pompey to treat of a peace; but Isauricus, to
ingratiate himself with Caesar, spoke against it.
After this, being created dictator by the senate,
he called home the exiles, and gave back their rights as citizens
to the children of those who had suffered under Sylla; he relieved the
debtors by an act remitting some part of the interest on their debts, and
passed some other measures of the same sort, but not many. For within eleven
days he resigned his dictatorship, and having declared himself consul,
with Servilius Isauricus, hastened again to the
war. He marched so fast that he left all his army
behind him, except six hundred chosen horse and five
legions, with which he put to sea in the very middle of winter, about the
beginning of the month of January (which corresponds pretty nearly with
the Athenian month Posideon), and having passed the Ionian Sea, took Oricum
and Apollonia, and then sent back the ships to Brundusium, to bring over
the soldiers who were left behind in the march. They, while yet on the
march, their bodies now no longer in the full vigour, and they
themselves weary with such a multitude of wars,
could not but exclaim against Caesar, "When at
last, and where, will this Caesar let us be quiet? He carries us
from place to place, and uses us as if we were not to be worn out, and
had no sense of labour. Even our iron itself is
spent by blows, and we ought to have some pity on
our bucklers, and breastplates, which have been used
so long. Our wounds, if nothing else, should make him see that we are
mortal men whom he commands, subject to the same pains and sufferings as
other human beings. The very gods themselves cannot force the winter season,
or hinder the storms in their time; yet he pushes forward, as if he
were not pursuing, but flying from an enemy." So they talked as
they marched leisurely towards Brundusium. But when
they came thither, and found Caesar gone off before
them, their feelings changed, and they blamed themselves as
traitors to their general. They now railed at their officers for
marching so slowly, and placing themselves on the
heights overlooking the sea towards Epirus, they
kept watch to see if they could espy the vessels which were to
transport them to Caesar.
He in the meantime was posted in Apollonia, but had not an army with
him able to fight the enemy, the forces from Brundusium being so long in
coming, which put him to great suspense and embarrassment what to do. At
last he resolved upon a most hazardous experiment, and embarked,
without any one's knowledge, in a boat of twelve
oars, to cross over to Brundusium, though the sea
was at that time covered with a vast fleet of the enemies. He
got on board in the night-time, in the dress of a slave, and throwing himself
down like a person of no consequence lay along at the bottom of the
vessel. The river Anius was to carry them down to sea, and there used to
blow a gentle gale every morning from the land, which made it calm at the
mouth of the river, by driving the waves forward; but this night there
had blown a strong wind from the sea, which
overpowered that from the land, so that where the
river met the influx of the seawater and the opposition of
the waves it was extremely rough and angry; and the current was beaten
back with such a violent swell that the master of
the boat could not make good his passage, but
ordered his sailors to tack about and return. Caesar, upon
this, discovers himself, and taking the man by the hand, who was
surprised to see him there, said, "Go on, my
friend, and fear nothing; you carry Caesar and his
fortune in your boat." The mariners, when they heard that, forgot
the storm, and laying all their strength to their oars, did what they
could to force their way down the river. But when it was to no
purpose, and the vessel now took in much water,
Caesar finding himself in such danger in the very
mouth of the river, much against his will permitted the master to
turn back. When he was come to land, his soldiers ran to him in a
multitude, reproaching him for what he had done,
and indignant that he should think himself not
strong enough to get a victory by their sole assistance, but must
disturb himself, and expose his life for those who were absent, as if
he could not trust those who were with him.
After this, Antony came over with the forces from Brundusium, which encouraged
Caesar to give Pompey battle, though he was encamped very
advantageously, and furnished with plenty of
provisions both by sea and land, whilst he himself
was at the beginning but ill supplied, and before the end was
extremely pinched for want of necessaries, so that
his soldiers were forced to dig up a kind of root
which grew there, and tempering it with milk, to feed on
it. Sometimes they made a kind of bread of it, and advancing up to the
enemy's outposts, would throw in these loaves,
telling them, that as long as the earth produced
such roots they would not give up blockading Pompey. But
Pompey took what care he could that neither the loaves nor the words should
reach his men, who were out of heart and despondent through terror at
the fierceness and hardihood of their enemies, whom they looked upon as
a sort of wild beasts. There were continual skirmishes about Pompey's outworks,
in all which Caesar had the better, except one, when his men were
forced to fly in such a manner that he had like to have lost his camp.
For Pompey made such a vigorous sally on them that
not a man stood his ground; the trenches were
filled with the slaughter, many fell upon their own
ramparts and bulwarks, whither they were driven in flight by the
enemy. Caesar met them and would have turned them
back, but could not. When he went to lay hold of
the ensigns, those who carried them threw them down, so
that the enemy took thirty-two of them. He himself narrowly escaped; for
taking hold of one of his soldiers, a big and strong man, that was flying
by him, he bade him stand and face about; but the fellow, full of apprehensions
from the danger he was in, laid hold of his sword, as if he
would strike Caesar, but Caesar's armour-bearer cut off his arm.
Caesar's affairs were so desperate at that time
that when Pompey, either through over-cautiousness
or his ill fortune, did not give the finishing stroke to
that great success, but retreated after he had driven the routed enemy
within their camp, Caesar, upon seeing his
withdrawal, said to his friends, "The victory
to-day had been on the enemies' side if they had had a general who
knew how to gain it." When he was retired into his tent, he laid
himself down to sleep, but spent that night as
miserable as ever he did any, in perplexity and
consideration with himself, coming to the conclusion that he
had conducted the war amiss. For when he had a fertile country before him,
and all the wealthy cities of Macedonia and Thessaly, he had neglected
to carry the war thither, and had sat down by the
seaside, where his enemies had such a powerful
fleet, so that he was in fact rather besieged by the want
of necessaries, than besieging others with his arms. Being thus
distracted in his thoughts with the view of the
difficulty and distress he was in, he raised his
camp, with the intention of advancing towards Scipio, who lay
in Macedonia; hoping either to entice Pompey into a country where he should
fight without the advantage he now had of supplies from the sea, or
to overpower Scipio if not assisted.
This set all Pompey's army and officers on fire to hasten and pursue Caesar,
whom they concluded to be beaten and flying. But Pompey was afraid to
hazard a battle on which so much depended, and being himself provided with
all necessaries for any length of time, thought to tire out and waste the
vigour of Caesar's army, which could not last long. For the best part of
his men, though they had great experience, and showed an irresistible courage
in all engagements, yet by their frequent marches, changing their camps,
attacking fortifications, and keeping long night-watches, were getting
worn out and broken; they being now old, their
bodies less fit for labour, and their courage,
also, beginning to give way with the failure of their strength.
Besides, it was said that an infectious disease, occasioned by their
irregular diet, was prevailing in Caesar's army, and what was of greatest
moment, he was neither furnished with money nor provisions, so that
in a little time he must needs fall of himself.
For these reasons Pompey had no mind to fight him, but was thanked for
it by none but Cato, who rejoiced at the prospect of sparing his
fellow-citizens. For he, when he saw the dead
bodies of those who had fallen in the last battle
on Caesar's side, to the number of a thousand, turned away, covered his
face, and shed tears. But every one else upbraided Pompey for being reluctant
to fight, and tried to goad him on by such nicknames as Agamemnon, and
king of kings, as if he were in no hurry to lay down his sovereign authority,
but was pleased to see so many commanders attending on him, and
paying their attendance at his tent. Favonius, who affected Cato's free
way of speaking his mind, complained bitterly that they should eat no
figs even this year at Tusculum, because of Pompey's love of command. Afranius,
who was lately returned out of Spain, and, on account of his ill
success there, laboured under the suspicion of having been bribed to betray
the army, asked why they did not fight this purchaser of provinces. Pompey
was driven, against his own will, by this kind of language, into offering
battle, and proceeded to follow Caesar. Caesar had found great difficulties
in his march, for no country would supply him with provisions, his
reputation being very much fallen since his late defeat. But after he
took Gomphi, a town of Thessaly, he not only found provisions for his army,
but physic too. For there they met with plenty of wine, which they took
very freely, and heated with this, sporting and revelling on their march
in bacchanalian fashion, they shook off the disease, and their whole constitution
was relieved and changed into another habit.
When the two armies were come into Pharsalia, and both encamped there,
Pompey's thoughts ran the same way as they had done before, against fighting,
and the more because of some unlucky presages, and a vision he had
in a dream. But those who were about him were so confident of success,
that Domitius, and Spinther, and Scipio, as if they
had already conquered, quarrelled which should
succeed Caesar in the pontificate. And many sent to
Rome to take houses fit to accommodate consuls and praetors, as being sure
of entering upon those offices as soon as the battle was over. The cavalry
especially were obstinate for fighting, being splendidly armed and
bravely mounted, and valuing themselves upon the fine horses they
kept, and upon their own handsome persons; as also
upon the advantage of their numbers, for they were
five thousand against one thousand of Caesar's. Nor
were the numbers of the infantry less disproportionate, there being forty-five
thousand of Pompey's against twenty-two thousand of the enemy.
Caesar, collecting his soldiers together, told them that Corfinius was
coming up to them with two legions, and that fifteen cohorts more
under Calenus were posted at and Athens; he then
asked him whether they would stay till these joined
them, or would hazard the battle by themselves. They
all cried out to him not to wait, but on the contrary to do whatever he
could to bring about an engagement as soon as possible. When he
sacrificed to the gods for the lustration of his
army, upon the death of the first victim, the augur
told him, within three days he should come to a decisive action.
Caesar asked him whether he saw anything in the entrails which promised
a happy event. "That," said the priest, "you can best
answer yourself; for the gods signify a great
alteration from the present posture of affairs. If,
therefore, you think yourself well off now, expect worse fortune; if unhappy,
hope for better." The night before the battle, as he walked the rounds
about midnight, there was a light seen in the heavens, very bright and
flaming, which seemed to pass over Caesar's camp and fall into
Pompey's. And when Caesar's soldiers came to
relieve the watch in the morning, they perceived a
panic disorder among the enemies. However, he did not expect to
fight that day, but set about raising his camp with the intention of marching
towards Scotussa.
But when the tents were now taken down, his scouts rode up to him, and
told him the enemy would give him battle. With this news he was
extremely pleased, and having performed his
devotions to the gods, set his army in battle
array, dividing them into three bodies. Over the middlemost he placed Domitius
Calvinus; Antony commanded the left wing, and he himself the right, being
resolved to fight at the head of the tenth legion. But when he saw the
enemy's cavalry taking position against him, being struck with their fine
appearance and their number, he gave private orders that six cohorts from
the rear of the army should come and join him, whom he posted behind the
right wing, and instructed them what they should do when the enemy's horse
came to charge. On the other side, Pompey commanded the right wing, Domitius
the left, and Scipio, Pompey's father-in-law, the centre. The whole
weight of the cavalry was collected on the left wing, with the intent that
they should outflank the right wing of the enemy, and rout that part where
the general himself commanded. For they thought no phalanx of infantry
could be solid enough to sustain such a shock, but
that they must necessarily be broken and shattered
all to pieces upon the onset of so immense a force of
cavalry. When they were ready on both sides to give the signal for
battle, Pompey commanded his foot, who were in the
front, to stand their ground, and without breaking
their order, receive, quietly, the enemy's first attack, till
they came within javelin's cast. Caesar, in this respect, also, blames
Pompey's generalship, as if he had not been aware
how the first encounter, when made with an impetus
and upon the run, gives weight and force to the strokes,
and fires the men's spirits into a flame, which the general
concurrence fans to full heat. He himself was just
putting the troops into motion and advancing to the
action, when he found one of his captains, a trusty and experienced
soldier, encouraging his men to exert their utmost. Caesar called
him by his name, and said, "What hopes, Caius Crassinius, and
what grounds for encouragement?" Crassinius
stretched out his hand, and cried in a loud voice,
"We shall conquer nobly, Caesar; and I this day will deserve your
praises, either alive or dead." So he said, and was the first man
to run in upon the enemy, followed by the hundred
and twenty soldiers about him, and breaking through
the first rank, still pressed on forwards with much
slaughter of the enemy, till at last he was struck back by the wound of
a sword, which went in at his mouth with such force that it came out at
his neck behind.
Whilst the foot was thus sharply engaged in the main battle, on the
flank Pompey's horse rode up confidently, and opened their ranks very wide,
that they might surround the right wing of Caesar. But before they engaged,
Caesar's cohorts rushed out and attacked them, and did not dart their
javelins at a distance, nor strike at the thighs and legs, as they usually
did in close battle, but aimed at their faces. For thus Caesar had
instructed them, in hopes that young gentlemen, who had not known much
of battles and wounds, but came wearing their hair
long, in the flower of their age and height of
their beauty, would be more apprehensive of such
blows, and not care for hazarding both a danger at present and a
blemish for the future. And so it proved, for they
were so far from bearing the stroke of the
javelins, that they could not stand the sight of them, but turned
about, and covered their faces to secure them. Once in disorder, presently
they turned about to fly; and so most shamefully ruined all. For
those who had beat them back at once outflanked the infantry, and
falling on their rear, cut them to pieces. Pompey,
who commanded the other wing of the army, when he
saw his cavalry thus broken and flying, was no longer himself,
nor did he now remember that he was Pompey the Great, but, like one
whom some god had deprived of his senses, retired to his tent without speaking
a word, and there sat to expect the event, till the whole army was
routed and the enemy appeared upon the works which were thrown up
before the camp, where they closely engaged with
his men who were posted there to defend it. Then
first he seemed to have recovered his senses, and uttering, it
is said, only these words, "What, into the camp too?" he
laid aside his general's habit, and putting on such
clothes as might best favour his flight, stole off.
What fortune he met with afterwards, how he took shelter in
Egypt, and was murdered there, we tell you in his Life.
Caesar, when he came to view Pompey's camp, and saw some of his opponents
dead upon the ground, others dying, said, with a groan, "This they
would have; they brought me to this necessity. I, Caius Caesar, after succeeding
in so many wars, had been condemned had I dismissed my army." These
words, Pollio says, Caesar spoke in Latin at that time, and that he
himself wrote them in Greek; adding, that those who were killed at the
taking of the camp were most of them servants; and
that not above six thousand soldiers fell. Caesar
incorporated most of the foot whom he took prisoners with
his own legions, and gave a free pardon to many of the distinguished persons,
and amongst the rest to Brutus, who afterwards killed him. He did
not immediately appear after the battle was over, which put Caesar, it
is said, into great anxiety for him; nor was his pleasure less when he
saw him present himself alive.
There were many prodigies that foreshadowed this victory, but the most
remarkable that we are told of was that at Tralles. In the temple of
Victory stood Caesar's statue. The ground on which it stood was
naturally hard and solid, and the stone with which
it was paved still harder; yet it is said that a
palm-tree shot itself up near the pedestal of this statue. In
the city of Padua, one Caius Cornelius, who had the character of a
good augur, the fellow-citizen and acquaintance of
Livy, the historian, happened to be making some
augural observations that very day when the battle was fought.
And first, as Livy tells us, he pointed out the time of the fight, and
said to those who were by him that just then the battle was begun and the
men engaged. When he looked a second time, and observed the omens, he
leaped up as if he had been inspired, and cried out, "Caesar, are
victorious." This much surprised the
standers-by, but he took the garland which he had on
from his head, and swore he would never wear it again till the event should
give authority to his art. This Livy positively states for a truth.
Caesar, as a memorial of his victory, gave the Thessalians their freedom,
and then went in pursuit of Pompey. When he was come into Asia, to
gratify Theopompus, the author of the collection of fables, he
enfranchised the Cnidians, and remitted one-third
of their tribute to all the people of the province
of Asia. When he came to Alexandria, where Pompey was already murdered,
he would not look upon Theodotus, who presented him with his head,
but taking only his signet, shed tears. Those of Pompey's friends who
had been arrested by the King of Egypt, as they were wandering in
those parts, he relieved, and offered them his own
friendship. In his letter to his friends at Rome,
he told them that the greatest and most signal pleasure
his victory had given him was to be able continually to save the lives
of fellow-citizens who had fought against him. As to the war in Egypt,
some say it was at once dangerous and
dishonourable, and noways necessary, but occasioned
only by his passion for Cleopatra. Others blame the ministers of
the king, and especially the eunuch Pothinus, who was the chief
favourite and had lately killed Pompey, who had
banished Cleopatra, and was now secretly plotting
Caesar's destruction (to prevent which, Caesar from that time began
to sit up whole nights, under pretence of drinking, for the security of
his person), while openly he was intolerable in his affronts to
Caesar, both by his words and actions. For when
Caesar's soldiers had musty and unwholesome corn
measured out to them, Pothinus told them they must be content
with it, since they were fed at another's cost. He ordered that his
table should be served with wooden and earthen dishes, and said Caesar
had carried off all the gold and silver plate,
under pretence of arrears of debt. For the present
king's father owed Caesar one thousand seven hundred and
fifty myriads of money. Caesar had formerly remitted to his children the
rest, but thought fit to demand the thousand myriads at that time to maintain
his army. Pothinus told him that he had better go now and attend to
his other affairs of greater consequence, and that he should receive his
money at another time with thanks. Caesar replied that he did not want
Egyptians to be his counsellors, and soon after
privately sent for Cleopatra from her retirement.
She took a small boat, and one only of her confidants, Apollodorus, the
Sicilian, along with her, and in the dusk of the evening landed near the
palace. She was at a loss how to get in undiscovered, till she thought
of putting herself into the coverlet of a bed and
lying at length, whilst Apollodorus tied up the
bedding and carried it on his back through the gates
to Caesar's apartment. Caesar was first captivated by this proof of
Cleopatra's bold wit, and was afterwards so overcome by the charm of her
society that he made a reconciliation between her and her brother, on
the condition that she should rule as his colleague in the kingdom. A
festival was kept to celebrate this reconciliation, where Caesar's
barber, a busy listening fellow, whose excessive
timidity made him inquisitive into everything,
discovered that there was a plot carrying on against Caesar by
Achillas, general of the king's forces, and Pothinus, the eunuch.
Caesar, upon the first intelligence of it, set a
guard upon the hall where the feast was kept and
killed Pothinus. Achillas escaped to the army, and raised a
troublesome and embarrassing war against Caesar, which it was not easy
for him to manage with his few soldiers against so
powerful a city and so large an army. The first
difficulty he met with was want of water, for the
enemies had turned the canals. Another was, when the enemy endeavoured
to cut off his communication by sea, he was forced
to divert that danger by setting fire to his own
ships, which, after burning the docks, thence spread
on and destroyed the great library. A third was, when in an engagement
near Pharos, he leaped from the mole into a small
boat to assist his soldiers who were in danger, and
when the Egyptians pressed him on every side, he threw
himself into the sea, and with much difficulty swam off. This was the
time when, according to the story, he had a number of manuscripts in his
hand, which, though he was continually darted at, and forced to keep his
head often under water, yet he did not let go, but held them up safe from
wetting in one hand, whilst he swam with the other. His boat in the meantime,
was quickly sunk. At last, the king having gone off to Achillas and
his party, Caesar engaged and conquered them. Many fell in that
battle, and the king himself was never seen after.
Upon this, he left Cleopatra queen of Egypt, who
soon after had a son by him, whom the Alexandrians called
Caesarion, and then departed for Syria.
Thence he passed to Asia, where he heard that Domitius was beaten by
Pharnaces, son of Mithridates, and had fled out of Pontus with a
handful of men; and that Pharnaces pursued the
victory so eagerly, that though he was already
master of Bithynia and Cappadocia, he had a further design of
attempting the Lesser Armenia, and was inviting all the kings and
tetrarchs there to rise. Caesar immediately marched
against him with three legions, fought him near
Zela, drove him out of Pontus, and totally defeated his army.
When he gave Amantius, a friend of his at Rome, an account of this action,
to express the promptness and rapidity of it he used three words, I
came, saw, and conquered, which in Latin, having all the same cadence,
carry with them a very suitable air of brevity.
Hence he crossed into Italy, and came to Rome at the end of that year,
for which he had been a second time chosen dictator, though that office
had never before lasted a whole year, and was elected consul for the
next. He was ill spoken of, because upon a mutiny of some soldiers, who
killed Cosconius and Galba, who had been praetors, he gave them only the
slight reprimand of calling them Citizens instead of Fellow-Soldiers, and
afterwards assigned to each man a thousand drachmas, besides a share of
lands in Italy. He was also reflected on for Dolabella's extravagance,
Amantius's covetousness, Antony's debauchery, and
Corfinius's profuseness, who pulled down Pompey's
house, and rebuilt it, as not magnificent enough; for
the Romans were much displeased with all these. But Caesar, for the prosecution
of his own scheme of government, though he knew their characters and
disapproved them, was forced to make use of those who would serve him.
After the battle of Pharsalia, Cato and Scipio fled into Africa, and
there, with the assistance of King Juba, got together a considerable force,
which Caesar resolved to engage. He accordingly passed into Sicily about
the winter solstice, and to remove from his officers' minds all hopes of
delay there, encamped by the seashore, and as soon as ever he had a fair
wind, put to sea with three thousand foot and a few horse. When he had
landed them, he went back secretly, under some apprehensions for the larger
part of his army, but met them upon the sea, and brought them all to
the same camp. There he was informed that the enemies relied much upon
an ancient oracle, that the family of the Scipios
should be always victorious in Africa. There was in
his army a man, otherwise mean and contemptible, but
of the house of the Africani, and his name Scipio Sallutio. This man Caesar
(whether in raillery to ridicule Scipio, who commanded the enemy, or
seriously to bring over the omen to his side, it were hard to say), put
at the head of his troops, as if he were general, in all the frequent battles
which he was compelled to fight. For he was in such want both of victualling
for his men and forage for his horses, that he was forced to feed
the horses with seaweed, which he washed thoroughly to take off its saltness,
and mixed with a little grass to give it a more agreeable taste, The
Numidians, in great numbers, and well horsed, whenever he went, came up
and commanded the country. Caesar's cavalry, being one day unemployed,
diverted themselves with seeing an African, who
entertained them with dancing and at the same time
played upon the pipe to admiration. They were so taken with
this, that they alighted, and gave their horses to some boys, when on
a sudden the enemy surrounded them, killed some, pursued the rest and fell
in with them into their camp; and had not Caesar himself and Asinius Pollio
come to their assistance, and put a stop to their flight, the war had
been then at an end. In another engagement, also, the enemy had again the
better, when Caesar, it is said, seized a standard-bearer, who was running
away, by the neck, and forcing him to face about, said, "Look, that
is the way to the enemy."
Scipio, flushed with this success at first, had a mind to come to
one decisive action. He therefore left Afranius and Juba in two
distinct bodies not far distant and marched himself
towards Thapsus, where he proceeded to build a
fortified camp above a lake, to serve as a centre-point for their
operations, and also as a place of refuge. Whilst Scipio was thus employed,
Caesar with incredible despatch made his way through thick woods, and
a country supposed to be impassable, cut off one part of the enemy and
attacked another in the front. Having routed these, he followed up his
opportunity and the current of his good fortune, and on the first
carried Afranius's camp, and ravaged that of the
Numidians, Juba, their king, being glad to save
himself by flight; so that in a small part of a single day he
made himself master of three camps, and killed fifty thousand of the enemy,
with the loss only of fifty of his own men. This is the account some
give of that fight. Others say he was not in the action, but that he
was too far disordered his senses, when he was already beginning to shake
under its influence, withdrew into a neighbouring fort where he
reposed himself. Of the men of consular and
praetorian dignity that were taken after the fight,
several Caesar put to death, others anticipated him by killing
themselves.
Cato had undertaken to defend Utica, and for that reason was not in
the battle. The desire which Caesar had to take him alive made him
hasten thither; and upon the intelligence that he
had despatched himself, he was much discomposed,
for what reason is not so well agreed. He certainly said, "Cato,
I must grudge you your death, as you grudged me the honour of saving your
life." Yet the discourse he wrote against Cato after his death is
no great sign of his kindness, or that he was
inclined to be reconciled to him. For how is it
probable that he would have been tender of his life when
he was so bitter against his memory? But from his clemency to Cicero, Brutus,
and many others who fought against him, it may be divined that Caesar's
book was not written so much out of animosity to Cato, as in his own
vindication. Cicero had written an encomium upon Cato, and called it by
his name. A composition by so great a master upon so excellent a
subject was sure to be in every one's hands. This
touched Caesar, who looked upon a panegyric on his
enemies as no better than an invective against himself; and
therefore he made in his Anti-Cato a collection of whatever could be said
in his derogation. The two compositions, like Cato and Caesar
themselves, have each of them their several
admirers.
Caesar, upon his return to Rome, did not omit to pronounce before the
people a magnificent account of his victory, telling them that he had subdued
a country which would supply the public every year with two hundred thousand
attic bushels of corn and three million pounds' weight of oil. He
then led three triumphs for Egypt, Pontus, and Africa, the last for the
victory over, not Scipio, but King Juba, as it was professed, whose little
son was then carried in the triumph, the happiest captive that ever was,
who, of a barbarian Numidian, came by this means to obtain a place among
the most learned historians of Greece. After the triumphs, he
distributed rewards to his soldiers, and treated
the people with feasting and shows. He entertained
the whole people together at one feast, where twenty-two thousand
dining couches were laid out; and he made a display of gladiators, and
of battles by sea, in honour, as he said, of his daughter Julia,
though she had been long since dead. When these
shows were over, an account was taken of the people
who, from three hundred and twenty thousand, were now reduced
to one hundred and fifty thousand. So great a waste had the civil war
made in Rome alone, not to mention what the other parts of Italy and the
provinces suffered.
He was now chosen a fourth time consul, and went into Spain against Pompey's
sons. They were but young, yet had gathered together a very numerous army,
and showed they had courage and conduct to command it, so that Caesar was
in extreme danger. The great battle was near the town of Munda, in which
Caesar, seeing his men hard pressed, and making but a weak resistance,
ran through the ranks among the soldiers, and
crying out, asked them whether they were not
ashamed to deliver him into the hands of boys? At last, with great
difficulty, and the best efforts he could make, he forced back the enemy,
killing thirty thousand of them, though with the loss of one thousand of
his best men. When he came back from the fight, he told his friends that
he had often fought for victory, but this was the first time he had ever
fought for life. This battle was won on the feast of Bacchus, the very
day in which Pompey, four years before, had set out for the war. The younger
of Pompey's sons escaped; but Didius, some days after the fight, brought
the head of the elder to Caesar. This was the last war he was engaged in.
The triumph which he celebrated for this victory displeased the Romans
beyond anything, for he had not defeated foreign
generals or barbarian kings, but had destroyed the
children and family of one of the greatest men of
Rome, though unfortunate; and it did not look well to lead a
procession in celebration of the calamities of his
country, and to rejoice in those things for which
no other apology could be made either to gods or men than their
being absolutely necessary. Besides that, hitherto he had never sent letters
or messengers to announce any victory over his fellow-citizens, but
had seemed rather to be ashamed of the action than to expect honour from
it.
Nevertheless his countrymen, conceding all to his fortune, and accepting
the bit, in the hope that the government of a single person would give
them time to breathe after so many civil wars and calamities, made him
dictator for life. This was indeed a tyranny avowed, since his power now
was not only absolute, but perpetual too. Cicero made the first
proposals to the senate for conferring honours upon
him, which might in some sort be said not to exceed
the limits of ordinary human moderation. But others, striving
which should deserve most, carried them so excessively high, that they
made Caesar odious to the most indifferent and moderate sort of men, by
the pretentions and extravagance of the titles which they decreed him.
His enemies, too, are thought to have had some
share in this, as well as his flatterers. It gave
them advantage against him, and would be their justification
for any attempt they should make upon him; for since the civil
wars were ended, he had nothing else that he could be charged with. And
they had good reason to decree a temple to Clemency, in token of their
thanks for the mild use he made of his victory. For
he not only pardoned many of those who fought
against him, but, further, to some gave honours and
offices; as particularly to Brutus and Cassius, who both of them were praetors.
Pompey's images that were thrown down he set up again, upon which Cicero
also said that by raising Pompey's statues he had fixed his own. When
his friends advised him to have a guard, and several offered their services,
he would not hear of it; but said it was better to suffer death once
than always to live in fear of it. He looked upon the affections of the
people to be the best and surest guard, and entertained them again with
public feasting and general distributions of corn; and to gratify his
army, he sent out colonies to several places, of which the most
remarkable were Carthage and Corinth; which as
before they had been ruined at the same time, so
now were restored and repeopled together.
As for the men of high rank, he promised to some of them future consulships
and praetorships, some he consoled with other offices and honours, and
to all held out hopes of favour by the solicitude he showed to rule with
the general good-will, insomuch that upon the death of Maximus one day
before his consulship was ended, he made Caninius Revilius consul for that
day. And when many went to pay the usual compliments and attentions to
the new consul, "Let us make haste," said Cicero, "lest
the man be gone out of his office before we
come."
Caesar was born to do great things, and had a passion after honour, and
the many noble exploits he had done did not now serve as an inducement
to him to sit still and reap the fruit of his past
labours, but were incentives and encouragements to
go on, and raised in him ideas of still greater actions, and
a desire of new glory, as if the present were all spent. It was in fact
a sort of emulous struggle with himself, as it had been with another, how
he might outdo his past actions by his future. In pursuit of these thoughts,
he resolved to make war upon the Parthians, and when he had subdued them,
to pass through Hyrcania; thence to march along by the Caspian Sea to
Mount Caucasus, and so on about Pontus, till he came into Scythia;
then to overrun all the countries bordering upon
Germany, and Germany itself; and so to return
through Gaul into Italy, after completing the whole circle of
his intended empire, and bounding it on every side by the ocean. While
preparations were making for this expedition, he
proposed to dig through the isthmus on which
Corinth stands; and appointed Anienus to superintend the
work. He had also a design of diverting the Tiber, and carrying it by
a deep channel directly from Rome to Circeii, and so into the sea near
Tarracina, that there might be a safe and easy
passage for all merchants who traded to Rome.
Besides this, he intended to drain all the marshes by
Pomentium and Setia, and gain ground enough from the water to employ many
thousands of men in tillage. He proposed further to make great mounds on
the shore nearest Rome, to hinder the sea from breaking in upon the land,
to clear the coast at Ostia of all the hidden rocks and shoals that made
it unsafe for shipping and to form ports and harbours fit to receive the
large number of vessels that would frequent them.
These things were designed without being carried into effect; but his
reformation of the calendar in order to rectify the irregularity of time
was not only projected with great scientific ingenuity, but was
brought to its completion, and proved of very great
use. For it was not only in ancient time that the
Romans had wanted a certain rule to make their months fall
in with the revolutions of the year, so that their festivals and
solemn days for sacrifice were removed by little
and little, till at last they came to be kept at
seasons quite the contrary to what was at first intended, but
even at this time the people had no way of computing the solar year; only
the priests could say the time, and they, at their pleasure, without giving
any notice, slipped in the intercalary month, which they called Mercedonius.
Numa was the first who put in this month, but his expedient was
but a poor one and quite inadequate to correct all the errors that arose
in the returns of the annual cycles, as we have shown in his life. Caesar
called in the best philosophers and mathematicians of his time to settle
the point, and out of the systems he had before him formed a new and
more exact method of correcting the calendar, which the Romans use to
this day, and seem to succeed better than any nation in avoiding the errors
occasioned by the inequality of the cycles. Yet even this gave offence
to those who looked with an evil eye on his
position, and felt oppressed by his power. Cicero
the orator, when some one in his company chanced to say
the next morning Lyra would rise, replied, "Yes, in accordance
with the edict," as if even this were a matter
of compulsion.
But that which brought upon him the most apparent and mortal hatred was
his desire of being king; which gave the common people the first
occasion to quarrel with him, and proved the most
specious pretence to those who had been his secret
enemies all along. Those who would have procured him that
title gave it out that it was foretold in the Sibyls' books that the Romans
should conquer the Parthians when they fought against them under the
conduct of a king, but not before. And one day, as Caesar was coming down
from Alba to Rome, some were so bold as to salute him by the name of
king; but he, finding the people disrelish it, seemed to resent it
himself, and said his name was Caesar, not king.
Upon this there was a general silence, and he
passed on looking not very well pleased or contented. Another time, when
the senate had conferred on him some extravagant honours, he chanced to
receive the message as he was sitting on the rostra, where, though the
consuls and praetors themselves waited on him,
attended by the whole body of the senate, he did
not rise, but behaved himself to them as if they had
been private men, and told them his honours wanted rather to be
retrenched than increased. This treatment offended
not only the senate, but the commonalty too, as if
they thought the affront upon the senate equally reflected upon the
whole republic; so that all who could decently leave him went off, looking
much discomposed. Caesar, perceiving the false step he had made, immediately
retired home; and laying his throat bare, told his friends that
he was ready to offer this to any one who would give the stroke. But afterwards
he made the malady from which he suffered the excuse for his sitting,
saying that those who are attacked by it lose their presence of mind
if they talk much standing; that they presently grow giddy, fall into convulsions,
and quite lose their reason. But this was not the reality, for
he would willingly have stood up to the senate, had not Cornelius
Balbus, one of his friends, or rather flatterers,
hindered him. "Will you and remember," said
he, "you are Caesar, and claim the honour which is due to your merit?"
He gave a fresh occasion of resentment by his affront to the tribunes.
The Lupercalia were then celebrated, a feast at the
first institution belonging, as some writers say,
to the shepherds, and having some connection with the
Arcadian Lycae. Many young noblemen and magistrates run up and down the
city with their upper garments off, striking all they meet with thongs
of hide, by way of sport; and many women, even of
the highest rank, place themselves in the way, and
hold out their hands to the lash, as boys in a
school do to the master, out of a belief that it procures an easy
labour to those who are with child, and makes those
conceive who are barren. Caesar, dressed in a
triumphal robe, seated himself in a golden chair at the rostra to
view this ceremony. Antony, as consul, was one of those who ran this course,
and when he came into the forum, and the people made way for him, he
went up and reached to Caesar a diadem wreathed with laurel. Upon this
there was a shout, but only a slight one, made by
the few who were planted there for that purpose;
but when Caesar refused it, there was universal applause.
Upon the second offer, very few, and upon the second refusal, all
again applauded. Caesar finding it would not take, rose up, and
ordered the crown to be carried into the capitol.
Caesar's statues were afterwards found with royal
diadems on their heads. Flavius and Marullus, two tribunes of
the people, went presently and pulled them off, and having apprehended
those who first saluted Caesar as king committed
them to prison. The people followed them with
acclamations, and called them by the name of Brutus, because
Brutus was the first who ended the succession of kings, and
transferred the power which before was lodged in
one man into the hands of the senate and people.
Caesar so far resented this, that he displaced Marullus and Flavius;
and in urging his charges against them, at the same time ridiculed the
people, by himself giving the men more than once the names of Bruti and
Cumaei.
This made the multitude turn their thoughts to Marcus Brutus, who, by
his father's side, was thought to be descended from that first Brutus,
and by his mother's side from the Servilii, another
noble family, being besides nephew and son-in-law
to Cato. But the honours and favours he had received
from Caesar took off the edge from the desires he might himself have
felt for overthrowing the new monarchy. For he had not only been
pardoned himself after Pompey's defeat at
Pharsalia, and had procured the same grace for many
of his friends, but was one in whom Caesar had a particular
confidence. He had at that time the most honourable
praetorship for the year, and was named for the
consulship four years after, being preferred before Cassius, his
competitor. Upon the question as to the choice, Caesar, it is related,
said that Cassius had the fairer pretensions, but
that he could not pass by Brutus. Nor would he
afterwards listen to some who spoke against Brutus, when
the conspiracy against him was already afoot, but laying his hand on
his body, said to the informers, "Brutus will wait for this skin
of mine," intimating that he was worthy to
bear rule on account of his virtue, but would not
be base and ungrateful to gain it. Those who desired a change, and
looked on him as the only, or at least the most proper, person to
effect it, did not venture to speak with him; but
in the night-time laid papers about his chair of
state, where he used to sit and determine causes, with such
sentences in them as, "You are asleep, Brutus," "You
are no longer Brutus." Cassius, when he
perceived his ambition a little raised upon this, was
more instant than before to work him yet further, having himself a private
grudge against Caesar for some reasons that we have mentioned in the
Life of Brutus. Nor was Caesar without suspicions of him, and said once
to his friends, "What do you think Cassius is aiming at? I don't
like him, he looks so pale." And when it was
told him that Antony and Dolabella were in a plot
against him, he said he did not fear such fat, luxurious men,
but rather the pale, lean fellows, meaning Cassius and Brutus.
Fate, however, is to all appearance more unavoidable than unexpected. For
many strange prodigies and apparitions are said to have been observed shortly
before this event. As to the lights in the heavens, the noises heard
in the night, and the wild birds which perched in the forum, these are
not perhaps worth taking notice of in so great a case as this. Strabo,
the philosopher, tells us that a number of men were
seen, looking as if they were heated through with
fire, contending with each other; that a quantity
of flame issued from the hand of a soldier's servant, so that they
who saw it thought he must be burnt, but that after all he had no hurt.
As Caesar was sacrificing, the victim's heart was missing, a very bad
omen, because no living creature can subsist without a heart. One
finds it also related by many that a soothsayer
bade him prepare for some great danger on the Ides
of March. When this day was come, Caesar, as he went to
the senate, met this soothsayer, and said to him by way of raillery, "The
Ides of March are come," who answered him calmly, "Yes, they
are come, but they are not past." The day
before his assassination he supped with Marcus
Lepidus; and as he was signing some letters according to his custom, as
he reclined at table, there arose a question what sort of death was the
best. At which he immediately, before any one could speak, said,
"A sudden one."
After this, as he was in bed with his wife, all the doors and windows of
the house flew open together he was startled at the noise, and the
light which broke into the room, and sat up in his
bed, where by the moonshine he perceived Calpurnia
fast asleep, but heard her utter in her dream some indistinct
words and inarticulate groans. She fancied at that time she was
weeping over Caesar, and holding him butchered in her arms. Others say
this was not her dream, but that she dreamed that a pinnacle, which the
senate, as Livy relates, had ordered to be raised on Caesar's house by
way of ornament and grandeur, was tumbling down, which was the
occasion of her tears and ejaculations. When it was
day, she begged of Caesar, if it were possible, not
to stir out, but to adjourn the senate to another time;
and if he slighted her dreams, that she would be pleased to consult his
fate by sacrifices and other kinds of divination. Nor was he himself without
some suspicion and fears; for he never before discovered any womanish superstition
in Calpurnia, whom he now saw in such great alarm. Upon the report
which the priests made to him, that they had killed several
sacrifices, and still found them inauspicious, he
resolved to send Antony to dismiss the senate.
In this juncture, Decimus Brutus, surnamed Albinus, one whom Caesar had
such confidence in that he made him his second heir, who nevertheless was
engaged in the conspiracy with the other Brutus and Cassius, fearing lest
if Caesar should put off the senate to another day, the business might
get wind, spoke scoffingly and in mockery of the
diviners, and blamed Caesar for giving the senate
so fair an occasion of saying he had put a slight upon
them, for that they were met upon his summons, and were ready to vote unanimously
that he should be declared king of all the provinces out of Italy,
and might wear a diadem in any other place but Italy, by sea or land.
If any one should be sent to tell them they might break up for the present,
and meet again when Calpurnia should chance to have better dreams, what
would his enemies say? Or who would with any patience hear his
friends, if they should presume to defend his
government as not arbitrary and tyrannical? But if
he was possessed so far as to think this day unfortunate, yet it were
more decent to go himself to the senate, and to adjourn it in his own
person. Brutus, as he spoke these words, took Caesar by the hand, and conducted
him forth. He was not gone far from the door, when a servant of
some other person's made towards him, but not being able to come up to
him, on account of the crowd of those who pressed about him, he made his
way into the house, and committed himself to Calpurnia, begging of her
to secure him till Caesar returned, because he had matters of great importance
to communicate to him.
Artemidorus, a Cnidian, a teacher of Greek logic, and by that means so
far acquainted with Brutus and his friends as to have got into the
secret, brought Caesar in a small written memorial
the heads of what he had to depose. He had observed
that Caesar, as he received any papers, presently gave
them to the servants who attended on him; and therefore came as near to
him as he could, and said, "Read this, Caesar, alone, and
quickly, for it contains matter of great importance
which nearly concerns you." Caesar received
it, and tried several times to read it, but was still hindered by
the crowd of those who came to speak to him. However, he kept it in his
hand by itself till he came into the senate. Some say it was another who
gave Caesar this note, and that Artemidorus could not get to him,
being all along kept off by the crowd.
All these things might happen by chance. But the place which was destined
for the scene of this murder, in which the senate met that day, was
the same in which Pompey's statue stood, and was one of the edifices which
Pompey had raised and dedicated with his theatre to the use of the public,
plainly showing that there was something of a supernatural influence which
guided the action and ordered it to that particular place. Cassius, just
before the act, is said to have looked towards Pompey's statue, and silently
implored his assistance, though he had been inclined to the doctrines of
Epicurus. But this occasion, and the instant danger, carried him away out
of all his reasonings, and filled him for the time with a sort of
inspiration. As for Antony, who was firm to Caesar
and a strong man, Brutus Albinus kept him outside
the house, and delayed him with a long conversation contrived on
purpose. When Caesar entered, the senate stood up to show their
respect to him, and of Brutus's confederates, some
came about his chair and stood behind it, others
met him, pretending to add their petitions to those of Tillius
Cimber, in behalf of his brother, who was in exile; and they followed him
with their joint applications till he came to his seat. When he was sat
down, he refused to comply with their requests, and upon their urging him,
further began to reproach them severely for their importunities, when Tillius,
laying hold of his robe with both his hands, pulled it down from his
neck, which was the signal for the assault. Casca gave him the first cut
in the neck, which was not mortal nor dangerous, as coming from one who
at the beginning of such a bold action was probably very much
disturbed; Caesar immediately turned about, and
laid his hand upon the dagger and kept hold of it.
And both of them at the same time cried out, he that received the
blow, in Latin, "Vile Casca, what does this mean?" and he
that gave it, in Greek to his brother,
"Brother, help!" Upon this first onset, those who
were not privy to the design were astonished, and their horror and amazement
at what they saw were so great that they durst not fly nor assist Caesar,
nor so much as speak a word. But those who came prepared for the business
enclosed him on every side, with their naked daggers in their hands.
Which way soever he turned he met with blows, and saw their swords levelled
at his face and eyes, and was encompassed like a wild beast in the
toils on every side. For it had been agreed they should each of them make
a thrust at him, and flesh themselves with his blood; for which reason
Brutus also gave him one stab in the groin. Some
say that he fought and resisted all the rest,
shifting his body to avoid the blows, and calling out
for help, but that when he saw Brutus's sword drawn, he covered his face
with his robe and submitted, letting himself fall, whether it were by
chance or that he was pushed in that direction by his murderers, at the
foot of the pedestal on which Pompey's statue stood, and which was thus
wetted with his blood. So that Pompey himself seemed to have presided,
as it were, over the revenge done upon his
adversary, who lay here at his feet, and breathed
out his soul through his multitude of wounds, for they say
he received three-and-twenty. And the conspirators themselves were many
of them wounded by each other, whilst they all levelled their blows at
the same person.
When Caesar was despatched, Brutus stood forth to give a reason for
what they had done, but the senate would not hear him, but flew out of
doors in all haste, and filled the people with so much alarm and
distraction, that some shut up their houses, others
left their counters and shops. All ran one way or
the other, some to the place to see the sad spectacle, others back
again after they had seen it. Antony and Lepidus, Caesar's most
faithful friends, got off privately, and hid
themselves in some friends' houses. Brutus and his
followers, being yet hot from the deed, marched in a body from
the senate-house to the capitol with their drawn swords, not like persons
who thought of escaping, but with an air of confidence and assurance, and
as they went along, called to the people to resume their liberty, and invited
the company of any more distinguished people whom they met. And some
of these joined the procession and went up along with them, as if they
also had been of the conspiracy, and could claim a share in the honour
of what had been done. As, for example, Caius
Octavius and Lentulus Spinther, who suffered
afterwards for vanity, being taken off by Antony and the young Caesar,
and lost the honour they desired, as well as their lives, which it
cost them, since no one believed they had any share in the action. For
neither did those who punished them profess to
revenge the fact, but the ill-will. The day after,
Brutus with the rest came down from the capitol and
made a speech to the people, who listened without expressing either any
pleasure or resentment, but showed by their silence that they pitied Caesar
and respected Brutus. The senate passed acts of oblivion for what was
past, and took measures to reconcile all parties. They ordered that Caesar
should be worshipped as a divinity, and nothing, even of the slightest
consequence, should be revoked which he had enacted
during his government. At the same time they gave
Brutus and his followers the command of provinces, and
other considerable posts. So that all the people now thought things were
well settled, and brought to the happiest adjustment.
But when Caesar's will was opened, and it was found that he had left
a considerable legacy to each one of the Roman citizens, and when his
body was seen carried through the market-place all mangled with
wounds, the multitude could no longer contain
themselves within the bounds of tranquillity and
order, but heaped together a pile of benches, bars, and tables, which they
placed the corpse on, and setting fire to it, burnt it on them. Then they
took brands from the pile and ran some to fire the houses of the
conspirators, others up and down the city, to find
out the men and tear them to pieces, but met,
however, with none of them, they having taken effectual care to secure
themselves.
One Cinna, a friend of Caesar's, chanced the night before to have an
odd dream. He fancied that Caesar invited him to supper, and that upon
his refusal to go with him, Caesar took him by the
hand and forced him, though he hung back. Upon
hearing the report that Caesar's body was burning in
the market-place, he got up and went thither, out of respect to his memory,
though his dream gave him some ill apprehensions, and though he was
suffering from a fever. One of the crowd who saw him there asked
another who that was, and having learned his name,
told it to his neighbour. It presently passed for a
certainty that he was one of Caesar's murderers, as,
indeed, there was another Cinna, a conspirator, and they, taking this to
be the man, immediately seized him and tore him limb from limb upon the
spot.
Brutus and Cassius, frightened at this, within a few days retired out
of the city. What they afterwards did and suffered, and how they died,
is written in the Life of Brutus. Caesar died in
his fifty-sixth year, not having survived Pompey
above four years. That empire and power which he
had pursued through the whole course of his life with so much hazard, he
did at last with much difficulty compass, but reaped no other fruits from
it than the empty name and invidious glory. But the great genius which
attended him through his lifetime even after his
death remained as the avenger of his murder,
pursuing through every sea and land all those who were
concerned in it, and suffering none to escape, but reaching all who in
any sort or kind were either actually engaged in the fact, or by their
counsels any way promoted it.
The most remarkable of mere human coincidences was that which befell Cassius,
who, when he was defeated at Philippi, killed himself with the same
dagger which he had made use of against Caesar. The most signal
preternatural appearances were the great comet,
which shone very bright for seven nights after
Caesar's death, and then disappeared, and the dimness of the sun, whose
orb continued pale and dull for the whole of that year, never showing its
ordinary radiance at its rising, and giving but a weak and feeble
heat. The air consequently was damp and gross for
want of stronger rays to open and rarefy it. The
fruits, for that reason, never properly ripened, and began
to wither and fall off for want of heat before they were fully formed.
But above all, the phantom which appeared to Brutus
showed the murder was not pleasing to the gods. The
story of it is this.
Brutus, being to pass his army from Abydos to the continent on the
other side, laid himself down one night, as he used to do, in his
tent, and was not asleep, but thinking of his
affairs, and what events he might expect. For he is
related to have been the least inclined to sleep of all men
who have commanded armies, and to have had the greatest natural
capacity for continuing awake, and employing
himself without need of rest. He thought he heard a
noise at the door of his tent, and looking that way, by the light
of his lamp, which was almost out, saw a terrible figure, like that of
a man, but of unusual stature and severe countenance. He was somewhat frightened
at first, but seeing it neither did nor spoke anything to him, only
stood silently by his bedside, he asked who it was. The spectre
answered him, "Thy evil genius, Brutus, thou
shalt see me at Philippi." Brutus answered courageously,
"Well, I shall see you," and immediately the appearance
vanished. When the time was come, he drew up his
army near Philippi against Antony and Caesar, and
in the first battle won the day, routed the enemy, and plundered
Caesar's camp. The night before the second battle, the same phantom appeared
to him again, but spoke not a word. He presently understood his destiny
was at hand, and exposed himself to all the danger of the battle. Yet
he did not die in the fight, but seeing his men defeated, got up to the
top of a rock, and there presenting his sword to his naked breast, and
assisted, as they say, by a friend, who helped him to give the thrust,
met his death.
THE END