No More Learning

Caesar evidently played in the league the mere part of the adjutant who executed for his chief the work which Flavius, Afranius, and other less capable instruments had attempted and not performed. Even his governorship seemed not to alter this state of things. Afranius had but recently occupied a very similar
opposition.
Pompeiuj and the capital.
Anarchy.
THE JOINT RULE OF BOOK ▼
position, without thereby acquiring any special importance ; several provinces at once had been of late years repeatedly placed under one governor, and often far more than four legions had been united in one hand; as matters were again quiet beyond the Alps and prince Ariovistus was recognized by the Romans as a friend and neighbour, there was no prospect of conducting a war of any moment there. It was natural to compare the position which Pompeius had obtained by the Gabinio-Manilian law with that which Caesar had obtained by the Vatinian ; but the comparison did not turn out to Caesar's advantage. Pompeius ruled over nearly the whole Roman empire ; Caesar over two provinces. Pompeius had the soldiers and the treasures of the state almost absolutely at his disposal ; Caesar had only the sums assigned to him and an army of 34,000 men. It was left to Pompeius himself to fix the point of time for his retirement ; Caesar's command was secured to him for a long period no doubt, but yet only for a limited term. Pompeius, in fine, had been entrusted with the most important undertakings by sea and land ; Caesar was sent to the north, to watch over the capital from upper Italy and to take care that Pompeius should rule it undis turbed.
But when Pompeius was appointed by the coalition to be ruler of the capital, he undertook a task far exceeding his powers. Pompeius understood nothing further of ruling than may be summed up in the word of command. The waves of agitation in the capital were swelled at once by past and by future revolutions; the problem of ruling this city—which in every respect might be compared to the Paris of the nineteenth century — without an armed force was infinitely difficult, and for that stiff and stately pattern -soldier altogether insoluble. Very soon matters reached such a pitch that friends and foes, both equally inconvenient to him, could, so far as he was concerned, do
chap, viii POMPEIUS AND CAESAR
109
what they pleased; after Caesar's departure from Rome the coalition ruled doubtless still the destinies of the world, but not the streets of the capital. The senate too, to whom there still belonged a sort of nominal government, allowed things in the capital to follow their natural course ; partly because the section of this body controlled by the coalition lacked the instructions of the regents, partly because the angry opposition kept aloof out of indifference or pessimism, but chiefly because the whole aristocratic corporation began to feel at any rate, if not to comprehend, its utter impotence. For the moment therefore there was nowhere at Rome any power of resistance in any sort of
nowhere a real authority. Men were living in an interregnum between the ruin of the aristocratic, and the rise of the military, rule ; and, if the Roman common wealth has presented all the different political functions and organizations more purely and normally than any other in ancient or modern times, it has also exhibited political disorganization —anarchy —with an unenviable clearness. It is a strange coincidence that in the same years, in which Caesar was creating beyond the Alps a work to last for ever, there was enacted in Rome one of the most extra vagant political farces that was ever produced upon the
government,
of the world's history. The new regent of the commonwealth did not rule, but shut himself up in his house and sulked in silence. The former half- deposed government likewise did not rule, but sighed, sometimes in private amidst the confidential circles of the villas, sometimes in chorus in the senate-house. The portion of the burgesses which had still at heart freedom and order was disgusted with the reign of confusion, but
without leaders and counsel it maintained a passive attitude —not merely avoiding all political activity, but keeping aloof, as far as possible, from the political Sodom itself.
On the other hand the rabble of every sort never had
stage
utterly
The
no THE JOINT RULE OF book v
better days, never found a merrier arena. The number of little great men was legion. Demagogism became quite a trade, which accordingly did not lack its professional insignia — the threadbare mantle, the shaggy beard, the long streaming hair, the deep bass voice ; and not seldom it was a trade with golden soil. For the standing declama tions the tried gargles of the theatrical staff were an article in much request ; 1 Greeks and Jews, freed men and slaves, were the most regular attenders and the loudest criers in the public assemblies ; frequently, even when it came to a vote, only a minority of those voting consisted of burgesses constitutionally entitled to do so. " Next time," it is said in a letter of this period, " we may expect our lackeys to outvote the emancipation-tax. " The real powers of the day were the compact and armed bands, the battalions of anarchy raised by adventurers of rank out of gladiatorial slaves and blackguards. Their possessors had from the outset been mostly numbered among the popular party ; but since the departure of Caesar, who alone understood how to impress the democracy, and alone knew how to
all discipline had departed from them and every partisan practised politics at his own hand. Even now, no doubt, these men fought with most pleasure under the banner of freedom; but, strictly speaking, they were neither of democratic nor of anti-democratic views; they inscribed on the — in itself indispensable — banner, as happened, now the name of the people, anon that of the senate or that of party-chief; Clodius for
instance fought or professed to fight in succession for the ruling democracy, for the senate, and for Crassus. The leaders of these bands kept to their colours only so far as they inexorably persecuted their personal enemies—as in the case of Clodius against Cicero and Milo against
This IS the meaning of cantorum convitio tantiemes ctkbrart (Cic fro Stst. 55, 118).
manage
1
it
a
it,
chap, vin POMPEIUS AND CAESAR in
Clodius—while their partisan position served them merely as a handle in these personal feuds. We might as well seek to set a charivari to music as to write the history of this political witches' revel ; nor is it of any moment to enumerate all the deeds of murder, besiegings of houses, acts of incendiarism and other scenes of violence within a great capital, and to reckon up how often the gamut was traversed from hissing and shouting to spitting on and trampling down opponents, and thence to throwing stones and drawing swords.
The principal performer in this theatre of political ciodiun rascality was that Publius Clodius, of whose services, as
already mentioned (iv. 517), the regents availed themselves against Cato and Cicero. Left to himself, this influential, talented, energetic and — in his trade — really exemplary partisan pursued during his tribunate of the people (696) 58.
an ultra-democratic policy, gave the citizens corn gratis, restricted the right of the censors to stigmatize immoral burgesses, prohibited the magistrates from obstructing the course of the comitial machinery by religious formalities,
set aside the limits which had shortly before (690), for the 64. purpose of checking the system of bands, been imposed on
the right of association of the lower classes, and re established the " street-clubs " (collegia compitalicid) at that time abolished, which were nothing else than a formal organization —subdivided according to the streets, and with
an almost military arrangement—of the whole free or slave proletariate of the capital. If in addition the further law, which Clodius had likewise already projected and purposed
to introduce when praetor in 702, should give to freedmen 62. and to slaves living in de facto possession of freedom the same political rights with the freeborn, the author of all these brave improvements of the constitution might declare
his work complete, and as a second Numa of freedom and equality might invite the sweet rabble of the capital to see
Quarrel of Pompehu with Clodiuv
only
113 THE JOINT RULE OF BOOK V
him celebrate high mass in honour of the arrival of the democratic millennium in the temple of Liberty which he had erected on the site of one of his burnings at the Palatine. Of course these exertions in behalf of freedom did not exclude a traffic in decrees of the burgesses ; like Caesar himself, Caesar's ape kept governorships and other posts great and small on sale for the benefit of his fellow- citizens, and sold the sovereign rights of the state for the benefit of subject kings and cities.
At all these things Pompeius looked on without stirring. If he did not perceive how seriously he thus compromised himself, his opponent perceived it. Clodius had the hardihood to engage in a dispute with the regent of Rome on a question of little moment, as to the sending back of
a captive Armenian prince ; and the variance soon became a formal feud, in which the utter helplessness of Pompeius was displayed. The head of the state knew not how to meet the partisan otherwise than with his own weapons,
wielded with far less dexterity. If he had been tricked by Clodius respecting the Armenian prince, he offended him in turn by releasing Cicero, who was pre eminently obnoxious to Clodius, from the exile into which Clodius had sent him; and he attained his object so
that he converted his opponent into an implacable foe. If Clodius made the streets insecure with his bands, the victorious general likewise set slaves and pugilists to work; in the frays which ensued the general naturally was worsted by the demagogue and defeated in the street, and Gaius Cato was kept almost constantly under siege in his garden by Clodius and his comrades. It is not the least remarkable feature in this remarkable
thoroughly,
that the regent and the rogue amidst their quarrel vied in courting the favour of the fallen govern ment ; Pompeius, partly to please the senate, permitted Cicero's recall, Clodius on the other hand declared the
spectacle,
chap, VIII POMPEIUS AND CAESAR
113
Julian laws null and void, and called on Marcus Bibulus publicly to testify to their having been unconstitutionally passed.
Naturally no positive result could issue from this imbroglio of dark passions ; its most distinctive character was just its utterly ludicrous want of object. Even a man of Caesar's genius had to learn by experience that demo cratic agitation was completely worn out, and that even the way to the throne no longer lay through demagogism.
It was nothing more than a historical makeshift, if now, in the interregnum between republic and monarchy, some whimsical fellow dressed himself out with the prophet's mantle and staff which Caesar had himself laid aside, and the great ideals of Gaius Gracchus came once more upon the stage distorted into a parody ; the so-called party from which this democratic agitation proceeded was so little such in reality, that afterwards it had not even a part falling to it in the decisive struggle. It cannot even be asserted that by means of this anarchical state of things the desire after a strong government based on military power had been vividly kindled in the minds of those who were indifferent to politics. Even apart from the fact that such neutral burgesses were chiefly to be sought outside of Rome, and thus were not directly affected by the rioting in the capital, those minds which could be at all influenced by such motives had been already by their former experiences, and especially by the Catilinarian conspiracy, thoroughly converted to the principle of authority; but those that were really alarmed were affected far more emphatically by a dread of the gigantic crisis inseparable from an overthrow of the constitution, than by dread of the mere continuance of the — at bottom withal very superficial —anarchy in the capital. The only result of it which historically deserves notice was the painful position in which Pompeius was placed by the attacks of the
VOL. V
141
Pompefas
to the Gallic
Cemx,
114 THE JOINT RULE OF book v
Clodians, and which had a material share in determining his farther steps.
Little as Pompeius liked and understood taking the initiative, he was yet on this occasion compelled by the change of his position towards both Clodius and Caesar to depart from his previous inaction. The irksome and disgraceful situation to which Clodius had reduced him, could not but at length arouse even his sluggish nature to
hatred and anger. But far more important was the change which took place in his relation to Caesar. While, of the two confederate regents, Pompeius had utterly failed in the functions which he had undertaken, Caesar had the skill to turn his official position to an account which left all calculations and all fears far behind. Without much inquiry as to permission, Caesar had doubled his army by levies in his southern province inhabited in great measure by Roman burgesses ; had with this army crossed the Alps instead of keeping watch over Rome from Northern Italy ; had crushed in the bud a new Cimbrian invasion, and
68, 67. within two years (696, 697) had carried the Roman arms to the Rhine and the Channel. In presence of such facts even the aristocratic tactics of ignoring and disparaging were baffled. He who had often been scoffed at as effeminate was now the idol of the army, the celebrated victory-crowned hero, whose fresh laurels outshone the faded laurels of Pompeius, and to whom even the senate
67. as early as 697 accorded the demonstrations of honour usual after successful campaigns in richer measure than had ever fallen to the share of Pompeius. Pompeius stood towards his former adjutant precisely as after the Gabinio-Manilian laws the latter had stood towards him. Caesar was now the hero of the day and the master of the most powerful Roman army; Pompeius was an ex- general who had once been famous. It is true that no collision had yet occurred between father-in-law and son
CHAP, viii POMPEIUS AND CAESAR
115
in-law, and the relation was externally undisturbed ; but every political alliance is inwardly broken up, when the relative proportions of the power of the parties are materi ally altered. While the quarrel with Clodius was merely annoying, the change in the position of Caesar involved a very serious danger for Pompeius ; just as Caesar and his confederates had formerly sought a military support against him, he found himself now compelled to seek a military support against Caesar, and, laying aside his haughty privacy, to come forward as a candidate for some extra ordinary magistracy, which would enable him to hold his place by the side of the governor of the two Gauls with equal and, if possible, with superior power. His tactics, like his position, were exactly those of Caesar during the Mithra- datic war. To balance the military power of a superior but still remote adversary by the obtaining of a similar command, Pompeius required in the first instance the official machinery of government. A year and a half ago this had been absolutely at his disposal. The regents then ruled the state both by the comitia, which absolutely obeyed them as the masters of the street, and by the senate, which was energetically overawed by Caesar ; as representative of the coalition in Rome and as its ac knowledged head, Pompeius would have doubtless ob tained from the senate and from the burgesses any decree
which he wished, even if it were against Caesar's interest. But by the awkward quarrel with Clodius, Pompeius had lost the command of the streets, and could not expect to carry a proposal in his favour in the popular assembly. Things were not quite so unfavourable for him in the senate ; but even there it was doubtful whether Pompeius after that long and fatal inaction still held the reins of the majority firmly enough in hand to procure such a decree as he needed.
The position of the senate also, or rather of the nobility
116 THE JOINT RULE OF book v
The generally, had meanwhile undergone a change. From the opposition vei7 fact of *ts complete abasement it drew fresh energy,
among the In the coalition of 694 various things had come to light,
** &
wn'ch were by no means as yet ripe for it The banish 60. ment of Cato and Cicero—which public opinion, however much the regents kept themselves in the background and even professed to lament referred with unerring tact to its real authors — and the marriage- relationship formed
between Caesar and Pompeius suggested to men's minds with disagreeable clearness monarchical decrees of banish ment and family alliances. The larger public too, which stood more aloof from political events, observed the foundations of the future monarchy coming more and more distinctly into view. From the moment when the public perceived that Caesar's object was not modification of the republican constitution, but that the question at stake was the existence or non-existence of the republic, many of the best men, who had hitherto reckoned them selves of the popular party and honoured in Caesar its head, must infallibly have passed over to the opposite side. Itwas no longer in the saloons and the country houses of the governing nobility alone that men talked of the
"three dynasts," of the "three-headed monster. " The dense crowds of people listened to the consular orations of Caesar without sound of acclamation or approval not hand stirred to applaud when the democratic consul entered the theatre. But they hissed when one of the tools of the regents showed himself in public, and even staid men applauded when an actor uttered an anti- monarchic sentence or an allusion against Pompeius. Nay, when Cicero was to be banished, great number of burgesses — said twenty thousand —mostly of the middle classes, put on mourning after the example of the senate. "Nothing " now more popular," said in letter this period, than hatred of the popular
is
is
it
is
a
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c
; a
it
a
a
it,
chap, viii POMPEIUS AND CAESAR
II?
The regents dropped hints, that through such opposi- Attempt* tion the equites might easily lose their new special places regentJ w in the theatre, and the commons their bread-corn ; people check it were therefore somewhat more guarded perhaps in the expression of their displeasure, but the feeling remained
the same. The lever of material interests was applied with
better success. Caesar's gold flowed in streams. Men of
seeming riches whose finances were in disorder, influential
ladies who were in pecuniary embarrassment, insolvent
young nobles, merchants and bankers in difficulties, either
went in person to Gaul with the view of drawing from the fountain-head, or applied to Caesar's agents in the capital ;
and rarely was any man outwardly respectable—Caesar
avoided dealings with vagabonds who were utterly lost—
rejected in either quarter. To this fell to be added the enormous buildings which Caesar caused to be executed
on his account in the capital—and by which a countless
number of men of all ranks from the consular down to the
common porter found opportunity of profiting —as well as
the immense sums expended for public amusements.
Fompeius did the same on a more limited scale ; to him
the capital was indebted for the first theatre of stone, and
he celebrated its dedication with a magnificence never seen
before. Of course such distributions reconciled a number
of men who were inclined towards opposition, more especially in the capital, to the new order of things up to a
certain extent ; but the marrow of the opposition was not
to be reached by this system of corruption. Every day
more and more clearly showed how deeply the existing constitution had struck root among the people, and how
little, in particular, the circles more aloof from direct party- agitation, especially the country towns, were inclined
towards monarchy or even simply ready to let it take its
course.
If Rome had had a representative constitution, the
Increasing
of the
Il8 THE JOINT RULE OF book »
discontent of the burgesses would have found its natural °* expression in the elections, and have increased by so ex pressing itself; under the existing circumstances nothing
was left for those true to the constitution but to place themselves under the senate, which, degraded as it was, still appeared the representative and champion of the legitimate republic. Thus it happened that the senate, now when it had been overthrown, suddenly found at its disposal an army far more considerable and far more earnestly faithful, than when in its power and splendour it overthrew the Gracchi and under the protection of Sulla's sword restored the state. The aristocracy felt this; it began to bestir itself afresh. J ust at this time Marcus Cicero, after having bound himself to join the obsequious party in the senate and not only to offer no opposition, but to work with all his might for the regents, had obtained from them permission to return. Although Pompeius in this matter only made an incidental concession to the oligarchy, and intended first of all to play a trick on Clodius, and secondly to acquire in the fluent consular a tool rendered pliant by sufficient blows, the opportunity afforded by the return of Cicero was embraced for republican demonstra tions, just as his banishment had been a demonstration against the senate. With all possible solemnity, protected moreover against the Clodians by the band of Titus Annius Milo, the two consuls, following out a resolution of the senate, submitted a proposal to the burgesses to permit the return of the consular Cicero, and the senate called on all burgesses true to the constitution not to be absent from the vote. An unusual number of worthy men, especially from the country towns, actually assembled in Rome on
•7. the day of voting (4 Aug. 697). The journey of the con sular from Brundisium to the capital gave occasion to a series of similar, but not less brilliant manifestations of public feeling. The new alliance between the senate and
cha». v1i1 POMPEIUS AND CAESAR
119
the burgesses faithful to the constitution was on this occasion as it were publicly proclaimed, and a sort of review of the latter was held, the singularly favourable result of which contributed not a little to revive the sunken courage of the aristocracy.
The helplessness of Pompeius in presence of these daring HdpkM- demonstrations, as well as the undignified and almost ^sso{. ridiculous position into which he had fallen with reference
to Clodius, deprived him and the coalition of their credit ;
and the section of the senate which adhered to the regents, demoralized by the singular inaptitude of Pompeius
and helplessly left to itself, could not prevent the republican- aristocratic party from regaining completely the ascendency
in the corporation. The game of this party really at that time (697) was still by no means desperate for a courageous 67. and dexterous player. It had now — what it had not possessed for a century past — a firm support in the people ;
if it trusted the people and itself, it might attain its object in the shortest and most honourable way. Why not attack the regents openly and avowedly? Why should not a resolute and eminent man at the head of the senate cancel the extraordinary powers as unconstitutional, and summon all the republicans of Italy to arms against the tyrants and their following ? It was possible perhaps in this way once more to restore the rule of the senate. Certainly the republicans would thus play a bold game ; but perhaps in this case, as often, the most courageous resolution
might have been at the same time the most prudent Only, it is
true, the indolent aristocracy of this period was scarcely capable of so simple and bold a resolution. There was however another way perhaps more sure, at any rate better adapted to the character and nature of these constitu tionalists ; they might labour to set the two regents at variance and through this variance to attain ultimately to the helm themselves. The relations between the two men
Attempts of Pompeius
130 THE JOINT RULE OF BOOK v
ruling the state had become altered and relaxed, now that Caesar had acquired a standing of preponderant power by the side of Pompeius and had compelled the latter to canvass for a new position of command ; it was probable that, if he obtained there would arise in one way or other rupture and struggle between them. If Pompeius remained un supported in this, his defeat was scarcely doubtful, and the constitutional party would in that event find themselves after the close of the conflict under the rule of one master instead of two. But the nobility employed against Caesar the same means by which the latter had won his previous victories, and entered into alliance with the weaker competitor, victory would probably, with general like Pompeius, and with an army such as that of the constitu tionalists, fall to the coalition and to settle matters with Pompeius after the victory could not — judging from the proofs of political incapacity which he had already given— appear specially difficult task.
Things had taken such turn as naturally to suggest an
understanding between Pompeius and the republican party.
to obtain a Whether such an approximation was to take place, and what
command through the senate.
shape the mutual relations of the two regents and of the aristocracy, which had become utterly enigmatical, were next to assume, fell necessarily to be decided, when in the
57. autumn of 697 Pompeius came to the senate with the proposal to entrust him with extraordinary official power. He based his proposal once more on that which he had eleven years before laid the foundations of his power, the
Adminis
tration
of the
supplies of price of bread in the capital, which had just then—as
previously to the Gabinian law — reached an oppressive height Whether had been forced up special machinations, such as Clodius imputed sometimes to Pompeius, sometimes to Cicero, and these in their turn charged on Clodius, cannot be determined; the continuance of piracy, the emptiness of the public chest, and the
it
by by
a
a
a
;
if
it,
a
chap, viii POMPEIUS AND CAESAR 121
negligent and disorderly supervision of the supplies of com
by the government were already quite sufficient of them selves, even without political forestalling, to produce scarcities of bread in a great city dependent almost solely
on transmarine supplies. The plan of Pompeius was to get
the senate to commit to him the superintendence of the matters relating to corn throughout the whole Roman empire, and, with a view to this ultimate object, to entrust him on
the one hand with the unlimited disposal of the Roman state-treasure, and on the other hand with an army and fleet, as well as a command which not only stretched over the whole Roman empire, but was superior in each province
to that of the governor —in short he designed to institute
an improved edition of the Gabinian law, to which the conduct of the Egyptian war just then pending (iii. 451) would therefore quite as naturally have been annexed as
the conduct of the Mithradatic war to the razzia against the pirates. However much the opposition to the new dynasts had gained ground in recent years, the majority of the senate was still, when this matter came to be discussed in Sept. 697, under the constraint of the terror excited by 67. Caesar. It obsequiously accepted the project in principle,
and that on the proposition of Marcus Cicero, who was ex pected to give, and gave, in this case the first proof of the pliableness learned by him in exile. But in the settlement of the details very material portions were abated from the original plan, which the tribune of the people Gaius Messius submitted. Pompeius obtained neither free control over the treasury, nor legions and ships of his own, nor even an authority superior to that of the governors ; but they contented themselves with granting to him, for the purpose of his organizing due supplies for the capital, considerable sums, fifteen adjutants, and in all affairs relating to the supply of grain full proconsular power throughout the Roman dominions for the next five years, and with having
Egyptian expedition.
less.
Pompeius was nevertheless glad to have found at any
rate a serious employment, and above all a fitting pretext for leaving the capital. He succeeded, moreover, in pro viding it with ampler and cheaper supplies, although not without the provinces severely feeling the reflex effect But he had missed his real object ; the proconsular title, which he had a right to bear in all the provinces, remained an empty name, so long as he had not troops of bis own at his disposal. Accordingly he soon afterwards got a second proposition made to the senate, that it should confer on him the charge of conducting back the expelled king of Egypt, if necessary by force of arms, to his home. But the more that his urgent need of the senate became evident, the senators received his wishes with a less pliant and less respectful spirit It was immediately discovered in the
122 THE JOINT RULE OF book v
this decree confirmed by the burgesses. There were many different reasons which led to this alteration, almost equivalent to a rejection, of the original plan : a regard to Caesar, with reference to whom the most timid could not but have the greatest scruples in investing his colleague not merely with equal but with superior authority in Gaul itself; the concealed opposition of Pompeius' hereditary enemy and reluctant ally Crassus, to whom Pompeius himself attributed or professed to attribute primarily the failure of his plan ; the antipathy of the republican opposi tion in the senate to any decree which really or nominally enlarged the authority of the regents ; lastly and mainly, the incapacity of Pompeius himself, who even after having been compelled to act could not prevail on himself to acknowledge his own action, but chose always to bring forward his real design as it were in incognito by means of his friends, while he himself in his well-known
modesty declared his willingness to be content with even less. No wonder that they took him at his word, and gave him the
chap, viii POMPEIUS AND CAESAR
123
Sibylline oracles that it was impious to send a Roman
to Egypt; whereupon the pious senate almost unanimously resolved to abstain from armed intervention.
army
was already so humbled, that he would have accepted the mission even without an army; but in his incorrigible dissimulation he left this also to be declared merely by his friends, and spoke and voted for the despatch of another senator. Of course the senate rejected a pro
which wantonly risked a life so precious to his country ; and the ultimate issue of the endless discussions was the resolution not to interfere in Egypt at all (Jan. 698).
These repeated repulses which Pompeius met with in
the senate and, what was worse, had to acquiesce in with-
out retaliation, were naturally regarded—come from what restoration. side they would — by the public at large as so many
victories of the republicans and defeats of the regents
generally ; the tide of republican opposition was accord
on the increase. Already the elections for 698 had gone but partially according to the minds of 68. the dynasts ; Caesar's candidates for the praetorship, Publius Vatinius and Gaius Alfius, had failed, while two decided adherents of the fallen government, Gnaeus Lentulus Marcellinus and Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus, had been elected, the former as consul, the latter as praetor.
But for 699 there even appeared as candidate for the 66. consulship Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, whose election
it was difficult to prevent owing to his influence in the capital and his colossal wealth, and who, it was sufficiently well known, would not be content with a concealed opposi tion. The comitia thus rebelled ; and the senate chimed
in. It solemnly deliberated over an opinion, which Etruscan soothsayers of acknowledged wisdom had fur nished respecting certain signs and wonders at its special request. The celestial revelation announced that through
the dissension of the upper classes the whole power over
Pompeius
posal
68. Attempt at. an
ingly always
Attack on
124 THE JOINT RULE OF book v
the army and treasure threatened to pass to one ruler, and the state to incur loss of freedom—it seemed that the gods pointed primarily at the proposal of Gaius Messius. The re- publicans soon descended from heaven to earth. The law as to the domain of Capua and the other laws issued by Caesar as consul had been constantly described by them as null and void, and an opinion had been expressed in the senate
Conference
regents at Luca.
show their colours when they think that they can do so with safety. Evidently the aristocracy held that the moment had come for beginning the struggle not with Pompeius against Caesar, but against the iyrannis gener ally. What would further follow might easily be seen. Domitius made no secret that he intended as consul to propose to the burgesses the immediate recall of Caesar from Gaul. An aristocratic restoration was at work ; and with the attack on the colony of Capua the nobility threw down the gauntlet to the regents.
Caesar, although receiving from day to day detailed accounts of the events in the capital and, whenever military considerations allowed, watching their progress from as near a point of his southern province as possible, had not hitherto, visibly at least, interfered in them. But now war had been declared against him as well as his colleague, in fact against him especially ; he was compelled to act, and he acted quickly. He happened to be in the very neigh bourhood ; the aristocracy had not even found it advisable to delay the rupture, till he should have again crossed the
67. as early as Dec. 697 that it was necessary to cancel them 66. on account of their informalities. On the 6th April 698 the consular Cicero proposed in a full senate to put the consideration of the Campanian land distribution in the order of the day for the 15 th May. It was the formal declaration of war ; and it was the more significant, that it came from the mouth of one of those men who only
66. Alps. In the beginning of April 698 Crassus left the
chap, VIII POMPEIUS AND CAESAR
MS
capital, to concert the necessary measures with his more powerful colleague ; he found Caesar in Ravenna. Thence
both proceeded to Luca, and there they were joined by Pompeius, who had departed from Rome soon after Crassus
(1 1 April), ostensibly for the purpose of procuring supplies
of grain from Sardinia and Africa. The most noted ad
herents of the regents, such as Metellus Nepos the pro
consul of Hither Spain, Appius Claudius the propraetor
of Sardinia, and many others, followed them ; a hundred
and twenty lictors, and upwards of two hundred senators
were counted at this conference, where already the new monarchical senate was represented in contradistinction to
the republican. In every respect the decisive voice lay
with Caesar. He used it to re-establish and consolidate
the existing joint rule on a new basis of more equal dis tribution of power. The governorships of most importance
in a military point of view, next to that of the two Gauls,
were assigned to his two colleagues — that of the two Spains
to Pompeius, that of Syria to Crassus; and these offices
were to be secured to them by decree of the people for
five years (700-704), and to be suitably provided for in a military and financial point of view. On the other hand
Caesar stipulated for the prolongation of his command,
which expired with the year 700, to the close of 705, as 64. 40 well as for the prerogative of increasing his legions to ten
and of charging the pay for the troops arbitrarily levied by him on the state-chest Pompeius and Crassus were more over promised a second consulship for the next year (699) 65. before they departed for their governorships, while Caesar kept it open to himself to administer the supreme magis tracy a second time after the termination of his governor
ship in 706, when the ten years' interval legally requisite 48 between two consulships should have in his case elapsed. The military support, which Pompeius and Crassus required
for regulating the affairs of the capital all the more that the
64 60.
Designs of
126 THE JOINT RULE OF book v
legions of Caesar originally destined for this purpose could not now be withdrawn from Transalpine Gaul, was to be found in new legions, which they were to raise for the Spanish and Syrian armies and were not to despatch from Italy to their several destinations until it should seem to themselves convenient to do so. The main questions were thus settled ; subordinate matters, such as the settlement of the tactics to be followed against the opposition in the capital, the regulation of the candidatures for the ensuing years, and the like, did not long detain them. The great master of mediation composed the personal differences which stood in the way of an agreement with his wonted ease, and compelled the most refractory elements to act in concert. An understanding befitting colleagues was re established, externally at least, between Pompeius and Crassus. Even Publius Clodius was induced to keep himself and his pack quiet, and to give no farther annoy ance to Pompeius —not the least marvellous feat of the
mighty magician.
That this whole settlement of the pending questions
this^r- " proceeded, not from a compromise among independent
rmngement
and rival regents meeting on equal terms, but solely from the good will of Caesar, is evident from the circumstances. Pompeius appeared at Luca in the painful position of a powerless refugee, who comes to ask aid from his opponent Whether Caesar chose to dismiss him and to declare the coalition dissolved, or to receive him and to let the league continue just as it stood — Pompeius was in either view
annihilated. If he did not in this case break with Caesar, he became the powerless client of his con federate. If on the other hand he did break with Caesar and, which was not very probable, effected even now a coalition with the aristocracy, this alliance between op ponents, concluded under pressure of necessity and at the last moment, was so little formidable that it was hardly for
politically
chap, vixi POMPEIUS AND CAESAR
127
the sake of averting it that Caesar agreed to those conces sions. A serious rivalry on the part of Crassus with Caesar was utterly impossible. It is difficult to say what motives induced Caesar to surrender without necessity his superior position, and now voluntarily to concede — what he had refused to his rival even on the conclusion of the league
of 694, and what the latter had since, with the evident •* design of being armed against Caesar, vainly striven in different ways to attain without, nay against, Caesar's will —the second consulate and military power. Certainly it was not Pompeius alone that was placed at the head of an army, but also his old enemy and Caesar's ally throughout many years, Crassus ; and undoubtedly Crassus obtained
his respectable military position merely as a counterpoise to the new power of Pompeius. Nevertheless Caesar was a great loser, when his rival exchanged his former power- lessness for an important command. It is possible that Caesar did not yet feel himself sufficiently master of his soldiers to lead them with confidence to a warfare against the formal authorities of the land, and was therefore anxious not to be forced to civil war now by being recalled from Gaul ; but whether civil war should come or not, depended at the moment far more on the aristocracy of the capital than on Pompeius, and this would have been at most a reason for Caesar not breaking openly with Pompeius, so that the opposition might not be emboldened by this breach, but not a reason for conceding to him what he did concede. Purely personal motives may have con tributed to the result ; it may be that Caesar recollected how he had once stood in a position of similar powerless- ness in presence of Pompeius, and had been saved from destruction only by his — pusillanimous, it is true, rather than magnanimous —retirement ; it is probable that Caesar hesitated to break the heart of his beloved daughter who was sincerely attached to her husband—in his soul there
66.
The aristocracy
•
128 THE JOINT RULE OF book v
was room for much besides the statesman. But the decisive reason was doubtless the consideration of Gaul. Caesar —differing from his biographers —regarded the sub jugation of Gaul not as an incidental enterprise useful to him for the gaining of the crown, but as one on which depended the external security and the internal reorganiza tion, in a word the future, of his country. That he might be enabled to complete this conquest undisturbed and might not be obliged to take in hand just at once the extrication of Italian affairs, he unhesitatingly gave up his superiority over his rivals and granted to Pompeius suffi cient power to settle matters with the senate and its adherents. This was a grave political blunder, if Caesar had no other object than to become as quickly as possible king of Rome ; but the ambition of that rare man was not confined to the vulgar aim of a crown. He had the bold ness to prosecute side by side, and to complete, two labours equally vast —the arranging of the internal affairs of Italy, and the acquisition and securing of a new and fresh soil for Italian civilization. These tasks of course interfered with each other ; his Gallic conquests hindered much more than helped him on his way to the throne.
It was fraught to him with bitter fruit that, instead of settling the Italian revolution in 698, he postponed it to 706. But as a states man as well as a general Caesar was a peculiarly daring player, who, confiding in himself and despising his op ponents, gave them always great and sometimes extravagant odds.
It was now therefore the turn of the aristocracy to make g00d their high gage, and to wage war as boldly as they had boldly declared it But there is no more pitiable spectacle than when cowardly men have the misfortune to take a bold resolution. They had simply exercised no foresight at alL It seemed to have occurred to nobody that Caesar would possibly stand on his defence, or that
48.
chap, vii1 POMPEIUS AND CAESAR
139
even now Pompeius and Crassus would combine with him afresh and more closely than ever. This seems incredible ;
but it becomes intelligible, when we glance at the persons who then led the constitutional opposition in the senate. Cato was still absent ; 1 the most influential man in the senate at this time was Marcus Bibulus, the hero of passive resistance, the most obstinate and most stupid of all con- sulars. They had taken up arms only to lay them down,
so soon as the adversary merely put his hand to the sheath ;
the bare news of the conferences in Luca sufficed to suppress
all thought of a serious opposition and to bring the mass
of the timid — that the immense majority of the senate — back to their duty as subjects, which in an unhappy hour they had abandoned. There was no further talk of the appointed discussion to try the validity of the Julian laws
the legions raised Caesar on his own behalf were charged
by decree of the senate on the public chest the attempts
on occasion of regulating the next consular provinces to take away both Gauls or one of them by decree from Caesar were rejected the majority (end of May 698). Thus M. the corporation did public penance. In secret the indi vidual lords, one after another, thoroughly frightened at their own temerity, came to make their peace and vow unconditional obedience —none more quickly than Marcus Cicero, who repented too late of his perfidy, and in respect
of the most recent period of his life clothed himself with titles of honour which were altogether more appropriate than flattering. * Of course the regents agreed to be pacified;
Cato was not yet in Rome when Cicero spoke on nth March 698 in 66 favour of Sestius (Pro Sat. 28, 60) and when the discussion took place in
the senate in consequence of the resolutions of Luca respecting Caesar's legions (Plut Caes, ai) not till the discussions at the beginning of
699 that we find him once more busy, and, as he travelled in winter (Plut 66, Cato Min. 38), he thus returned to Rome in the end of 698. He cannot 60. therefore, as has been mistakenly inferred from Asconius (p. 35, 53), have defended Milo in Feb. 698. 66.
Aft annum gerwianum fuiut (Ad Alt. It. 3), VOL
143
'1 V
5,
; it is
by
by
is,
;
;
Settlement of the new monarch ical rule.
i30 THE JOINT RULE OF BOOK V
they refused nobody pardon, for there was nobody who was worth the trouble of making him an exception. That we may see how suddenly the tone in aristocratic circles changed after the resolutions of Luca became known, it is worth while to compare the pamphlets given forth by Cicero shortly before with the palinode which he caused to be issued to evince publicly his repentance and his good intentions. 1
The regents could thus arrange Italian affairs at their pleasure and more thoroughly than before. Italy and the capital obtained practically a garrison although not as sembled in arms, and one of the regents as commandant Of the troops levied for Syria and Spain by Crassus and Pompeius, those destined for the east no doubt took their departure ; but Pompeius caused the two Spanish provinces to be administered by bis lieutenants with the garrison hitherto stationed there, while he dismissed the officers and soldiers of the legions which were newly raised—nominally for despatch to Spain — on furlough, and remained himself with them in Italy.
Doubtless the tacit resistance of public opinion increased, the more clearly and generally men perceived that the regents were working to put an end to the old constitution and with as much gentleness as possible to accommodate the existing condition of the government and administration to the forms of the monarchy ; but they submitted, because they were obliged to submit First of all, all the more important affairs, and particularly aU that related to military matters and external relations, were disposed of without
1 This palinode is the still extant oration on the Provinces to be assigned to the consuls of 699. It was delivered in the end of May 698. The pieces contrasting with it are the orations for Scstius and against Vatinius and that upon the opinion of the Etruscan soothsayers, dating from the months of March and April, in which the aristocratic regime is glorified to the best of his ability and Caesar in particular is treated in a very cavalier tone. It was but reasonable that Cicero should, as he himself confesses (Ad Att. iv. 5, 1 ), be ashamed to transmit even to intimate friends that attestation of his resumed allegiance.
Nk SO.
CHAP, vii1 POMPEIUS AND CAESAR
131
consulting the senate upon them, sometimes by decree of the people, sometimes by the mere good pleasure of the rulers. The arrangements agreed on at Luca respecting the military command of Gaul were submitted directly to the burgesses by Crassus and Pompeius, those relating to Spain and Syria by the tribune of the people Gaius Tre- bonius, and in other instances the more important governor ships were frequently filled up by decree of the people. That the regents did not need the consent of the authorities to increase their troops at pleasure, Caesar had already sufficiently shown : as little did they hesitate mutually to borrow troops ; Caesar for instance received such col legiate support from Pompeius for the Gallic, and Crassus from Caesar for the Parthian, war. The Transpadanes, who possessed according to the existing constitution only
Latin rights, were treated by Caesar during his administra tion practically as full burgesses of Rome. 1 While formerly
1 This is not stated by our authorities. But the view that Caesar levied no soldiers at all from the Latin communities, that is to say from by far the greater part of his province, is in itself utterly incredible, and is directly refuted by the fact that the opposition-party slightingly designates the force levied by Caesar as "for the most part natives of the Transpadane colonies" (Caes. B. C. iii. 87); for here the Latin colonies of Strabo (Ascon. in Pison. p. 3 ; Sueton. Caes. 8) are evidently meant Yet there is no trace of Latin cohorts in Caesar's Gallic army ; on the contrary according to his express statements all the recruits levied by bim in Cis alpine Gaul were added to the legions or distributed into legions. It b possible that Caesar combined with the levy the bestowal of the franchise ; but more probably he adhered in this matter to the standpoint of his party, which did not so much seek to procure for the Transpadanes the Roman franchise as rather regarded it as already legally belonging to them
Only thus could the report spread, that Caesar had introduced of his own authority the Roman municipal constitution among the Trans padane communities (Cic. Ad Att v. 3, 2 ; Ad Fam. viii. 1, a). This hypothesis too explains why Hirtius designates the Transpadane towns as
(iv. 457).
" colonies of Roman burgesses " {B. G. viii. 24), and why Caesar treated the colony of Comum founded by him as a burgess-colony (Sueton. Caes. 28 ; Strabo, v. 1, p. 213 ; Plutarch, Caes. 29), while the moderate party of the aristocracy conceded to it only the same rights as to the other Transpadane communities, viz. Latin rights, and the ultras even declared the civic rights conferred on the settlers as altogether null, and conse quently did not concede to the Comenses the privileges attached to the holding of a Latin municipal magistracy (Cic. Ad Att v. 11, a ; Appian, B. C. 26). Comp. Hermes, xvi. 30.
ii.
The senate
mot^rch" Cicero
majoritv
I3» THE JOINT RULE OF book V
the organization of newly-acquired territories had been managed by a senatorial commission, Caesar organized his extensive Gallic conquests altogether according to his own judgment, and founded, for instance, without having received any farther full powers burgess-colonies, particularly Novum- Comum (Como) with five thousand colonists. Piso con ducted the Thracian, Gabinius the Egyptian, Crassus the Parthian war, without consulting the senate, and without even reporting, as was usual, to that body ; in like manner triumphs and other marks of honour were accorded and carried out, without the senate being asked about them. Obviously this did not arise from a mere neglect of forms, which would be the less intelligible, seeing that in the great majority of cases no opposition from the senate was to be expected. On the contrary, it was a well-calculated design to dislodge the senate from the domain of military arrange ments and of higher politics, and to restrict its share of administration to financial questions and internal affairs; and even opponents plainly discerned this and protested, so far as they could, against this conduct of the regents by means of senatorial decrees and criminal actions. While the regents thus in the main set aside the senate, they still made some use of the less dangerous popular assemblies— care was taken that in these the lords of the street should put no farther difficulty in the way of the lords of the state ; in many cases however they dispensed even with this empty shadow, and employed without disguise autocratic forms.
The humbled senate had to submit to its position whether lt would or not. The leader of the compliant majority continued to be Marcus Cicero. He was useful on account 0I" bis lawyer's talent of finding reasons, or at any rate words, for everything; and there was a genuine Caesarian irony in employing the man, by means of whom mainly the aristocracy had conducted their demonstrations against the regents, as the mouthpiece of servility. Accord
chap, viii POMPEIUS AND CAESAR
133
ingly they pardoned him for his brief desire to kick against the pricks, not however without having previously assured themselves of his submissiveness in every way. His brother had been obliged to take the position of an officer in the Gallic army to answer in some measure as a hostage for him ; Pompeius had compelled Cicero himself to accept a lieutenant-generalship under him, which furnished a handle for politely banishing him at any moment Clodius had doubtless been instructed to leave him meanwhile at peace, but Caesar as little threw off Clodius on account of Cicero as he threw off Cicero on account of Clodius ; and the great saviour of his country and the no less great hero of liberty entered into an antechamber-rivalry in the head quarters of Samarobriva, for the befitting illustration of which there lacked, unfortunately, a Roman Aristophanes. But not only was the same rod kept in suspense over Cicero's head, which had once already descended on him so severely ; golden fetters were also laid upon him. Amidst the serious embarrassment of his finances the loans of Caesar free of interest, and the joint overseership of those buildings which occasioned the circulation of enormous sums in the capital, were in a high degree welcome to him ; and many an immortal oration for the senate was nipped in the bud by the thought of Caesar's agent, who might present a bill to him after the close of the sitting. Conse quently he vowed " in future to ask no more after right and honour, but to strive for the favour of the regents," and " to be as flexible as an ear-lap. " They used him accord
ingly as—what he was good for — an advocate ; in which capacity it was on various occasions his lot to be obliged to defend his very bitterest foes at a higher bidding, and that especially in the senate, where he almost regularly served as the organ of the dynasts and submitted the pro
"to which others probably consented, but not he himself"; indeed, as recognized leader of the majority of
posals
C*10 minority.
134 THE JOINT RULE OF book v
the compliant, he obtained even a certain political import ance. They dealt with the other members of the governing corporation accessible to fear, flattery, or gold in the same way as they had dealt with Cicero, and succeeded in keeping it on the whole in subjection.
Certainly there remained a section of their opponents, wno at least kept to their colours and were neither to be terrified nor to be won. The regents had become con vinced that exceptional measures, such as those against Cato and Cicero, did their cause more harm than good, and that it was a lesser evil to tolerate an inconvenient republican opposition than to convert their opponents into martyrs for the republic Therefore they allowed
68. Cato to return (end of 698) and thenceforward in the senate and in the Forum, often at the peril of his life, to offer a continued opposition to the regents, which was doubtless worthy of honour, but unhappily was at the same time ridiculous. They allowed him on occasion of the proposals of Trebonius to push matters once more to a hand-to-hand conflict in the Forum, and to submit to the senate a proposal that the proconsul Caesar should be given over to the Usipetes and Tencteri on account of his perfidious conduct toward those barbarians (p. 60). They were patient when Marcus Favonius, Cato's Sancho, after the senate had adopted the resolution to charge the legions of Caesar on the state-chest, sprang to the door of the senate-house and proclaimed to the streets the danger of the country ; when the same person in his scurrilous fashion called the white bandage, which Pom- peius wore round his weak leg, a displaced diadeid ; when the consular Lentulus Marcellinus, on being applauded, called out to the assembly to make diligent use of this privilege of expressing their opinion now while they were still allowed to do so ; when the tribune of the people Gaius Ateius Capito consigned Crassus on his departure
chap, viii POMPEIUS AND CAESAR
135
for Syria, with all the formalities of the theology of the day, publicly to the evil spirits. These were, on the whole, vain demonstrations of an irritated minority ; yet the little party from which they issued was so far of importance, that it on the one hand fostered and gave the watchword to the republican opposition fermenting in secret, and on the other hand now and then dragged the majority of the senate, which withal cherished at bottom quite the same sentiments with reference to the
into an isolated decree directed against them.
For even the majority felt the need of giving vent, at least sometimes and in subordinate matters to their suppressed indignation, and especially — after the manner of those who
are servile with reluctance— of exhibiting their resentment towards the great foes in rage against the small. Wherever
it was possible, a gentle blow was administered to the instruments of the regents ; thus Gabinius was refused the thanksgiving-festival that he asked (698) ; thus Piso was 66. recalled from his province ; thus mourning was put on
by the senate, when the tribune of the people Gaius Cato hindered the elections for 699 as long as the consul Mar- 66. cellinus belonging to the constitutional party was in office. Even Cicero, however humbly he always bowed before
the regents, issued an equally envenomed and insipid pamphlet against Caesar's father-in-law. But both these feeble signs of opposition by the majority of the senate and the ineffectual resistance of the minority show only
the more clearly, that the government had now passed from the senate to the regents as it formerly passed from
the burgesses to the senate ; and that the senate was already not much more than a monarchical council of state employed also to absorb the anti- monarchical elements.
" No man," the adherents of the fallen government com plained, "is of the slightest account except the three ; the regents are all-powerful, and they take care that no one
regents,
Continued
2'the elections,
136 THE JOINT RULE OF BOOK V
shall remain in doubt about it ; the whole senate is virtu ally transformed and obeys the dictators ; our generation will not live to see a change of things. " They were living in fact no longer under the republic, but under monarchy.
But if the guidance of the state was at the absolute dis- posa^ of tne regents, there remained still a political domain separated in some measure from the government proper, which it was more easy to defend and more difficult to con quer ; the field of the ordinary elections of magistrates, and that of the jury-courts. That the latter do not fall directly under politics, but everywhere, and above all in Rome, come partly under the control of the spirit dominating state-affairs, is of itself clear. The elections of magistrates certainly belonged by right to the government proper of the state ; but, as at this period the state was administered substantially by extraordinary magistrates or by men wholly without title, and even the supreme ordinary magistrates, if they belonged to the anti-monarchical party, were not able in any tangible way to influence the state-machinery, the ordinary magistrates sank more and more into mere puppets — as, in fact, even those of them who were most disposed to opposition described themselves frankly and with entire justice as powerless ciphers —and their elections therefore sank into mere demonstrations. Thus, after the
had already been wholly dislodged from the field of battle, hostilities might nevertheless be continued in the field of elections and of processes. The regents spared no pains to remain victors also in this field. As to the elections, they had already at Luca settled between themselves the lists of candidates for the next
years, and they left no means untried to cany the can didates agreed upon there. They expended their gold
primarily for the purpose of influencing the elections. A great number of soldiers were dismissed annually on fur
opposition proper
chap, v1i1 POMPEIUS AND CAESAR
137
lough from the armies of Caesar and Pompeias to take part in the voting at Rome. Caesar was wont himself
to guide, and watch over, the election movements from
as near a point as possible of Upper Italy. Yet the object was but very imperfectly attained. For 699 no 68. doubt Pompeius and Crassus were elected consuls, agree
ably to the convention of Luca, and Lucius Domitius,
the only candidate of the opposition who persevered, was
set aside ; but this had been effected only by open violence, on which occasion Cato was wounded and other extremely scandalous incidents occurred. In the next consular elections for 700, in spite of all the exertions 64. of the regents, Domitius was actually elected, and Cato likewise now prevailed in the candidature for the praetor- ship, in which to the scandal of the whole burgesses Caesar's client Vatinius had during the previous year beaten him off the field. At the elections for 701 the St. opposition succeeded in so indisputably convicting the candidates of the regents, along with others, of the most shameful electioneering intrigues that the regents, on whom the scandal recoiled, could not do otherwise than abandon them. These repeated and severe defeats of the dynasts on the battle-field of the elections may be traceable in part to the unmanageableness of the machinery, to the incalculable accidents of the polling,
to the opposition at heart of the middle classes, to the various private considerations that interfere in such cases and often strangely clash with those of party; but the main cause lies elsewhere. The elections were at this time essen tially in the power of the different clubs into which the aristocracy had grouped themselves ; the system of bribery was organized by them on the most extensive scale and with the utmost method. The same aristocracy therefore, which was represented in the senate, ruled also the elections ; but while in the senate it yielded with a
rusty
*nd in the coarxa-
and is shown by the elections of the succeeding years.
The jury-courts occasioned equally great difficulty to the regents. As they were then composed, while the senatorial nobility was here also influential, the decisive voice lay chiefly with the middle class. The fixing of a high-rated census for jurymen by a law proposed by
138 THE JOINT RULE OF book v
grudge, it worked and voted here — in secret and
from all reckoning —absolutely against the regents.
the influence of the nobility in this field was by no means
) broken by the strict penal law against the electioneering 66. intrigues of the clubs, which Crassus when consul in 699 caused to be confirmed by the burgesses, is self-evident,
secure That
66. Pompeius in 699 is a remarkable proof that the opposition to the regents had its chief seat in the middle class properly so called, and that the great capitalists showed themselves here, as everywhere, more compliant than the latter. Nevertheless the republican party was not yet deprived of all hold in the courts, and it was never weary of directing political impeachments, not indeed against the regents themselves, but against their prominent instru ments. This warfare of prosecutions was waged the more
that according to usage the duty of accusation belonged to the senatorial youth, and, as may readily be conceived, there was more of republican passion, fresh talent, and bold delight in attack to be found among these youths than among the older members of their order. Certainly the courts were not free ; if the regents were in earnest, the courts ventured as little as the senate to refuse obedience. None of their antagonists were prosecuted by the opposition with such hatred — so furious that it almoit passed into a proverb — as Vatinius, by far the most audacious and unscrupulous of the closer adherents of Caesar; but his master gave the command, and he was acquitted in all the processes raised against him. But impeachments by men who knew how to wield the sword
keenly,
chap, viii POMPEIUS AND CAESAR
139
of dialectics and the lash of sarcasm as did Gaius Licinius Calvus and Gaius Asinius Pollio, did not miss their mark even when they failed ; nor were isolated successes wanting. They were mostly, no doubt, obtained over subordinate individuals, but even one of the most high -placed and most hated adherents of the dynasts, the consular Gabinius,
was overthrown in this way. Certainly in his case the implacable hatred of the aristocracy, which as little forgave him for the law regarding the conducting of the war with
the pirates as for his disparaging treatment of the senate during his Syrian governorship, was combined with the rage of the great capitalists, against whom he had when governor of Syria ventured to defend the interests of the provincials, and even with the resentment of Crassus, with whom he had stood on ceremony in handing over to him
the province. His only protection against all these foes
was Pompeius, and the latter had every reason to defend
his ablest, boldest, and most faithful adjutant at any price ;
but here, as everywhere, he knew not how to use his power and to defend his clients, as Caesar defended his ; in the end of 700 the jurymen found Gabinius guilty of extortions 64. and sent him into banishment.
On the whole, therefore, in the sphere of the popular elections and of the jury-courts it was the regents that fared worst. The factors which ruled in these were less tangible, and therefore more difficult to be terrified or corrupted than the direct organs of government and administration. The holders of power encountered here, especially in the popular elections, the tough energy of a close oligarchy — grouped in coteries—which is by no means finally disposed of when its rule is overthrown, and which is the more difficult to vanquish the more covert its action. encountered here too, especially in the jury-courts, the repugnance of the middle classes towards the new mon archical rule, which with all the perplexities springing out
They
l4o THE JOINT RULE OF iook v
of it they were as little able to remove. They suffered in both quarters a series of defeats. The election-victories of the opposition had, it is true, merely the value of demon strations, since the regents possessed and employed the means of practically annulling any magistrate whom they disliked ; but the criminal trials in which the opposition carried condemnations deprived them, in a way
keenly felt, of useful auxiliaries. As things stood, the regents could neither set aside nor adequately control the popular
elections and the jury-courts, and the opposition, however much it felt itself straitened even here, maintained to a certain extent the field of battle.
It proved, however, yet a more difficult task to en- counter l^e opposition in a field, to which it turned with the greater zeal the more it was dislodged from direct political action. This was literature. Even the judicial opposition was at the same time a literary one, and indeed pre-eminently so, for the orations were regularly published and served as political pamphlets. The arrows of poetry hit their mark still more rapidly and sharply. The lively youth of the high aristocracy, and still more energetically perhaps the cultivated middle class in the Italian country towns, waged the war of pamphlets and epigrams with zeal and success. There fought side by side on this field the
82-48. genteel senator's son Gaius Licinius Calvus
who was as much feared in the character of an orator and pamphleteer as of a versatile poet, and the municipals of
102-63. Cremona and Verona Marcus Furius Bibaculus (652-691) 87-64. and Quintus Valerius Catullus (66 7-6, 700) whose elegant and pungent epigrams flew swiftly like arrows through Italy and were sure to hit their mark. An oppositional tone
prevails throughout the literature of these years. It is full of indignant sarcasm against the "great Caesar. " "the unique general," against the affectionate father-in-law and son-in-law, who ruin the whole globe in order to give their
Literature oDDosition
(672 — 706)
chap, viii POMPEIUS AND CAESAR
141
dissolute favourites opportunity to parade the spoils of the long-haired Celts through the streets of Rome, to furnish royal banquets with the booty of the farthest isles of the west, and as rivals showering gold to supplant honest youths at home in the favour of their mistresses. There is in the poems of Catullus1 and the other fragments of the literature of this period something of that fervour of personal and political hatred, of that republican agony overflowing in riotous humour or in stern despair, which are more prominently and powerfully apparent in Aristophanes and Demosthenes.
The most sagacious of the three rulers at least saw well that it was as impossible to despise this opposition as to suppress it by word of command So far as he could, Caesar tried rather personally to gain over the more notable authors. Cicero himself had to thank his literary reputa tion in good part for the respectful treatment which he especially experienced from Caesar; but the governor of Gaul did not disdain to conclude a special peace even with Catullus himself through the intervention of his father who had become personally known to him in Verona ; and the young poet, who had just heaped upon the powerful general the bitterest and most personal sarcasms, was treated by
him with the most flattering distinction. In fact Caesar was gifted enough to follow his literary opponents on their own domain and to publish —as an indirect way of repelling manifold attacks — a detailed report on the Gallic wars,
1 The collection handed down to us is full of references to the events
of 699 and 700 and was doubtless published in the latter year ; the most
recent event, which it mentions, is the prosecution of Vatinius (Aug. 700). 54. The statement of Hieronymus that Catullus died in 697-698 requires 67-60. therefore to be altered only by a few years. From the circumstance that Vatinius "swears falsely by his consulship," It has been erroneously in
ferred that the collection did not appear till after the consulate of Vatinius
(707) ; it only follows from it that Vatinius, when the collection appeared, 47. might already reckon on becoming consul in a definite year, for which he
had every reason as early as 700 ; for his name certainly stood on the list 64,
of candidates agreed on at Luca (Cicero, Ad. Att iv. 8 i. 2).
65. 64.
143 THE JOINT RULE OF book v
which set forth before the public, with happily assumed naivete", the necessity and constitutional propriety of his military operations. But it is freedom alone that is abso lutely and exclusively poetical and creative ; it and it alone is able even in its most wretched caricature, even with its latest breath, to inspire fresh enthusiasm. All the sound elements of literature were and remained anti-monarchical ; and, if Caesar himself could venture on this domain with out proving a failure, the reason was merely that even now he still cherished at heart the magnificent dream of a free commonwealth, although he was unable to transfer it either to his adversaries or to his adherents. Practical politics was not more absolutely controlled by the regents than literature by the republicans. 1
1 The well-known poem of Catullus (numbered as xxix. ) was written H. 54. in 699 or 700 after Caesar's Britannic expedition and before the death of
Julia:
Qui s hoe potest videre, quis potest pati. Nisi impudicus et vorax et aUo, Mamurram habere quod eomata Gallia Haieiat ante et ultima Britannia t etc.
Mamurra of Formiae, Caesar's favourite and for a time during the Gallic wars an officer in his army, had, presumably a short time before the composition of this poem, returned to the capital and was in all like lihood then occupied with the building of his much -talked- of marble palace furnished with lavish magnificence on the Caelian hill. The Iberian booty mentioned in the poem must have reference to Caesar's governorship of Further Spain, and Mamurra must even then, as certainly afterwards in Gaul, have been found at Caesar's headquarters ; the Pontic booty presumably has reference to the war of Pompeius against Mithradates, especially as according to the hint of the poet it was not merely Caesar that enriched Mamurra.
More innocent than this virulent invective, which was bitterly fdt by Caesar (Suet Caes. 73), is another nearly contemporary poem of the same author (xi. ) to which we may here refer, because with its pathetic introduction to an anything but pathetic commission it very cleverly quizzes the general staff of the new regents — the Gabiniuses, Antoniuses, and such like, suddenly advanced from the lowest haunts to headquarters. Let it be remembered that it was written at a time when Caesar was fighting on the Rhine and on the Thames, and when the expeditions of Crassus to Parthia and of Gabinius to Egypt were in preparation. The poet, as if he too expected one of the vacant posts from one of the regents, gives to two of his clients their last instructions before departure :
Furi et Aureli, comites Catulii, etc.
chap, VIII POMPEIUS AND CAESAR
143
It became necessary to take serious steps against this New ex- opposition, which was powerless indeed, but was always be- JSJIL—, coming more troublesome and audacious. The condemna- resolved tion of Gabinius, apparently, turned the . scale (end of 700).
The regents agreed to introduce dictatorship, though only temporary one, and means of this to carry new coercive measures especially respecting the elections and the jury- courts. Pompeius, as the regent on whom primarily devolved the government of Rome and Italy, was charged with the execution of this resolve; which accordingly bore the
impress of the awkwardness in resolution and action that characterized him, and of his singular incapacity of speak
ing out frankly, even where he would and could command. Already at the close of 700 the demand for dictatorship 64. was brought forward in the senate in the form of hints,
and that not by Pompeius himself. There served as its ostensible ground the continuance of the system of clubs and bands in the capital, which acts of bribery and violence certainly exercised the most pernicious pressure on the elections as well as on the jury-courts and kept
in perpetual state of disturbance we must allow that this rendered easy for the regents to justify their ex
measures. But, as may well be conceived, even
the servile majority shrank from granting what the future dictator himself seemed to shrink from openly asking. When the unparalleled agitation regarding the elections
for the consulship of 701 led to the most scandalous scenes, 53. so that the elections were postponed full year beyond
the fixed time and only took place after seven months' interregnum in July 701, Pompeius found in this state 53. of things the desired occasion for indicating now distinctly
to the senate that the dictatorship was the only means
of cutting, not of loosing the knot; but the decisive word of command was not even yet spoken.