Part 31 (1/2)

(M1009) The succeeding nine years of Caesar's life were occupied by the subjugation of Gaul. In the first campaign he subdued the Helvetii, and conquered Ariovistus, a powerful German chieftain. In the second campaign he opposed a confederation of Belgic tribes-the most warlike of all the Gauls, who had collected a force of three hundred thousand men, and signally defeated them, for which victories the Senate decreed a public thanksgiving of fifteen days. That given in Pompey's honor, after the Mithridatic war, had lasted but ten. At this time he made a renewed compact with Pompey and Cra.s.sus, by which Pompey was to have the two Spains for his province, Cra.s.sus that of Syria, and he himself should have a prolonged government in Gaul for five years more. The combined influence of these men was enough to secure the elections, and the year following Cra.s.sus and Pompey were made consuls. Caesar had to resist powerful confederations of the Gauls, and in order to strike terror among them, in the fourth year of the war, invaded Britain. But I can not describe the various campaigns of Caesar in Gaul and Britain without going into details hard to be understood-his brilliant victories over enemies of vastly greater numbers, his marchings and countermarchings, his difficulties and dangers, his inventive genius, his strategic talents, his boundless resources, his command over his soldiers and their idolatry, until, after nine years, Gaul was subdued and added to the Roman provinces. During his long absence from Rome his interests were guarded by the tribune Curio, and Marcus Antonius, the future triumvir. During this time Cra.s.sus had ingloriously conducted a distant war in Parthia, in quest of fame and riches, and was killed by an unknown hand after a disgraceful defeat. This avaricious patrician must not be confounded with the celebrated orator, of a preceding age, who was so celebrated for his elegance and luxury.

Affairs at Rome had also taken a turn which indicated a rupture with Caesar and Pompey, now left, by the death of Cra.s.sus, at the head of the State.

The brilliant victories of the former in Gaul were in everybody's mouth, and the fame of the latter was being eclipsed. A serious rivalry between these great generals began to show itself. The disturbances which also broke out on the death of Clodius led to the appointment of Pompey as sole consul, and all his acts as consul tended to consolidate his power. His government in Spain was prolonged for five years more; he entered into closer connections with the aristocracy, and prepared for a rupture with his great rival, which had now become inevitable, as both grasped supreme power. That struggle is now to be presented in the following chapter.

CHAPTER XL.

THE CIVIL WARS BETWEEN CaeSAR AND POMPEY.

(M1010) The condition of Rome when Caesar returned, crowned with glory, from his Gallic campaign, in which he had displayed the most consummate ability, was miserable enough. The const.i.tution had been a.s.sailed by all the leading chieftains, and even Cicero could only give vent to his despair and indignation in impotent lamentations. The cause of liberty was already lost. Caesar had obtained the province of Gaul for ten years, against all former precedent, and Pompey had obtained the extension of his imperium for five additional years. Both these generals thus had armies and an independent command for a period which might be called indefinite-that is, as long as they could maintain their authority in a period of anarchy. Rome was disgraced by tumults and a.s.sa.s.sinations; worthless people secured the highest offices, and were the tools of the two great generals, who divided between them the empire of the world. All family ties between these two generals were destroyed by the death of Julia. The feud between Clodius and Milo, the one a candidate for the praetors.h.i.+p, and the other for the consuls.h.i.+p, was most disgraceful, in the course of which Clodius was slain. Each wanted an office as the means of defraying enormous debts. Pompey, called upon by the Senate to relieve the State from anarchy, was made sole consul-another unprecedented thing. The trial of Milo showed that Pompey was the absolute master at Rome, and it was his study to maintain his position against Caesar.

(M1011) It was plain that the world could not have two absolute masters, for both Pompey and Caesar aspired to universal sovereignty. One must succ.u.mb to the other-be either anvil or hammer. Neither would have been safe without their unities and their armed followers. And if both were destroyed, the State would still be convulsed with factions. All true const.i.tutional liberty was at an end, for both generals and demagogues could get such laws pa.s.sed as they pleased, with sufficient money to bribe those who controlled the elections. It was a time of universal corruption and venality. Money was the mainspring of society. Public virtue had pa.s.sed away,-all elevated sentiment,-all patriotism,-all self-sacrifice.

The people cared but little who ruled, if they were supplied with corn and wine at nominal prices. Patrician n.o.bles had become demagogues, and demagogues had power in proportion to their ability or inclination to please the people. Cicero despaired of the State, and devoted himself to literature. There yet remained the aristocratic party, which had wealth and prestige and power, and the popular party, which aimed to take these privileges away, but which was ruled by demagogues more unprincipled than the old n.o.bility. Pompey represented the one, and Caesar the other, though both were n.o.bles.

Both these generals had rendered great services. Pompey had subdued the East, and Caesar the West. Pompey had more prestige, Caesar more genius.

Pompey was a greater tactician, Caesar a greater strategist. Pompey was proud, pompous, jealous, patronizing, self-sufficient, disdainful. Caesar was politic, intriguing, patient, lavish, unenvious, easily approached, forgiving, with great urbanity and most genial manners. Both were ambitious, unscrupulous, and selfish. Cicero distrusted both, flattered each by turns, but inclined to the side of Pompey as more conservative, and less dangerous. The Senate took the side of Pompey, the people that of Caesar. Both Caesar and Pompey had enjoyed power so long, that neither would have been contented with private life.

(M1012) In the year B.C. 49, Caesar's proconsular imperium was to terminate one year after the close of the Gallic war. He wished to be re-elected consul, and also secure his triumph. But he could not, according to law, have the triumph without disbanding the army, and without an army he would not be safe at Rome, with so many enemies. Neither could he be elected consul, according to the forms, while he enjoyed his imperium, for it had long been the custom that no one could sue for the consuls.h.i.+p at the head of an army. He, therefore, could neither be consul nor enjoy a triumph, legitimately, without disbanding his army. Moreover, the party of Pompey, being then in the ascendant at Rome, demanded that Caesar should lay down his imperium. The tribunes, in the interests of Caesar, opposed the decree of the Senate; the reigning consuls threatened the tribunes, and they fled to Caesar's camp in Cisalpine Gaul. It should, however, be mentioned, that when the consul Marcellus, an enemy of Caesar, proposed in the Senate that he should lay down his command, Curio, the tribune, whose debts Caesar had paid, moved that Pompey should do the same; which he refused to do, since the election of Caesar to the consuls.h.i.+p would place the whole power of the republic in his hands. Caesar made a last effort to avoid the inevitable war, by proposing to the Senate to lay down his command, if Pompey would also; but Pompey prevaricated, and the compromise came to nothing. Both generals distrusted each other, and both were disloyal to the State. The Senate then appointed a successor to Caesar in Gaul, ordered a general levy of troops throughout Italy, and voted money and men to Pompey. Caesar had already crossed the Rubicon, which was high treason, before his last proposal to compromise, and he was on his way to Rome. No one resisted him, for the people had but little interest in the success of either party. Pompey, exaggerating his popularity, thought he had only to stamp the ground, and an army would appear, and when he discovered that his rival was advancing on the Flaminican way, fled hastily from Rome with most of the senators, and went to Brundusium. Caesar did not at once seize the capital, but followed Pompey, and so vigorously attacked him, that he quit the town and crossed over to Illyric.u.m. Caesar had no troops to pursue him, and therefore retraced his steps, and entered Rome, after an absence of ten years, at the head of a victorious army, undisputed master of Italy.

(M1013) But Pompey still controlled his proconsular province of Spain, where seven legions were under his lieutenants, and Africa also was occupied by his party. Caesar, after arranging the affairs of Italy, marched through Gaul into Spain to fight the generals of Pompey. That campaign was ended in forty days, and he became master of Spain. While in Spain he was elected to his second consuls.h.i.+p, and also made dictator. He returned to Rome as rapidly as he had marched into Spain, and enacted some wholesome laws, among others that by which the inhabitants of Cisalpine Gaul, the northern part of Italy, obtained citizens.h.i.+p. After settling the general affairs of Italy, he laid down the dictators.h.i.+p, and went, to Brundusium, and collected his forces from various parts for a decisive conflict with Pompey, who had remained, meanwhile, in Macedonia, organizing his army. He collected nine legions, with auxiliary forces, while his fleet commanded the sea. He also secured vast magazines of corn in Thessaly, Asia, Egypt, Crete, and Cyrene.

(M1014) Caesar was able to cross the sea with scarcely more than fifteen thousand men, on account of the insufficiency of his fleet, and he was thrown upon a hostile sh.o.r.e, cut off from supplies, and in presence of a vastly superior force. But his troops were veterans, and his cause was strengthened by the capture of Apollonia. He then advanced north to seize Dyrhachiuim, where Pompey's stores were deposited, but Pompey reached the town before him, and both armies encamped on the banks of the river Apsus, the one on the left and the other on the right bank. There Caesar was joined by the remainder of his troops, brought over with great difficulty from Brundusium by Marcus Antonius, his most able lieutenant and devoted friend. Pompey was also re-enforced by two legions from Syria, led by his father-in-law, Scipio. Both parties abstained from attacking each other while these re-enforcements were being brought forward, and Caesar even made a last effort at compromise, while the troops on each side exchanged mutual courtesies.

(M1015) Pompey avoided a pitched battle, and intrenched himself on a hill near Dyrhachium. Caesar surrounded him with lines of circ.u.mvallation.

Pompey broke through them, and compelled Caesar to retire, with considerable loss. He retreated to Thessaly, followed by Pompey, who, had he known how to pursue his advantage, might, after this last success-the last he ever had-have defeated Caesar. He had wisely avoided a pitched battle until his troops should become inured to service, or until he should wear out his adversary; but now, puffed up with victory and self-confidence, and unduly influenced by his officers, he concluded to risk a battle. Caesar was encamped on the plain of Pharsalia, and Pompey on a hill about four miles distant. The steep bank of the river Enipeus covered the right of Pompey's line and the left of Caesar's. The infantry of the former numbered forty-five thousand; that of the latter, twenty-two thousand, but they were veterans. Pompey was also superior in cavalry, having seven thousand, while Caesar had only one thousand. With these, which formed the strength of Pompey's force, he proposed to outflank the right of Caesar, extended on the plain. To guard against this movement, Caesar withdrew six cohorts from his third line, and formed them into a fourth in the rear of his cavalry on the right. The battle commenced by a furious a.s.sault on the lines of Pompey by Caesar's veterans, who were received with courage. Meanwhile Pompey's cavalry swept away that of Caesar, and was advancing to attack the rear, when they received, unexpectedly, the charge of the cohorts which Caesar had posted there, The cavalry broke, and fled to the mountains. The six cohorts then turned upon the slingers and archers, who had covered the attack of the cavalry, defeated them, and fell upon the rear of Pompey's left. Caesar then brought up his third line, and decided the battle. Pompey had fled when he saw the defeat of his cavalry. His camp was taken and sacked, and his troops, so confident of victory, were scattered, surrounded, and taken prisoners.

Caesar, with his usual clemency, spared their lives, nor had he any object to destroy them. Among those who surrendered after this decisive battle was Junius Brutus, who was not only pardoned, but admitted to the closest friends.h.i.+p.

(M1016) Pompey, on his defeat, fled to Larissa, embarked with his generals, and sailed to Mitylene. As he had still the province of Africa and a large fleet, it was his policy to go there; but he had a silly notion that his true field of glory was the East, and he saw no place of refuge but Egypt. That kingdom was then governed by the children of Ptolemy Auletes, Cleopatra and Ptolemy, neither of whom were adults, and who, moreover, were quarreling with each other for the undivided sovereignty of Egypt. At this juncture, Pompey appeared on the coast, on which Ptolemy was encamped. He sent a messenger to the king, with the request that he might be sheltered in Alexandria. To grant it would compromise Ptolemy with Caesar; to refuse it would send Pompey to the camp of Cleopatra in Syria. He was invited to a conference, and his minister Achillus was sent out in a boat to bring him on sh.o.r.e. Pompey, infatuated, imprudently trusted himself in the boat, in which he recognized an old comrade, Septimius, who, however, did not return his salutation. On landing, he was stabbed by Septimius, who had persuaded Ptolemy to take his life, in order to propitiate Caesar and gain the Egyptian crown. Thus ingloriously fell the conqueror of Asia, and the second man in the empire, by treachery.

(M1017) On the flight of Pompey from the fatal battle-field, Caesar pressed in pursuit, with only one legion and a troop of cavalry. Fearing a new war in Asia, Caesar waited to collect his forces, and then embarked for Egypt.

He arrived at Alexandria only a few days after the murder of his rival, and was met by an officer bearing his head. He ordered it to be burned with costly spices, and placed the ashes in a shrine, dedicated to Nemesis. He then demanded ten million drachmas, promised by the late king, and summoned the contending sovereigns to his camp. Cleopatra captivated him, and he decided that both should share the throne, but that the ministers of Ptolemy should be deposed, which was reducing the king to a cipher. But the fanaticism of the Alexandrians being excited, and a collision having taken place between them and his troops, Caesar burned the Egyptian fleet, and fortified himself at Pharos, awaiting re-enforcements.

Ptolemy, however, turned against him, when he had obtained his release, and perished in an action on the banks of the Nile. Cleopatra was restored to the throne, under the protection of Rome.

(M1018) Pharnaces, son of Mithridates, rewarded by Pompey with the throne of the Bosphorus for the desertion of his father, now made war against Rome. Galvinus, sent against him, sustained a defeat, and Caesar rapidly marched to Asia to restore affairs. It was then he wrote to the Senate that brief, but vaunting letter: ”_Veni, vidi, vici._” He already meditated those conquests in the East which had inflamed the ambition of his rival. He caught the spirit of Oriental despotism. He was not proof against the flatteries of the Asiatics. But his love for Cleopatra worked a still greater change in his character, even as it undermined the respect of his countrymen. History brands with infamy that unfortunate connection, which led to ostentation, arrogance, harshness, impatience, and contempt of mankind-the same qualities which characterized Napoleon on his return from Egypt.

(M1019) In September, B.C. 47, Caesar returned to Italy, having been already named dictator by a defeated and obsequious Senate. Cicero was among the first to meet him, and was graciously pardoned. The only severe measure which he would allow was the confiscation of the property of Pompey and his sons, whose statues, however, he replaced. He now ruled absolutely, but under the old forms, and was made tribune for life. The Senate nominated him consul for five years, and he was also named dictator.

(M1020) The only foes who now seriously stood out against him were the adherents of Pompey, who had time, during his absence in the East, to reorganize their forces, and it was in Africa that the last conflict was to be fought. The Pompeians were commanded by Scipio, who fixed his head-quarters at Hadrumentum, with an army of ten legions, a large force of Numidian cavalry, and one hundred and twenty elephants. But Caesar defeated this large army with a vastly inferior force, and the rout was complete. Scipio took s.h.i.+p for Spain, but was driven back, as Marius had been on the Italian coasts when pursued by the generals of Sulla, and ended his life by suicide. Cato, the n.o.blest Roman of his day, whose march across the African desert was one of the great feats of his age, might have escaped, and would probably have been pardoned: but the lofty stoic could not endure the sight of the prostration of Roman liberties, and, fortifying his courage with the _Phaedon_ of Plato, also fell upon his sword. The Roman republic ended with his death.

(M1021) After reducing Numidia to a Roman province, Caesar returned to Italy with immense treasures, and was everywhere received with unexampled honors. At Rome he celebrated a fourfold triumph-for victories in Gaul, Egypt, Africa, and the East-and the Senate decreed that his image in ivory should be carried in procession with those of the G.o.ds. His bronze statue was set upon a globe in the capitol, as the emblem of universal sovereignty. All the extravagant enthusiasm which marked the French people for the victories of Napoleon, and all the servility which unbounded power everywhere commands, were bestowed upon the greatest conqueror the ancient world ever saw. A thanksgiving was decreed for forty days; the number of the lictors was doubled; he was made dictator for ten years, with the command of all the armies of the State, and the presidency of the public festivals. He also was made censor for three years, by which he regulated the Senate according to his sovereign will. His triumphs were followed by profuse largesses to the soldiers and people, and he also inst.i.tuted magnificent games under an awning of silk, at the close of which the _Forum Julium_ was dedicated.

(M1022) Such were his unparalleled honors and powers. All the great offices of the State were invested and united in him, and nothing was wanted to complete his aggrandizement but the name of emperor. But we turn from these, the usual rewards of conquerors, to glance at the services he rendered to civilization, which const.i.tute his truest claim to immortality. One of the greatest was the reform of the calendar, for the Roman year was ninety days in advance of the true meaning of that word.

The old year had been determined by lunar months rather than by the apparent path of the sun among the fixed stars which had been determined by the ancient astronomers, and was one of the greatest discoveries of ancient science. The Roman year consisted of three hundred and fifty-five days, so that January was an autumn month. Caesar inserted the regular intercalary month of twenty-three days, and two additional ones of sixty-seven days. These were added to the three hundred and sixty-five days, making a year of transition of four hundred and forty-five days, by which January was brought back to the first month of the year, after the winter solstice. And to prevent the repet.i.tion of the error, he directed that in future the year should consist of three hundred and sixty-five days and one quarter of a day, which he effected by adding one day to the months of April, June, September, and November, and two days to the months of January, s.e.xtilis, and December, making an addition of ten days to the old year of three hundred and fifty-five, and he provided for a uniform intercalation of one day in every fourth year. Caesar was a student of astronomy, and always found time for its contemplation. He even wrote an essay on the motion of the stars, a.s.sisted in his observation by Sosigenes, an Alexandrian astronomer. He took astronomy out of the hands of priests, and made it a matter of civil legislation. He was drawn away from legislation to draw the sword once more against the relics of the Pompeian party, which had been collected in Spain. On the field of Munda was fought his last great battle, contested with unusual fury, and attended with savage cruelties. Thirty thousand of his opponents fell in this battle, and s.e.xtus Pompey alone, of all the marked men, escaped to the mountains, and defied pursuit. On this victory he celebrated his last triumph, and the supple Senate decreed to him the t.i.tle of Imperator. He was made consul for ten years, dictator for life, his person was decreed inviolable, and he was surrounded by a guard of n.o.bles and senators. He also received the insignia of royalty, a golden chair and a diadem set with gems, and was allowed to wear the triumphal robe of purple whenever he appeared in public. The coins were stamped with his image, his statue was placed in the temples, and his friends obtained all the offices of the State. He adopted Octavius, his nephew, for his heir, and paved the way for an absolute despotism under his successors. The measure of his glory and ambition was full. He was the undisputed master of the world.

He then continued his reforms and improvements, as Napoleon did after his coronation as emperor. He gave the Roman franchise to various States and cities out of Italy, and colonized new cities. He excluded _judices_ from all ranks but those of senators and knights, and enacted new laws for the security of persons and property. He gave unbounded religious toleration, and meditated a complete codification of the Roman law. He founded a magnificent public library, appointed commissioners to make a map of the whole empire, and contemplated the draining of the Pontine marshes.