At daybreak the
Parthians
appeared.
Napoleon - History of Julius Caesar - b
Towards the month of August of the year 700, Cæsar lost his mother
Aurelia, and, a few days afterwards, his daughter Julia. The latter,
whose health had been declining since the troubles of the preceding
year, had become pregnant; she died in giving birth to a son, which did
not survive. Cæsar was painfully affected by this misfortune,[698] of
which he received the news during his expedition to Britain. [699] Pompey
was desirous of burying his wife in his estate of Alba; but the populace
opposed it, carried the body to the Campus Martius, and insisted on its
being buried there. By that rare privilege reserved to illustrious men,
the people sought, according to Plutarch, to honour rather the daughter
of Cæsar than the wife of Pompey. [700] This death broke one of the ties
which united the two most important men of the Republic. To create new
ties, Cæsar proposed his niece Octavia in marriage to Pompey, whose
daughter he offered to espouse, although she was already married to
Faustus Sylla. [701]
[Sidenote: Cæsar’s Buildings at Rome. ]
VII. At the same period, the proconsul of Gaul was, with the produce of
his booty, rebuilding at Rome a magnificent edifice, the old basilica of
the Forum, which was extended as far as to the Temple of Liberty. “It
will be the most beautiful thing in the world,” says Cicero; “there will
be in the Campus Martius seven electoral enclosures and galleries of
marble which will be surrounded with great porticoes of a thousand
paces. Near it will be a public villa. ” Paulus was charged with the
execution of the works; Cicero and Oppius considered that 60,000,000
sestertii was a small sum for such an undertaking. [702] According to
Pliny, the mere purchase of the site in the Forum cost Cæsar the sum of
100,000,000 sestertii. [703] This building, interrupted by events, was
only finished after the African war. [704]
[Sidenote: His Relations with Cicero. ]
VIII. While Cæsar was gaining, by these works destined for the public,
the general admiration, he neglected none of those attentions which were
of a nature to ensure him the alliance of men of importance. Cicero, as
we have seen, was already reconciled with him, and Cæsar had done all in
his power to gain his attachment still further. He flattered his
self-love, listened to all his recommendations,[705] treating with great
friendship Quintus Cicero, whom he had made one of his lieutenants; he
went so far as to place at the disposal of the great orator his credit
and fortune,[706] and accordingly Cicero was in continual
correspondence with him. He composed, as we have seen, poems in his
honour, and he wrote to Quintus “that he placed above everything the
friendship of such a man, whose affection he prized as much as that of
his brother and children. ”[707] Elsewhere he said: “The memorable and
truly divine behaviour of Cæsar towards me and towards my brother has
imposed upon me the duty of seconding him in all his designs. ”[708] And
he had kept his word. It was at Cæsar’s request that Cicero had
consented to resume his old friendly relations with Crassus,[709] and to
defend Gabinius and Rabirius. This last, compromised in the affairs of
Egypt, was accused of having received great sums of money from King
Ptolemy; but Cicero proved that he was poor, and reduced to live upon
Cæsar’s generosity, and, in the course of the trial, he expressed
himself as follows:--
“Will you, judges, know the truth? If the generosity of C. Cæsar,
extreme towards everybody, had not, in regard to Rabirius, passed all
belief, we should have ceased long ago to see him in the Forum. Cæsar
singly performs towards Postumus the duty of his numerous friends; and
the services which these rendered to his prosperity, Cæsar lavishes them
upon his adversity. Postumus is no longer more than the shadow of a
Roman knight; if he preserves this title, it is by the protection, by
the devotedness of a single friend. This phantom of his old rank, which
Cæsar alone has preserved for him and assists him in sustaining, is the
only wealth that we can now take from him. And this is a reason why we
ought the more to maintain him in it in his distress. It cannot be the
effect of a mean merit, to inspire, absent and in misfortune, so much
interest in such a man, who, in so lofty a fortune, does not disdain to
cast down his looks on the affairs of others. In that pre-occupation
with the great things which he is doing or has done, we should not be
astonished if we saw him forget his friends, and, if he forgot them, he
would easily obtain forgiveness.
“I have recognised in Cæsar very eminent and wonderful qualities; but
his other virtues are, as on a vast theatre, exposed to the gaze of
nations. To choose with skill the place for a camp, to marshal an army,
to take fortresses, break through enemies’ lines, face the rigour of
winter and those frosts which we support with difficulty in the bosom of
our towns and houses, to pursue the enemy in that same season when the
wild beasts hide in the depth of their retreats, and where everywhere
the law of nations gives a truce to combats: these are great things; who
denies it? but they have for their motive the most magnificent of
recompenses, the hope of living for ever in men’s memory. Such efforts
cause us no surprise in the man who aspires to immortality.
“But this is the glory which I admire in Cæsar, a glory which is neither
celebrated by the verses of poets nor by the monuments of history, but
which is weighed in the balance of the sage: a Roman knight, his old
friend, attached, devoted, affectioned to his person, had been ruined,
not by his excesses, not by shameful extravagance and the losses
brought on by indulgence of the passions, but by a speculation which had
for its object to augment his patrimony: Cæsar has arrested him in his
descent; he has not suffered him to fall, he has held out his hand to
him, has sustained him with his wealth, with his credit, and he still
sustains him at the present time; he holds back his friend on the edge
of the precipice, and the calm of his mind is no more disturbed by the
brightness of his own name, than his eyes are dazzled by the blaze of
his glory. May the actions of which I have spoken be as great in our
esteem as they are in reality! Let people think what they will of my
opinion in this respect; but when I see, in the bosom of such a power
and of such a prodigious fortune, this generosity towards others, this
unforgetfulness of friendship, I prefer them to all the other virtues.
And you, judges, far from this character of goodness, so new and so rare
among considerable and illustrious men, being disdained or repulsed by
you, you should wrap it up in your favour, and seek to encourage it; you
should do this the more, since this moment seems to have been chosen for
attacking Cæsar’s consideration, although, in this respect, we could do
nothing but he supports it with constancy or repairs it without
difficulty. But if he hears that one of his best friends has been struck
in his honour, it will be with the deepest pain, and to him an
irreparable misfortune. ”[710]
In another circumstance, Cicero explained as follows the reason of his
attachment for the conqueror of Gaul: “Should I refuse my praises to
Cæsar, when I know that the people, and, after its example, the Senate,
from which my heart has never been severed, have shown their esteem for
him by loud and multiplied testimonies? Then, without doubt, it must be
confessed that the general interest has no influence on my sentiments,
and that individuals alone are the objects of my hatred or of my
friendship! What then? Should I see my vessel float with full sails
towards a port which, without being the same which I preferred formerly,
is neither less sure nor less tranquil, and, at the risk of my life,
wrestle against the tempest rather than trust myself to the skill of the
pilot who promises to save me? No, there is no inconstancy in following
the movements which storms impress on the vessel of the state. For me, I
have learned, I have recognized, I have read a truth, and the writers of
our nation, as well as those of other peoples, have consecrated it in
their works by the example of the wisest and most illustrious of men; it
is, that we ought not to persist irrevocably in our opinions, but that
we ought to accept the sentiments which are required by the situation of
the state, the diversity of conjunctures, and the interests of
peace. ”[711]
In his _Oration against Piso_, he exclaims: “It would be impossible for
me, in contemplation of the great things which Cæsar has done, and which
he is doing every day, not to be his friend. Since he has the command of
your armies, it is no longer the rampart of the Alps which I seek to
oppose to the invasion of the Gauls; it is no longer by means of the
barrier of the Rhine, with all its gurges, that I seek to arrest the
fierce Germanic nations. Cæsar has done so much that, if the mountains
should be levelled, and the rivers dried, our Italy, deprived of her
natural fortifications, would find, in the result of his victories and
exploits, a safe defence. ”[712]
The warm expansion of such sentiments must have touched Cæsar, and
inspired him with confidence; therefore he earnestly engaged Cicero not
to quit Rome. [713]
The influence of Cæsar continued to increase, as the letters and
orations of Cicero sufficiently testify. If it was required to raise
citizens such as C. Messius, M. Orfius, M. Curtius, C. Trebatius,[714]
to elevated positions, or to excite the interest of the judges in favour
of an accused, as in the trials of Balbus, Rabirius, and Gabinius, it
was always the same support which was invoked. [715]
CHAPTER VI.
EVENTS OF THE YEAR 701.
[Sidenote: Expedition to the North of Gaul. Second Passage of the
Rhine. ]
I. The disturbed state of Gaul and the loss of fifteen cohorts at
Tongres obliged Cæsar to augment his army; he raised two legions in the
Cisalpine, and asked for a third from Pompey. Again at the head of ten
legions, Cæsar, with his usual activity, hastened to repress the
incipient insurrections. From the Scheldt to the Rhine, from the Seine
to the Loire, most of the peoples were in arms. Those of Trèves had
called the Suevi to their assistance.
Without waiting for the end of winter, Cæsar brought together four
legions at Amiens, and, falling unexpectedly upon the peoples of
Hainault, forced from them a speedy submission. Then he convoked in this
latter town the general assembly of Gaul; but the peoples of Sens,
Orleans, and Trèves did not repair to it. He then transferred the
assembly to Paris, and afterwards marched upon Sens, where his
appearance sufficed to pacify not only that country, but also that of
Orleans. Having thus appeased in a short time the troubles of the north
and centre of Gaul, he directed all his attention towards the countries
situated between the Rhine and the Meuse, where Ambiorix continued to
excite revolt. He was impatient to avenge upon him the defeat of
Sabinus; but, to make more sure of overtaking him, he resolved first to
make two expeditions, one into Brabant, the other into the country of
Trèves, and in this manner to cut off that chieftain from all retreat,
either on the side of the north, or on the side of the east, where the
Germans were.
He advanced in person towards Brabant, which he soon reduced to
obedience. During this time, Labienus gained, on the banks of the
Ourthe, a great victory over the inhabitants of the country of Trèves.
At the news of this defeat, the Germans, who had already crossed the
Rhine, returned home. Cæsar rejoined Labienus on the territory of
Trèves, and, determined to chastise the Suevi, he a second time crossed
the Rhine, near Bonn, a little above the place where he had built a
bridge two years before. After compelling the Suevi to take refuge in
the interior of their territory, he returned to Gaul, caused a part of
the bridge to be cut, and left a strong garrison on the left bank.
[Sidenote: Pursuit of Ambiorix. ]
II. Having thus rendered all retreat impossible to Ambiorix, he advanced
with his army towards the country of Liége by way of Zulpich and Eupen,
across the forest of the Ardennes. Having arrived on the Meuse, he
divided his troops into three corps, and sent all his baggage with the
14th legion, under the command of Cicero, into the fortress of Tongres,
the scene of the disaster of Sabinus. Of these three corps, the first
was sent towards the north, near the southern frontiers of Brabant; the
second towards the west, between the Meuse and the Demer; and the third
marched towards the Scheldt, under the command of Cæsar, whose intention
was to gain the extremity of the forest of the Ardennes between Brussels
and Antwerp, where Ambiorix was said to have taken refuge. When he
quitted Tongres, he announced that he should return in seven days. But,
unwilling to risk his troops on difficult ground, against men who,
scattered, carried on a war of partisans, he sent messengers to invite
the neighbouring peoples to go and ravage the country of Liége, and, at
his call, all hurried to take part in the pillage. Among them 2,000
Sicambrian cavalry, attracted from beyond the Rhine, conceived the idea
of falling upon Cicero’s camp in order to carry off the riches it
contained. They arrived at the moment when a part of the garrison had
gone to forage. It was with great difficulty, and with the loss of two
cohorts, that the Romans repulsed this attack. The devastation of the
country of Liége was completed, but Ambiorix escaped.
The defeat of Sabinus at Tongres thus cruelly avenged, Cæsar returned to
Rheims, convoked there the assembly of Gaul, and caused judgment to be
passed on the conspiracy of the peoples of Sens and Orleans. Acco, the
head of the revolt, was condemned to death and executed, and Cæsar,
after placing his legions in winter quarters in the countries watered by
the Moselle, the Marne, and the Yonne, repaired to Italy.
[Sidenote: C. Domitius Calvinus and M. Valerius Messala, Consuls. ]
III. At Rome, the legal working of the institutions was incessantly
clogged by the ambitions of individuals. The year 700 had closed
without the holding of the consular comitia. Sometimes the tribunes of
the people, the only magistrates whose elections took place on a fixed
day, opposed the holding of the comitia; sometimes the _interreges_
themselves failed to obtain favourable auspices, or, in moments of
trouble, dared not assemble the people. [716] The boldness of the
agitators of all parties explains this anarchy.
Weary of intrigues and disorder, the public opinion looked for the end
of it only from a new power, which wrests from Cicero this painful
confession: “The Republic is without force; Pompey alone is
powerful. ”[717] Already people even spoke of the dictatorship. [718]
Several men, according to Plutarch, ventured to say openly “that the
power of a single person was the only remedy for the evils of the
Republic, and that this remedy must be sought from the mildest
physician, which clearly indicated Pompey. ”[719] Accordingly, the
tribune Lucceius brought forward the formal motion to elect Pompey
dictator. Cato rose energetically against this ill-timed motion. Several
of Pompey’s friends considered it prudent to justify him by affirming
that he never asked or desired the dictatorship. Cato’s reproaches had
none the less produced their effect; and, to put an end to suspicions,
Pompey permitted the consular comitia to be held. [720] In fact, he had
never the courage equal to his ambition, and “although he affected in
his speeches,” says Plutarch, “to refuse absolute power, all his
actions showed a desire to arrive at it. ”[721]
The comitia opened in the month of Sextilis of the year 701; the consuls
named were Cn. Domitius Calvinus and M. Valerius Messala. The first had
been placed under accusation, as we have seen above; but the
pre-occupations of the moment had caused his trial to drag out in
length; and it is unknown whether he was acquitted, or whether all
judicial action had been paralysed on account of the absence of
magistrates during the first months of the year 701. Moreover, Calvinus
was protected by Pompey, and his colleague, Messala, was favoured by
Cæsar, at the recommendation of Cicero.
[Sidenote: Expedition of Crassus against the Parthians, and his Death. ]
IV. Crassus had left for Syria about eighteen months before, full of
ambitious hopes, and flattering himself with the prospect of immense
conquests. He intended not only to subjugate the Parthians, but even to
renew the campaigns of Alexander, penetrate into Bactriana, and reach
India; unfortunately, he was not equal to such a task. Forgetting the
first rules of a general-in-chief, which consist in never despising his
enemies, and in placing on his side all the chances of success, he had
no care for the army he was going to combat, had made no inquiries
either as to the roads, or as to the countries he had to cross, and
neglected the alliances and succours which the peoples who were
neighbours and enemies to the Parthians might have offered him.
He had started from Brundusium in spite of the bad season, had landed at
Dyrrachium, not without the loss of several vessels; thence, following
the direct military road which led from the coasts of the Adriatic to
the Bosphorus,[722] he had proceeded by land into Galatia, and had
entered into Mesopotamia, after crossing the Euphrates. [723]
The Parthians, taken by surprise, offered no resistance, and the rich
and flourishing Greek colonies on the Euphrates and Tigris, who detested
the Parthian yoke, received Crassus as a liberator. The town of
Nicephorium (_Rakkah_), situated near Ichnæ, on the Balissus, opened its
gates to him; Zenodotium alone stood a siege. Instead of taking
advantage of the concurrence of circumstances, and advancing promptly
upon the Tigris, carrying the considerable town of Seleucia,
Ctesiphon,[724] the ordinary residence of the King of the Parthians, and
even Babylon, he confined himself to plundering the province. Having
left 7,000 infantry and 1,000 cavalry in garrison in a few fortresses,
he returned to Syria to take his winter quarters. There, without
occupying himself with the next campaign, he only thought of committing
exactions and of pillaging the temples of Hierapolis and Jerusalem.
At the commencement of 701, Crassus took the field again with seven
legions, nearly 4,000 cavalry, and the same number of light-armed
infantry,[725] and re-entered Mesopotamia. He had for lieutenants his
son Publius, celebrated for his courage, his elevated sentiments, and
his conduct in Gaul; the brave Octavius, who afterwards perished rather
than abandon his general; Vargunteius, Censorinus, and Petronius: for
quæstor, C. Cassius Longinus, esteemed for his valour and prudence, and
who was, ten years afterwards, one of the murderers of Cæsar. An Arab
had become his auxiliary; it was the chief of the Osroenes, Bedouins of
the desert, who had formerly served Pompey in his campaign against
Mithridates; he was named Abgaros, or Abgar,[726] and had been bribed by
the King of the Parthians to betray Crassus.
Artabazus, King of Armenia, visited the proconsul at the head of 6,000
cavalry, promising him 10,000 more, and 30,000 foot, if he consented to
attack the Parthians through Armenia, where the mountainous character of
the country rendered their numerous and formidable cavalry useless.
Crassus rejected this proposal, alleging the necessity of proceeding
into Mesopotamia to the garrisons he had left there in the preceding
year. These, in fact, were already blockaded by the Parthians, and
soldiers who had escaped brought information of the immense preparations
Orodes was making to resist him. A second time, then, he crossed the
Euphrates, not far from Biradjik, the place of the passage of Alexander
the Great. [727] There he had his choice of two roads to reach Seleucia:
either to descend the left bank of the Euphrates to the point where it
approaches the Tigris,[728] or to cross the desert. The first, proposed
by Cassius, although the longest, procured him the immense advantage of
having his right wing constantly supported by the Euphrates, on which
boats could have carried his provisions. The second offered, it is true,
a shorter passage; but in following it, the army was exposed to want of
water and provisions, and to more laborious marches. The perfidious
counsels of Abgar led him to prefer the latter. “There was not,” said
the Arab, “a moment to lose, to prevent the Parthians from carrying away
their treasures, and placing them in safety among the Hyrcanians and
Scythians. ” Crassus possessed some of the qualities which make a good
general; he had given proofs of it in the war of the allies, as well as
in that against Spartacus, but his faculties were paralysed by his
covetousness. Glory ought to be the only thought of the soldier.
During this time, Orodes, King of the Parthians, had divided his forces
into two armies: one, of which he took the command in person, went to
ravage Armenia, in order to prevent Artabazus from joining the Romans;
the other was entrusted to the vizier Surena, a man of merit, to whom
Orodes owed his crown. Without undervaluing his intelligence, we are
unwilling to believe, with some writers, that Surena invented new
military tactics to oppose those of the Romans, and that that was the
reason why, renouncing the employment of infantry, he made use only of
cavalry. If he placed all his confidence in that arm, it was because the
Parthians, in conformity with the nature of their country, generally
fought only on horseback, and among them, as Dio Cassius says, infantry
was of no value. [729] Surena’s talent consisted in the employment of the
craft so familiar to the Asiatics, in order to surround Crassus with
snares and traitors, and to draw him into the plains, where the
advantage was all on the side of cavalry.
The army of the Parthians was thus composed solely of cavalry, some
barbed with iron, as well as their horses,[730] and armed with long and
heavy lances; others furnished with powerful bows and arrows, which,
while they carried much farther than those of the Romans, perforated
defensive armour.
After quitting the town of Carrhæ, the Roman army advanced towards the
south, across the desert. The sand and heat made the march painful,
while the enemy remained always invisible. At length, when they arrived
on the banks, of a small river, the Balissus (_Belick_), which flows
into the Euphrates, they perceived a few Parthian horsemen. Abgar, sent
against them with a vanguard to reconnoitre, did not return. The traitor
had betrayed Crassus to Surena. The proconsul, impatient and uneasy,
then crosses the Balissus with his whole army, and, without allowing it
to repose, pushes forward his cavalry, and obliges the infantry to
follow it.
A few soldiers soon arrive to inform Crassus that they are all who have
been able to escape from an ambuscade into which his vanguard has
fallen, and that the whole Parthian army is on its march to encounter
him. At this intelligence, he, who believed that the enemy would not
dare to wait him, becomes confused, and hastily forms his troops in
array of battle on a long front, for fear of being surrounded. The
cavalry is on the wings; the Osroenes form a last line. The Parthians
first throw forward their light cavalry, which makes whirls in the
plain, raising clouds of dust, and causing the air to ring with their
savage cries and the noise of their drums,[731] and then retire as if in
flight. [732] Crassus sends forward against them his light infantry; but,
surrounded and overwhelmed with the more powerful missiles of the
Parthians, it is obliged to take refuge behind the legions.
On a sudden, the Osroenes whom Abgar had not carried with him attack the
Romans in the rear,[733] and at the same time appear, glittering in the
sun, the long lines of the cuirassed horsemen. Crassus then forms his
army in a square. Each face is composed of twelve cohorts, and the rest
is in reserve. The cavalry and light infantry, divided into two corps,
flank two opposite sides of the square. [734] Publius and Cassius
command, one the right, the other the left. Crassus takes his place in
the centre. [735] The heavy cavalry, lance in rest, charge the great
Roman square, and attempt to break it; but the thick and close ranks of
the legions oppose an invincible resistance. The Parthians fall back a
certain distance and call up their numerous archers, then, all together,
they return in line, and throw upon the deep masses of the Romans a
shower of missiles of which none fail of their aim. The legionaries, if
they remain in their position, have the disadvantage of their _pila_ and
slings, which carry but a short distance, and, if they advance to use
their swords, they lose that cohesion which forms their strength.
Without moving, and defending themselves with difficulty, they see their
numbers diminish without being discouraged; they hope that the enemy
will soon have exhausted his munitions. But the ranks of the Parthians
succeed each other; as quickly as the first have used all their arrows,
they go to fetch others near a long line of camels which carry their
provisions. The combat has lasted several hours; and the Parthians
continue to extend their circle, and threaten to surround entirely the
great Roman square.
In this critical position, Crassus can only have recourse to his
cavalry. The side hardest pressed by the enemy is that commanded by
Publius; his father orders him to make a desperate effort to disengage
the army.
This noble and intrepid young man immediately takes 1,300 cavalry, among
whom were the 1,000 Gauls sent by Cæsar, 500 archers, and eight cohorts
of infantry. Two young men of his own age follow him--Censorinus and
Megabacchus; the first a senator and talented orator, the second equally
distinguished. As soon as they are in motion, the Parthians, according
to their custom, fly, shooting their arrows at the same time, in the
manner of the Scythians. Publius takes this flight for a rout, and
allows himself to be drawn too far away. When he has long advanced far
out of sight of the body of the army, the fugitives halt, wheel round,
are joined by numerous reserves, and surround the Roman troop. These
defend themselves heroically, but the Gauls, unprovided with defensive
armour, resist with difficulty the cavalry barbed with iron. Meanwhile
the son of Crassus has been rejoined by his foot, who combat valiantly;
he orders them to advance, but they show him their hands nailed to their
bucklers, and their feet fixed to the ground, by the arrows. Publius
then makes a last appeal to his brave Gaulish cavalry, who, in their
devotedness to him, meet death far from their country, in the service of
a foreign cause. They dash with impetuosity against the wall of iron
which rises before them, they overthrow some of the cavalry under the
weight of their own armour, snatch their lances from others, or leap to
the ground to stab their horses in the belly; but valour must yield to
numbers. Publius, wounded, tries to retreat, and draws up the wreck of
his troops on ground the slope of which is disadvantageous to him. He
attempts in vain to make a retrenchment with bucklers; his cavalry being
placed in form of an amphitheatre, the last ranks are as much exposed as
the first to the arrows of the Parthians. Two Greeks offer to save him
by leading him to Ichnæ, a town not far off; the young hero replies that
he will not abandon his soldiers; he remains to die with them. Of 6,000
men, 500 only are made prisoners, the others are killed fighting.
Publius and his two friends, Censorinus and Megabacchus, slay each
other.
During this time, Crassus, relieved by his son’s offensive movement, had
taken position on a height, and waited in expectation of his victorious
return. But soon messengers come to inform him that, without prompt
succour, his son is lost. He hesitates a moment between the hope of
saving him and the fear of endangering the rest of his army. At last he
decides on marching. Hardly has he put the troops in motion, when he
sees the Parthians approaching to meet him, uttering shouts of victory,
and carrying the head of his son on the end of a pike. In this
circumstance, Crassus recovers an instant that energy familiar to the
Roman character, and, passing along the ranks, “Soldiers,” he exclaims,
“this loss concerns me alone. As long as you live, all the fortune and
all the glory of Rome endure and remain invincible. Be not discouraged
by my misfortune, and let your compassion for me be changed into rage
against your enemies. ” These last accents of a presumptuous chief
produced little effect upon an army already disheartened. It fought
with resignation, no longer feeling that ardour which gives the hope of
victory. Taken in flank by the numerous archers, attacked in front by
the heavy cuirassed cavalry, the Romans struggled till evening,
remaining always on the defensive, and seeing the circle in which they
were enclosed incessantly contracting around them. Fortunately, the
Parthians, incapable of holding a position during the night, never
encamped on the field of battle; they withdrew.
This combat, fought at fifteen or twenty leagues to the south of Carrhæ,
was disastrous. Nevertheless, all was not lost, if the general-in-chief
preserved his energy and presence of mind; but, disheartened and plunged
in deep grief, he stood immovable, aside from the rest, incapable of
giving any order. Octavius and Cassius called together the tribunes and
centurions, and decided on retreat; yet it was necessary to abandon
4,000 wounded, who could not be carried away, and even conceal their
departure from them, lest their cries might awaken the attention of the
enemy. The retreat is executed at first in complete silence; suddenly
the miserable victims perceive that they are made a sacrifice, their
groans give warning to the Persians, and excite a frightful tumult among
the Romans: some return to load the wounded on the baggage horses,
others form in battle to repulse the enemy: 300 of the cavalry escape,
reach Carrhæ, and cross the Euphrates over the bridge which Crassus had
built. Meanwhile the Parthians, occupied in massacring the 4,000 wounded
and the stragglers, pursue only faintly the remains of the Roman army,
which, protected by a sally of the garrison of Carrhæ, succeed in
shutting themselves up within its walls.
Either through discouragement, or through want of provisions, the Romans
made no stay in this town, but abandoned it, to seek refuge in Armenia.
Crassus, followed by a small number of troops, trusting again in a
native who was deceiving him, saw his flight retarded by the circuitous
way he was made to take uselessly.
At daybreak the Parthians appeared.
Octavius had reached, with 5,000 men, one of the spurs of the mountains
of Armenia, and would have been able to place himself in safety in the
fortress of Sinnaka, at a distance of only a day’s march; he prefers
descending into the plain to the succour of his general, whom he brings
back with him to the heights. If they continue the combat till evening,
all will not be lost; but Surena has again recourse to stratagem: he
sends seductive offers, and proposes an interview. Crassus refuses it;
he is resolved on fighting. Unfortunately, the soldiers, who hitherto
had obeyed imprudent orders, this time refuse to obey the only order
which could save them. Crassus is forced to agree to the interview. At
the moment he is on his way to it, an accidental quarrel, or rather one
raised by the treachery of the Parthians, arises between the escorts of
the two nations. Octavius thrusts his sword through the body of a
Parthian esquire; a battle follows, and all the Roman escort is
massacred. Crassus is slain, and his head carried to Orodes. Of 40,000
legionaries, one quarter alone survived. The cavalry of C. Cassius,
which had separated from the army on their departure from Carrhæ, and a
few other fugitives, succeeded in reaching Syria, in covering Antioch,
and even subsequently in expelling successfully the Parthians from the
Roman province.
[Sidenote: Consequences of the Death of Crassus. ]
V. The death of Crassus had two serious consequences: the first was to
raise still higher the merit of the conqueror of Gaul, by showing what
became of the most numerous and best-disciplined armies under the
command of a presumptuous and unskilful chief; the second, to take away
from the scene a man whose influence was a check upon the ambition of
two individuals destined to become rivals. With Crassus, Pompey would
not have been the instrument of a party; without Pompey, the Senate
would not have dared to declare against Cæsar.
The balance thus broken, Pompey sought a new point of support. His
alliance with Cæsar had alone given him the concurrence of the popular
party. Now that this alliance was weakened, he would naturally seek to
be reconciled to the aristocracy, flatter its passions, and serve its
rancours. In the first moments, he provoked disorder rather than
repressed it.
Three competitors disputed the consulship for 702, T. Annius Milo, P.
Plautius Hypsæus, and Q. Cæcilius Metellus Scipio. [736] They rivalled
each other in intrigue and corruption. [737] Pompey, especially since he
had been reconciled to P. Clodius, treated Milo as an enemy, and,
according to his habitual tactics, pretended to believe that he
harboured designs against his life. Although he retarded the comitia,
he favoured P. Hypsæus and Q. Scipio, who solicited the consulship, and
Clodius, who, the same year, was a candidate for the prætorship. Milo
had a great number of partisans; his largesses to the people and his
spectacles seemed likely to ensure his election; and Pompey, in the way
of whose views he stood, did all he could to prevent the Senate from
naming an interrex to hold the comitia. He desired this important office
for himself; but, obliged to give way before the resistance of Cato, he
confined himself to preventing any election, and the year ended again
without the nomination of consuls.
CHAPTER VII.
EVENTS OF THE YEAR 702.
[Sidenote: Murder of Clodius. ]
I. Rome seemed to be given up only to the petty contentions of
individuals; but, behind the men who stood in view, grave interests and
violent passions were in agitation. The disease which undermines society
unknown to it, reveals itself when facts, of no great importance in
themselves, occur suddenly to produce an unforeseen crisis, to unveil
dangers which were unperceived, and to show to all men that society on
the brink of an abyss of which nobody had suspected the depth. Thus, by
mere accidents of his life, Clodius seems to have been destined to cause
the explosion of the elements of disorder which the Republic concealed
in its bosom. He is caught in the house of Cæsar’s wife during a
religious sacrifice, and this violation of the mysteries of the _Bona
Dea_ leads to a fatal division in the first bodies of the state. His
impeachment irritates the popular party; his acquittal exposes to the
world the venality of the judges, and separates the order of the knights
from that of the Senate. The animosity with which he is pursued makes
him a chief of a formidable party, which sends Cicero into exile, makes
Pompey tremble, and accelerates the elevation of Cæsar. His death is
destined to awaken all the popular passions, and inspire the opposite
faction with so many fears, that it will forget its rancours and
jealousies to throw itself into the arms of Pompey, and all the people
will be in arms from one end of Italy to the other.
On the 13th of the Calends of February, 702 (13th of December, 701),
Milo started from Rome to proceed to Lanuvium, his native town, of which
he was the dictator. [738] Towards the ninth hour, he met on the Appian
Way, a little beyond Bovillæ, Clodius, who, on his part, was returning
on horseback from Aricia to Rome, accompanied by three friends and
thirty slaves, all armed with swords. Milo was in a chariot with his
wife Fausta, daughter of Sylla, and M. Fufius, his familiar. In his
train marched an escort ten times more numerous than that of Clodius,
and in which were several celebrated gladiators. The two troops passed
near a small temple of the _Bona Dea_,[739] without exchanging a single
word, but casting on each other furious looks. They had hardly passed,
when two of Milo’s gladiators, who lagged behind, picked a quarrel with
the slaves of Clodius. At the noise of this dispute, the latter turned
his bridle, and advanced uttering threats. One of the gladiators, named
Birria, struck him with his sword, and wounded him grievously in the
shoulder;[740] he was carried into a neighbouring tavern. [741]
Milo, learning that Clodius was wounded, feared the consequences of this
aggression, and believed that he would incur less danger by dispatching
his enemy. He therefore sent his men to burst open the tavern; Clodius,
dragged from the bed on which he had been placed, is pierced with blows,
and thrown into the high road. His slaves are slain or put to flight.
The corpse remained stretched on the Appian Way, until a senator, Sext.
Tedius, who was passing, caused him to be taken up, placed in a litter,
and carried to Rome, where he arrived at night, and was laid on a bed in
the _atrium_ of his house. But already the news of the fatal meeting was
spread through the whole town, and the crowd hastened towards the
residence of Clodius, where his wife, Fulvia, pointing to the wounds
with which he was covered, urged the people to vengeance. The concourse
was so great that several men of mark, and among others C. Vibienus, a
senator, were stifled in the crowd. The corpse was carried to the Forum,
and exposed on the rostra; two tribunes of the people, T. Munatius
Plancus and Q. Pompeius Rufus, harangued the multitude, and demanded
justice.
Afterwards, at the instigation of a scribe named Sext. Clodius, the body
was carried to the curia, in order to insult the Senate; a funereal pile
was made of the benches, tables, and registers. The fire communicated to
the Curia Hostilia, and thence gained the Basilica Porcia, and the two
buildings were reduced to ashes. Then the multitude, becoming more and
more furious, snatched the fasces which surrounded the funereal
bed,[742] and proceeded to the front of the houses of Hypsæus and Q.
Metellus Scipio, as if to offer them the consulship. Lastly, they
presented themselves before the abode of Pompey; some demanded with loud
shouts that he should be consul or dictator, others shouted the same
wishes for Cæsar. [743]
Nevertheless, nine days after, when the smoke was still rising from the
ruins, the populace, on the occasion of a funereal banquet in the Forum,
sought to burn the house of Milo and that of the interrex, M. Lepidus.
They were driven away by a shower of arrows. [744] Milo, in the first
moment, had dreamt only of hiding himself; but on hearing the
indignation and terror caused by the burning of the curia, he resumed
his courage. Persuaded, moreover, that, to repress these excesses, the
Senate would proceed to severities against the opposite party,[745] he
returned into Rome by night, carried his boldness so far as to announce
that he still solicited the consulship, and began actually to buy the
votes. Cœlius, a tribune of the people, spoke in his favour in the
Forum. Milo himself mounted the tribune, and accused Clodius of having
laid an ambush for him. He was interrupted by a considerable number of
armed men, who rushed into the public place. Milo and Cœlius wrapped
themselves in the mantles of slaves, and took flight. A great slaughter
of their adherents was made. But soon the rioters, profiting by this
pretext for disorder, murdered all they met, whether citizens or
strangers, especially such as attracted their attention by their rich
garments and gold rings; armed slaves were the chief instruments of
these disorders. No crime was spared; under pretence of seeking Milo’s
friends, a great number of houses were pillaged, and during several days
all sorts of outrages were committed. [746]
[Sidenote: The Republic is declared in Danger. ]
II. Meanwhile the Senate declared the Republic in danger, and charged
the interrex, the tribunes of the people, and the proconsul Cn. Pompey,
having the _imperium_ near the town, to watch over the public safety,
and make levies in all Italy. The care of rebuilding the Curia Hostilia
was entrusted to the son of Sylla: it was decided that it should bear
the name of the old dictator, the memory of whom the Senate sought to
place in honour. [747]
As soon as Pompey had assembled a military force sufficiently imposing,
the two nephews of Clodius, both named Appius, demanded the arrest of
the slaves of Milo, and of those of Fausta, his wife. But the first care
of Milo, his enemy once dead, had been to enfranchise his slaves, as a
reward for having defended him, and, once enfranchised, they could no
longer depose against their patron.
About a month after the death of Clodius, Q. Metellus Scipio brought the
affair before the Senate, and accused Milo of falsehood in the
explanations he had given. He arrayed skilfully all the circumstances
which pointed to him as the aggressor: on one side, his escort much more
numerous--the three wounds of Clodius--the eleven slaves of the latter
slain; on the other, certain criminal facts connected with the event--a
taverner slaughtered--two messengers massacred--a slave chopped to
pieces for refusing to give up a son of Clodius; lastly, the sum of
1,000 ases offered by the accused to whoever would undertake his
defence. Then Milo sought to appease Pompey, by offering to desist from
his candidature for the consulship. Pompey replied that the right of
deciding belonged to the Roman people alone. Milo remained under the
accusation not only of murder, but of electoral solicitation, and of an
outrage on the Republic. He could not be judged before the previous
nomination of the urban prætor, and before the convocation of the
comitia.
[Sidenote: Pompey sole Consul. ]
III. This time the fear of disorder silenced opposition, and all eyes
turned towards Pompey; but what title to give him? That of dictator
caused alarm. M. Bibulus, though previously hostile, moved the proposal
to elect him sole consul; it offered the only means of averting the
dictature, and preventing Cæsar from becoming his colleague. [748] M.
Cato supported this motion, which passed unanimously. [749] It was added
that, if Pompey believed a second consul necessary, he should name
himself, but not within two months. [750] On the 5th of the Calends of
March (27th of February)--it was during an intercalary month--Pompey,
though absent, was declared consul by the interrex Serv. Sulpicius, and
immediately re-entered Rome. “This extraordinary measure, which had
never before been adopted for anybody, appeared wise; nevertheless, as
Pompey sought less than Cæsar the favour of the people, the Senate
flattered itself with the hope of detaching him completely from it, and
securing him in its own interests. And so it happened. Proud of this new
and altogether unusual honour, Pompey no longer proposed any measure
with a view of pleasing the multitude, and did scrupulously all that
could be agreeable to the Senate. ”[751]
Three days after his installation, he obtained two
senatus-consultus--one, to repress outrages with violence, especially
the murder committed on the Appian Way, the burning of the curia, and
the attack on the house of the interrex, M. Lepidus; the other, to
prevent electoral solicitation by a more rapid proceeding and a more
severe penalty. In all criminal actions, a delay of three days was fixed
for the interrogation of witnesses, and one day for the contradictory
debates. The accuser had two hours to speak, the accused three to defend
himself. [752]
M. Cœlius, tribune of the people, protested against these laws,
alleging that they violated the tutelary forms of justice, and that they
were only imagined for the ruin of Milo. Pompey replied in a tone of
menace: “Let them not oblige me to defend the Republic by arms! ” He,
moreover, adopted all measures for his personal safety, and went with a
military guard, as though he feared some outrage on the part of Milo.
[Sidenote: Trial of Milo. ]
IV. Pompey required farther, that a quæstor should be chosen among the
consulars to preside over the hearing of the cause. The comitia were
held, and L. Domitius Ahenobarbus was elected. It was conceded to Milo
that the accusation of murder should be tried first, and that that of
solicitation should be adjourned.
The accusers were the elder of the Appii (the nephew of Clodius), M.
Antonius, and P. Valerius Nepos. Cicero, assisted by M. Claudius
Marcellus, was to defend the accused. Every effort had been made to
intimidate Cicero. Pompeius Rufus, C. Sallustius,[753] and T. Munatius
Plancus had sought to excite the people against him, and to make Pompey
look upon him with suspicion. Although he remained firm against the
threats of his adversaries, his courage was shaken.
The trial began on the eve of the Nones of April, and on the first day
the pleadings were interrupted by a violent agitation. Next day, the
interrogation of the witnesses was carried on under the protection of an
imposing military force. Most of the evidence was overpowering for the
accused, and proved that Clodius had been massacred in cold blood. When
Fulvia, the widow of Clodius, appeared, the emotion increased twofold;
her tears, and the spectacle of her grief, affected the assembly. When
the session was closed, the tribune of the people, T. Munatius Plancus,
harangued the mob, engaged the citizens to come next day in great number
to the public place, in order to oppose the acquittal of Milo, and he
recommended them to show unmistakably _their opinion and grief to the
judges when it came to the voting_.
On the 6th of the Ides of April the shops were closed; guards were
placed on the issues of the Forum by order of Pompey, who, with a
considerable reserve, stationed himself at the treasury. After the
drawing for the judges, the eldest of the Appii, M. Antonius, and P.
Valerius Nepos sustained the accusation. Cicero alone replied. He had
been advised to represent the murder of Clodius as a service rendered to
the Republic; but he rejected this plea, although Cato had dared to
declare in full Senate that Milo had performed the act of a good
citizen. [754] He preferred resting his argument on the right of
legitimate defence. He had hardly commenced, when the cries and
interruptions of the partisans of Clodius caused him an emotion which
was visible in his speech; the soldiers were obliged to make use of
their arms. [755] The cries of the wounded, and the sight of the blood,
deprived Cicero of his presence of mind; he trembled, and often broke
off. His pleading was far from being worthy of his talent. Milo was
condemned, and went into exile to Marseilles. In the sequel, Cicero
composed at his leisure the magnificent oration which we know, and sent
it to his unfortunate client, who replied; “If thou hadst spoken
formerly as thou hast now written, I should not be eating mullets at
Marseilles. ”[756]
During the wars of Greece and Africa, Milo, who had not forgotten his
part of conspirator, returned into Italy, invited by Cœlius. They
both attempted to organise seditious movements; but they failed, and
paid for their rash enterprise with their lives. [757]
Pompey, having reached the summit of power, believed, like most men who
are vain of themselves, that all was saved because they had placed him
at the head of affairs; but, instead of attending to these, his first
care was to marry again. He espoused, in spite of his advanced age,
Cornelia, daughter of Scipio, the young widow of Publius Crassus, who
had just perished among the Parthians. “It was considered,” says
Plutarch, “that a woman so young, remarkable both for her mental
qualities and for external graces, would have been more properly married
to his son. The more honest citizens reproached him with having, on this
occasion, sacrificed the interests of the Republic, which, in the
extremity to which it was reduced, had chosen him for its physician, and
trusted to him alone for its cure. Instead of responding to this
confidence, he was seen crowned with flowers, offering sacrifices and
celebrating nuptial rites, while he ought to have regarded as a public
calamity this consulship, which he would not have obtained, according
to the laws, alone and without a colleague, if Rome had been more
happy. ”[758]
Pompey had, nevertheless, rendered great services by putting down the
riots and protecting the exercise of justice. He had delivered Rome from
the bands of Clodius and Milo, had given a more regular organisation to
the tribunals,[759] and caused their judgments to be respected by armed
force. Still, if we except these acts, commanded by circumstances, he
had used his power with hesitation, as a man who is struggling between
his conscience and his interests. Having become, perhaps unknowingly,
the instrument of the aristocratic party, the ties which had attached
him to Cæsar had often checked him in the way in which they sought to
push him. As the defender of order, he had promulgated laws to restore
it; but, as the man of a party, he had been incessantly led to violate
them, to satisfy the urgencies of his faction. He caused a
senatus-consultus to be adopted, authorising prosecutions against those
who had exercised public employments since his first consulship. The
retrospective effect of this law, which embraced a period of twenty
years; and consequently the consulship of Cæsar, excited the indignation
of the partisans of the latter; they exclaimed that Pompey would do much
better to occupy himself with the present than to call the hateful
investigation of the factions to the past conduct of the first
magistrates of the Republic; but Pompey replied that, since the law
permitted the control of his own acts, he saw no reason why those of
Cæsar should be freed from it; and that, moreover, the relaxation of
morals during so many years rendered the measure necessary. [760]
Complaint was made of the power left to orators of pronouncing the
eulogy of the accused, whose defence they offered, because the prestige
attached to the word of men of consideration procured too easily the
acquittal of the guilty. A senatus-consultus prohibited the custom. Yet
in contempt of these orders, which he had brought forward, Pompey was
not ashamed to pronounce the eulogy of T. Munatius Plancus, accused,
with Q. Pompeius Rufus, of the fire which burnt the Curia Hostilia. [761]
Cato, who was one of the members of the tribunal, exclaimed, stopping
his ears: “I do not believe this eulogiser, who speaks against his own
laws. ” The accused were condemned nevertheless.
With the aim of repressing electoral corruption and bringing to justice
those guilty of it, it was enacted that every one condemned for bribery
who should succeed in convicting another of the same crime should obtain
thereby the remission of his punishment. Memmius, condemned for an act
of this description, wishing to take advantage of the benefit of the
legal impunity, denounced Scipio. Then Pompey appeared clothed in
mourning before the tribunal, at the side of his father-in-law. At the
view of this image of sorrow and of the moral pressure which resulted
from it, Memmius desisted, deploring the misfortune of the Republic. As
to the judges, they pushed flattery to the point of conducting Scipio
back to his dwelling. [762]
To put a stop in the elections to the intrigues arising from the
shameless covetousness of the candidates, it was decreed that the
consuls and prætors should not be allowed to take the government of a
province until five years after their consulship or prætorship. [763]
This discouraged the ambitious, who threw themselves into extravagant
expenses in order to arrive through one of these magistracies at the
government of the provinces. And nevertheless Pompey, although consul,
not only preserved the proconsulship of Spain, but he caused his
government to be prolonged for five years, kept a part of his army in
Italy, and received a thousand talents for the maintenance of his
troops. In the interest of his partisans, he did not hesitate to violate
his own laws, which has made Tacitus say of him, _Suarum legum auctor
idem ac subversor_. [764]
The preceding law did not deprive Cæsar of the possibility of arriving
at the consulship, but the Senate put in force again the law which
prohibited any one who was absent from offering himself as a candidate,
forgetting that it had just elected Pompey sole consul, although absent
from the town of Rome. The friends of the proconsul of Gaul protested
with energy. “Cæsar,” they said, “had merited well of his country; a
second consulship would only be the just recompense of his immense
labours; or, at all events, if they felt reluctance in conferring this
great dignity upon him, they ought at least not to give him a
successor, or deprive him of the benefit he had acquired. ” Pompey, who
had no desire of breaking with Cæsar, had recourse to Cicero[765] to add
to the law already engraved on a tablet of brass, which was then the
form of promulgation, that the prohibition did not apply to those who
had obtained the authorisation to offer themselves as candidates in
spite of their absence. All the tribunes, who had at first protested,
accepted this qualification, at the motion of Cœlius. [766]
Nevertheless, Cæsar’s friends went to him in great numbers to
demonstrate that Pompey’s laws had been all brought forward against his
interest, and that it was essential that he should be on his guard
against him. Cæsar, proud in the justice of his claims, and strong in
the services he had rendered, distrusted neither his son-in-law nor
destiny, encouraged them, and praised greatly the conduct of
Pompey. [767]
[Sidenote: Pompey takes as his Associate Cæcillus Metellus Pius Scipio. ]
V. About the first of August, Pompey chose his father-in-law Scipio as
his associate in the consulship, for the last five months. This
partition of power, purely nominal, and which was subsequently imitated
by the emperors, appeared to satisfy men who thought only of forms. The
senators boasted of having restored order without injuring the
institutions of the Republic. [768]
Scipio sought to signalise his short administration by abolishing the
law of Clodius, which permitted the censors to expel from the Senate
only men who had already undergone a condemnation. He restored things to
the old footing, by rendering the power of the censors almost unlimited.
This change was not received with favour, as Scipio had expected. The
old consulars, among whom the censors were usually chosen, found the
responsibility of such functions dangerous in a time of trouble and
anarchy. Instead of being sought as an honour, the censorship was
avoided as a perilous post. [769]
It was every day more evident, in the eyes of all men of judgment, that
the institutions of the Republic were becoming more and more powerless
to guarantee order within, and perhaps even peace without. The Senate
could no longer meet, the comitia be held, or the judges render
judgment, without the protection of a military force; it was necessary,
therefore, to place themselves at the discretion of a general, and to
abdicate all authority into his hands. Thus, while the popular instinct,
which is rarely deceived, saw the safety of the Republic in the power of
a single individual, the aristocratic party, on the contrary, saw danger
only in this general tendency towards one man.
Aurelia, and, a few days afterwards, his daughter Julia. The latter,
whose health had been declining since the troubles of the preceding
year, had become pregnant; she died in giving birth to a son, which did
not survive. Cæsar was painfully affected by this misfortune,[698] of
which he received the news during his expedition to Britain. [699] Pompey
was desirous of burying his wife in his estate of Alba; but the populace
opposed it, carried the body to the Campus Martius, and insisted on its
being buried there. By that rare privilege reserved to illustrious men,
the people sought, according to Plutarch, to honour rather the daughter
of Cæsar than the wife of Pompey. [700] This death broke one of the ties
which united the two most important men of the Republic. To create new
ties, Cæsar proposed his niece Octavia in marriage to Pompey, whose
daughter he offered to espouse, although she was already married to
Faustus Sylla. [701]
[Sidenote: Cæsar’s Buildings at Rome. ]
VII. At the same period, the proconsul of Gaul was, with the produce of
his booty, rebuilding at Rome a magnificent edifice, the old basilica of
the Forum, which was extended as far as to the Temple of Liberty. “It
will be the most beautiful thing in the world,” says Cicero; “there will
be in the Campus Martius seven electoral enclosures and galleries of
marble which will be surrounded with great porticoes of a thousand
paces. Near it will be a public villa. ” Paulus was charged with the
execution of the works; Cicero and Oppius considered that 60,000,000
sestertii was a small sum for such an undertaking. [702] According to
Pliny, the mere purchase of the site in the Forum cost Cæsar the sum of
100,000,000 sestertii. [703] This building, interrupted by events, was
only finished after the African war. [704]
[Sidenote: His Relations with Cicero. ]
VIII. While Cæsar was gaining, by these works destined for the public,
the general admiration, he neglected none of those attentions which were
of a nature to ensure him the alliance of men of importance. Cicero, as
we have seen, was already reconciled with him, and Cæsar had done all in
his power to gain his attachment still further. He flattered his
self-love, listened to all his recommendations,[705] treating with great
friendship Quintus Cicero, whom he had made one of his lieutenants; he
went so far as to place at the disposal of the great orator his credit
and fortune,[706] and accordingly Cicero was in continual
correspondence with him. He composed, as we have seen, poems in his
honour, and he wrote to Quintus “that he placed above everything the
friendship of such a man, whose affection he prized as much as that of
his brother and children. ”[707] Elsewhere he said: “The memorable and
truly divine behaviour of Cæsar towards me and towards my brother has
imposed upon me the duty of seconding him in all his designs. ”[708] And
he had kept his word. It was at Cæsar’s request that Cicero had
consented to resume his old friendly relations with Crassus,[709] and to
defend Gabinius and Rabirius. This last, compromised in the affairs of
Egypt, was accused of having received great sums of money from King
Ptolemy; but Cicero proved that he was poor, and reduced to live upon
Cæsar’s generosity, and, in the course of the trial, he expressed
himself as follows:--
“Will you, judges, know the truth? If the generosity of C. Cæsar,
extreme towards everybody, had not, in regard to Rabirius, passed all
belief, we should have ceased long ago to see him in the Forum. Cæsar
singly performs towards Postumus the duty of his numerous friends; and
the services which these rendered to his prosperity, Cæsar lavishes them
upon his adversity. Postumus is no longer more than the shadow of a
Roman knight; if he preserves this title, it is by the protection, by
the devotedness of a single friend. This phantom of his old rank, which
Cæsar alone has preserved for him and assists him in sustaining, is the
only wealth that we can now take from him. And this is a reason why we
ought the more to maintain him in it in his distress. It cannot be the
effect of a mean merit, to inspire, absent and in misfortune, so much
interest in such a man, who, in so lofty a fortune, does not disdain to
cast down his looks on the affairs of others. In that pre-occupation
with the great things which he is doing or has done, we should not be
astonished if we saw him forget his friends, and, if he forgot them, he
would easily obtain forgiveness.
“I have recognised in Cæsar very eminent and wonderful qualities; but
his other virtues are, as on a vast theatre, exposed to the gaze of
nations. To choose with skill the place for a camp, to marshal an army,
to take fortresses, break through enemies’ lines, face the rigour of
winter and those frosts which we support with difficulty in the bosom of
our towns and houses, to pursue the enemy in that same season when the
wild beasts hide in the depth of their retreats, and where everywhere
the law of nations gives a truce to combats: these are great things; who
denies it? but they have for their motive the most magnificent of
recompenses, the hope of living for ever in men’s memory. Such efforts
cause us no surprise in the man who aspires to immortality.
“But this is the glory which I admire in Cæsar, a glory which is neither
celebrated by the verses of poets nor by the monuments of history, but
which is weighed in the balance of the sage: a Roman knight, his old
friend, attached, devoted, affectioned to his person, had been ruined,
not by his excesses, not by shameful extravagance and the losses
brought on by indulgence of the passions, but by a speculation which had
for its object to augment his patrimony: Cæsar has arrested him in his
descent; he has not suffered him to fall, he has held out his hand to
him, has sustained him with his wealth, with his credit, and he still
sustains him at the present time; he holds back his friend on the edge
of the precipice, and the calm of his mind is no more disturbed by the
brightness of his own name, than his eyes are dazzled by the blaze of
his glory. May the actions of which I have spoken be as great in our
esteem as they are in reality! Let people think what they will of my
opinion in this respect; but when I see, in the bosom of such a power
and of such a prodigious fortune, this generosity towards others, this
unforgetfulness of friendship, I prefer them to all the other virtues.
And you, judges, far from this character of goodness, so new and so rare
among considerable and illustrious men, being disdained or repulsed by
you, you should wrap it up in your favour, and seek to encourage it; you
should do this the more, since this moment seems to have been chosen for
attacking Cæsar’s consideration, although, in this respect, we could do
nothing but he supports it with constancy or repairs it without
difficulty. But if he hears that one of his best friends has been struck
in his honour, it will be with the deepest pain, and to him an
irreparable misfortune. ”[710]
In another circumstance, Cicero explained as follows the reason of his
attachment for the conqueror of Gaul: “Should I refuse my praises to
Cæsar, when I know that the people, and, after its example, the Senate,
from which my heart has never been severed, have shown their esteem for
him by loud and multiplied testimonies? Then, without doubt, it must be
confessed that the general interest has no influence on my sentiments,
and that individuals alone are the objects of my hatred or of my
friendship! What then? Should I see my vessel float with full sails
towards a port which, without being the same which I preferred formerly,
is neither less sure nor less tranquil, and, at the risk of my life,
wrestle against the tempest rather than trust myself to the skill of the
pilot who promises to save me? No, there is no inconstancy in following
the movements which storms impress on the vessel of the state. For me, I
have learned, I have recognized, I have read a truth, and the writers of
our nation, as well as those of other peoples, have consecrated it in
their works by the example of the wisest and most illustrious of men; it
is, that we ought not to persist irrevocably in our opinions, but that
we ought to accept the sentiments which are required by the situation of
the state, the diversity of conjunctures, and the interests of
peace. ”[711]
In his _Oration against Piso_, he exclaims: “It would be impossible for
me, in contemplation of the great things which Cæsar has done, and which
he is doing every day, not to be his friend. Since he has the command of
your armies, it is no longer the rampart of the Alps which I seek to
oppose to the invasion of the Gauls; it is no longer by means of the
barrier of the Rhine, with all its gurges, that I seek to arrest the
fierce Germanic nations. Cæsar has done so much that, if the mountains
should be levelled, and the rivers dried, our Italy, deprived of her
natural fortifications, would find, in the result of his victories and
exploits, a safe defence. ”[712]
The warm expansion of such sentiments must have touched Cæsar, and
inspired him with confidence; therefore he earnestly engaged Cicero not
to quit Rome. [713]
The influence of Cæsar continued to increase, as the letters and
orations of Cicero sufficiently testify. If it was required to raise
citizens such as C. Messius, M. Orfius, M. Curtius, C. Trebatius,[714]
to elevated positions, or to excite the interest of the judges in favour
of an accused, as in the trials of Balbus, Rabirius, and Gabinius, it
was always the same support which was invoked. [715]
CHAPTER VI.
EVENTS OF THE YEAR 701.
[Sidenote: Expedition to the North of Gaul. Second Passage of the
Rhine. ]
I. The disturbed state of Gaul and the loss of fifteen cohorts at
Tongres obliged Cæsar to augment his army; he raised two legions in the
Cisalpine, and asked for a third from Pompey. Again at the head of ten
legions, Cæsar, with his usual activity, hastened to repress the
incipient insurrections. From the Scheldt to the Rhine, from the Seine
to the Loire, most of the peoples were in arms. Those of Trèves had
called the Suevi to their assistance.
Without waiting for the end of winter, Cæsar brought together four
legions at Amiens, and, falling unexpectedly upon the peoples of
Hainault, forced from them a speedy submission. Then he convoked in this
latter town the general assembly of Gaul; but the peoples of Sens,
Orleans, and Trèves did not repair to it. He then transferred the
assembly to Paris, and afterwards marched upon Sens, where his
appearance sufficed to pacify not only that country, but also that of
Orleans. Having thus appeased in a short time the troubles of the north
and centre of Gaul, he directed all his attention towards the countries
situated between the Rhine and the Meuse, where Ambiorix continued to
excite revolt. He was impatient to avenge upon him the defeat of
Sabinus; but, to make more sure of overtaking him, he resolved first to
make two expeditions, one into Brabant, the other into the country of
Trèves, and in this manner to cut off that chieftain from all retreat,
either on the side of the north, or on the side of the east, where the
Germans were.
He advanced in person towards Brabant, which he soon reduced to
obedience. During this time, Labienus gained, on the banks of the
Ourthe, a great victory over the inhabitants of the country of Trèves.
At the news of this defeat, the Germans, who had already crossed the
Rhine, returned home. Cæsar rejoined Labienus on the territory of
Trèves, and, determined to chastise the Suevi, he a second time crossed
the Rhine, near Bonn, a little above the place where he had built a
bridge two years before. After compelling the Suevi to take refuge in
the interior of their territory, he returned to Gaul, caused a part of
the bridge to be cut, and left a strong garrison on the left bank.
[Sidenote: Pursuit of Ambiorix. ]
II. Having thus rendered all retreat impossible to Ambiorix, he advanced
with his army towards the country of Liége by way of Zulpich and Eupen,
across the forest of the Ardennes. Having arrived on the Meuse, he
divided his troops into three corps, and sent all his baggage with the
14th legion, under the command of Cicero, into the fortress of Tongres,
the scene of the disaster of Sabinus. Of these three corps, the first
was sent towards the north, near the southern frontiers of Brabant; the
second towards the west, between the Meuse and the Demer; and the third
marched towards the Scheldt, under the command of Cæsar, whose intention
was to gain the extremity of the forest of the Ardennes between Brussels
and Antwerp, where Ambiorix was said to have taken refuge. When he
quitted Tongres, he announced that he should return in seven days. But,
unwilling to risk his troops on difficult ground, against men who,
scattered, carried on a war of partisans, he sent messengers to invite
the neighbouring peoples to go and ravage the country of Liége, and, at
his call, all hurried to take part in the pillage. Among them 2,000
Sicambrian cavalry, attracted from beyond the Rhine, conceived the idea
of falling upon Cicero’s camp in order to carry off the riches it
contained. They arrived at the moment when a part of the garrison had
gone to forage. It was with great difficulty, and with the loss of two
cohorts, that the Romans repulsed this attack. The devastation of the
country of Liége was completed, but Ambiorix escaped.
The defeat of Sabinus at Tongres thus cruelly avenged, Cæsar returned to
Rheims, convoked there the assembly of Gaul, and caused judgment to be
passed on the conspiracy of the peoples of Sens and Orleans. Acco, the
head of the revolt, was condemned to death and executed, and Cæsar,
after placing his legions in winter quarters in the countries watered by
the Moselle, the Marne, and the Yonne, repaired to Italy.
[Sidenote: C. Domitius Calvinus and M. Valerius Messala, Consuls. ]
III. At Rome, the legal working of the institutions was incessantly
clogged by the ambitions of individuals. The year 700 had closed
without the holding of the consular comitia. Sometimes the tribunes of
the people, the only magistrates whose elections took place on a fixed
day, opposed the holding of the comitia; sometimes the _interreges_
themselves failed to obtain favourable auspices, or, in moments of
trouble, dared not assemble the people. [716] The boldness of the
agitators of all parties explains this anarchy.
Weary of intrigues and disorder, the public opinion looked for the end
of it only from a new power, which wrests from Cicero this painful
confession: “The Republic is without force; Pompey alone is
powerful. ”[717] Already people even spoke of the dictatorship. [718]
Several men, according to Plutarch, ventured to say openly “that the
power of a single person was the only remedy for the evils of the
Republic, and that this remedy must be sought from the mildest
physician, which clearly indicated Pompey. ”[719] Accordingly, the
tribune Lucceius brought forward the formal motion to elect Pompey
dictator. Cato rose energetically against this ill-timed motion. Several
of Pompey’s friends considered it prudent to justify him by affirming
that he never asked or desired the dictatorship. Cato’s reproaches had
none the less produced their effect; and, to put an end to suspicions,
Pompey permitted the consular comitia to be held. [720] In fact, he had
never the courage equal to his ambition, and “although he affected in
his speeches,” says Plutarch, “to refuse absolute power, all his
actions showed a desire to arrive at it. ”[721]
The comitia opened in the month of Sextilis of the year 701; the consuls
named were Cn. Domitius Calvinus and M. Valerius Messala. The first had
been placed under accusation, as we have seen above; but the
pre-occupations of the moment had caused his trial to drag out in
length; and it is unknown whether he was acquitted, or whether all
judicial action had been paralysed on account of the absence of
magistrates during the first months of the year 701. Moreover, Calvinus
was protected by Pompey, and his colleague, Messala, was favoured by
Cæsar, at the recommendation of Cicero.
[Sidenote: Expedition of Crassus against the Parthians, and his Death. ]
IV. Crassus had left for Syria about eighteen months before, full of
ambitious hopes, and flattering himself with the prospect of immense
conquests. He intended not only to subjugate the Parthians, but even to
renew the campaigns of Alexander, penetrate into Bactriana, and reach
India; unfortunately, he was not equal to such a task. Forgetting the
first rules of a general-in-chief, which consist in never despising his
enemies, and in placing on his side all the chances of success, he had
no care for the army he was going to combat, had made no inquiries
either as to the roads, or as to the countries he had to cross, and
neglected the alliances and succours which the peoples who were
neighbours and enemies to the Parthians might have offered him.
He had started from Brundusium in spite of the bad season, had landed at
Dyrrachium, not without the loss of several vessels; thence, following
the direct military road which led from the coasts of the Adriatic to
the Bosphorus,[722] he had proceeded by land into Galatia, and had
entered into Mesopotamia, after crossing the Euphrates. [723]
The Parthians, taken by surprise, offered no resistance, and the rich
and flourishing Greek colonies on the Euphrates and Tigris, who detested
the Parthian yoke, received Crassus as a liberator. The town of
Nicephorium (_Rakkah_), situated near Ichnæ, on the Balissus, opened its
gates to him; Zenodotium alone stood a siege. Instead of taking
advantage of the concurrence of circumstances, and advancing promptly
upon the Tigris, carrying the considerable town of Seleucia,
Ctesiphon,[724] the ordinary residence of the King of the Parthians, and
even Babylon, he confined himself to plundering the province. Having
left 7,000 infantry and 1,000 cavalry in garrison in a few fortresses,
he returned to Syria to take his winter quarters. There, without
occupying himself with the next campaign, he only thought of committing
exactions and of pillaging the temples of Hierapolis and Jerusalem.
At the commencement of 701, Crassus took the field again with seven
legions, nearly 4,000 cavalry, and the same number of light-armed
infantry,[725] and re-entered Mesopotamia. He had for lieutenants his
son Publius, celebrated for his courage, his elevated sentiments, and
his conduct in Gaul; the brave Octavius, who afterwards perished rather
than abandon his general; Vargunteius, Censorinus, and Petronius: for
quæstor, C. Cassius Longinus, esteemed for his valour and prudence, and
who was, ten years afterwards, one of the murderers of Cæsar. An Arab
had become his auxiliary; it was the chief of the Osroenes, Bedouins of
the desert, who had formerly served Pompey in his campaign against
Mithridates; he was named Abgaros, or Abgar,[726] and had been bribed by
the King of the Parthians to betray Crassus.
Artabazus, King of Armenia, visited the proconsul at the head of 6,000
cavalry, promising him 10,000 more, and 30,000 foot, if he consented to
attack the Parthians through Armenia, where the mountainous character of
the country rendered their numerous and formidable cavalry useless.
Crassus rejected this proposal, alleging the necessity of proceeding
into Mesopotamia to the garrisons he had left there in the preceding
year. These, in fact, were already blockaded by the Parthians, and
soldiers who had escaped brought information of the immense preparations
Orodes was making to resist him. A second time, then, he crossed the
Euphrates, not far from Biradjik, the place of the passage of Alexander
the Great. [727] There he had his choice of two roads to reach Seleucia:
either to descend the left bank of the Euphrates to the point where it
approaches the Tigris,[728] or to cross the desert. The first, proposed
by Cassius, although the longest, procured him the immense advantage of
having his right wing constantly supported by the Euphrates, on which
boats could have carried his provisions. The second offered, it is true,
a shorter passage; but in following it, the army was exposed to want of
water and provisions, and to more laborious marches. The perfidious
counsels of Abgar led him to prefer the latter. “There was not,” said
the Arab, “a moment to lose, to prevent the Parthians from carrying away
their treasures, and placing them in safety among the Hyrcanians and
Scythians. ” Crassus possessed some of the qualities which make a good
general; he had given proofs of it in the war of the allies, as well as
in that against Spartacus, but his faculties were paralysed by his
covetousness. Glory ought to be the only thought of the soldier.
During this time, Orodes, King of the Parthians, had divided his forces
into two armies: one, of which he took the command in person, went to
ravage Armenia, in order to prevent Artabazus from joining the Romans;
the other was entrusted to the vizier Surena, a man of merit, to whom
Orodes owed his crown. Without undervaluing his intelligence, we are
unwilling to believe, with some writers, that Surena invented new
military tactics to oppose those of the Romans, and that that was the
reason why, renouncing the employment of infantry, he made use only of
cavalry. If he placed all his confidence in that arm, it was because the
Parthians, in conformity with the nature of their country, generally
fought only on horseback, and among them, as Dio Cassius says, infantry
was of no value. [729] Surena’s talent consisted in the employment of the
craft so familiar to the Asiatics, in order to surround Crassus with
snares and traitors, and to draw him into the plains, where the
advantage was all on the side of cavalry.
The army of the Parthians was thus composed solely of cavalry, some
barbed with iron, as well as their horses,[730] and armed with long and
heavy lances; others furnished with powerful bows and arrows, which,
while they carried much farther than those of the Romans, perforated
defensive armour.
After quitting the town of Carrhæ, the Roman army advanced towards the
south, across the desert. The sand and heat made the march painful,
while the enemy remained always invisible. At length, when they arrived
on the banks, of a small river, the Balissus (_Belick_), which flows
into the Euphrates, they perceived a few Parthian horsemen. Abgar, sent
against them with a vanguard to reconnoitre, did not return. The traitor
had betrayed Crassus to Surena. The proconsul, impatient and uneasy,
then crosses the Balissus with his whole army, and, without allowing it
to repose, pushes forward his cavalry, and obliges the infantry to
follow it.
A few soldiers soon arrive to inform Crassus that they are all who have
been able to escape from an ambuscade into which his vanguard has
fallen, and that the whole Parthian army is on its march to encounter
him. At this intelligence, he, who believed that the enemy would not
dare to wait him, becomes confused, and hastily forms his troops in
array of battle on a long front, for fear of being surrounded. The
cavalry is on the wings; the Osroenes form a last line. The Parthians
first throw forward their light cavalry, which makes whirls in the
plain, raising clouds of dust, and causing the air to ring with their
savage cries and the noise of their drums,[731] and then retire as if in
flight. [732] Crassus sends forward against them his light infantry; but,
surrounded and overwhelmed with the more powerful missiles of the
Parthians, it is obliged to take refuge behind the legions.
On a sudden, the Osroenes whom Abgar had not carried with him attack the
Romans in the rear,[733] and at the same time appear, glittering in the
sun, the long lines of the cuirassed horsemen. Crassus then forms his
army in a square. Each face is composed of twelve cohorts, and the rest
is in reserve. The cavalry and light infantry, divided into two corps,
flank two opposite sides of the square. [734] Publius and Cassius
command, one the right, the other the left. Crassus takes his place in
the centre. [735] The heavy cavalry, lance in rest, charge the great
Roman square, and attempt to break it; but the thick and close ranks of
the legions oppose an invincible resistance. The Parthians fall back a
certain distance and call up their numerous archers, then, all together,
they return in line, and throw upon the deep masses of the Romans a
shower of missiles of which none fail of their aim. The legionaries, if
they remain in their position, have the disadvantage of their _pila_ and
slings, which carry but a short distance, and, if they advance to use
their swords, they lose that cohesion which forms their strength.
Without moving, and defending themselves with difficulty, they see their
numbers diminish without being discouraged; they hope that the enemy
will soon have exhausted his munitions. But the ranks of the Parthians
succeed each other; as quickly as the first have used all their arrows,
they go to fetch others near a long line of camels which carry their
provisions. The combat has lasted several hours; and the Parthians
continue to extend their circle, and threaten to surround entirely the
great Roman square.
In this critical position, Crassus can only have recourse to his
cavalry. The side hardest pressed by the enemy is that commanded by
Publius; his father orders him to make a desperate effort to disengage
the army.
This noble and intrepid young man immediately takes 1,300 cavalry, among
whom were the 1,000 Gauls sent by Cæsar, 500 archers, and eight cohorts
of infantry. Two young men of his own age follow him--Censorinus and
Megabacchus; the first a senator and talented orator, the second equally
distinguished. As soon as they are in motion, the Parthians, according
to their custom, fly, shooting their arrows at the same time, in the
manner of the Scythians. Publius takes this flight for a rout, and
allows himself to be drawn too far away. When he has long advanced far
out of sight of the body of the army, the fugitives halt, wheel round,
are joined by numerous reserves, and surround the Roman troop. These
defend themselves heroically, but the Gauls, unprovided with defensive
armour, resist with difficulty the cavalry barbed with iron. Meanwhile
the son of Crassus has been rejoined by his foot, who combat valiantly;
he orders them to advance, but they show him their hands nailed to their
bucklers, and their feet fixed to the ground, by the arrows. Publius
then makes a last appeal to his brave Gaulish cavalry, who, in their
devotedness to him, meet death far from their country, in the service of
a foreign cause. They dash with impetuosity against the wall of iron
which rises before them, they overthrow some of the cavalry under the
weight of their own armour, snatch their lances from others, or leap to
the ground to stab their horses in the belly; but valour must yield to
numbers. Publius, wounded, tries to retreat, and draws up the wreck of
his troops on ground the slope of which is disadvantageous to him. He
attempts in vain to make a retrenchment with bucklers; his cavalry being
placed in form of an amphitheatre, the last ranks are as much exposed as
the first to the arrows of the Parthians. Two Greeks offer to save him
by leading him to Ichnæ, a town not far off; the young hero replies that
he will not abandon his soldiers; he remains to die with them. Of 6,000
men, 500 only are made prisoners, the others are killed fighting.
Publius and his two friends, Censorinus and Megabacchus, slay each
other.
During this time, Crassus, relieved by his son’s offensive movement, had
taken position on a height, and waited in expectation of his victorious
return. But soon messengers come to inform him that, without prompt
succour, his son is lost. He hesitates a moment between the hope of
saving him and the fear of endangering the rest of his army. At last he
decides on marching. Hardly has he put the troops in motion, when he
sees the Parthians approaching to meet him, uttering shouts of victory,
and carrying the head of his son on the end of a pike. In this
circumstance, Crassus recovers an instant that energy familiar to the
Roman character, and, passing along the ranks, “Soldiers,” he exclaims,
“this loss concerns me alone. As long as you live, all the fortune and
all the glory of Rome endure and remain invincible. Be not discouraged
by my misfortune, and let your compassion for me be changed into rage
against your enemies. ” These last accents of a presumptuous chief
produced little effect upon an army already disheartened. It fought
with resignation, no longer feeling that ardour which gives the hope of
victory. Taken in flank by the numerous archers, attacked in front by
the heavy cuirassed cavalry, the Romans struggled till evening,
remaining always on the defensive, and seeing the circle in which they
were enclosed incessantly contracting around them. Fortunately, the
Parthians, incapable of holding a position during the night, never
encamped on the field of battle; they withdrew.
This combat, fought at fifteen or twenty leagues to the south of Carrhæ,
was disastrous. Nevertheless, all was not lost, if the general-in-chief
preserved his energy and presence of mind; but, disheartened and plunged
in deep grief, he stood immovable, aside from the rest, incapable of
giving any order. Octavius and Cassius called together the tribunes and
centurions, and decided on retreat; yet it was necessary to abandon
4,000 wounded, who could not be carried away, and even conceal their
departure from them, lest their cries might awaken the attention of the
enemy. The retreat is executed at first in complete silence; suddenly
the miserable victims perceive that they are made a sacrifice, their
groans give warning to the Persians, and excite a frightful tumult among
the Romans: some return to load the wounded on the baggage horses,
others form in battle to repulse the enemy: 300 of the cavalry escape,
reach Carrhæ, and cross the Euphrates over the bridge which Crassus had
built. Meanwhile the Parthians, occupied in massacring the 4,000 wounded
and the stragglers, pursue only faintly the remains of the Roman army,
which, protected by a sally of the garrison of Carrhæ, succeed in
shutting themselves up within its walls.
Either through discouragement, or through want of provisions, the Romans
made no stay in this town, but abandoned it, to seek refuge in Armenia.
Crassus, followed by a small number of troops, trusting again in a
native who was deceiving him, saw his flight retarded by the circuitous
way he was made to take uselessly.
At daybreak the Parthians appeared.
Octavius had reached, with 5,000 men, one of the spurs of the mountains
of Armenia, and would have been able to place himself in safety in the
fortress of Sinnaka, at a distance of only a day’s march; he prefers
descending into the plain to the succour of his general, whom he brings
back with him to the heights. If they continue the combat till evening,
all will not be lost; but Surena has again recourse to stratagem: he
sends seductive offers, and proposes an interview. Crassus refuses it;
he is resolved on fighting. Unfortunately, the soldiers, who hitherto
had obeyed imprudent orders, this time refuse to obey the only order
which could save them. Crassus is forced to agree to the interview. At
the moment he is on his way to it, an accidental quarrel, or rather one
raised by the treachery of the Parthians, arises between the escorts of
the two nations. Octavius thrusts his sword through the body of a
Parthian esquire; a battle follows, and all the Roman escort is
massacred. Crassus is slain, and his head carried to Orodes. Of 40,000
legionaries, one quarter alone survived. The cavalry of C. Cassius,
which had separated from the army on their departure from Carrhæ, and a
few other fugitives, succeeded in reaching Syria, in covering Antioch,
and even subsequently in expelling successfully the Parthians from the
Roman province.
[Sidenote: Consequences of the Death of Crassus. ]
V. The death of Crassus had two serious consequences: the first was to
raise still higher the merit of the conqueror of Gaul, by showing what
became of the most numerous and best-disciplined armies under the
command of a presumptuous and unskilful chief; the second, to take away
from the scene a man whose influence was a check upon the ambition of
two individuals destined to become rivals. With Crassus, Pompey would
not have been the instrument of a party; without Pompey, the Senate
would not have dared to declare against Cæsar.
The balance thus broken, Pompey sought a new point of support. His
alliance with Cæsar had alone given him the concurrence of the popular
party. Now that this alliance was weakened, he would naturally seek to
be reconciled to the aristocracy, flatter its passions, and serve its
rancours. In the first moments, he provoked disorder rather than
repressed it.
Three competitors disputed the consulship for 702, T. Annius Milo, P.
Plautius Hypsæus, and Q. Cæcilius Metellus Scipio. [736] They rivalled
each other in intrigue and corruption. [737] Pompey, especially since he
had been reconciled to P. Clodius, treated Milo as an enemy, and,
according to his habitual tactics, pretended to believe that he
harboured designs against his life. Although he retarded the comitia,
he favoured P. Hypsæus and Q. Scipio, who solicited the consulship, and
Clodius, who, the same year, was a candidate for the prætorship. Milo
had a great number of partisans; his largesses to the people and his
spectacles seemed likely to ensure his election; and Pompey, in the way
of whose views he stood, did all he could to prevent the Senate from
naming an interrex to hold the comitia. He desired this important office
for himself; but, obliged to give way before the resistance of Cato, he
confined himself to preventing any election, and the year ended again
without the nomination of consuls.
CHAPTER VII.
EVENTS OF THE YEAR 702.
[Sidenote: Murder of Clodius. ]
I. Rome seemed to be given up only to the petty contentions of
individuals; but, behind the men who stood in view, grave interests and
violent passions were in agitation. The disease which undermines society
unknown to it, reveals itself when facts, of no great importance in
themselves, occur suddenly to produce an unforeseen crisis, to unveil
dangers which were unperceived, and to show to all men that society on
the brink of an abyss of which nobody had suspected the depth. Thus, by
mere accidents of his life, Clodius seems to have been destined to cause
the explosion of the elements of disorder which the Republic concealed
in its bosom. He is caught in the house of Cæsar’s wife during a
religious sacrifice, and this violation of the mysteries of the _Bona
Dea_ leads to a fatal division in the first bodies of the state. His
impeachment irritates the popular party; his acquittal exposes to the
world the venality of the judges, and separates the order of the knights
from that of the Senate. The animosity with which he is pursued makes
him a chief of a formidable party, which sends Cicero into exile, makes
Pompey tremble, and accelerates the elevation of Cæsar. His death is
destined to awaken all the popular passions, and inspire the opposite
faction with so many fears, that it will forget its rancours and
jealousies to throw itself into the arms of Pompey, and all the people
will be in arms from one end of Italy to the other.
On the 13th of the Calends of February, 702 (13th of December, 701),
Milo started from Rome to proceed to Lanuvium, his native town, of which
he was the dictator. [738] Towards the ninth hour, he met on the Appian
Way, a little beyond Bovillæ, Clodius, who, on his part, was returning
on horseback from Aricia to Rome, accompanied by three friends and
thirty slaves, all armed with swords. Milo was in a chariot with his
wife Fausta, daughter of Sylla, and M. Fufius, his familiar. In his
train marched an escort ten times more numerous than that of Clodius,
and in which were several celebrated gladiators. The two troops passed
near a small temple of the _Bona Dea_,[739] without exchanging a single
word, but casting on each other furious looks. They had hardly passed,
when two of Milo’s gladiators, who lagged behind, picked a quarrel with
the slaves of Clodius. At the noise of this dispute, the latter turned
his bridle, and advanced uttering threats. One of the gladiators, named
Birria, struck him with his sword, and wounded him grievously in the
shoulder;[740] he was carried into a neighbouring tavern. [741]
Milo, learning that Clodius was wounded, feared the consequences of this
aggression, and believed that he would incur less danger by dispatching
his enemy. He therefore sent his men to burst open the tavern; Clodius,
dragged from the bed on which he had been placed, is pierced with blows,
and thrown into the high road. His slaves are slain or put to flight.
The corpse remained stretched on the Appian Way, until a senator, Sext.
Tedius, who was passing, caused him to be taken up, placed in a litter,
and carried to Rome, where he arrived at night, and was laid on a bed in
the _atrium_ of his house. But already the news of the fatal meeting was
spread through the whole town, and the crowd hastened towards the
residence of Clodius, where his wife, Fulvia, pointing to the wounds
with which he was covered, urged the people to vengeance. The concourse
was so great that several men of mark, and among others C. Vibienus, a
senator, were stifled in the crowd. The corpse was carried to the Forum,
and exposed on the rostra; two tribunes of the people, T. Munatius
Plancus and Q. Pompeius Rufus, harangued the multitude, and demanded
justice.
Afterwards, at the instigation of a scribe named Sext. Clodius, the body
was carried to the curia, in order to insult the Senate; a funereal pile
was made of the benches, tables, and registers. The fire communicated to
the Curia Hostilia, and thence gained the Basilica Porcia, and the two
buildings were reduced to ashes. Then the multitude, becoming more and
more furious, snatched the fasces which surrounded the funereal
bed,[742] and proceeded to the front of the houses of Hypsæus and Q.
Metellus Scipio, as if to offer them the consulship. Lastly, they
presented themselves before the abode of Pompey; some demanded with loud
shouts that he should be consul or dictator, others shouted the same
wishes for Cæsar. [743]
Nevertheless, nine days after, when the smoke was still rising from the
ruins, the populace, on the occasion of a funereal banquet in the Forum,
sought to burn the house of Milo and that of the interrex, M. Lepidus.
They were driven away by a shower of arrows. [744] Milo, in the first
moment, had dreamt only of hiding himself; but on hearing the
indignation and terror caused by the burning of the curia, he resumed
his courage. Persuaded, moreover, that, to repress these excesses, the
Senate would proceed to severities against the opposite party,[745] he
returned into Rome by night, carried his boldness so far as to announce
that he still solicited the consulship, and began actually to buy the
votes. Cœlius, a tribune of the people, spoke in his favour in the
Forum. Milo himself mounted the tribune, and accused Clodius of having
laid an ambush for him. He was interrupted by a considerable number of
armed men, who rushed into the public place. Milo and Cœlius wrapped
themselves in the mantles of slaves, and took flight. A great slaughter
of their adherents was made. But soon the rioters, profiting by this
pretext for disorder, murdered all they met, whether citizens or
strangers, especially such as attracted their attention by their rich
garments and gold rings; armed slaves were the chief instruments of
these disorders. No crime was spared; under pretence of seeking Milo’s
friends, a great number of houses were pillaged, and during several days
all sorts of outrages were committed. [746]
[Sidenote: The Republic is declared in Danger. ]
II. Meanwhile the Senate declared the Republic in danger, and charged
the interrex, the tribunes of the people, and the proconsul Cn. Pompey,
having the _imperium_ near the town, to watch over the public safety,
and make levies in all Italy. The care of rebuilding the Curia Hostilia
was entrusted to the son of Sylla: it was decided that it should bear
the name of the old dictator, the memory of whom the Senate sought to
place in honour. [747]
As soon as Pompey had assembled a military force sufficiently imposing,
the two nephews of Clodius, both named Appius, demanded the arrest of
the slaves of Milo, and of those of Fausta, his wife. But the first care
of Milo, his enemy once dead, had been to enfranchise his slaves, as a
reward for having defended him, and, once enfranchised, they could no
longer depose against their patron.
About a month after the death of Clodius, Q. Metellus Scipio brought the
affair before the Senate, and accused Milo of falsehood in the
explanations he had given. He arrayed skilfully all the circumstances
which pointed to him as the aggressor: on one side, his escort much more
numerous--the three wounds of Clodius--the eleven slaves of the latter
slain; on the other, certain criminal facts connected with the event--a
taverner slaughtered--two messengers massacred--a slave chopped to
pieces for refusing to give up a son of Clodius; lastly, the sum of
1,000 ases offered by the accused to whoever would undertake his
defence. Then Milo sought to appease Pompey, by offering to desist from
his candidature for the consulship. Pompey replied that the right of
deciding belonged to the Roman people alone. Milo remained under the
accusation not only of murder, but of electoral solicitation, and of an
outrage on the Republic. He could not be judged before the previous
nomination of the urban prætor, and before the convocation of the
comitia.
[Sidenote: Pompey sole Consul. ]
III. This time the fear of disorder silenced opposition, and all eyes
turned towards Pompey; but what title to give him? That of dictator
caused alarm. M. Bibulus, though previously hostile, moved the proposal
to elect him sole consul; it offered the only means of averting the
dictature, and preventing Cæsar from becoming his colleague. [748] M.
Cato supported this motion, which passed unanimously. [749] It was added
that, if Pompey believed a second consul necessary, he should name
himself, but not within two months. [750] On the 5th of the Calends of
March (27th of February)--it was during an intercalary month--Pompey,
though absent, was declared consul by the interrex Serv. Sulpicius, and
immediately re-entered Rome. “This extraordinary measure, which had
never before been adopted for anybody, appeared wise; nevertheless, as
Pompey sought less than Cæsar the favour of the people, the Senate
flattered itself with the hope of detaching him completely from it, and
securing him in its own interests. And so it happened. Proud of this new
and altogether unusual honour, Pompey no longer proposed any measure
with a view of pleasing the multitude, and did scrupulously all that
could be agreeable to the Senate. ”[751]
Three days after his installation, he obtained two
senatus-consultus--one, to repress outrages with violence, especially
the murder committed on the Appian Way, the burning of the curia, and
the attack on the house of the interrex, M. Lepidus; the other, to
prevent electoral solicitation by a more rapid proceeding and a more
severe penalty. In all criminal actions, a delay of three days was fixed
for the interrogation of witnesses, and one day for the contradictory
debates. The accuser had two hours to speak, the accused three to defend
himself. [752]
M. Cœlius, tribune of the people, protested against these laws,
alleging that they violated the tutelary forms of justice, and that they
were only imagined for the ruin of Milo. Pompey replied in a tone of
menace: “Let them not oblige me to defend the Republic by arms! ” He,
moreover, adopted all measures for his personal safety, and went with a
military guard, as though he feared some outrage on the part of Milo.
[Sidenote: Trial of Milo. ]
IV. Pompey required farther, that a quæstor should be chosen among the
consulars to preside over the hearing of the cause. The comitia were
held, and L. Domitius Ahenobarbus was elected. It was conceded to Milo
that the accusation of murder should be tried first, and that that of
solicitation should be adjourned.
The accusers were the elder of the Appii (the nephew of Clodius), M.
Antonius, and P. Valerius Nepos. Cicero, assisted by M. Claudius
Marcellus, was to defend the accused. Every effort had been made to
intimidate Cicero. Pompeius Rufus, C. Sallustius,[753] and T. Munatius
Plancus had sought to excite the people against him, and to make Pompey
look upon him with suspicion. Although he remained firm against the
threats of his adversaries, his courage was shaken.
The trial began on the eve of the Nones of April, and on the first day
the pleadings were interrupted by a violent agitation. Next day, the
interrogation of the witnesses was carried on under the protection of an
imposing military force. Most of the evidence was overpowering for the
accused, and proved that Clodius had been massacred in cold blood. When
Fulvia, the widow of Clodius, appeared, the emotion increased twofold;
her tears, and the spectacle of her grief, affected the assembly. When
the session was closed, the tribune of the people, T. Munatius Plancus,
harangued the mob, engaged the citizens to come next day in great number
to the public place, in order to oppose the acquittal of Milo, and he
recommended them to show unmistakably _their opinion and grief to the
judges when it came to the voting_.
On the 6th of the Ides of April the shops were closed; guards were
placed on the issues of the Forum by order of Pompey, who, with a
considerable reserve, stationed himself at the treasury. After the
drawing for the judges, the eldest of the Appii, M. Antonius, and P.
Valerius Nepos sustained the accusation. Cicero alone replied. He had
been advised to represent the murder of Clodius as a service rendered to
the Republic; but he rejected this plea, although Cato had dared to
declare in full Senate that Milo had performed the act of a good
citizen. [754] He preferred resting his argument on the right of
legitimate defence. He had hardly commenced, when the cries and
interruptions of the partisans of Clodius caused him an emotion which
was visible in his speech; the soldiers were obliged to make use of
their arms. [755] The cries of the wounded, and the sight of the blood,
deprived Cicero of his presence of mind; he trembled, and often broke
off. His pleading was far from being worthy of his talent. Milo was
condemned, and went into exile to Marseilles. In the sequel, Cicero
composed at his leisure the magnificent oration which we know, and sent
it to his unfortunate client, who replied; “If thou hadst spoken
formerly as thou hast now written, I should not be eating mullets at
Marseilles. ”[756]
During the wars of Greece and Africa, Milo, who had not forgotten his
part of conspirator, returned into Italy, invited by Cœlius. They
both attempted to organise seditious movements; but they failed, and
paid for their rash enterprise with their lives. [757]
Pompey, having reached the summit of power, believed, like most men who
are vain of themselves, that all was saved because they had placed him
at the head of affairs; but, instead of attending to these, his first
care was to marry again. He espoused, in spite of his advanced age,
Cornelia, daughter of Scipio, the young widow of Publius Crassus, who
had just perished among the Parthians. “It was considered,” says
Plutarch, “that a woman so young, remarkable both for her mental
qualities and for external graces, would have been more properly married
to his son. The more honest citizens reproached him with having, on this
occasion, sacrificed the interests of the Republic, which, in the
extremity to which it was reduced, had chosen him for its physician, and
trusted to him alone for its cure. Instead of responding to this
confidence, he was seen crowned with flowers, offering sacrifices and
celebrating nuptial rites, while he ought to have regarded as a public
calamity this consulship, which he would not have obtained, according
to the laws, alone and without a colleague, if Rome had been more
happy. ”[758]
Pompey had, nevertheless, rendered great services by putting down the
riots and protecting the exercise of justice. He had delivered Rome from
the bands of Clodius and Milo, had given a more regular organisation to
the tribunals,[759] and caused their judgments to be respected by armed
force. Still, if we except these acts, commanded by circumstances, he
had used his power with hesitation, as a man who is struggling between
his conscience and his interests. Having become, perhaps unknowingly,
the instrument of the aristocratic party, the ties which had attached
him to Cæsar had often checked him in the way in which they sought to
push him. As the defender of order, he had promulgated laws to restore
it; but, as the man of a party, he had been incessantly led to violate
them, to satisfy the urgencies of his faction. He caused a
senatus-consultus to be adopted, authorising prosecutions against those
who had exercised public employments since his first consulship. The
retrospective effect of this law, which embraced a period of twenty
years; and consequently the consulship of Cæsar, excited the indignation
of the partisans of the latter; they exclaimed that Pompey would do much
better to occupy himself with the present than to call the hateful
investigation of the factions to the past conduct of the first
magistrates of the Republic; but Pompey replied that, since the law
permitted the control of his own acts, he saw no reason why those of
Cæsar should be freed from it; and that, moreover, the relaxation of
morals during so many years rendered the measure necessary. [760]
Complaint was made of the power left to orators of pronouncing the
eulogy of the accused, whose defence they offered, because the prestige
attached to the word of men of consideration procured too easily the
acquittal of the guilty. A senatus-consultus prohibited the custom. Yet
in contempt of these orders, which he had brought forward, Pompey was
not ashamed to pronounce the eulogy of T. Munatius Plancus, accused,
with Q. Pompeius Rufus, of the fire which burnt the Curia Hostilia. [761]
Cato, who was one of the members of the tribunal, exclaimed, stopping
his ears: “I do not believe this eulogiser, who speaks against his own
laws. ” The accused were condemned nevertheless.
With the aim of repressing electoral corruption and bringing to justice
those guilty of it, it was enacted that every one condemned for bribery
who should succeed in convicting another of the same crime should obtain
thereby the remission of his punishment. Memmius, condemned for an act
of this description, wishing to take advantage of the benefit of the
legal impunity, denounced Scipio. Then Pompey appeared clothed in
mourning before the tribunal, at the side of his father-in-law. At the
view of this image of sorrow and of the moral pressure which resulted
from it, Memmius desisted, deploring the misfortune of the Republic. As
to the judges, they pushed flattery to the point of conducting Scipio
back to his dwelling. [762]
To put a stop in the elections to the intrigues arising from the
shameless covetousness of the candidates, it was decreed that the
consuls and prætors should not be allowed to take the government of a
province until five years after their consulship or prætorship. [763]
This discouraged the ambitious, who threw themselves into extravagant
expenses in order to arrive through one of these magistracies at the
government of the provinces. And nevertheless Pompey, although consul,
not only preserved the proconsulship of Spain, but he caused his
government to be prolonged for five years, kept a part of his army in
Italy, and received a thousand talents for the maintenance of his
troops. In the interest of his partisans, he did not hesitate to violate
his own laws, which has made Tacitus say of him, _Suarum legum auctor
idem ac subversor_. [764]
The preceding law did not deprive Cæsar of the possibility of arriving
at the consulship, but the Senate put in force again the law which
prohibited any one who was absent from offering himself as a candidate,
forgetting that it had just elected Pompey sole consul, although absent
from the town of Rome. The friends of the proconsul of Gaul protested
with energy. “Cæsar,” they said, “had merited well of his country; a
second consulship would only be the just recompense of his immense
labours; or, at all events, if they felt reluctance in conferring this
great dignity upon him, they ought at least not to give him a
successor, or deprive him of the benefit he had acquired. ” Pompey, who
had no desire of breaking with Cæsar, had recourse to Cicero[765] to add
to the law already engraved on a tablet of brass, which was then the
form of promulgation, that the prohibition did not apply to those who
had obtained the authorisation to offer themselves as candidates in
spite of their absence. All the tribunes, who had at first protested,
accepted this qualification, at the motion of Cœlius. [766]
Nevertheless, Cæsar’s friends went to him in great numbers to
demonstrate that Pompey’s laws had been all brought forward against his
interest, and that it was essential that he should be on his guard
against him. Cæsar, proud in the justice of his claims, and strong in
the services he had rendered, distrusted neither his son-in-law nor
destiny, encouraged them, and praised greatly the conduct of
Pompey. [767]
[Sidenote: Pompey takes as his Associate Cæcillus Metellus Pius Scipio. ]
V. About the first of August, Pompey chose his father-in-law Scipio as
his associate in the consulship, for the last five months. This
partition of power, purely nominal, and which was subsequently imitated
by the emperors, appeared to satisfy men who thought only of forms. The
senators boasted of having restored order without injuring the
institutions of the Republic. [768]
Scipio sought to signalise his short administration by abolishing the
law of Clodius, which permitted the censors to expel from the Senate
only men who had already undergone a condemnation. He restored things to
the old footing, by rendering the power of the censors almost unlimited.
This change was not received with favour, as Scipio had expected. The
old consulars, among whom the censors were usually chosen, found the
responsibility of such functions dangerous in a time of trouble and
anarchy. Instead of being sought as an honour, the censorship was
avoided as a perilous post. [769]
It was every day more evident, in the eyes of all men of judgment, that
the institutions of the Republic were becoming more and more powerless
to guarantee order within, and perhaps even peace without. The Senate
could no longer meet, the comitia be held, or the judges render
judgment, without the protection of a military force; it was necessary,
therefore, to place themselves at the discretion of a general, and to
abdicate all authority into his hands. Thus, while the popular instinct,
which is rarely deceived, saw the safety of the Republic in the power of
a single individual, the aristocratic party, on the contrary, saw danger
only in this general tendency towards one man.
