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1Such were Caesar’s experiences at that time. The following year he became both dictator and consul at once, holding each of the offices for the third time, and with Lepidus as his colleague in both instances. For when he had been named dictator by Lepidus the first time, he had sent him immediately after his praetorship into Hither Spain; 2and upon his return he had honoured him with a triumph, although Lepidus had conquered no foes nor so much as fought with any, the pretext being that he had been present at the exploits of Longinus and of Marcellus. 3Accordingly, he sent home nothing, as a matter of fact, except the money he had plundered from the allies. Caesar besides exalting Lepidus with these honours chose him later as his colleague in both the positions mentioned.
2When now they were in office, the people of Rome were disturbed by prodigies; for a wolf was seen in the city, and a pig was born resembling an elephant save for its feet. In Africa, Petreius and Labienus, after waiting until Caesar had gone out to villages after grain, 2drove his cavalry, which had not yet thoroughly recovered its strength after the sea-voyage, back upon the infantry with the aid of the Numidians; and while the latter as a result was in great confusion, they killed many of the soldiers in hand-to -hand fighting. Indeed, they would also have cut down all the others, who had crowded together on some high ground, had they not received grievous wounds themselves. 3Even so, they alarmed Caesar not a little by this deed. For considering how he had been checked by a few, and expecting, too, that Scipio and Juba would arrive directly with all their forces, as it was reported they would, he was greatly embarrassed and did not know what course to adopt. 4For he was not yet able to carry through the war to a satisfactory conclusion; and he saw that to stay in the same place was difficult because of the lack of subsistence, even if the foe should leave his troops alone, and that to retire was impossible, with the enemy pressing upon him both by land and by sea. Consequently he was dispirited.
3He was still in this position when one Publius Sittius (if, indeed, we ought to say it was he, and not rather Providence) brought to him at one stroke salvation and victory. This man had been exiled from Italy, and taking with him some fellow-exiles and crossing over into Mauretania, 2he had collected a force and served as general under Bocchus; and although he had previously received no benefit from Caesar, and was not known to him at all, in fact, he undertook to assist him in the war and help him overcome his present difficulties. 3In pursuance of this plan he did not go to the aid of Caesar himself, for he heard that he was at a distance and thought that his own assistance would prove of small value to him, since he had as yet no large body of troops, but waited, instead, until Juba set out on his expedition, 4and then he invaded Numidia, harrying it and Gaetulia (a part of Juba’s dominion) so completely that the king gave up the matter in hand and turned back in the midst of his march with most of his army; for he also sent a part of it to Scipio at the same time. 5This fact made it very clear that if Juba had also come up, Caesar could never have withstood the two. Indeed, he did not so much as venture to join issue with Scipio alone at first, because he stood in great dread of the elephants, among other things, partly on account of their fighting abilities, but still more because they kept throwing his cavalry into confusion. 4Therefore, while keeping as strict guard over the camp as he could, he sent to Italy for soldiers and elephants. He did not count on the latter, to be sure, for any considerable military achievement, since there were not many of them, but desired that the horses, by becoming accustomed to the sight and sound of them, should learn to have no further fear of those belonging to the enemy.
2Meanwhile the Gaetulians came over to his side, and also some of their neighbours, partly on account of the Gaetulians, since they heard these had been highly honoured, and partly through remembrance of Marius, since Caesar was a relative of his. 3When this had occurred, and his reinforcements from Italy, in spite of delay and danger due to the winter and the enemy, had at length crossed over, he no longer remained quiet, but, on the contrary, hastened forward to battle, in order to overpower Scipio before Juba’s arrival. 4He moved forward against him in the direction of a city called Uzitta, where he took up his quarters on a crest overlooking both the city and the enemy’s camp, having first dislodged those who were holding it. Later, when Scipio attacked him, he drove him away also from the higher ground, and by charging down after him with his cavalry did him some injury. 5So he held this position and fortified it; and he also took another hill on the other side of the city by defeating Labienus on it, after which he walled off the entire place. For Scipio, fearing his own power might be spent too soon, would no longer risk a battle with Caesar, 6but kept sending for Juba; and when the latter would not obey his summons, Scipio promised to make him a present of all the territory that the Romans had in Africa. Juba then appointed others to take charge of the operations against Sittius and in person once more set out against Caesar.
5While this was going on Caesar tried in every way to draw Scipio into conflict. Baffled in this, he made friendly overtures to the latter’s soldiers, and distributed among them pamphlets, 2in which he promised to the native that he would preserve his possessions unharmed and leave the people themselves free, and to the Roman that he would grant him pardon and the same prizes he had offered to his followers. In this way he gained over a goodly number. 3Scipio in like manner undertook to circulate both pamphlets and verbal offers among his opponents, with a view to winning some to himself; but he was unable to induce them to change sides. This was not because some of them would not have chosen his cause by preference, if any offers similar to Caesar’s had been made; 4it was due rather to the fact that he did not promise them any prize, but merely urged them to liberate the Roman people and the senate. And so, inasmuch as he chose the course that was more becoming to acknowledge rather than the one that was more expedient for the situation in which he found himself, he failed to gain over any of them.
6So long, then, as Scipio alone was in the camp, matters went on thus, but when Juba also came up, the situation was changed. For they both tried to provoke their opponents to battle and harassed them when they were unwilling to contend; 2moreover with their cavalry they inflicted serious injuries upon any of them who were scattered to a distance. But Caesar was not disposed to come to close quarters with them if he could help it. He prevented their walling him in, secured a bare subsistence for his troops, and kept sending for other forces from home. 3These reached him only after much delay and difficulty, for they had not all been together, but were collected gradually and lacked boats in which to cross in a body. When at length they did reach him and he had added them to his army, he took courage once more and leading out his forces against the foe, arrayed them in front of the intrenchments. 4Seeing this, his opponents marshalled themselves in turn, but did not join issue with them. This continued for several days. For apart from brief cavalry skirmishes, after which they would retire, neither side risked any movement worth speaking of.
7Accordingly, when Caesar perceived that because of the nature of the land he could not force them to engage in conflict unless they chose, he set out for Thapsus, in order that he might either engage them, if they came to the help of the city, or might at least capture the place, if they left it to its fate. 2Now Thapsus is situated on a kind of peninsula, with the sea stretching along on one side and a lake on the other; the isthmus between them is so narrow and marshy that one reaches the town by two roads, only a little way apart, running along either side of the marsh close to the shore. 3On his way toward this city Caesar, when he had got inside the narrowest point, proceeded to dig a ditch and to erect a palisade. The townspeople caused him no trouble, as they were no match for him; but Scipio and Juba undertook in their turn to wall off the neck of the isthmus, where it comes to an end at the mainland, by running palisades and ditches across from both sides. 8They were engaged in this work and were making great progress every day (for in order that they might build the walls across more quickly they had stationed the elephants along the portion not yet protected by a ditch and hence easy for the enemy to attack, while on the remaining portions all were working), 2when Caesar suddenly attacked the men who were with Scipio, and by using slings and arrows from a distance threw the elephants into great confusion. Then as they retreated he not only followed them up, but fell upon the workers unexpectedly and routed them, too; and when they fled into their camp, he dashed in with them and captured it without a blow. 3Juba, upon seeing this, was so startled and terrified that he ventured neither to come to close quarters with any one nor even to keep the camp under guard; 4so he fled and hastened homeward. And then, when no one received him, especially since Sittius had already overpowered all opposition, Juba, despairing of safety, fought in single combat with Petreius, who likewise had no hope of pardon, and together they died. 9Caesar, immediately after Juba’s flight, captured the palisade and caused great slaughter among all who came in the way of his troops, sparing not even those who came over to his side. Next he brought the rest of the cities to terms, meeting with no opposition; 2and taking over the Numidians, he reduced them to the status of subjects, and delivered them to Sallust, nominally to rule, but really to harry and plunder. At all events this officer took many bribes and confiscated much property, so that he was not only accused but incurred the deepest disgrace, 3inasmuch as after writing such treatises as he had, and making many bitter remarks about those who fleeced others, he did not practice what he preached. Therefore, even if he was completely exonerated by Caesar, yet in his history, as upon a tablet, the man himself had chiselled his own condemnation all too well.
4This affair, then, turned out thus. As for these districts in Libya, the region surrounding Carthage, which we also call Africa, was called the old province, because it had long ago been subjugated, whereas the region of the Numidians was called the new province, because it had been newly captured. 5Scipio, who had fled from the battle, chanced upon a ship and set sail for Spain to go to Pompey. But he was cast ashore in Mauretania, and through fear of Sittius made away with himself.
10Cato, since many had sought refuge with him, was at first preparing to take a hand in affairs and to resist Caesar as best he might. But the people of Utica 2had not been hostile to Caesar in the first place, and now, seeing him victorious, would not listen to Cato; and the members of the senate and the knights who were present were afraid of being arrested by them, and so meditated flight. Cato himself, therefore, decided neither to war against Caesar, being unable to do so anyhow, nor yet to go over to his side. 3This was not because of any fear, since he understood well enough that Caesar would be very eager to spare him for the sake of his reputation for humanity; but it was because he passionately loved freedom, and would not brook any defeat at the hands of anybody, and regarded Caesar’s pity as far more hateful than death. 4So he called together the citizens who were present, enquired where each one of them was intending to go, sent them forth with supplies for their journey, and bade his son go to Caesar. To the youth’s inquiry, “Why, then, do you also not do so?” 5he replied: “I, who have been brought up in freedom, with the right of free speech, cannot in my old age change and learn slavery instead; but for you, who were both born and brought up amid such a condition, it is proper to serve the divinity that presides over your fortunes.”
11When he had done this and had given to the people of Utica an account of his administration and returned to them the surplus funds, as well as whatever else of theirs he had, he wished to be rid of life before Caesar’s arrival. 2He did not undertake to do this by day, inasmuch as his son and others surrounding him kept him under surveillance; but when evening was come, he secretly slipped a dagger under his pillow, and asked for Plato’s book on the Soul. 3This was either in the endeavour to divert those present from the suspicion that he had any such purpose in mind, in order to be observed as little as possible, or else in the desire to obtain some consolation in respect to death from the reading of it. When he had read the work through and it was now near midnight, 4he drew forth the dagger, and smote himself upon the belly. He would have died immediately from loss of blood, had he not in falling from the low couch made a noise and roused those who were keeping guard before his door. Thereupon his son and some others who rushed in put his bowels back into his belly again, and brought medical attendance for him. 5Then they took away the dagger and locked the doors, that he might obtain sleep; for they had no idea of his perishing in any other way. But he thrust his hands into the wound and broke the stitches of it, and so expired.
6Thus Cato, who had proved himself at once the most democratic and the strongest-minded of all the men of his time, acquired great glory even from his very death and obtained the title of Uticensis, both because he had died in Utica, as described, and because he was publicly buried by the inhabitants. 12Caesar declared that he was angry with him, because Cato had begrudged him the distinction of saving such a man, and he released his son and most of the others, as was his custom; for they came over to him of their own accord, some at once, and others later, so as to approach him after time should have blunted his anger. 2So these were spared; but Afranius and Faustus would not come to him of their own free will, feeling sure of being put to death, but fled to Mauretania, where they were captured by Sittius. Caesar put them to death, as captives,without a trial; 3but in the case of Lucius Caesar, though the man was related to him and came as a voluntary suppliant, nevertheless, since he had fought against him throughout, he at first bade him stand trial, so that he might seem to have condemned him with some show of legality, and then, as he shrank from putting him to death by his own vote, he postponed the trial for the time being, but afterward killed him secretly. 13Indeed, even in the case of those of his own followers who did not suit him he willingly lost some at the hands of the enemy and deliberately caused others to perish in the midst of the fighting at the hands of their own comrades. 2For, as I have said, he did not attack openly all who had injured him, but any whom he could not prosecute on a plausible charge he quietly put out of the way in some obscure fashion. And yet on this occasion he burned unread all the papers that were found in the private chests of Scipio, 3while of the men who had fought against him he spared many for their own sake, and many also for the sake of their friends. For, as I have stated, he always allowed each of his soldiers and companions to ask the life of one man. 4In fact he would have spared Cato, too; for he had conceived such an admiration for him that when Cicero subsequently wrote an encomium of Cato he was not at all vexed, although Cicero had likewise warred against him, but merely wrote a short treatise which he entitled “Anticato.”
14Immediately after these events and before he crossed into Italy Caesar got rid of the older men among his soldiers for fear they might mutiny again. He arranged other matters in Africa 2just as rapidly as was feasible and sailed as far as Sardinia with his whole fleet. From that point he sent the dismissed troops along with Gaius Didius into Spain against Pompey, and he himself returned to Rome, priding himself particularly upon the brilliance of his achievements, but also upon the decrees of the senate as well. 3For they had voted that sacrifices should be offered for his victory during forty days, and had granted him permission to ride, in the triumph already voted him, in a chariot drawn by white horses and to be accompanied by all the lictors who were then with him, and by as many others as he had employed in his first dictatorship, together with as many more as he had had in his second. 4Furthermore, they elected him overseer of every man’s conduct (for some such name was given him, as if the title of censor were not worthy of him) for three years, and dictator for ten in succession. 5They moreover voted that he should sit in the senate upon the curule chair with the successive consuls, and should always state his opinion first, that he should give the signal at all the games in the Circus, and that he should have the appointment of the magistrates and whatever honours the people were previously accustomed to assign. 6And they decreed that a chariot of his should be placed on the Capitol facing the statue of Jupiter, that his statue in bronze should be mounted upon a likeness of the inhabited world, with an inscription to the effect that he was a demigod, and that his name should be inscribed upon the Capitol in place of that of Catulus on the ground that he had completed this temple after undertaking to call Catulus to account for his building of it. 7These are the only measures I have recorded, not because they were the only ones voted,—for a great many measures were proposed and of course passed,—but because he declined the rest, whereas he accepted these.
15When these decrees had now been passed, he entered Rome, and perceiving that the people were afraid of his power and suspicious of his proud bearing and consequently expected to suffer many terrible evils such as had taken place before, and realizing that it was on this account that they had voted him extravagant honours, through flattery and not through good-will, 2he endeavoured to encourage them and to inspire them with hope by the following speech delivered in the senate:
“Let none of you, Conscript Fathers, suppose that I shall make any harsh proclamation or do any cruel deed merely because I have conquered and am able to say whatever I please without being called to account, and to do with full liberty whatever I choose. 3It is true that Marius and Cinna and Sulla and practically all the others who ever triumphed over the factions opposed to them said and did many benevolent things in the beginning of their undertakings, 4largely as the result of which they attracted men to their side, thus securing, if not their active support, at least their abstention from opposition; and then, after conquering and becoming masters of the ends they sought, adopted a course diametrically opposed to their former stand both in word and in deed. Let no one, however, assume that I shall act in this same way. 5For I have not associated with you in former time under a disguise, while possessing in reality some different nature, only to become emboldened in security now that that is possible; nor have I become so elated or puffed up by my great good fortune as to desire also to play the tyrant over you—both of which experiences, or at least one of them, seem to me to have come to those men whom I mentioned. 6No, I am in nature the same sort of man as you have always found me—but why go into details and become offensive as praising myself?—and I would not think of insulting Fortune, but the more I have enjoyed her favours, the more moderately will I use her in every way. 7For I have had no other motive in striving to secure so great power and to rise to such a height that I might punish all active foes and admonish all those of the other faction, than that I might be able to play a man’s part without danger and to obtain prosperity with honour. 16For in general it is neither noble nor just for a man to be convicted of doing the things which he has rebuked in those who have differed from him in opinion; nor will I ever think it proper to be likened to such men through my imitation of their deeds, and to differ merely by the reputation of my complete victory. 2For who ought to confer more and greater benefits upon people than he who has the greatest power? Who ought to err less than he who is the strongest? Who should use the gifts of Heaven more sensibly than he who has received the greatest ones from that source? Who ought to use present blessings more uprightly than he who has the most of them and is most afraid of losing them? 3For good fortune, if joined to self-control, is enduring, and authority, if it maintains moderation, preserves all that has been acquired; and, greatest of all, and also rarest with those who gain success without virtue, these things make it possible for their possessors to be loved unfeignedly while living and to receive genuine praise when dead. 4But the man who recklessly abuses his power on absolutely all occasions finds for himself neither genuine good-will nor certain safety, but, though accorded a false flattery in public, [is secretly plotted against (?)]. For the whole world, including his nearest associates, both suspects and fears a ruler who is not master of his own power.
17“These statements that I have made are no mere sophistries, but are intended to convince you that what I think and say is not for effect nor yet thoughts that have just chanced to occur to me on the spur of the moment, but rather are convictions regarding what at the outset I decided was both suitable and advantageous for me. Consequently you may not only be of good courage with reference to the present, but also hopeful as regards the future, when you reflect that, if I had really been using any pretence, I should not now be deferring my projects, but would have made them known this very day. 2However, I was never otherwise minded in times past, as, indeed, my acts themselves prove, and now I shall be far more eager than ever with all reasonableness to be, not your master,—Jupiter forbid!—but your champion, not your tyrant, but your leader. When it comes to accomplishing everything else that must be done on your behalf, I will be both consul and dictator, but when it comes to injuring any one of you, a private citizen. 3That, in fact, is the one thing which I think should not even be mentioned. For why should I put any one of you to death, who have done me no harm, when I have destroyed none of those who were not arrayed against me, no matter how zealously in general they had joined with some of my enemies against me, and when I have taken pity on all those who withstood me but once and in many cases have spared even those who fought against me a second time? 4Why should I bear malice toward any, seeing that I immediately burned all the documents that were found among the private papers both in Pompey’s and in Scipio’s tents, and that without reading or copying them? Let us, therefore, Conscript Fathers, confidently unite our interests, forgetting all past events as if they had been brought to pass by some supernatural force, 5and beginning to love each other without suspicion as if we were in some sort new citizens. In this way you will conduct yourselves toward me as toward a father, enjoying the forethought and solicitude which I shall give you and fearing nothing unpleasant, and I will take thought for you as for my children, 6praying that only the noblest deeds may ever be accomplished by your exertions, and yet enduring perforce the limitations of human nature, exalting the good citizens by fitting honours and correcting the rest so far as that is possible.
18“And do not fear the soldiers, either, or regard them in any other light than as guardians of my empire, which is at the same time yours. That they should be supported is necessary, for many reasons, but they will be supported for your benefit, not against you; and they will be content with what is given them and will think well of the givers. 2This is the reason why the taxes now levied are higher than usual, in order that the seditious element may be made submissive and the victorious element, by receiving sufficient support, may not become seditious. Of course I have received no private gain from these funds, seeing that I have expended for you all that I possessed, and also much that was borrowed. 3No, you can see that a part of the taxes has been expended on the wars and that the rest has been kept safe for you; it will serve to adorn the city and carry on the government in general. I have, then, taken upon my own shoulders the odium of the levy, whereas you will all enjoy its advantages in common, in the campaigns as well as elsewhere. 4For we are always in need of arms, since without them it is impossible for us, who live in so great a city and hold so extensive an empire, to live in safety; and an abundance of money is a great help in this matter as well as elsewhere. 5However, let none of you suspect that I shall harass any man who is rich or establish any new taxes; I shall be satisfied with the present revenues and shall be more anxious to help make some contribution to your prosperity than to wrong any one for his money.”
6By such statements in the senate and afterward before the people Caesar relieved them to some extent of their fears, but was not able to persuade them altogether to be of good courage until he confirmed his promises by his deeds.
19After this he conducted the whole festival in a brilliant manner, as was fitting in honour of victories so many and so decisive. He celebrated triumphs for the Gauls, for Egypt, for Pharnaces, and for Juba, in four sections, on four separate days. 2Most of it, of course, delighted the spectators, but the sight of Arsinoë of Egypt, whom he led among the captives, and the host of lictors and the symbols of triumph taken from the citizens who had fallen in Africa displeased them exceedingly. 3The lictors, on account of their numbers, appeared to them a most offensive multitude, since never before had they beheld so many at one time; and the sight of Arsinoë, a woman and once considered a queen, in chains,—a spectacle which had never yet been seen, at least in Rome,—aroused very great pity, 4and with this as an excuse they lamented their private misfortunes. She, to be sure, was released out of consideration for her brothers; but others, including Vercingetorix, were put to death.
20The people, accordingly, were disagreeably affected by these sights that I have mentioned, and yet they considered them of very slight importance in view of the multitude of captives and the magnitude of Caesar’s accomplishments. This led them to admire him extremely, as did likewise the good nature with which he bore the army’s outspoken comments. For the soldiers jeered at those of their own number who had been appointed by him to the senate 2and at all the other failings of which he was accused, and in particular jested about his love for Cleopatra and his sojourn at the court of Nicomedes, the ruler of Bithynia, inasmuch as he had once been at his court when a lad; indeed, they even declared that the Gauls had been enslaved by Caesar, but Caesar by Nicomedes. 3Finally, on top of all this, they all shouted out together that if you do right, you will be punished, but if wrong, you will be king. This was meant by them to signify that if Caesar should restore self-government to the people, which they of course regarded as just, he would have to stand trial for the deeds he had committed in violation of the laws and would suffer punishment; whereas, if he should hold on to his power, which was naturally the course of an unjust person, he would continue to be sole ruler. 4As for him, however, he was not displeased at their saying this, but was quite delighted that by such frankness toward him they showed their confidence that he would never be angry at it—except in so far as their abuse concerned his intercourse with Nicomedes. At this he was greatly vexed and manifestly pained; he attempted to defend himself, denying the affair upon oath, whereupon he incurred all the more ridicule.
21Now on the first day of the triumph a portent far from good fell to his lot: the axle of the triumphal car broke down directly opposite the temple of Fortune built by Lucullus, so that he had to complete the rest of the course in another. 2On this occasion, too, he climbed up the stairs of the Capitol on his knees, without noticing at all either the chariot which had been dedicated to Jupiter in his honour, or the image of the inhabited world lying beneath his feet, or the inscription upon it; but later he erased from the inscription the term “demigod.”
3After the triumph he entertained the populace splendidly, giving them grain beyond the regular amount and olive oil. Also to the multitude which received doles of corn he assigned the three hundred sesterces which he had already promised and a hundred more, but to the soldiers twenty thousand in one sum. 4Yet he was not uniformly munificent, but in most respects was very strict; for instance, since the multitude receiving doles of corn had increased enormously, not by lawful methods but in such ways as are common in times of strife, he caused the matter to be investigated and struck out half of their names at one time before the distribution.
22The first days of the triumph he passed as was customary, but on the last day, after they had finished dinner, he entered his own forum wearing slippers and garlanded with all kinds of flowers; thence he proceeded homeward with practically the entire populace escorting him, while many elephants carried torches. 2For he had himself constructed the forum called after him, and it is distinctly more beautiful than the Roman Forum; yet it had increased the reputation of the other so that that was called the Great Forum. So after completing this new forum and the temple to Venus, as the founder of his family, 3he dedicated them at this very time, and in their honour instituted many contests of all kinds. He built a kind of hunting-theatre of wood, which was called an amphitheatre from the fact that it had seats all around without any stage. In honour of this and of his daughter he exhibited combats of wild beasts and gladiators; 4but anyone who cared to record their number would find his task a burden without being able, in all probability, to present the truth; for all such matters are regularly exaggerated in a spirit of boastfulness. I shall accordingly pass over this and other like events that took place later, except, of course, where it may seem to me quite essential to mention some particular point, 23but I will give an account of the so -called camelopard, because it was then introduced into Rome by Caesar for the first time and exhibited to all. This animal is like a camel in all respects except that its legs are not all of the same length, the hind legs being the shorter. 2Beginning from the rump it grows gradually higher, which gives it the appearance of mounting some elevation; and towering high aloft, it supports the rest of its body on its front legs and lifts its neck in turn to an unusual height. Its skin is spotted like a leopard, and for this reason it bears the joint name of both animals. 3Such is the appearance of this beast. As for the men, he not only pitted them one against another singly in the Forum, as was customary, but he also made them fight together in companies in the Circus, horsemen against horsemen, men on foot against others on foot, and sometimes both kinds together in equal numbers. There was even a fight between men seated on elephants, forty in number. 4Finally he produced a naval battle, not on the sea nor on a lake, but on land; for he hollowed out a certain tract on the Campus Martius and after flooding it introduced ships into it. In all the contests the captives and those condemned to death took part; 5yet some even of the knights, and, not to mention others, the son of one who had been praetor fought in single combat. Indeed a senator named Fulvius Sepinus desired to contend in full armour, but was prevented; for Caesar deprecated that spectacle at any time, though he did permit the knights to contend. 6The patrician boys went through the equestrian exercise called “Troy” according to ancient custom, and the young men of the same rank contended in chariots.
24He was blamed, indeed, for the great number of those slain, on the ground that he himself had not become sated with bloodshed and was further exhibiting to the populace symbols of their own miseries; but much more fault was found because he had expended countless sums on all that array. In consequence a clamour was raised against him for two reasons—first, that he had collected most of the funds unjustly, and, again, that he had squandered them for such purposes. 2If I mention one feature of his extravagance at that time, I shall thereby give an idea of all the rest. In order that the sun might not annoy any of the spectators, he had curtains stretched over them made of silk, according to some accounts. Now this fabric is a device of barbarian luxury, and has come down from them even to us to gratify the fastidious taste of fine ladies. 3The citizens perforce held their peace at such acts, but the soldiers raised a disturbance, not because they cared about the reckless squandering of the money, but because they themselves did not receive the citizens’ wealth too. In fact they did not cease their rioting until Caesar suddenly came upon them, and seizing one man with his own hands, delivered him up to punishment. 4So this man was executed for the reason given, and two others were slain as a sort of ritual observance. The true cause I am unable to state, inasmuch as the Sibyl made no utterance and there was no other similar oracle, but at any rate they were sacrificed in the Campus Martius by the pontifices and the priest of Mars, and their heads were set up near the Regia.
25While Caesar was thus engaged he was also enacting many laws, most of which I shall omit, mentioning only those most worthy of record. The courts he entrusted to the senators and the knights alone, in order that the purest element of the population, so far as was possible, might always preside; 2for formerly some of the common people had also joined with them in rendering decisions. The expenditures, moreover, of men of means, which had grown to an enormous extent by reason of their prodigality, he not only regulated by law but also practically checked by stern measures. Moreover, since, on account of the multitude of those who had perished there was a serious falling off in population, as was shown both by the censuses (which he attended to, among other things, as if he were censor) and, indeed, by mere observation, he offered prizes for large families of children. 3Again, since it was by ruling the Gauls for many years in succession that he himself had conceived a greater desire for dominion and had increased the equipment of his force, he limited by law the term of propraetors to one year, and that of proconsuls to two consecutive years, and enacted that no one whatever should be allowed to hold any command for a longer time.
26After the passage of these laws he also established in their present fashion the days of the year, which had got somewhat out of order, since they still at that time measured their months by the moon’s revolutions; he did this by adding sixty-seven days, the number necessary to bring the year out even. Some, indeed, have declared that even more were intercalated, but the truth is as I have stated it. 2He got this improvement from his stay in Alexandria, save in so far as the people there reckon their months as of thirty days each, and afterwards add the five days to the year as a whole, whereas Caesar distributed among seven months these five along with two other days that he took away from one month. 3The one day, however, which results from the fourths he introduced into every fourth year, so as to make the annual seasons no longer differ at all except in the slightest degree; at any rate in fourteen hundred and sixty-one years there is need of only one additional intercalary day.
27All these and the other undertakings which he was planning for the common weal he accomplished not on his own authority nor by his own counsel, but communicated everything in every instance to the leaders of the senate, and sometimes even to that entire body. And to this practice most of all was due the fact that, even after he passed some rather harsh measures, he still succeeded in pleasing them. 2For these acts, then, he received praise; but when he induced some of the tribunes to restore many of those who had been exiled after due trial, and allowed those who had been convicted of bribery in canvassing for office to live in Italy, and furthermore enrolled once more in the senate some who were unworthy of it, many murmurings of all sorts arose against him. 3But he incurred the greatest censure from all because of his passion for Cleopatra—not now the passion he had displayed in Egypt (for that was a matter of hearsay), but that which was displayed in Rome itself. For she had come to the city with her husband and settled in Caesar’s own house, so that he too derived an ill repute on account of both of them. He was not at all concerned, however, about this, but actually enrolled them among the friends and allies of the Roman people.
28Meanwhile he was learning in detail all that Pompey was doing in Spain; but thinking him easy to vanquish, he at first despatched the fleet from Sardinia against him, and later sent on also the armies that had been enrolled, intending to conduct the whole war through others. 2But when he ascertained that Pompey was gaining great headway and that the men he had sent were not sufficient to fight against him, he finally set out himself to join the expedition, after entrusting the city to Lepidus and a number of prefects—eight as some think, or six as is more commonly believed.
29The legions in Spain under Longinus and Marcellus had rebelled and some of the cities had revolted. When Longinus had been removed and Trebonius had become his successor, they kept quiet for a few days; 2then, through fear of vengeance on Caesar’s part, they secretly sent ambassadors to Scipio, expressing a desire to transfer their allegiance, and he sent to them Gnaeus Pompey among others. Pompey put in at the Balearic Isles and took these islands without a battle, except Ebusus, which he gained with difficulty; then, falling sick, he tarried there with his troops. 3As a result of his delay, the soldiers in Spain, who had learned that Scipio was dead and that Didius was setting sail against them, feared that they would be annihilated before Pompey could arrive, and so failed to wait for him; but putting at their head Titus Quintius Scapula and Quintus Aponius, both knights, they drove out Trebonius and led the whole Baetic nation to revolt at the same time.
30They had gone thus far when Pompey, recovering from his illness, sailed across to the mainland opposite. He immediately won over several cities without resistance, for, being vexed at the commands of their rulers and also reposing no little hope in him because of the memory of his father, they readily received him; and Carthage, which was unwilling to come to terms, he besieged. 2The followers of Scapula, on learning of this, went there and chose him general with full powers, after which they were most devoted to him and showed the greatest zeal, regarding his successes as the successes of each one of them and his disasters as their own. Consequently their resolution was confirmed by their double purpose of obtaining the successes and avoiding the disasters. 3For Pompey, too, did what all are accustomed to do in the midst of such turbulent conditions, especially after the desertion of some of the Allobroges whom Juba had taken alive in the war against Curio and had given to him: that is, he granted to the rest every possible favour both in word and in deed. 4Not only these men, therefore, became more zealous in his behalf, but a number of the opposing side, also, particularly all who had once served under Afranius, came over to him. Then there were those who came to him from Africa, among others his brother Sextus, and Varus, and Labienus with his fleet. 5Elated, therefore, by the multitude of his army and by its zeal, he proceeded fearlessly through the country, gaining some cities of their own accord, and others against their will, and seemed to surpass even his father in power. 31For though Caesar also had generals in Spain, namely Quintus Fabius Maximus and Quintus Pedius, yet they did not regard themselves as a match for Pompey, but remained quiet themselves and kept sending urgently for Caesar.
2For a time matters went on thus; but when a few of the men sent in advance from Rome had reached there, and Caesar’s arrival was also expected, Pompey became frightened; and thinking that he was not strong enough to gain the mastery of all Spain, he did not wait for a reverse before changing his mind, but immediately, before making trial of his adversaries, retired into Baetica. 3The sea, moreover, straightway became hostile to him, and Varus was defeated in a naval battle near Carteia by Didius; indeed, had he not escaped to the land and sunk a row of anchors side by side at the mouth of the harbour, upon which the foremost pursuers were wrecked as upon a reef, he would have lost his whole fleet. 4All that region of the mainland except the city of Ulia was in alliance with Pompey; and this town, which had refused to submit to him, he proceeded to besiege.
32Meanwhile Caesar, too, with a few men suddenly came up unexpectedly, not only to Pompey’s followers, but even to his own soldiers. For he had employed such speed in crossing over that he appeared to both his adherents and his opponents before they had even heard that he was in Spain at all. 2He hoped by this very circumstance and by his mere presence to alarm Pompey and in particular to lure him from the siege; for most of his army had been left behind on the road. But Pompey, thinking that one man was not much superior to another and feeling full confidence in his own strength, was not seriously alarmed at the other’s arrival, but continued to besiege the city and kept making assaults upon it just as before. 3Hence Caesar left there a few troops from among those who had arrived first and set out himself for Corduba, partly, to be sure, in the hope of taking it by betrayal, but chiefly in the expectation of drawing Pompey away from Ulia through fear for this place. 4And so it turned out in the end. At first Pompey left a part of his army in position, and going to Corduba, strengthened it, and then, as Caesar did not resist his troops, put his brother Sextus in charge there. 5After this he failed to accomplish anything at Ulia. On the contrary, when a certain tower had fallen, and that not shaken down by his own men either, but broken down by the crowd that was making a defence from it, a few who rushed in fared badly; 6and Caesar, approaching, lent assistance secretly by night to the citizens, and marched against Corduba again himself, putting it under siege in turn. Then at last Pompey withdrew entirely from Ulia and hastened to the other town with his entire army, accomplishing the desired result. For Caesar, learning of it in time, retired, as he happened to be ill. 7Afterwards, when he had recovered and had taken charge of the additional troops who had followed on after him, he was compelled to carry on warfare even in the winter; for, being housed in miserable little huts, they were suffering distress and running short of food. 33Caesar was at that time dictator, and at length, near the close of the year, he was appointed consul, after Lepidus, who was master of the horse, had convoked the people for this purpose; for Lepidus had become master of the horse at that time also, having given himself, while still in the consulship, that additional title contrary to precedent.
2Caesar, accordingly, being compelled, as I have said, to carry on warfare even in the winter, did not attack Corduba, which was strongly guarded, but turned his attention to Ategua, a city in which he had learned there was an abundance of grain. Although it was a strong place, he hoped by the size of his army and the sudden terror of his appearance to alarm the inhabitants and capture it. And in a short time he had cut it off by a palisade and surrounded it by a ditch. 3For Pompey, encouraged by the nature of the place and thinking that Caesar because of the winter would not besiege it very long, paid no heed and did not try at first to repel the assailants, since he was unwilling to distress his own soldiers by the cold. 4Later, to be sure, when the town had been walled off and Caesar was encamped before it, he grew afraid and came with assistance. Falling in with the pickets suddenly on a misty night, he killed a number of them; and since the inhabitants were without a general, he sent in to them Munatius Flaccus. 34For this man contrived in the following way to get inside. He went alone by night to some of the guards, as if appointed by Caesar to visit the sentries, and asked and learned the watchword; for he was not known, and inasmuch as he was alone, would never have been suspected of being anything but a friend when he acted in this manner. Then he left these men 2and went around to the other side of the circumvallation where he met some other guards and gave them the watchword; after this he pretended that he was there to betray the city, and so went inside through the midst of the soldiers with their consent and actually under their escort. 3He could not, however, save the place. In addition to other setbacks there was one occasion when the citizens hurled fire upon the engines and ramparts of the Romans, although without doing them any damage worth mentioning, while they themselves fared ill by reason of a violent wind which just then began to blow toward them from the opposite direction; 4for their houses were set on fire and many persons perished from the stones and missiles, not being able to see any distance ahead of them for the smoke. After this disaster, as their land was being ravaged, and portions of their wall were collapsing as the result of mines, they began to riot. 5Flaccus first made overtures to Caesar on the basis of pardon for himself and his followers; but afterwards, when he failed of this owing to his refusal to surrender his arms, the natives sent envoys and submitted to the terms imposed upon them.
35Upon the capture of this city the other tribes also no longer held back, but many of their own accord sent envoys and espoused Caesar’s cause, and many received him or his lieutenants on their approach. 2Pompey, in consequence, being at a loss what to do, at first moved about and wandered from place to place through the country; later on he became afraid that as a result of this very course the rest of his adherents would also leave him in the lurch, and he chose to risk a decisive battle, although Heaven had beforehand indicated his defeat very clearly. 3To be sure, the drops of sweat that fell from the sacred statues, and the rumbling noises of legions, and the many creatures that were born outside their own species, and the torches darting from the east to the west, all of which signs occurred in Spain at that one time, did not make it clear to which of the two leaders they were revealing the future. 4But the eagles of Pompey’s legions shook their wings and let fall the thunderbolts which they held in their talons, in some cases of gold; thus they seemed to be hurling the threatened disaster directly at Pompey and to be flying off of their own accord to Caesar. But he made light of it, for Destiny was leading him on; thus he established himself in the city of Munda in order to give battle.
36Both leaders had in addition to their citizen and mercenary troops many of the natives and many Moors. For Bocchus had sent his sons to Pompey and Bogud in person made the campaign with Caesar. Still, the contest turned out to be like one between the Romans themselves, not between them and other nations. 2Caesar’s soldiers derived courage from their numbers and experience and above all from their leader’s presence, and so were anxious to be done with the war and its attendant miseries. Pompey’s men were inferior in these respects, but, becoming strong through their despair of safety, should they fail to conquer, they were full of eagerness. 3For inasmuch as the majority of them had been captured with Afranius and Varro, had been spared, and afterwards delivered to Longinus, and had revolted from him, they had no hope of safety if they were beaten, and hence were reduced to desperation, feeling that they must now win or else perish utterly. 4So the armies came together and began the battle; for they no longer felt any compunction at killing each other, since they had been so many times opposed in arms, and hence required no urging. 37Thereupon the allies on both sides were quickly routed and fled; but the legions themselves struggled in close combat to the utmost in their resistance of each other. Not a man of them would yield; they remained in their places slaying and perishing, as if each individual were to be responsible to all the rest as well for the issue of victory or defeat. 2Consequently they were not concerned to see how their allies were battling, but fought as eagerly as if they alone were struggling. Neither sound of paean nor groan was to be heard from any one of them, but both sides merely shouted “Strike! Kill!”, while their deeds easily outran their words. 3Caesar and Pompey, who witnessed these struggles from horseback from certain elevated positions, had no ground for either hope or despair, but, with their minds torn by doubts, were equally distressed by confidence and by fear. 4The battle was so evenly balanced that they suffered tortures at the sight as they strained to spy out some advantage, and shrank from discovering some setback. In mind, too, they suffered tortures, as they prayed for success and against misfortune, alternating between strength and fear. Therefore they were unable to endure it long, but leaped from their horses and joined in the conflict. 5Thus they preferred to share in it by personal exertion and danger rather than by tension of spirit, and each hoped by his participation in the fight to turn the scale somehow in favour of his own troops; or, failing that, they wished to die with them.
38The leaders, then, took part in the battle themselves; yet no advantage came of this to either army. On the contrary, when the men saw their chiefs sharing their danger, a far greater disregard for their own death and eagerness for the destruction of their opponents seized both alike. 2Accordingly neither side for the moment turned to flight, but, matched in determination, they proved also to be matched in physical strength. All would have perished or at nightfall they would have parted with honours even, had not Bogud, who was somewhere outside the conflict, set out for Pompey’s camp, whereupon Labienus, observing this, left his station and proceeded against him. 3Pompey’s men, then, supposing him to be in flight, lost heart; and though later, of course, they learned the truth, they could no longer recover themselves. Some fled to the city, some to the rampart. The latter body vigorously fought off their assailants and fell only when attacked from all sides, 4while the former long held the wall safe, so that it was not captured till all had perished in sallies. So great was the total loss of Romans on both sides that the victors, at a loss how to wall in the city to prevent any from running away in the night, actually heaped up the bodies of the dead around it.
39Caesar, having thus conquered, straightway took Corduba also. For Sextus had retired out of his way and the natives came over to his side, although their slaves, since they had been made free, resisted them. 2He slew the slaves under arms and sold the rest. And he adopted the same course also with those who held Hispalis; for they had at first pretended to accept a garrison from him willingly, but afterwards destroyed the soldiers who came there, and entered upon war. 3So he made a campaign against them, and by appearing to conduct the siege in a rather careless fashion he gave them some hope of being able to escape. After this he would allow them to come outside the wall, where he would ambush and destroy them; in this way he captured the town, which had been gradually stripped of its men. 4Later he acquired Munda and the other places, some against their will and with great slaughter and others of their own accord. He levied tribute so rigorously that he did not even spare the offerings consecrated to Hercules in Gades; and he also took land from some cities and laid an added tribute upon others. 5This was his course toward those who had opposed him; but to those who had displayed any good-will toward him he granted lands and exemption from taxation, to some also citizenship, and to others the status of Roman colonists; he did not, however, grant these favours for nothing.
40While Caesar was thus occupied, Pompey, who had escaped in the rout, reached the sea, intending to use the fleet that lay at anchor at Carteia, but found that the men had gone over to the victor’s side. 2He then embarked on a vessel, expecting to escape in this manner; but being wounded in the course of the attempt, he lost heart and put back to land, and then, taking with him some men who had assembled, set out for the interior. He met Caesennius Lento and was defeated; and taking refuge in a wood, perished there. Didius, ignorant of his fate, while wandering about in the hope of meeting him somewhere, met some other troops and perished.
41Caesar, too, would doubtless have chosen to fall there, at the hands of those who were still resisting and amid the glory of war, in preference to the fate he met not long afterward of being murdered in his own land and in the senate at the hands of his dearest friends. 2For this was the last war that he carried through successfully, and this the last victory that he won, in spite of the fact that there was no other project so great that he did not hope to accomplish it. In this hope he was confirmed especially by the circumstance that from a palm that stood on the site of the battle a shoot grew out immediately after the victory. 3Now I do not assert that this had no bearing in some direction, yet it was no longer for him, but for his sister’s grandson, Octavius; for the latter was making the campaign with him, and was destined to gain great lustre from his toils and dangers. As Caesar did not know this, and hoped that many great successes would still fall to his own lot, he showed no moderation, but was filled with arrogance, as if immortal. 42For, although he had conquered no foreign nation, but had destroyed a vast number of citizens, he not only celebrated the triumph himself, incidentally feasting the entire populace once more, as if in honour of some common blessing, but also allowed Quintus Fabius and Quintus Pedius to hold a celebration, although they had merely been his lieutenants and had achieved no individual success. 2Naturally this occasioned ridicule, as did also the fact that they used wooden instead of ivory representations of certain achievements together with other similar triumphal apparatus. Nevertheless, most brilliant triple triumphs and triple processions of the Romans were held in honour of those very events, and furthermore a thanksgiving of fifty days was observed. 3The Parilia was honoured by permanent annual games in the Circus, yet not at all because the city had been founded on that day, but because the news of Caesar’s victory had arrived the day before, toward evening.
43Such was his gift to Rome. For himself, he wore the triumphal garb, by decree, at all the games, and was adorned with the laurel crown always and everywhere alike. The excuse that he gave for it was that his forehead was bald; yet he gave occasion for talk by this very circumstance that at that time, though well past youth, he still bestowed attention upon his appearance. 2He used to show among all men his pride in rather loose clothing, and the footwear which he used later on was sometimes high and of a reddish colour, after the style of the kings who had once reigned in Alba, for he claimed that he was related to them through Iulus. 3In general he was absolutely devoted to Venus, and was anxious to persuade everybody that he had received from her a kind of bloom of youth. Accordingly he used also to wear a carven image of her in full armour on his ring and he made her name his watchword in almost all the greatest dangers. 4Sulla had looked askance at the looseness of his girdle, so much so that he had wished to kill him, and declared to those who begged him off: “Well, I will grant him to you; but be thoroughly on your guard against this ill-girt fellow.” And Cicero could not comprehend it, 5but even in the moment of defeat said: “I should never have expected one so ill-girt to conquer Pompey.”
This I have written by way of digression from my history, so that no one might be ignorant of any of the stories told about Caesar. 44In honour of his victory the senate passed all those decrees that I have mentioned, and further called him “Liberator,” entering it also in the records, and voted for a public temple of Liberty. 2Moreover, they now applied to him first and for the first time, as a kind of proper name, the title of imperator, no longer merely following the ancient custom by which others as well as Caesar had often been saluted as a result of their wars, nor even as those who received some independent command or other authority were called by this name, but giving him once for all the same title that is now granted to those who hold successively the supreme power. 3And such excessive flattery did they employ as even to vote that his sons and grandsons should be given the same title, though he had no child and was already an old man. From him this title has come down to all subsequent emperors, as one peculiar to their office, just like the title “Caesar.” 4The ancient custom has not, however, been thereby overthrown, but both usages exist side by side. Consequently the emperors are invested with it a second time when they gain some such victory as has been mentioned. For those who are imperatores in the special sense use this title once, as they do the other titles, and place it before the others; 5but those of them who also accomplish in war some deed worthy of it acquire also the title handed down by ancient custom, so that a man is termed imperator a second or a third time, or as many more times as the occasion may arise.
6These privileges they granted then to Caesar, as well as a house, so that he might live in state property, and a special thanksgiving whenever any victory should occur and sacrifices should be offered for it, even if he had not been on the campaign or had any hand at all in the achievements. 45Nevertheless, these measures, even though they seemed to some immoderate and contrary to precedent, were not thus far undemocratic. But the senate passed the following decrees besides, by which they declared him a monarch out and out. For they offered him the magistracies, even those belonging to the plebs, and elected him consul for ten years, as they previously had made him dictator. 2They ordered that he alone should have soldiers, and alone administer the public funds, so that no one else should be allowed to employ either of them, save whom he permitted. And they decreed at this time that an ivory statue of him, and later that a whole chariot, should appear in the procession at the games in the Circus, together with the statues of the gods. 3Another likeness they set up in the temple of Quirinus with the inscription, “To the Invincible God,” and another on the Capitol beside the former kings of Rome. 4Now it occurs to me to marvel at the coincidence: there were eight such statues,—seven to the kings, and an eighth to the Brutus who overthrew the Tarquins,—and they set up the statue of Caesar beside the last of these; and it was from this cause chiefly that the other Brutus, Marcus, was roused to plot against him.
46These were the measures that were passed in honour of his victory (I do not mention all, but as many as have seemed to me notable), not in one day, to be sure, but just as it happened, at different times. Caesar began to avail himself of some, and was intending to use others in the future, however emphatically he declined some of them. 2Thus he took the office of consul immediately, even before entering the city, but did not hold it through the whole year; instead, when he got to Rome he renounced it, turning it over to Quintus Fabius and Gaius Trebonius. 3When Fabius died on the last day of his consulship, he straightway named another man, Gaius Caninius Rebilus, in his place for the remaining hours. This was the first violation of precedent at this time, that one and the same man did not hold that office for a year or even for all the rest of the same year, but while living withdrew from it without compulsion from either ancestral custom or any accusation, and another took his place. 4Again, there was the fact that Caninius was appointed consul, served, and ceased to serve all at the same time. Hence Cicero jestingly remarked that the consul had displayed such great bravery and prudence in office as never to fall asleep in it for the briefest moment. 5So after that period the same persons no longer (except a few in the beginning) acted as consuls through the whole year, but according to circumstances, some for a longer time, some for a shorter, some for months, others for days; indeed, at the present time no one serves with any one else, as a rule, for a whole year or for a longer period than two months. 6In general we consuls to -day do not differ from one another, but the naming of the years is the privilege of those who are consuls at the beginning. Accordingly, in the case of the other consuls I shall name only those who were closely connected with the events mentioned, but in order to secure perfect clearness with regard to the succession of events, I shall mention also those who first held office in each year, even if they make no contribution to its events.
47While the consuls were appointed in this manner, the remaining magistrates were nominally elected by the plebs and by the whole people, in accordance with ancestral custom, since Caesar would not accept the appointment of them; yet really they were appointed by him, and were sent out to the provinces without casting lots. 2As for their number, all were the same as before, except that fourteen praetors and forty quaestors were appointed. For, since he had made many promises to many people, he had no other way to reward them, and hence took this method. 3Furthermore, he enrolled a vast number in the senate, making no distinction whether a man was a soldier or the son of a freedman, so that the sum of them grew to nine hundred; and he enrolled many also among the patricians and among the ex-consuls and such as had held some other office. 4He released some who were on trial for bribery and were being proved guilty, so that he was charged with bribe-taking himself. This report was strengthened by the fact that he also put up at auction all the public lands, not only the profane, but also the consecrated lots, and sold most of them. 5Nevertheless, he granted ample gifts to some persons in the form of money or the sale of lands; and in the case of a certain Lucius Basilus, who was praetor, instead of assigning him a province he bestowed a large amount of money upon him, so that Basilus became notorious both on this account as well as because, when insulted during his praetorship by Caesar, he had held out against him. 6All this suited those citizens who were receiving or even expecting to receive something, since they had no regard for the public weal in comparison with the chance of the moment for their own advancement by such means. But all the rest took it greatly to heart and had much to say about it to each other and also—as many as felt safe in so doing—in outspoken utterances and the publication of anonymous pamphlets.
48In addition to these measures carried out that year, two of the city prefects took charge of the finances, since no quaestor had been elected. For just as on former occasions, so now in the absence of Caesar, the prefects managed all the affairs of the city, in conjunction with Lepidus as master of the horse. 2And although they were censured for employing lictors and the magisterial garb and chair precisely like the master of the horse, they got off by citing a certain law which allowed all those receiving any office from a dictator to make use of such trappings. 3The administration of the finances, after being diverted at this time for the reasons I have mentioned, was no longer invariably assigned to the quaestors, but was finally assigned to ex-praetors. Two of the city prefects then managed the public treasuries, and one of them celebrated the Ludi Apollinares at Caesar’s cost. 4The plebeian aediles conducted the Ludi Megalenses in accordance with a decree. A certain prefect, appointed during the Feriae, himself chose a successor on the following day, and the latter a third; this had never happened before, nor did it happen again.
49These were the events at this time. The next year, during which Caesar was at once dictator for the fifth time, with Lepidus as master of the horse, and consul for the fifth time, choosing Antony as his colleague, sixteen praetors were in power,—a custom, indeed, that was continued for many years,—and the rostra, which was formerly in the centre of the Forum, was moved back to its present position; also the statues of Sulla and of Pompey were restored to it. 2For this Caesar received praise, and also because he yielded to Antony both the glory of the work and the inscription on it. Being anxious to build a theatre, as Pompey had done, he laid the foundations, but did not finish it; it was Augustus who later completed it and named it for his nephew, Marcus Marcellus. 3But Caesar was blamed for tearing down the dwellings and temples on the site, and likewise because he burned up the statues, which were almost all of wood, and because on finding large hoards of money he appropriated them all.
50Besides this, he introduced laws and extended the pomerium; in these and other matters his course was thought to resemble that of Sulla. Caesar, however, removed the ban from the survivors of those who had warred against him, granting them immunity on fair and uniform terms; 2he promoted them to office; to the wives of the slain he restored their dowries, and to their children he granted a share of the property, thus putting Sulla’s cruelty mightily to shame and gaining for himself a great reputation not alone for bravery but also for goodness, although it is generally a difficult thing for the same man to excel both in war and in peace. 3This was a source of pride to him, as was also the fact that he had restored again Carthage and Corinth. To be sure, there were many other cities in and outside of Italy which he had either rebuilt or founded anew; 4still, other men had done as much. But in the case of Corinth and Carthage, those ancient, brilliant, and distinguished cities which had been laid in ruins, he not only colonized them, in that he regarded them as colonies of the Romans, but also restored them in memory of their former inhabitants, in that he honoured them with their ancient names; 5for he bore no grudge, on account of the hostility of those peoples, towards places that had never harmed the Romans.
So these cities, even as they had once been demolished together, now began to revive together and bade fair to flourish once more. 51But while Caesar was thus engaged, a longing came over all the Romans alike to avenge Crassus and those who had perished with him, and they felt some hope of subjugating the Parthians then, if ever. They unanimously voted the command of the war to Caesar, and made ample provision for it. 2Among other details, they decided that he should have a generous number of assistants, and also, in order that the city should neither be without officials in his absence nor, again, by attempting to choose some on its own responsibility, fall into strife, that the magistrates should be appointed in advance for three years, this being the length of time they thought necessary for the campaign. Nevertheless, they did not designate them all beforehand. 3Nominally Caesar chose half of them, having a certain legal right to do this, but in reality he chose the whole number. For the first year, as previously, forty quaestors were elected, and now for the first time two patrician aediles as well as four from the plebs. Of the latter two have their title from Ceres, a custom which, then introduced, has remained to the present day. 4And praetors were appointed to the number of sixteen; it is not of this, however, that I would write, since there had formerly been just as many, but of the fact that among those chosen was Publius Ventidius. He was originally from Picenum, as has been remarked, and fought against Rome when her allies were at war with her. 5He was captured by Pompeius Strabo, and marched in chains in that general’s triumph. Later he was released and subsequently was enrolled in the senate, and now was appointed praetor by Caesar; and he went on advancing until he finally conquered the Parthians and held a triumph over them. 6All were thus appointed in advance who were to hold office the first year after that, but for the second year only the consuls and tribunes; so far were they from appointing anybody for the third year. 7Caesar himself intended to be dictator both years, and designated as masters of horse another man and Octavius, though the latter was at that time a mere lad. 8For the time being, while this was going on, Caesar appointed Dolabella consul in his own stead, leaving Antony to finish out his year in office. To Lepidus he assigned Gallia Narbonensis and Hither Spain, and appointed two men masters of horse in his place, each to act separately. 9For owing favours, as he did, to many persons, he repaid them by such appointments as these and by priesthoods, adding one man to the Quindecimviri, and three others to the Septemviri, as they were called.
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