Part 13 (2/2)

It would have been well for Cicero, and better for the state, had the orator been willing to join hands with Caesar and Pompey; but he was too vain of his own glory to join hands with those who were his superiors, and he clung to the Senate, feeling that his talents would s.h.i.+ne there more, and be more likely to redound to his own personal fame.

Caesar's consuls.h.i.+p increased his popularity among all except the aristocrats. His AGRARIAN LAW, carefully framed and worded, was bitterly opposed by the Senate, especially by his colleague, Bibulus, and by Cato. The law provided that large tracts of the _ager publicus_, then held on easy terms by the rich patricians, be distributed among the veterans of Pompey. Caesar proposed to pay the holders a reasonable sum for their loss, though legally they had no claim whatever on the land.

Although Bibulus interfered, Cato raved, and the Tribunes vetoed, still the a.s.sembly pa.s.sed the law, and voted in addition that the Senate be obliged to take an oath to observe it.

The LEGES JULIAE were a code of laws which Caesar drew up during his year of office. They mark an era in Roman law, for they cover many crimes the commission of which had been for a long time undermining the state.

The most important of these was the LEX DE REPETUNDIS, aimed at the abuses of governors of provinces. It required all governors to make a double return of their accounts, one to be left in the province open for inspection, the other to be kept at Rome.

When Caesar's term of office was nearly ended, he obtained from the reluctant Senate his appointment as Proconsul of Gaul for five years.

He must leave the city, however, in safe hands, otherwise all his work would be undone. He managed the consular elections for the next year (58) so adroitly, that Piso and Gabinius, on whose friends.h.i.+p he could rely, were elected.

There were in Rome, however, two men whom it would be dangerous for Caesar to leave behind. Cato, the ultra aristocrat, hated him bitterly.

Cicero, whose ambition was to lead the Senate, a body only too willing to crush Caesar, might do him great harm. It was Caesar's good fortune, or, as some believe, the result of his own scheming, that both these men were put temporarily out of the way.

CLODIUS PULCHER was a young aristocrat, notorious for his wildness. At one time, by a.s.suming the dress of a woman, he had gained admittance to the festival of _Bona Dea_, which was celebrated only by women. He was discovered and brought to trial before the Senate, but acquitted by means of open bribery. Cicero had been instrumental in bringing him to trial, and Clodius never forgot it. He got adopted into a plebeian family in order to be a candidate for the tribunes.h.i.+p, and was successful. He then proposed to the a.s.sembly that any person who had put to death a Roman citizen without allowing him to appeal to the people be considered a violator of the const.i.tution. The proposal was carried.

All knew that Cicero was meant, and he fled at once to Macedonia. His property was confiscated, his houses were destroyed, and his palace in the city was dedicated to the G.o.ddess of Liberty.

The kingdom of Cyprus, which had long been attached to that of Egypt, had been bequeathed to Rome at the death of Ptolemy Alexander in 80. The Senate had delayed to accept the bequest, and meanwhile the island was ruled by Ptolemy of Cyprus, one of the heirs of the dead king.

Clodius, on the plea that this king harbored pirates, persuaded the a.s.sembly to annex the island, and to send Cato to take charge of it.

He accepted the mission, and was absent two years. His duties were satisfactorily performed, and he returned with about $7,000,000 to increase the Roman treasury. Thus, Cicero and Cato being out of the city, the Senate was without a leader who could work injury in Caesar's absence.

CHAPTER x.x.x. CAESAR'S CAMPAIGNS IN GAUL. Caesar was now in the prime of manhood, in the full vigor of mind and body. His previous experience in camp life had been comparatively small. His early service in Asia, and his more recent campaigns in Spain, however, had shown his apt.i.tude for military life.

The Romans had already obtained a foothold in Gaul. Since 118, the southern part of the country along the seaboard had been a Roman province, called GALLIA NARBONENSIS, from the colony of Narbo which the Romans had founded. The rest of Gaul included all modern France, and a part of Switzerland, Holland, and Belgium. The inhabitants were all of the Celtic race, except a few Germans who had crossed the Rhine and settled in the North, and the AQUITaNI, who lived in the Southwest and who are represented by the Basques of to-day.

The Gauls were more or less civilized since they had come into contact with the Romans, but they still had the tribal form of government, like the early Romans. There were more than fifty of these tribes, which were mostly hostile to one another, as well as divided into factions among themselves. This condition favored a conquest, for the factions were frequently Roman and non-Roman. Two of the chief tribes were the AEDUI and SEQUANI. The former had been taken under the protection of Rome; the latter, impatient of control and Roman influence, had invited a tribe of Germans under Ariovistus to come into Gaul and settle, and be their allies. These Germans had attacked and conquered the Aeduans, taken from them hostages, and with the Sequanians were in the ascendency.

In Switzerland lived the HELVETII. They had so increased in numbers that their country was too small for them. They therefore proposed to emigrate farther into Gaul, and the Sequanians, whose lands bordered on those of the Helvetians, gave them permission to march through their country.

Such was the state of affairs when Caesar arrived in Gaul. Feeling that the pa.s.sage of such a large body of emigrants (368,000) through Gaul would be dangerous to the province (Gallia Narbonensis), he determined to interfere. The Helvetians were met at BIBRACTE, near Autun, and after a terrible battle, which raged from noon until night, were defeated with great slaughter (58). The survivors, about one third, were treated kindly, and most of them sent back to Switzerland.

Caesar now turned his attention to the Germans who had settled west of the Rhine. After several fruitless attempts at negotiation, during which the bad faith of Ariovistus became conspicuous, the forces came together. Though the Germans were brave, they were no match for the drilled legionaries, who fought with the regularity of a machine. Few of the barbarians escaped, but among these was Ariovistus.

The campaigns of this year being ended, the legions were sent into winter quarters among the Sequanians under Labienus, the lieutenant of Caesar. He himself went into Cisalpine Gaul to attend to his duties as administrator, and to have communication with his friends at Rome.

THE WAR WITH THE BELGAE.

While Caesar was in Hither Gaul, he learned from Labienus that the BELGAE were forming a league to resist the Romans. This people occupied the northeastern part of Gaul, and embraced several tribes, of which the princ.i.p.al were the REMI, BELLOVACI, SUESSIoNES, and NERVII. The last were the fiercest and least civilized.

Caesar raised two new legions, making eight in all, and marched against the Belgae as soon as the spring opened. His sudden approach alarmed the Remi, who lived nearest to Central Gaul, and they immediately put themselves under his protection. From them he learned that the Belgae could muster about 300,000 men.

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