)
[634] “Knowing well that small news as well as great news have reached
Cæsar.
[634] “Knowing well that small news as well as great news have reached
Cæsar.
Napoleon - History of Julius Caesar - b
6.
[579] Cicero, _Pro Sextio_, 33.
[580] Cicero, _Orat. pro Domo sua_, 27; _Pro Sextio_, 34.
[581] Cicero, _Pro Sextio_, 34; _De Legibus_, III. 19.
[582] Cicero, _Pro Sextio_, 34.
[583] Cicero, _Pro Sextio_, 35. --Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 7. --Plutarch,
_Pompey_, 51.
[584] Cicero, _Pro Sextio_, 35; _Orat. prima post Reditum_, 5, 6.
[585] Cicero, _De Officiis_, II. 17; _Orat. pro Sextio_, 39. --Dio
Cassius XXXIX. 8.
[586] Cicero, _Orat. secunda post Reditum ad Senatum_, 10; _Orat. pro
Domo sua_, 28; _Orat. in Pisonem_, 15.
[587] We thus see that the power of observing the sky continued to exist
in spite of the law Clodia.
[588] Cicero, in the passages cited.
[589] Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, IV, 1.
[590] Asconius, _Comment in Orat. Ciceronis pro Milone_, p. 48, edit.
Orelli.
[591] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 9. --Plutarch, _Pompey_, 52.
[592] Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, IV. 1. --Cicero’s proposal was further
amplified by C. Messius, tribune of the people, who demanded for Pompey
a fleet, an army, and the authority to dispose of the finances.
[593] Plutarch, _Pompey_, 52. --Cicero, _Orat. pro Domo sua_, 10.
[594] _Epist. ad Attic. _, IV. 2.
[595] “I will add that, in the opinion of the public, Clodius is
regarded as a victim reserved for Milo. ” (Cicero, _De Respons. Harusp. _,
3. )--This oration on the reply of the Aruspices is of May, June, or
July, 698. See, also, what he says in his letter to Atticus, of
November, 697. (_Epist. ad Attic. _ IV. 3. )
[596] Plutarch, _Cæsar_, 23. --_De Bello Gallico_, II. 35.
[597] “But why, especially on that occasion, should any one be
astonished at my conduct or blame it, when I myself have already several
times supported propositions which were more honourable for Cæsar than
necessary for the state? I voted in his favour fifteen days of prayers;
it was enough for the Republic to have decreed to Cæsar the same number
of days which Marius had obtained. The gods would have been satisfied, I
think, with the same thanksgivings which had been rendered to them in
the most important wars. So great a number of days had therefore for its
only object to honour Cæsar personally. Ten days of thanksgivings were
accorded, for the first time, to Pompey, when the war of Mithridates had
been terminated by the death of that prince. I was consul, and, on my
report, the number of days usually decreed to the consulars was doubled,
after you had heard Pompey’s letter, and been convinced that all the
wards were terminated on land and sea. You adopted the proposal I made
to you of ordaining ten days of prayers. At present I have admired the
virtue and greatness of soul of Cn. Pompey, who, loaded with
distinctions such as no other before him had received the like, gave to
another more honours than he had obtained himself. Thus, then, those
prayers which I voted in favour of Cæsar were accorded to the immortal
gods, to the customs of our ancestors, and to the needs of the state;
but the flattering terms of the decree, this new distinction, and the
extraordinary number of days, it is to the person itself of Cæsar that
they were addressed, and they were a homage rendered to his glory. ”
(Cicero, _Orat. pro Provinc. Consular. _, 10, 11. ) (August, A. U. C. 698. )
[598] Cicero, _Epist. ad Quint. _, II. 1.
[599] Cicero, _Epist. ad Quint. _, II. 1.
[600] Cicero, _Epist. ad Quint. _, II. 1.
[601] Cicero, _Epist. ad Attic. _, IV. 3.
[602] Cicero, _Epist. ad Attic. _, IV. 2 and 3; _Epist. ad Quint. _, II.
1.
[603] Atia had wedded in first marriage Octavius, by whom she had a son,
who was afterwards Augustus.
[604] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 14.
[605] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 12, 13. --Plutarch, _Pompey_, 52.
[606] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 14. --“I do not spare upon him even reproaches,
to prevent him (Pompey) from meddling in this infamy. ” Cicero, _Epist.
Famil. _, I. 1.
[607] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 15.
[608] Cicero, _Epist. ad Quintum_, II. 2.
[609] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 16.
[610] Cicero, _Epist. ad Quintum_, II. 2. --Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 18.
[611] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 18, 19.
[612] Cicero, _Epist. ad Quintum_, II. 3.
[613] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 20.
[614] Cicero, _Epist. ad Quintum_, II. 3.
[615] Cicero, _Epist. ad Quintum_, II. 3.
[616] Cicero, _Epist. ad Quintum_, II. 3. --We look upon this word as
giving the explanation of the quarrel then existing between the two
triumvirs. Egypt was so rich a prey, that it was calculated to cause
division between them.
[617] “Clodius is cast down from the tribune, and I steal away, for fear
of accident. ” (Cicero, _Ep. ad Quint. _, II. 3. )
[618] Cicero, _Ep. ad Quint. _, II. 3.
[619] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 22.
[620] Plutarch, _Cato_, 45, tells us that Cato returned under the
consulship of Marcius Philippus.
[621] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 23.
[622] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 7.
[623] Cicero, _Epist. ad Quintum_, II. 1.
[624] Plutarch, _Cato_, 40; _Cicero_, 45.
[625] “There has reached me a mass of private talk of people here, whom
you may guess, who have always been, and always are, in the same ranks
with me. They openly rejoice at knowing that I am, at the same time,
already on terms of coolness with Pompey, and on the point of
quarrelling with Cæsar; but what was most cruel was to see their
attitude towards my enemy (Clodius), to see them embrace him, flatter
him, coax him, and cover him with caresses. ” (Cicero, _Epist.
Familiar. _, I. 9. )
[626] Cicero, _Epist. ad Quintum_, II. 3.
[627] These words are reported by Cicero (_Epist. ad Quintum_, II. 3),
to whom they were addressed by Pompey. Dio Cassius, contrary to all
probability, pretends that Pompey, from this moment, was irritated
against Cæsar, and sought to deprive him of his province. There is no
proof of such an allegation. The interview at Lucca, which took place
this same year, offers a formal contradiction to it.
[628] See Nonius Marcellus (edit. Gerlach and Roth, p. 261), who quotes
a passage from Book XXII. of the _Annals_ of Fenestella, who wrote under
Augustus or Tiberius.
[629] Suetonius, _Cæsar_, 24.
[630] Cicero, _Epist. ad Quintum_, II. 5.
[631] Cicero, _Epist. Familiar_. , I. 9.
[632] “The question of the lands of Campania, which ought to have been
settled on the day of the Ides and the day following, is not yet
decided. I have much difficulty in making up my mind on this question. ”
(Cicero, _Epist. ad Quintum_, II. 8. ) (April, 698. )
[633] “Appius is not yet returned from his visit to Cæsar. ” (Cicero,
_Epist. ad Quintum_, II. 6. ) (April, 698.
)
[634] “Knowing well that small news as well as great news have reached
Cæsar. ” (_Epist. ad Quintum_, III. i. 3. )
[635] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 25.
[636] Plutarch, _Cæsar_, 24.
[637] “Appius, he says, has visited Cæsar, in order to wrest from him
some nominations of tribunes. ” (Cicero, _Epist. ad Quintum_, II. 15. )
[638] Appian, _Civil Wars_, II. 17. --The consuls and proconsuls had
twelve lictors, the prætors six, the dictators twenty-four, and the
master of the cavalry a number which varied. The curule ædiles, the
quæstors, and the tribunes of the people, not having the _imperium_, had
no lictors. As, at the time of the conference of Lucca, there was no
dictator or master of cavalry, the number of 120 fasces can only apply
to the collective escort of proconsuls and prætors. It is not probable
that the two consuls then in office at Rome should have gone to Lucca.
On the other hand, the proconsuls were prohibited from quitting their
provinces as long as they were in the exercise of their commands. (see
Titus Livius, XLI. 7; XLIII. 1. ) But as the conferences of Lucca took
place just at the epoch when the proconsuls and proprætors were starting
for their provinces (we know from Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, III. 9,
that this departure took place in the months of April and May), it is
probable that the newly-named proconsuls and proprætors repaired to
Lucca before they went to take possession of their commands. Thus the
number of 120 fasces would represent the collective number of the
lictors of proprætors or proconsuls who could pass through Lucca before
embarking either at Pisa, or Adria, or at Ravenna.
On this hypothesis, we should have the following numbers:--
Proprætor of Sicily 6 fasces.
“ of Sardinia 6 “
Proconsul of Citerior Spain 12 “
“ of Ulterior Spain 12 “
“ of Africa 12 “
“ of Asia 12 “
“ of Macedonia 12 “
“ of Bithynia 12 “
“ of Crete 12 “
“ of Syria 12 “
“ of Cilicia 12 “
---
120
Plutarch (_Pompey_, 53) says in so many words that there were seen every
day at his door 120 fasces of proconsuls and prætors.
[639] Appian, _Civil Wars_, II. 17.
[640] See Suetonius, _Cæsar_, 24. --The proof that this plan originated
with Cæsar is found in the fact that Pompey and Crassus had not
previously taken any steps to ensure their election.
[641] We have put into the mouth of Cæsar the following words of Cicero:
“In giving the Alps as a boundary to Italy, Nature had not done it
without a special intention of the gods. If the entrance had been open
to the ferocity and the multitude of the Gauls, this town would never
have been the seat and centre of a great empire. These lofty mountains
may now level themselves; there is now nothing, from the Alps to the
ocean, which Italy has to fear. One or two campaigns more, and fear or
hope, punishments or recompenses, arms or the laws, will reduce all Gaul
into subjection to us, and attach her to us by everlasting ties. ”
(Cicero, _Orat. de Provinciis Consularibus_, 14.
[642] Cicero, _Orat. pro Muræna_, 18.
[643] _Orat. de Provinciis Consularibus_, 15.
[644] “Evidently all opposition to these great men, especially since the
brilliant successes of Cæsar, was contrary to the general feeling, and
unanimously rejected. ” (Cicero, _Epist. Familiar. _, I. 9. )
[645] “Cæsar, strengthened by his successes, and by the recompenses,
honours, and testimonials with which the Senate had loaded him, had just
lent to this illustrious order his glory and his influence. ” (Cicero,
_Epist. Familiar. _, I. 9. )
[646] “Why should I wait to be reconciled with Cæsar? Has this
reconcilement not been effected already by the Senate? the Senate, the
supreme council of the Republic, my rule and my guide in all my
opinions. I walk in your steps, senators, I obey your counsels, I yield
to your authority. . . . So long as the political measures of Cæsar have
not had your approbation, you did not see me allied with him. When his
exploits had changed your feelings and dispositions, you have seen me
not only agree in your decisions, but loudly applaud them. ” (Cicero,
_Orat. de Provinciis Consularibus_, 10. )
[647] _Epist. Familiar. _, I. 9.
[648] _Epist. ad Atticum_, IV. 5.
[649] Cicero, _Orat. de Prov. Consularibus_, 9. (August, A. U. C. 698. )
[650] Cicero, _Orat. de Prov. Consularibus_, 13. (August, A. U. C. 698. )
[651] Cicero, _Orat. pro Balbo_, 27.
[652] Cicero, _Epist. Familiar. _, I. 7.
[653] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 27.
[654] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 29.
[655] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 30. --Plutarch, _Pompey_, 53; _Crassus_, 18.
[656] _Précis des Guerres de César_, III. 5.
[657] Plutarch, _Cæsar_, 18.
[658] Suetonius, _Cæsar_, 57.
[659] “What does Cæsar think of my poem, I pray? He has written to me
that he had read the first book, and that he had seen nothing, even in
Greek, which ever pleased him more. The rest, up to a certain passage,
is less finished: that is his expression. Tell me what it is that
displeases him, the matter or the form, and fear not to speak candidly”.
(Cicero, _Ep. ad Quint. _, II. 16. )
[660] Plutarch, _Crassus_, 16. --Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 31.
[661] Plutarch, _Cato_, 48; _Pompey_, 54.
[662] Cicero, _Epist. Familiar. _, I. 9.
[663] Plutarch, _Pompey_, 55.
[664] Cicero, _Epist. ad Quintum_, II. 9.
[665] The country of the Vaccæi comprised part of old Castile, of the
kingdom of Leon, and of the Basque provinces. Clunia, a town of the
Celtiberii, was situated near Coruña del Conde.
[666] Plutarch, _Crassus_, 19.
[667] Plutarch, _Crassus_, 19.
[668] Plutarch, _Cæsar_, 24.
[669] Plutarch, _Cato_, 49. --Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 34.
[670] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 35.
[671] Plutarch, _Cato_, 49. --Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 33, 35. --Dio Cassius
pretends erroneously that the _imperium_ in the province of Gaul was
only continued to Cæsar by a sort of favour, and but for three years,
when his partisans murmured at seeing that Crassus and Pompey thought
only for themselves. He does not mention the conference of Lucca, which
is attested by Suetonius, Plutarch, and Appian. He forgets that
Trebonius, Cæsar’s creature, was one of his most devoted lieutenants in
the Civil War. We think that the testimony of the other historians is to
be preferred.
[672] “In my opinion, that which it would have been best for his
adversaries to do, would have been to cease a struggle which they are
not strong enough to sustain. . . . At the present day the only ambition
one can have is to be quiet, and those who governed would be disposed to
allow it us, if they found certain people less rigid against their
domination. ” (Cicero, _Epist. Familiar. _, I. 8, letter to Lentulus. )
[673] Plutarch, _Crassus_, 19.
[674] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 37.
[675] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 38.
[676] Cicero, _Epist. Familiar. _, VII. 1.
[677] According to the letter from Cicero to Atticus (IV. 13), Crassus
had left Rome a little before the 17th of the Calends of December, 699,
which answers, according to the concordance established by M. Le
Verrier, to the 28th of October, 699.
[678] Justin, XLI. 6.
[679] Justin, XLII. 4.
[680] _De Bello Gallico_, IV. 38.
[681] “Cæsar was very proud of his expedition into Britain, and
everybody at Rome cried it up with enthusiasm. People congratulated each
other on becoming acquainted with a country of the existence of which
they were previously ignorant, and of having penetrated into countries
of which they had never heard before; everybody took his hopes for
reality, and all that people flattered themselves with obtaining some
day caused as great an outburst of joy as if they had already possessed
it. ” (Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 53. )--“After having landed in Britain, Cæsar
believed he had discovered a new world. He wrote (it is unknown to whom)
that Britain was not an island, but a country surrounding the ocean. ”
(Eumenius, _Panegyrici_, IV. 2. )
[682] Lucan, _Pharsalia_, II. , line 571.
[683] “Without paying any attention to the opinion of Cato, the people
during fifteen days performed sacrifices to celebrate this victory, and
exhibited the greatest marks of joy. ” (Plutarch, _Nicias_ and _Crassus_,
4. )
[684] Plutarch, _Cato of Utica_, 58.
[685] See page 456.
[686] Cicero, _Epist. Familiar. _, I. 7.
[687] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 56, 57, 58. --_Schol. Bob. Pro Plancio_, 271.
[688] Plutarch, _Antony_, 2.
[689] Dio Cassius speaks of it as follows: “The influence of powerful
men and of riches was so great, even against the decrees of the people
and of the Senate, that Pompey wrote to Gabinius, governor of Syria, to
charge him with the restoring of Ptolemy in Egypt, and that he, who had
already taken the field, performed this task, in spite of the public
will, and in contempt of the oracles of the Sibyl. Pompey only sought to
do what would be agreeable to Ptolemy; but Gabinius had yielded to
corruption. Afterwards, when brought under accusation for this fact, he
was not condemned, thanks to Pompey and to his gold. There reigned then
in Rome such a degree of moral disorder, that the magistrates and
judges, who had received from Gabinius but a small part of the sums
which had served to corrupt him, set their duties at nought in order to
enrich themselves, and taught others to do evil, by showing them that
they could easily escape punishment with money. It was this which caused
Gabinius to be acquitted; in the sequel, brought to trial for having
carried off from his province more than 100,000,000 drachmas, he was
condemned. ” (Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 55. )
[690] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 43.
[691] Cicero, _Epist. ad Quint. _, II.
[579] Cicero, _Pro Sextio_, 33.
[580] Cicero, _Orat. pro Domo sua_, 27; _Pro Sextio_, 34.
[581] Cicero, _Pro Sextio_, 34; _De Legibus_, III. 19.
[582] Cicero, _Pro Sextio_, 34.
[583] Cicero, _Pro Sextio_, 35. --Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 7. --Plutarch,
_Pompey_, 51.
[584] Cicero, _Pro Sextio_, 35; _Orat. prima post Reditum_, 5, 6.
[585] Cicero, _De Officiis_, II. 17; _Orat. pro Sextio_, 39. --Dio
Cassius XXXIX. 8.
[586] Cicero, _Orat. secunda post Reditum ad Senatum_, 10; _Orat. pro
Domo sua_, 28; _Orat. in Pisonem_, 15.
[587] We thus see that the power of observing the sky continued to exist
in spite of the law Clodia.
[588] Cicero, in the passages cited.
[589] Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, IV, 1.
[590] Asconius, _Comment in Orat. Ciceronis pro Milone_, p. 48, edit.
Orelli.
[591] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 9. --Plutarch, _Pompey_, 52.
[592] Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, IV. 1. --Cicero’s proposal was further
amplified by C. Messius, tribune of the people, who demanded for Pompey
a fleet, an army, and the authority to dispose of the finances.
[593] Plutarch, _Pompey_, 52. --Cicero, _Orat. pro Domo sua_, 10.
[594] _Epist. ad Attic. _, IV. 2.
[595] “I will add that, in the opinion of the public, Clodius is
regarded as a victim reserved for Milo. ” (Cicero, _De Respons. Harusp. _,
3. )--This oration on the reply of the Aruspices is of May, June, or
July, 698. See, also, what he says in his letter to Atticus, of
November, 697. (_Epist. ad Attic. _ IV. 3. )
[596] Plutarch, _Cæsar_, 23. --_De Bello Gallico_, II. 35.
[597] “But why, especially on that occasion, should any one be
astonished at my conduct or blame it, when I myself have already several
times supported propositions which were more honourable for Cæsar than
necessary for the state? I voted in his favour fifteen days of prayers;
it was enough for the Republic to have decreed to Cæsar the same number
of days which Marius had obtained. The gods would have been satisfied, I
think, with the same thanksgivings which had been rendered to them in
the most important wars. So great a number of days had therefore for its
only object to honour Cæsar personally. Ten days of thanksgivings were
accorded, for the first time, to Pompey, when the war of Mithridates had
been terminated by the death of that prince. I was consul, and, on my
report, the number of days usually decreed to the consulars was doubled,
after you had heard Pompey’s letter, and been convinced that all the
wards were terminated on land and sea. You adopted the proposal I made
to you of ordaining ten days of prayers. At present I have admired the
virtue and greatness of soul of Cn. Pompey, who, loaded with
distinctions such as no other before him had received the like, gave to
another more honours than he had obtained himself. Thus, then, those
prayers which I voted in favour of Cæsar were accorded to the immortal
gods, to the customs of our ancestors, and to the needs of the state;
but the flattering terms of the decree, this new distinction, and the
extraordinary number of days, it is to the person itself of Cæsar that
they were addressed, and they were a homage rendered to his glory. ”
(Cicero, _Orat. pro Provinc. Consular. _, 10, 11. ) (August, A. U. C. 698. )
[598] Cicero, _Epist. ad Quint. _, II. 1.
[599] Cicero, _Epist. ad Quint. _, II. 1.
[600] Cicero, _Epist. ad Quint. _, II. 1.
[601] Cicero, _Epist. ad Attic. _, IV. 3.
[602] Cicero, _Epist. ad Attic. _, IV. 2 and 3; _Epist. ad Quint. _, II.
1.
[603] Atia had wedded in first marriage Octavius, by whom she had a son,
who was afterwards Augustus.
[604] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 14.
[605] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 12, 13. --Plutarch, _Pompey_, 52.
[606] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 14. --“I do not spare upon him even reproaches,
to prevent him (Pompey) from meddling in this infamy. ” Cicero, _Epist.
Famil. _, I. 1.
[607] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 15.
[608] Cicero, _Epist. ad Quintum_, II. 2.
[609] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 16.
[610] Cicero, _Epist. ad Quintum_, II. 2. --Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 18.
[611] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 18, 19.
[612] Cicero, _Epist. ad Quintum_, II. 3.
[613] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 20.
[614] Cicero, _Epist. ad Quintum_, II. 3.
[615] Cicero, _Epist. ad Quintum_, II. 3.
[616] Cicero, _Epist. ad Quintum_, II. 3. --We look upon this word as
giving the explanation of the quarrel then existing between the two
triumvirs. Egypt was so rich a prey, that it was calculated to cause
division between them.
[617] “Clodius is cast down from the tribune, and I steal away, for fear
of accident. ” (Cicero, _Ep. ad Quint. _, II. 3. )
[618] Cicero, _Ep. ad Quint. _, II. 3.
[619] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 22.
[620] Plutarch, _Cato_, 45, tells us that Cato returned under the
consulship of Marcius Philippus.
[621] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 23.
[622] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 7.
[623] Cicero, _Epist. ad Quintum_, II. 1.
[624] Plutarch, _Cato_, 40; _Cicero_, 45.
[625] “There has reached me a mass of private talk of people here, whom
you may guess, who have always been, and always are, in the same ranks
with me. They openly rejoice at knowing that I am, at the same time,
already on terms of coolness with Pompey, and on the point of
quarrelling with Cæsar; but what was most cruel was to see their
attitude towards my enemy (Clodius), to see them embrace him, flatter
him, coax him, and cover him with caresses. ” (Cicero, _Epist.
Familiar. _, I. 9. )
[626] Cicero, _Epist. ad Quintum_, II. 3.
[627] These words are reported by Cicero (_Epist. ad Quintum_, II. 3),
to whom they were addressed by Pompey. Dio Cassius, contrary to all
probability, pretends that Pompey, from this moment, was irritated
against Cæsar, and sought to deprive him of his province. There is no
proof of such an allegation. The interview at Lucca, which took place
this same year, offers a formal contradiction to it.
[628] See Nonius Marcellus (edit. Gerlach and Roth, p. 261), who quotes
a passage from Book XXII. of the _Annals_ of Fenestella, who wrote under
Augustus or Tiberius.
[629] Suetonius, _Cæsar_, 24.
[630] Cicero, _Epist. ad Quintum_, II. 5.
[631] Cicero, _Epist. Familiar_. , I. 9.
[632] “The question of the lands of Campania, which ought to have been
settled on the day of the Ides and the day following, is not yet
decided. I have much difficulty in making up my mind on this question. ”
(Cicero, _Epist. ad Quintum_, II. 8. ) (April, 698. )
[633] “Appius is not yet returned from his visit to Cæsar. ” (Cicero,
_Epist. ad Quintum_, II. 6. ) (April, 698.
)
[634] “Knowing well that small news as well as great news have reached
Cæsar. ” (_Epist. ad Quintum_, III. i. 3. )
[635] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 25.
[636] Plutarch, _Cæsar_, 24.
[637] “Appius, he says, has visited Cæsar, in order to wrest from him
some nominations of tribunes. ” (Cicero, _Epist. ad Quintum_, II. 15. )
[638] Appian, _Civil Wars_, II. 17. --The consuls and proconsuls had
twelve lictors, the prætors six, the dictators twenty-four, and the
master of the cavalry a number which varied. The curule ædiles, the
quæstors, and the tribunes of the people, not having the _imperium_, had
no lictors. As, at the time of the conference of Lucca, there was no
dictator or master of cavalry, the number of 120 fasces can only apply
to the collective escort of proconsuls and prætors. It is not probable
that the two consuls then in office at Rome should have gone to Lucca.
On the other hand, the proconsuls were prohibited from quitting their
provinces as long as they were in the exercise of their commands. (see
Titus Livius, XLI. 7; XLIII. 1. ) But as the conferences of Lucca took
place just at the epoch when the proconsuls and proprætors were starting
for their provinces (we know from Cicero, _Epist. ad Atticum_, III. 9,
that this departure took place in the months of April and May), it is
probable that the newly-named proconsuls and proprætors repaired to
Lucca before they went to take possession of their commands. Thus the
number of 120 fasces would represent the collective number of the
lictors of proprætors or proconsuls who could pass through Lucca before
embarking either at Pisa, or Adria, or at Ravenna.
On this hypothesis, we should have the following numbers:--
Proprætor of Sicily 6 fasces.
“ of Sardinia 6 “
Proconsul of Citerior Spain 12 “
“ of Ulterior Spain 12 “
“ of Africa 12 “
“ of Asia 12 “
“ of Macedonia 12 “
“ of Bithynia 12 “
“ of Crete 12 “
“ of Syria 12 “
“ of Cilicia 12 “
---
120
Plutarch (_Pompey_, 53) says in so many words that there were seen every
day at his door 120 fasces of proconsuls and prætors.
[639] Appian, _Civil Wars_, II. 17.
[640] See Suetonius, _Cæsar_, 24. --The proof that this plan originated
with Cæsar is found in the fact that Pompey and Crassus had not
previously taken any steps to ensure their election.
[641] We have put into the mouth of Cæsar the following words of Cicero:
“In giving the Alps as a boundary to Italy, Nature had not done it
without a special intention of the gods. If the entrance had been open
to the ferocity and the multitude of the Gauls, this town would never
have been the seat and centre of a great empire. These lofty mountains
may now level themselves; there is now nothing, from the Alps to the
ocean, which Italy has to fear. One or two campaigns more, and fear or
hope, punishments or recompenses, arms or the laws, will reduce all Gaul
into subjection to us, and attach her to us by everlasting ties. ”
(Cicero, _Orat. de Provinciis Consularibus_, 14.
[642] Cicero, _Orat. pro Muræna_, 18.
[643] _Orat. de Provinciis Consularibus_, 15.
[644] “Evidently all opposition to these great men, especially since the
brilliant successes of Cæsar, was contrary to the general feeling, and
unanimously rejected. ” (Cicero, _Epist. Familiar. _, I. 9. )
[645] “Cæsar, strengthened by his successes, and by the recompenses,
honours, and testimonials with which the Senate had loaded him, had just
lent to this illustrious order his glory and his influence. ” (Cicero,
_Epist. Familiar. _, I. 9. )
[646] “Why should I wait to be reconciled with Cæsar? Has this
reconcilement not been effected already by the Senate? the Senate, the
supreme council of the Republic, my rule and my guide in all my
opinions. I walk in your steps, senators, I obey your counsels, I yield
to your authority. . . . So long as the political measures of Cæsar have
not had your approbation, you did not see me allied with him. When his
exploits had changed your feelings and dispositions, you have seen me
not only agree in your decisions, but loudly applaud them. ” (Cicero,
_Orat. de Provinciis Consularibus_, 10. )
[647] _Epist. Familiar. _, I. 9.
[648] _Epist. ad Atticum_, IV. 5.
[649] Cicero, _Orat. de Prov. Consularibus_, 9. (August, A. U. C. 698. )
[650] Cicero, _Orat. de Prov. Consularibus_, 13. (August, A. U. C. 698. )
[651] Cicero, _Orat. pro Balbo_, 27.
[652] Cicero, _Epist. Familiar. _, I. 7.
[653] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 27.
[654] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 29.
[655] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 30. --Plutarch, _Pompey_, 53; _Crassus_, 18.
[656] _Précis des Guerres de César_, III. 5.
[657] Plutarch, _Cæsar_, 18.
[658] Suetonius, _Cæsar_, 57.
[659] “What does Cæsar think of my poem, I pray? He has written to me
that he had read the first book, and that he had seen nothing, even in
Greek, which ever pleased him more. The rest, up to a certain passage,
is less finished: that is his expression. Tell me what it is that
displeases him, the matter or the form, and fear not to speak candidly”.
(Cicero, _Ep. ad Quint. _, II. 16. )
[660] Plutarch, _Crassus_, 16. --Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 31.
[661] Plutarch, _Cato_, 48; _Pompey_, 54.
[662] Cicero, _Epist. Familiar. _, I. 9.
[663] Plutarch, _Pompey_, 55.
[664] Cicero, _Epist. ad Quintum_, II. 9.
[665] The country of the Vaccæi comprised part of old Castile, of the
kingdom of Leon, and of the Basque provinces. Clunia, a town of the
Celtiberii, was situated near Coruña del Conde.
[666] Plutarch, _Crassus_, 19.
[667] Plutarch, _Crassus_, 19.
[668] Plutarch, _Cæsar_, 24.
[669] Plutarch, _Cato_, 49. --Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 34.
[670] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 35.
[671] Plutarch, _Cato_, 49. --Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 33, 35. --Dio Cassius
pretends erroneously that the _imperium_ in the province of Gaul was
only continued to Cæsar by a sort of favour, and but for three years,
when his partisans murmured at seeing that Crassus and Pompey thought
only for themselves. He does not mention the conference of Lucca, which
is attested by Suetonius, Plutarch, and Appian. He forgets that
Trebonius, Cæsar’s creature, was one of his most devoted lieutenants in
the Civil War. We think that the testimony of the other historians is to
be preferred.
[672] “In my opinion, that which it would have been best for his
adversaries to do, would have been to cease a struggle which they are
not strong enough to sustain. . . . At the present day the only ambition
one can have is to be quiet, and those who governed would be disposed to
allow it us, if they found certain people less rigid against their
domination. ” (Cicero, _Epist. Familiar. _, I. 8, letter to Lentulus. )
[673] Plutarch, _Crassus_, 19.
[674] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 37.
[675] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 38.
[676] Cicero, _Epist. Familiar. _, VII. 1.
[677] According to the letter from Cicero to Atticus (IV. 13), Crassus
had left Rome a little before the 17th of the Calends of December, 699,
which answers, according to the concordance established by M. Le
Verrier, to the 28th of October, 699.
[678] Justin, XLI. 6.
[679] Justin, XLII. 4.
[680] _De Bello Gallico_, IV. 38.
[681] “Cæsar was very proud of his expedition into Britain, and
everybody at Rome cried it up with enthusiasm. People congratulated each
other on becoming acquainted with a country of the existence of which
they were previously ignorant, and of having penetrated into countries
of which they had never heard before; everybody took his hopes for
reality, and all that people flattered themselves with obtaining some
day caused as great an outburst of joy as if they had already possessed
it. ” (Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 53. )--“After having landed in Britain, Cæsar
believed he had discovered a new world. He wrote (it is unknown to whom)
that Britain was not an island, but a country surrounding the ocean. ”
(Eumenius, _Panegyrici_, IV. 2. )
[682] Lucan, _Pharsalia_, II. , line 571.
[683] “Without paying any attention to the opinion of Cato, the people
during fifteen days performed sacrifices to celebrate this victory, and
exhibited the greatest marks of joy. ” (Plutarch, _Nicias_ and _Crassus_,
4. )
[684] Plutarch, _Cato of Utica_, 58.
[685] See page 456.
[686] Cicero, _Epist. Familiar. _, I. 7.
[687] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 56, 57, 58. --_Schol. Bob. Pro Plancio_, 271.
[688] Plutarch, _Antony_, 2.
[689] Dio Cassius speaks of it as follows: “The influence of powerful
men and of riches was so great, even against the decrees of the people
and of the Senate, that Pompey wrote to Gabinius, governor of Syria, to
charge him with the restoring of Ptolemy in Egypt, and that he, who had
already taken the field, performed this task, in spite of the public
will, and in contempt of the oracles of the Sibyl. Pompey only sought to
do what would be agreeable to Ptolemy; but Gabinius had yielded to
corruption. Afterwards, when brought under accusation for this fact, he
was not condemned, thanks to Pompey and to his gold. There reigned then
in Rome such a degree of moral disorder, that the magistrates and
judges, who had received from Gabinius but a small part of the sums
which had served to corrupt him, set their duties at nought in order to
enrich themselves, and taught others to do evil, by showing them that
they could easily escape punishment with money. It was this which caused
Gabinius to be acquitted; in the sequel, brought to trial for having
carried off from his province more than 100,000,000 drachmas, he was
condemned. ” (Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 55. )
[690] Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 43.
[691] Cicero, _Epist. ad Quint. _, II.
