No More Learning

But he received a chilling
answer,[1000] and in a short time saw the accomplishment of Cæsar’s
prophetic words: “If even the greatest criminals are too severely dealt
with, the heinousness of their offence is lost in the severity of their
sentence. ”[1001]

Even before the battle of Pistoja, whilst the pursuit of the adherents
of Catiline was still being prosecuted, public opinion was already
hostile to him who had urged the measure, and Metellus Nepos, sent
recently from Asia by Pompey, openly found fault with Cicero’s conduct.
When the latter, on quitting office, wished to address the people for
the purpose of glorifying his consulship, Metellus, who had been elected
tribune, silenced him with these words: “We will not hear the defence
of the man who refused to hear the defence of accused persons,” and
ordered him to confine himself to the usual oath, that he had in no way
contravened the laws. “I swear,” answered Cicero, “that I have saved the
Republic. ” However loudly this boastful exclamation might be applauded
by Cato and the bystanders, who hail him with Father of his Country,
their enthusiasm will have but a short duration. [1002]


[Sidenote: Cæsar Prætor (692). ]

VII. Cæsar, prætor-elect of the city (_urbanus_) the preceding year,
entered upon his office in the year 692. Bibulus, his former colleague
in the edileship, and his declared opponent, was his colleague. The more
his influence increased, the more he seems to have placed it at the
service of Pompey, upon whom, since his departure, the hopes of the
popular party rested. He had more share than all the others in causing
extraordinary honours to be decreed to the conqueror of
Mithridates,[1003] such as the privilege of attending the games of the
circus in a robe of triumph and a crown of laurels, and of sitting in
the theatre in the official dress of the magistrates, the
_prætexta_. [1004] Still more, he used all his endeavours to reserve for
Pompey one of those opportunities of gratifying personal vanity which
the Romans prized so highly.

It was the custom for those who were charged with the restoration of any
public monument to have their name engraved on it when the work was
completed. Catulus had caused his to be inscribed on the Temple of
Jupiter, burnt in the Capitol in 671, and of which he had been intrusted
with the rebuilding by Sylla. This temple, however, had not been
entirely completed. Cæsar appealed against this infraction of the law,
accused Catulus of having appropriated a part of the money intended for
the restoration, and proposed that the completion of the work should be
confided to Pompey on his return, that his name should be placed thereon
instead of that of Catulus, and that he should perform the ceremony of
dedication. [1005] Cæsar thus not only gave a proof of deference to
Pompey, but he sought to please the multitude by gaining a verdict
against one of the most esteemed chiefs of the aristocratic party.

The news of this accusation caused a sensation in the Senate, and the
eagerness with which the nobles hurried into the Forum to vote against
the proposal was such, that on that day they omitted to go, according to
custom, to congratulate the new consuls; a proof that in this case also
it was entirely a question of party. Catulus pronounced his own defence,
but without being able to gain the tribune; and the tumult increasing,
Cæsar was obliged to give way to force. The affair went no
farther. [1006]

The reaction of public opinion against the conduct of the Senate
continued, and men did not hesitate to accuse it openly of having
murdered the accomplices of Catiline. Metellus Nepos, supported by the
friends of the conspirators, by the partisans of his patron, and by
those of Cæsar, proposed a law for the recall of Pompey with his army,
that he might, as he said, maintain order in the city, protect the
citizens, and prevent their being put to death without a trial. The
Senate, and notably Cato and Q. Minucius, offended already by the
success of the army of Asia, offered a steady resistance to these
proposals.

On the day when the tribes voted, scenes of the greatest turbulence took
place. Cato seated himself between the prætor Cæsar and the tribune
Metellus, to prevent their conversing together. Blows were given, swords
were drawn,[1007] and each of the two factions was in turn driven from
the Forum; until at last the senatorial party gained the day. Metellus,
obliged to fly, declared that he was yielding to force, and that he was
going to join Pompey, who would know well how to avenge them both. It
was the first time that a tribune had been known to abandon Rome and
take refuge in the camp of a general. The Senate deprived him of his
office, and Cæsar of that of prætor. [1008] The latter paid no attention,
kept his lictors, and continued the administration of justice; but, on
being warned that it was intended to make use of compulsion against him,
he voluntarily resigned his office, and shut himself up in his house.

Nevertheless, this outrage against the laws was not submitted to with
indifference. Two days afterwards, a crowd assembled before Cæsar’s
house: the people with loud cries urged him to resume his office; while
Cæsar, on his part, engaged them not to transgress the laws. The Senate,
which had met on hearing of this riot, sent for him, thanked him for his
respect for the laws, and reinstated him in his prætorship.

It was thus that Cæsar maintained himself within the pale of the law,
and obliged the Senate to overstep it. This body, heretofore so firm,
and yet so temperate, no longer shrank from extraordinary acts of
authority; a tribune and a prætor were at the same time obliged to fly
from their arbitrary proceedings. Ever since the days of the Gracchi,
Rome had witnessed the same scenes of violence, sometimes on the part of
the nobles, at others on the part of the people.

The justice which the fear of a popular movement had caused to be
rendered to Cæsar had not discouraged the hatred of his enemies. They
tried to renew against him the accusation of having been an accomplice
in Catiline’s conspiracy. At their instigation, Vettius, a man who had
been formerly employed by Cicero as a spy to discover the plot, summoned
him before the questor Novius Niger;[1009] and Curius, to the latter of
whom a public reward had been decreed, accused him before the Senate.
They both swore to his enrolment among the conspirators, pretending that
they had received their information from the lips of Catiline himself.
Cæsar had no difficulty in defending himself, and appealed to the
testimony of Cicero, who at once declared his innocence. The court,
however, sat for a long time; and the rumour of the charge having been
spread abroad in the city, the crowd, uneasy as to what might be Cæsar’s
fate, assembled in great numbers to demand his release. So irritated
they appeared, that to calm them, Cato conceived it necessary to propose
to the Senate a decree ordering a distribution of wheat to the poor: a
largess which cost the treasury more than 1,250 talents yearly
(7,276,250 francs [£291,050]). [1010]

No time was lost in pronouncing the charge calumnious; Curius was
deprived of his promised reward; and Vettius, on his way to prison, was
all but torn to pieces before the rostra. [1011] The questor Nevius was
in like manner arrested for having allowed a prætor, whose authority was
superior to his own, to be accused before his tribunal. [1012]

Not satisfied with conciliating the good-will of the people, Cæsar won
for himself the favour of the noblest dames of Rome; and,
notwithstanding his notorious passion for women, we cannot help
discovering a political aim in his choice of mistresses, since all held
by different ties to men who were then playing, or were destined to
play, an important part. He had had important relations with Tertulla,
the wife of Crassus; with Mucia, wife of Pompey; with Lollia, wife of
Aulus Gabinius, who was consul in 696; with Postumia, wife of Servius
Sulpicius, who was raised to the consulship in 703, and persuaded to
join Cæsar’s party by her influence; but the woman he preferred was
Servilia, sister of Cato and mother of Brutus, to whom, during his first
consulship, he gave a pearl valued at six millions of sestertii
(1,140,000 francs [£45,600]). [1013] This connection throws an air of
improbability over the reports in circulation that Servilia favoured an
intrigue between him and her daughter Tertia. [1014] Was it by the
intermediation of Tertulla that Crassus was reconciled with Cæsar? or
was that reconciliation due to the injustice of the Senate, and the
jealousy of Crassus towards Pompey? Whatever was the cause that brought
them together, Crassus seems to have made common cause with him in all
the questions in which he was interested, subsequent to the consulship
of Cicero.


[Sidenote: Attempt of Clodius (692). ]

VIII. At this period a great scandal arose. A young and wealthy
patrician, named Clodius, an ambitious and violent man, conceived a
passion for Pompeia, Cæsar’s wife; but the strict vigilance of Aurelia,
her mother-in-law, made it difficult to find opportunities for meeting
privately. [1015] Clodius, disguised in female apparel, chose, for the
opportunity to enter her house, the moment when she was celebrating, by
night, attended by the matrons, mysteries in honour of the Roman
people. [1016] Now, it was forbidden to a male to be present at these
religious ceremonies, which it was believed that his presence even would
defile. Clodius, recognised by a female slave, was expelled with
ignominy. The pontiffs uttered the cry of sacrilege, and it became the
duty of the vestals to begin the mysteries anew. The nobles, who had
already met with an enemy in Clodius, saw in this act a means to compass
his overthrow, and at the same time to compromise Cæsar. The latter,
without condescending to inquire whether Pompeia was guilty or not,
repudiated her. A decree of the Senate, carried by four hundred votes
against fifteen, decided that Clodius must take his trial. [1017] He
defended himself by pleading an _alibi_; and, with the sole exception of
Aurelia, not a witness came forward against him. Cæsar himself, when
examined, declared that he knew nothing; and when asked to explain his
own conduct, replied, with equal regard to his honour and his interest,
“The wife of Cæsar must be above suspicion! ” But Cicero, yielding to the
malicious suggestions of his wife Terentia, came forward to assert that
on the day of the event he had seen Clodius in Rome. [1018] The people
showed its sympathy with the latter, either because they deemed the
crime one that did not deserve a severe punishment, or because their
religious scruples were not so strong as their political passions.
Crassus, on his part, directed the whole intrigue, and lent the accused
funds sufficient to buy his judges. They acquitted him by a majority of
thirty-one to twenty-five. [1019]

The Senate, indignant at this contradiction, passed, on the motion of
Cato, a bill of indictment against the judges who had suffered
themselves to be bribed. But as they happened to be knights, the
equestrian order made common cause with them, and openly separated
themselves from the Senate. Thus the outrage of Clodius had two serious
consequences: first, it proved in a striking manner the venality of
justice; secondly, it once more threw the knights into the arms of the
popular party. But far other steps were taken to alienate them. The
farmers of the revenue demanded a reduction in the price of the rents of
Asia, on the ground that they had been leased to them at a price that
had become too high in consequence of the wars. The opposition of Cato
caused their demand to be refused. This refusal, though doubtless legal,
was, under the circumstances, in the highest degree impolitic.


[Sidenote: Pompey’s Triumphal Return (692). ]

IX. Whilst at Rome dissensions were breaking out on all occasions,
Pompey had just brought the war in Asia to a close. Having defeated
Mithridates in two battles, he had compelled him to fly towards the
sources of the Euphrates, to pass thence into the north of Armenia, and
finally to cross thence to Dioscurias, in Colchis, on the western shore
of the Black Sea. [1020] Pompey had advanced as far as the Caucasus,
where he had defeated two mountain tribes, the Albanians and the
Iberians, who disputed his passage. When he had arrived within three
days’ march of the Caspian, having nothing more to fear from
Mithridates, and surrounded by barbarians, he began his retreat through
Armenia, where Tigranes came to tender his submission. Next, taking a
southerly course, he crossed Mount Taurus, attacked the King of
Commagene, fought a battle with the King of Media, invaded Syria, made
alliance with the Parthians, received the submission of the Nabathæan
Arabs and of Aristobulus, king of the Jews, and took Jerusalem. [1021]

During this period, Mithridates, whose energy and whose views appeared
to expand in proportion to his dangers and his reverses, was executing a
bold scheme. He had passed round by the eastern coast of the Black Sea,
and, allying himself with the Scythians and the peoples of the Crimea,
he had reached the shores of the Cimmerian Hellespont; but he had still
more gigantic designs in his mind. His idea was to open communications
with the Celts, and so reach the Danube, traverse Thrace, Macedonia, and
Illyria, cross the Alps, and, like Hannibal, descend upon Italy. Alone,
he was great enough to conceive this enterprise, but he was obliged to
give it up; his army deserted him, Pharnaces his son betrayed him, and
he committed suicide at Panticapæum (_Kertch_). By this event the vast
and rich territories that lie between the Caspian and the Red Sea were
placed at the disposal of Pompey. Pharnaces received the kingdom of the
Bosphorus. Tigranes, deprived of a portion of his dominions, only
preserved Armenia. Deiotarus, tetrarch of Galatia, obtained an increase
of territory, and Ariobarzanes obtained an enlargement of the kingdom of
Cappadocia, which was re-established in his favour. Various minor
princes devoted to the Roman interests received endowments, and
thirty-nine towns were rebuilt or founded. Finally, Pontus, Cilicia,
Syria, Phœnicia, declared to be Roman provinces, were obliged to
accept the constitution imposed upon them by the conqueror. These
countries received institutions which they preserved through several
centuries. [1022] All the shores of the Mediterranean, with the exception
of Egypt, became tributaries of Rome.

The war in Asia terminated, Pompey sent before him his lieutenant,
Pupius Piso Calpurnianus, who was soliciting the consulship, and who for
that reason requested an adjournment of the elections. This adjournment
was granted, and Piso unanimously elected consul for the year 693,[1023]
with M. Valerius Messala; to such a degree did the terror of Pompey’s
name make every one eager to grant what he desired. For no one knew his
designs; and it was feared lest, on his return, he should again march
upon Rome at the head of his victorious army. But Pompey, having landed
at Brundusium about the month of January, 693, disbanded his army, and
arrived at Rome, escorted only by the citizens who had gone out in
crowds to meet him. [1024]

After the first display of public gratitude, he found his reception
different from that on which he had reckoned, and domestic griefs came
to swell the catalogue of his disappointments. He had been informed of
the scandalous conduct of his wife Mutia during his absence, and
determined to repudiate her. [1025]

Envy, that scourge of a Republic, raged against him. The nobles did not
conceal their jealousy: it seemed as though they were taking revenge for
their own apprehensions, to which they were now adding their own
feelings of personal resentment. Lucullus had not forgiven him for
having frustrated his expectation of the command of the army of Asia.
Crassus was jealous of his renown; Cato, always hostile to those who
raised themselves above their fellows, could not be favourable to him,
and had even refused him the hand of his niece; Metellus Creticus
cherished a bitter remembrance of attempts which had been made to wrest
from him the merit of conquering Crete;[1026] and Metellus Celer was
offended at the repudiation of his sister Mutia. [1027] As for Cicero,
whose opinion of men varied according to their more or less deference
for his merit, he discovered that his hero of other days was destitute
of rectitude and greatness of soul. [1028] Pompey, foreseeing the
ill-feeling he was about to encounter, exerted all his influence, and
spent a large sum of money to secure the election of Afranius, one of
his old lieutenants, as consul. He reckoned upon him to obtain the two
things which he desired most: a general approval of all his acts in the
East, and a distribution of lands to his veterans. Notwithstanding
violent opposition, Afranius was elected with Q. Metellus Celer. But,
before proposing the laws which concerned him, Pompey, who till then had
not entered Rome, demanded a triumph. It was granted him, but for two
days only. However, the pageant was not less remarkable for its
splendour. It was held on the 29th and 30th of September, 693.

Before him were carried boards on which were inscribed the names of the
conquered countries, from Judæa to the Caucasus, and from the shores of
the Bosphorus to the banks of the Euphrates; the names of the towns and
the number of the vessels taken from the pirates; the names of
thirty-nine towns re-peopled; the amount of wealth brought in to the
treasury, amounting to 20,000 talents (more than 115 millions of francs
[£4,600,000]), without counting his largesses to his soldiers, of whom
he who received least had 1,500 drachmas (1,455 francs [£57]). [1029] The
public revenues, which before Pompey’s time amounted only to fifty
millions of drachmas (forty-eight millions and a half of francs [nearly
two millions sterling]), reached the amount of eighty-one millions and a
half (seventy-nine millions of francs [£3,160,000]). Among the precious
objects that were exposed before the eyes of the Romans was the
Dactylotheca (or collection of engraved stones) belonging to the King of
Pontus;[1030] a chessboard made of only two precious stones, but which,
nevertheless, measured four feet in length by three in breadth,
ornamented with a moon in gold, weighing thirty pounds; three couches
for dinner, of immense value; vases of gold and precious stones numerous
enough to load nine sideboards; thirty-three chaplets of pearls; three
gold statues, representing Minerva, Mars, and Apollo; a mountain of the
same metal, on a square base, decorated with fruits of all kinds, and
with figures of stags and lions, the whole encircled by a golden vine, a
present from King Aristobulus; a miniature temple dedicated to the
Muses, and provided with a clock; a couch of gold, said to have belonged
to Darius, son of Hystaspes; murrhine vases;[1031] a statue in silver of
Pharnaces, king of Pontus, the conqueror of Sinope, and the contemporary
of Philip III. of Macedon;[1032] a silver statue of the last
Mithridates, and a colossal bust of him in gold, eight cubits high,
together with his throne and sceptre; chariots armed with scythes, and
enriched with gilt ornaments;[1033] then, the portrait of Pompey
himself, embroidered in pearls. Lastly, trees were now introduced for
the first time as rare and precious objects: these were the ebony-tree
and the shrub which produces balsam. [1034] Before the chariot of Pompey
came the Cretan Lasthenes and Panares, taken from the triumph of
Metellus Creticus;[1035] the chiefs of the pirates; the son of Tigranes,
king of Armenia, his wife, and his daughter; the widow of the elder
Tigranes, called Zosima; Olthaces, chief of the Colchians; Aristobulus,
king of the Jews; the sister of Mithridates, with five of his sons; the
wives of the chieftains of Scythia; the hostages of the Iberians and
Albanians, and those of the princes of Commagene. Pompey was in a
chariot, adorned with jewels, and dressed in the costume of Alexander
the Great;[1036] and as he had already three times obtained the honours
of a triumph for his successes in Africa, Europe, and Asia, a grand
trophy was displayed, with this inscription, “Over the whole
world! ”[1037]

So much splendour flattered the national pride, without disarming the
envious. Victories in the East had always been obtained without
extraordinary efforts, and therefore people had always depreciated their
merit, and Cato went so far as to say that in Asia a general had only
women to fight against. [1038] In the Senate, Lucullus, and other
influential men of consular rank, threw out the decree that was to
ratify all the acts of Pompey; and yet, to refuse to ratify either the
treaties concluded with the kings, or the exchange of the provinces, or
the amount of tribute imposed upon the vanquished, was as though they
questioned all that he had done. But they went still farther.

Towards the month of January, 694, the tribune L. Flavius proposed[1039]
to purchase and appropriate to Pompey’s veterans, for purposes of
colonisation, all the territory that had been declared public domain in
the year 521, and since sold; and to divide among the poor citizens the
_ager publicus_ of Volaterræ and Arretium, cities of Etruria, which had
been confiscated by Sylla, but not yet distributed. [1040] The expense
entailed by these measures was to be defrayed by five years’ revenue of
the conquered provinces. [1041] Cicero, who wished to gratify Pompey,
without damaging the interests of those he termed his rich
friends,[1042] proposed that the _ager publicus_ should be left intact,
but that other lands of equal value should be purchased. Nevertheless,
he was in favour of the establishment of colonies, though two years
before he had called the attention of his hearers to the danger of such
establishments; he was ready to admit that that dangerous populace,
those dregs of the city (_sentina urbis_), must be removed to a distance
from Rome, though in former days he had engaged that same populace to
remain in Rome, and enjoy their festivals, their games, and their
rights of suffrage. [1043] Finally, he proposed to buy private estates,
and leave the _ager publicus_ intact; whereas, in his speech against
Rullus, he had blamed the establishment of colonies on private estates
as a violation of all precedent. [1044] The eloquence of the orator,
which had been powerful enough to cause the rejection of the law of
Rullus, was unsuccessful in obtaining the adoption of that of Flavius;
it was attacked with such violence by the consul Metellus, that the
tribune caused him to be put in prison; but this act of severity having
met with a general disapproval, Pompey was alarmed at the scandal, and
bade Flavius set the consul at liberty, and abandoned the law. Sensitive
to so many insults, and seeing his prestige diminish, the conqueror of
Mithridates regretted that he had disbanded his army, and determined to
make common cause with Clodius, who then enjoyed an extraordinary
popularity. [1045]

About the same period, Metellus Nepos, who had returned a second time to
Italy with Pompey, was elected prætor, and obtained a law to abolish
tolls throughout Italy, the exaction of which had hitherto given rise to
loud complaints. This measure, which had probably been suggested by
Pompey and Cæsar, met with general approval; yet the Senate made an
unsuccessful attempt to have the name of the proposer erased from the
law: which shows, as Dio Cassius says, that that assembly accepted
nothing from its adversaries, not even an act of kindness. [1046]


[Sidenote: Destiny regulates Events. ]

X. Thus all the forces of society, paralysed by intestine divisions, and
powerless for good, appeared to revive only for the purpose of throwing
obstacles in its way. Military glory and eloquence, those two
instruments of Roman power, inspired only distrust and envy. The triumph
of the generals was regarded not so much as a success for the Republic
as a source of personal gratification. The gift of eloquence still
exercised its ancient empire, so long as the orator remained upon the
tribune; but scarcely had he stepped down before the impression he had
made was gone; the people remained indifferent to brilliant displays of
rhetoric that were employed to encourage selfish passions, and not to
defend, as heretofore, the great interests of the fatherland.

It is well worthy of our attention that, when destiny is driving a state
of things towards an aim, there is, by a law of fate, a concurrence of
all forces in the same direction. Thither tend alike the attacks and the
hopes of those who seek change; thither tend the fears and the
resistance of those who would put a stop to every movement. After the
death of Sylla, Cæsar was the only man who persevered in his endeavours
to raise the standard of Marius. Hence nothing more natural than that
his acts and speeches should bend in the same direction. But the fact on
which we ought to fix our attention is, the spectacle of the partisans
of resistance and the system of Sylla, the opponents of all innovation,
helping, unconsciously, the progress of the events which smoothed for
Cæsar the way to supreme power.

Pompey, the representative of the cause of the Senate, gives the hardest
blow to the ancient régime by re-establishing the tribuneship. The
popularity which his prodigious successes in the East had won for him,
had raised him above all others; by nature, as well as by his
antecedents, he leaned to the aristocratic party; the jealousy of the
nobles throws him into the popular party and into the arms of Cæsar.

The Senate, on its part, while professing to aim at the preservation of
all the old institutions intact, abandons them in the presence of
danger; through jealousy of Pompey, it leaves to the tribunes the
initiative in all laws of general interest; through fear of Catiline, it
lowers the barriers that had been raised between new men and the
consulship, and confers that office upon Cicero. In the trial of the
accomplices of Catiline, it violates both the forms of justice and the
chief safeguard of the liberty of the citizens, the right of appeal to
the people. Instead of remembering that the best policy in circumstances
of peril is to confer upon men of importance some brilliant mark of
acknowledgment for the services they have rendered to the State, either
in good or bad fortune; instead of following, after victory, the example
given after defeat by the ancient Senate, which thanked Varro because he
had not despaired of the Republic, the Senate shows itself ungrateful to
Pompey, gives him no credit for his moderation, and, when it can
compromise him, and even bind him by the bonds of gratitude, it meets
his most legitimate demands with a refusal, a refusal which will teach
generals to come, that, when they return to Rome, though they have
increased the territory of the Commonwealth, though they have doubled
the revenues of the Republic, if they disband their army, the approval
of their acts will be disputed, and an attempt made to bargain with
their soldiers for the reward due to their glorious labours.

Cicero himself, who is desirous of maintaining the old state of things,
undermines it by his language. In his speeches against Verres, he
denounces the venality of the Senate, and the extortions of which the
provinces complain; in others, he unveils in a most fearful manner the
corruption of morals, the traffic in offices, and the dearth of
patriotism among the upper classes; in pleading for the Manilian law, he
maintains that there is need of a strong power in the hands of one
individual to ensure order in Italy and glory abroad; and it is after he
has exhausted all the eloquence at his command in pointing out the
excess of the evil and the efficacy of the remedy, that he thinks it is
possible to stay the stream of public opinion by the chilling counsel of
immobility.

Cato declared that he was for no innovations whatever; yet he made them
more than ever indispensable by his own opposition. No less than Cicero,
he threw the blame on the vices of society; but whilst Cicero wavered
often through the natural fickleness of his mind, Cato, with the
systematic tenacity of a stoic, remained inflexible in the application
of absolute rules. He opposed everything, even schemes of the greatest
utility; and, standing in the way of all concession, rendered personal
animosities as hard to reconcile as political factions. He had separated
Pompey from the Senate by causing all his proposals to be rejected; he
had refused him his niece, notwithstanding the advantage for his party
of an alliance which would have impeded the designs of Cæsar. [1047]
Regardless of the political consequences of a system of extreme rigour,
he had caused Metellus to be deposed when he was tribune, and Cæsar when
he was prætor; he caused Clodius to be put upon his trial; he impeached
his judges, without any foresight of the fatal consequences of an
investigation which called in question the honour of an entire order.
This immoderate zeal had rendered the knights hostile to the Senate;
they became still more so by the opposition offered by Cato to the
reduction of the price of the farms of Asia. [1048] And thus Cicero,
seeing things in their true light, wrote as follows to Atticus: “With
the best intentions in the world, Cato is ruining us: he judges things
as if we were living in Plato’s Republic, while we are only the dregs of
Romulus. ”[1049]

Nothing, then, arrested the march of events; the party of resistance
hurried them forward more rapidly than any other. It was evident that
they progressed towards a revolution; and a revolution is like a river,
which overflows and inundates. Cæsar aimed at digging a bed for it.
Pompey, seated proudly at the helm, thought he could command the waves
that were sweeping him along. Cicero, always irresolute, at one moment
allowed himself to drift with the stream, at another thought himself
able to stem it with a fragile bark. Cato, immovable as a rock,
flattered himself that alone he could resist the irresistible stream
that was carrying away the old order of Roman society.




CHAPTER IV.

(693-695. )


[Sidenote: Cæsar Proprætor in Spain (693). ]

I. Whilst at Rome ancient reputations were sinking in struggles
destitute alike of greatness and patriotism, others, on the contrary,
were rising in the camps, through the lustre of military glory. Cæsar,
on quitting his prætorship, had gone to Ulterior Spain (_Hispania
Ulterior_), which had been assigned to him by lot. His creditors had
vainly attempted to retard his departure: he had had recourse to the
credit of Crassus, who had been his security for the sum of 830 talents
(nearly five millions of francs [£200,000]). [1050] He had not even
waited for the instructions of the Senate,[1051] which, indeed, could
not be ready for some time, as that body had deferred all affairs
concerning the consular provinces till after the trial of Clodius, which
was only terminated in April, 693. [1052] This eagerness to reach his
post could not therefore be caused by fear of fresh prosecutions, as has
been supposed; but its motive was the desire to carry assistance to the
allies, who were imploring the protection of the Romans against the
mountaineers of Lusitania. Always devoted without reserve to those whose
cause he espoused,[1053] he took with him into Spain his client
Masintha, a young African of high birth, whose cause he had recently
defended at Rome with extreme zeal, and whom he had concealed in his
house after his condemnation,[1054] to save him from the persecutions of
Juba, son of Hiempsal, king of Numidia.

It is related that, in crossing the Alps, Cæsar halted at a village, and
his officers asked him, jocularly, if he thought that even in that
remote place there were solicitations and rivalries for offices. He
answered, gravely, “I would rather be first among these savages than
second in Rome. ”[1055] This anecdote, which is more or less authentic,
is repeated as a proof of Cæsar’s ambition. Who doubts his ambition? The
important point to know is whether it were legitimate or not, and if it
were to be exercised for the salvation or the ruin of the Roman world.
After all, is it not more honourable to admit frankly the feelings which
animate us, than to conceal, as Pompey did, the ardour of desire under
the mask of disdain?

On his arrival in Spain, he promptly raised ten new cohorts, which,
joined to the twenty others already in the country, furnished him with
three legions, a force sufficient for the speedy pacification of the
province. [1056] Its tranquillity was incessantly disturbed by the
depredations of the inhabitants of Mount Herminium,[1057] who ravaged
the plain. He required them to establish themselves there, but they
refused. Cæsar then began a rough mountain war, and succeeded in
reducing them to submission. Terrified by this example, and dreading a
similar fate, the neighbouring tribes conveyed their families and their
most precious effects across the River Durius (_Douro_). The Roman
general hastened to profit by the opportunity, penetrated into the
valley of the Mondego to take possession of the abandoned towns, and
went in pursuit of the fugitives. The latter, on the point of being
overtaken, turned, and resolved to accept battle, driving their flocks
and herds before them, in the hope that, through this stratagem, the
Romans would leave their ranks in their eagerness to secure the booty,
and so be more easily overcome. But Cæsar was not the man to be caught
in this clumsy trap; he left the cattle, went straight at the enemy, and
routed them. Whilst occupied in the campaign in the north of Lusitania,
he learnt that in his rear the inhabitants of Mount Herminium had
revolted again with the design of closing the road by which he had come.
He then took another; but they made a further attempt to intercept his
passage by occupying the country between the Serra Albardos[1058] and
the sea. Defeated, and their retreat cut off, they were forced to fly in
the direction of the ocean, and took refuge in an island now called
_Peniche de Cima_, which, being no longer entirely separated from the
continent, has become a peninsula. It is situated about twenty-five
leagues from Lisbon. [1059] As Cæsar had no ships, he ordered rafts to
be constructed, on which some troops crossed. The rest thought that
they might venture through some shallows, which, at low tide, formed a
ford; but, desperately attacked by the enemy, they were, as they
retreated, engulphed by the rising tide. Publius Scævius, their chief,
was the only man who escaped, and he, notwithstanding his wounds,
succeeded in reaching the mainland by swimming. Subsequently, Cæsar
obtained some ships from Cadiz, crossed over to the island with his
army, and defeated the barbarians. Thence he sailed in the direction of
Brigantium (now _La Corogne_), the inhabitants of which, terrified at
the sight of the vessels, which were strange to them, surrendered
voluntarily.
[1060] The whole of Lusitania became tributary to Rome.

Cæsar received from his soldiers the title of _Imperator_. When the news
of his successes reached Rome, the Senate decreed in his honour a
holiday,[1061] and granted him the right of a triumph on his return. The
expedition ended, the conqueror of the Lusitanians took in hand the
civil administration, and caused justice and concord to reign in his
province. He merited the gratitude of the Spaniards by suppressing the
tribute imposed by Metellus Pius during the war against Sertorius. [1062]
Above all, he applied himself to putting an end to the differences that
arose each day between debtors and creditors, by ordaining that the
former should devote, every year, two-thirds of their income to the
liquidation of their debts; a measure which, according to Plutarch,
brought him great honour. [1063] This measure was, in fact, an act which
tended to the preservation of property; it prevented the Roman usurers
from taking possession of a debtor’s entire capital to reimburse
themselves; and we shall see that Cæsar made it of general application
when he became dictator. [1064] Finally, having healed their dissensions,
he loaded the inhabitants of Cadiz with benefits, and left behind him
laws, the happy influence of which was felt for a long period. He
abolished among the people of Lusitania their barbarous customs, some of
which went as far as the sacrifice of human victims. [1065] It was there
that he became intimate with a man of consideration in Cadiz, L.
Cornelius Balbus, who became _magister fabrorum_ (chief engineer) during
his Gaulish wars, and who was defended by Cicero when his right of
Roman citizen was called in question. [1066]

Though he administered his province with the greatest equity, yet,
during his campaign, he had amassed a rich booty, which enabled him to
reward his soldiers, and to pay considerable sums into the treasury
without being accused of peculation or of arbitrary acts. His conduct as
prætor of Spain[1067] was praised by all, and among others by Mark
Antony, in a speech pronounced after Cæsar’s death.

It was not then, as Suetonius pretends, by the begging of
subsidies[1068] (for a general hardly begs at the head of an army), nor
was it by an abuse of power, that he amassed such enormous riches; he
obtained them by contributions of war, by a good administration, and
even by the gratitude of those whom he had governed.

[Illustration: IV MAP OF THE PENINSULA OF PENICHE. ]


[Sidenote: Cæsar demands a Triumph and the Consulship (694). ]

II. Cæsar returned to Rome towards the month of June[1069] without
waiting for the arrival of his successor. This return, which the
historians describe as hasty, was by no means so, since his regular
authority had expired in the month of January, 694. But he was
determined to be present at the approaching meeting of the consular
comitia; he presented himself with confidence, and whilst preparing for
his triumph, demanded at the same time permission to become a candidate
for the consulship. Invested with the title of _Imperator_, having, by a
rapid conquest, extended the limits of the empire to the northern shores
of the Ocean, he might justly aspire to this double distinction; but it
was granted with difficulty. To obtain a triumph, it was necessary to
remain without the walls of Rome, to retain the lictors and continue the
military uniform, and to wait till the Senate should fix the date of
entry. To solicit for the consulship, it was necessary, on the contrary,
to be present in Rome, clad in a white robe,[1070] the costume of those
who were candidates for public offices, and to reside there several days
previous to the election. The Senate had not always considered these two
demands incompatible:[1071] it would perhaps even have granted this
indulgence to Cæsar, had not Cato, by speaking till the end of the day,
rendered all deliberation impossible. [1072] He had not, however, been so
severe in 684; but it was because, on that occasion, Pompey was
triumphing in reality over Sertorius, that foe to the aristocracy,
though officially it was only talked of as a victory over the
Spaniards. [1073] Constrained to choose between an idle pageant and real
power, Cæsar did not hesitate.

The ground had been well prepared for his election. His popularity had
been steadily on the increase; and the Senate, too much elated by its
successes, had estranged those who possessed the greatest influence.
Pompey, discontented at the uniform refusals with which his just demands
had been met, knew well also that the recent law, declaring enemies of
the State those who bribed the electors, was a direct attack against
himself, since he had openly paid for the election of the consul
Afranius; but, always infatuated with his own personal attractions, he
consoled himself for his checks by strutting about in his gaudy
embroidered robe. [1074] Crassus, who had long remained faithful to the
aristocratic party, had become its enemy, on account of the
ill-disguised jealousy of the nobles towards him, and their intrigues to
implicate him with Cæsar in the conspiracy of Catiline. However, though
he held in his hands the strings of many an intrigue, he was fearful of
compromising himself, and shrank from _declaring in public against any
man in credit_. [1075] Lucullus, weary of warfare and of intestine
struggles, was withdrawing from politics in order to enjoy his vast
wealth in tranquillity. Catulus was dead, and the majority of the nobles
were ready to follow the impulse given them by certain enthusiastic
senators who, caring little about public affairs, thought themselves the
happiest of men if they had _in their fishponds carp sufficiently tamed
to come and eat out of their hands_. [1076] Cicero felt his own solitary
position. The nobles, whose angry feelings he had served, now that the
peril was over, regarded him as no better than an upstart. Therefore he
prudently changed his principles; he, the exterminator of conspirators,
had become the defender of P. Sylla, one of Catiline’s accomplices, and
procured his acquittal in the teeth of the evidence;[1077] he, the
energetic opponent of all partitions of land, had spoken in favour of
the agrarian law of Flavius. He wrote to Atticus, “I have seen that
those men whose happiness belongs to the passing hour, those illustrious
lovers of fishponds, are no longer able to conceal their jealousy of me;
so I have sought more solid support. ”[1078]

In a word, he had made overtures to Pompey, though in secret he admitted
that he possessed neither greatness of mind nor nobleness of heart. “He
only knows how to curry favour and flatter the people,” he said; “and
here am I bound to him on such terms that our interest, as individuals,
is served thereby; and, as statesmen, we can both act with greater
firmness. The ill-will of our ardent and unprincipled youth had been
excited against me. I have been so successful in bringing it round by my
address, that at present it cares for no one but me. Finally, I am
careful to wound no man’s feelings, and that without servileness or
popularity-hunting. My entire conduct is so well planned, that, as a
public man, I yield in nothing; and as a private individual, who knows
the weakness of honest men, the injustice of the envious, and the hatred
of the wicked, I take my precautions, and act with prudence. ”[1079]

Cicero deceived himself with regard to the causes of his change of
party, and did not acknowledge to himself the reasons that constrained
him to look out for powerful patrons. Like all men destitute of force of
character, instead of openly confessing the motives of his conduct, he
justified himself to his friends by pretending that, so far from having
altered his own opinions, it was he who was converting Pompey, and would
soon make the same experiment upon Cæsar. “You rally me pleasantly,” he
wrote to Atticus, “on the subject of my intimacy with Pompey; but do not
fancy that I have contracted it out of regard for my personal safety. It
is all the effect of circumstances. When there was the slightest
disagreement between us, there was trouble in the State. I have laid my
plans and made my conditions, so that, without laying aside my own
principles, which are good, I have led him to better sentiments. He is
somewhat cured of his madness for popularity. . . . If I am equally
successful with Cæsar, whose ship is now sailing under full canvas,
shall I have done great harm to the State? ”[1080] Cicero, like all men
whose strength lies in eloquence, felt that he could play no important
part, or even secure his own personal safety, unless he allied himself
with men of the sword.

Whilst at Rome the masters of the world were wasting their time in mean
quarrels, alarming news came suddenly to create a diversion in political
intrigue. Information was brought that the Gaulish allies on the banks
of the Saône had been defeated by the Germans, that the Helvetii were in
arms, and making raids beyond the frontiers. The terror was universal.
Fears were entertained of a fresh invasion of the Cimbri and Teutones;
and, as always happened on such occasions, a general levy, without
exception, was ordered. [1081] The consuls of the previous year drew lots
for their provinces, and it was decided to dispatch commissioners to
come to an understanding with the Gaulish tribes, with a view to resist
foreign invasions. The names of Pompey and Cicero were at once
pronounced; but the Senate, influenced by different motives, declared
that their presence was too necessary in Rome to allow them to be sent
away. They were unwilling to give the former an opportunity of again
distinguishing himself, or to deprive themselves of the concurrence of
the latter.


[Sidenote: Alliance of Cæsar, Pompey, and Crassus. ]

III. News of a more re-assuring character having been received from
Gaul, the fear of war ceased for a time, and things had returned to
their customary course when Cæsar came home from Spain. In the midst of
conflicting opinions and interests, the presence of a man of steady
purpose and deeply-rooted convictions, and illustrious through recent
victories, was, without any doubt, an event. He did not require long to
form his estimate of the situation; and, as he could not as yet unite
the masses by the realisation of a grand idea, he thought to unite the
chiefs by a common interest.

All his endeavours from that time were devoted to making Pompey,
Crassus, and Cicero share his ideas. The first had been rather ill
disposed towards him. On his return from his campaign against
Mithridates, Pompey had called Cæsar his Egistheus,[1082] in allusion to
the intrigue which he had had with his wife Mutia, whilst he, like
Agamemnon, was making war in Asia. Resentment, on this account, usually
slight enough among the Romans, soon disappeared before the exigencies
of political life. As for Crassus, who had long been separated from
Pompey by a jealous feeling of rivalry, it needed all Cæsar’s tact, and
all the seduction of his manners, to induce him to become reconciled
with his rival. But, to bring them both to follow the same line of
conduct, it was necessary, over and above this, to tempt them with such
powerful motives as would ensure conviction. The historians, in general,
have given no other reason to account for the agreement of these three
men than personal interest. Doubtless, Pompey and Crassus were not
insensible to a combination that favoured their love of power and
wealth; but we ought to lend Cæsar a more elevated motive, and suppose
him inspired by a genuine patriotism.

The condition of the Republic must have appeared thus to his
comprehensive grasp of thought:--The Roman dominion, stretched, like
some vast figure, across the world, clasps it in her sinewy arms; and
whilst her limbs are full of life and strength, the heart is wasting by
decay. Unless some heroic remedy be applied, the contagion will soon
spread from the centre to the extremities, and the mission of Rome will
remain unfinished! --Compare with the present the prosperous days of the
Republic. Recollect the time when envoys from foreign nations, doing
homage to the policy of the Senate, declared openly that they preferred
the protecting sovereignty of Rome to independence itself. Since that
period, what a change has taken place! All nations execrate the power of
Rome, and yet that power preserves them from still greater evils. Cicero
is right, “Let Asia think well of it: there is not one of the woes that
are bred of war and civil strife, that she would not experience did she
cease to live under our laws. ”[1083] And this advice may be applied to
all the countries whither the legions have penetrated. If, then, fate
has willed that the nations are to be subject to the sway of a single
people, it is the duty of that people, as charged with the execution of
the eternal decrees, to be, towards the vanquished, as just and
equitable as the Divinity, since he is as inexorable as destiny. How are
we to fix a limit to the arbitrary conduct of proconsuls and proprætors,
which all the laws promulgated for so many years have been powerless to
check? How put a stop to the exactions committed at all points of the
empire, if a firmer and stronger direction do not emanate from the
central power? --The Republic pursues an irregular system of
encroachment, which will exhaust its resources; it is impossible for her
to fight against all nations at once, and at the same time to maintain
her allies in their allegiance, if, by unjust treatment, they are driven
to revolt. The enemies of the Republic must be diminished in number by
restoring their freedom to the cities which are worthy of it,[1084] and
acknowledging as friends of the Roman people those nations with whom
there is a chance of living in peace. [1085] Our most dangerous enemies
are the Gauls, and it is against this turbulent and warlike nation that
all the strength of the State ought to be directed. --In Italy, and under
this name Cisalpine Gaul must be included, how many citizens are
deprived of political rights! At Rome, how many of the proletaries are
living on the charity either of the rich or of the State! Why should we
not extend the Roman commune as far as the Alps, and why not augment the
race of labourers and soldiers by making them landowners? The Roman
people must be raised in its own eyes, and the Republic in the eyes of
the world! --Absolute liberty of speech and of vote was a great benefit,
when, modified by morality, and restrained by a powerful aristocracy, it
gave scope to individual faculties without damaging the general
well-being; but, ever since the morality of ancient days disappeared
with the aristocracy, we have seen the laws become weapons of war for
the use of parties, the elections a traffic, the forum a battle-field;
while liberty is nothing more than a never-ending cause of weakness and
decay. --Our institutions cause such uncertainty in our councils, and
such independence in our offices of State, that we search in vain for
that spirit of order and control which are indispensable elements in the
maintenance of so vast an empire. Without overthrowing institutions
which have given five centuries of glory to the Republic, it is
possible, by a close union of the most worthy citizens, to establish in
the State a moral authority, which governs the passions, tempers the
laws, gives a greater stability to power, directs the elections,
maintains the representatives of the Roman people in their duty, and
frees us from the two most serious dangers of the present: the
selfishness of the nobles and the turbulence of the mob. This is what
they may realise by their union; their disunion, on the contrary, will
only encourage the fatal conduct of these men who are endangering the
future equally, some by their opposition, the others by their headlong
violence.

These considerations must have been easily understood by Pompey and
Crassus, who had themselves been actors in such great events, witnesses
of so much blood shed in civil wars, of so many noble ideas, triumphing
at one moment and overthrown the next. They accepted Cæsar’s proposal,
and thus was concluded an alliance which is wrongly termed the First
Triumvirate. [1086] As for Cicero, Cæsar tried to persuade him to join
the compact which had just been formed, but he refused to become one of
what he termed a party of friends. [1087] Always uncertain in his
conduct, always divided between his admiration for those who held the
sovereign power, and his engagements with the oligarchy, and uneasy for
the future which his foresight could not penetrate, he set his mind to
work to prevent the success of every measure which he approved as soon
as it had succeeded. The alliance which these three persons ratified by
their oaths,[1088] remained long a secret; and it was only during
Cæsar’s consulship that it became matter of public notoriety from the
unanimity they displayed in all their political resolutions. Cæsar,
then, set energetically to work to unite in his own favour every chance
that could render his election certain.


[Sidenote: Cæsar’s Election. ]

IV. Among the candidates was L. Lucceius. Cæsar was desirous of
attaching to his cause this person, who was distinguished alike by his
writings and his character,[1089] and who, possessed of vast wealth, had
promised to make abundant use of it for their common profit, in order to
command the majority of votes in the centuries. “The aristocratic
faction,” says Suetonius, “on learning this arrangement, was seized with
fear. They thought that there was nothing which Cæsar would not attempt
in the exercise of the sovereign magistracy, if he had a colleague who
agreed with him, and who would support all his designs. ”[1090] The
nobles, unable to eject him, resolved to give him Bibulus for a
colleague, who had already been his colleague in the edileship and the
prætorship, and had constantly shown himself his opponent. They all made
a pecuniary contribution to influence the elections; Bibulus spent large
sums,[1091] and the incorruptible Cato himself, who had solemnly sworn
to impeach any one who should be guilty of bribery, contributed his
quota, owning that for the interest of the State his principles must for
once yield. [1092] Neither was Cicero more inflexible: some time before,
he expressed to Atticus the necessity of purchasing the concurrence of
the equestrian order. [1093] We can see how even the most honourable were
swept along, by the force of events, in the current of a corrupt
society.

By the force of public opinion, and by the support of the two men of
greatest influence, Cæsar was elected consul unanimously, and conducted,
according to custom, from the Campus Martius to his own house by an
enthusiastic crowd of his fellow-citizens, and a vast number of
senators. [1094]

If the party opposed to Cæsar had been unable to stand in the way of his
becoming consul, it did not despair of preventing his playing the
important part he had a right to expect as proconsul. To effect this,
the Senate determined to evade the law of Caius Gracchus, which, to
prevent the assignment of provinces from personal considerations,
provided that it should take place before the comitia were held. The
assembly, therefore, departing from the rule, assigned to Cæsar and his
colleague, by an act of flagrant ill-will, the supervision of the public
roads and forests; an office somewhat similar, it is true, to that of
governor of a province. [1095] This humiliating appointment, proof as it
was of a persevering hostility, wounded him deeply; but the duties of
his new office imposed silence upon his resentments. Cæsar the consul
would forget the wrongs done to Cæsar the man, and generously attempt a
policy of conciliation.




CHAPTER V.

CONSULSHIP OF CÆSAR AND BIBULUS.

(695. )


[Sidenote: Attempts at Conciliation. ]

I. Cæsar has arrived at the first magistracy of the Republic. Consul
with Bibulus at the age of forty-one, he has not yet acquired the just
celebrity of Pompey, nor does he enjoy the treasures of Crassus, and yet
his influence is perhaps greater than that of those two personages.
Political influence, indeed, does not depend solely on military
successes or on the possession of immense riches; it is acquired
especially by a conduct always in accord with fixed convictions. Cæsar
alone represents a principle. From the age of eighteen, he has faced the
anger of Sylla and the hostility of the aristocracy, in order to plead
unceasingly the grievances of the oppressed and the rights of the
provinces.

So long as he is not in power, being exempt from responsibility, he
walks invariably in the way he has traced, listens to no compromise,
pursues unsparingly the adherents of the opposite party, and maintains
his opinions energetically, at the risk of wounding his adversaries;
but, once consul, he lays aside all resentment, and makes a loyal appeal
to all who will rally round him; he declares to the Senate that he will
not act without its concurrence, that he will propose nothing contrary
to its prerogatives. [1096] He offers his colleague Bibulus a generous
reconciliation, conjuring him, in the presence of the senators, to put a
term to differences of opinion, the effects of which, already so much to
be regretted during their common edileship and prætorship, would become
fatal in their new position. [1097] He makes advances to Cicero, and,
after sending Cornelius Balbus to him in his villa of Antium to assure
him that he is ready to follow his counsels and those of Pompey, offers
to take him as an associate in his labours. [1098]

Cæsar must have believed that these offers of co-operation would be
embraced. In face of the perils of a society deeply agitated, he
supposed that others had the same sentiments which animated himself.
Love of the public good, and the consciousness of having entirely
devoted himself to it, gave him that confidence without reserve in the
patriotism of others which admits neither mean rivalries nor the
calculations of selfishness: he was deceived. The Senate showed nothing
but prejudices, Bibulus, but rancours, Cicero, but a false pride.

It was essential for Cæsar to unite Pompey, who was wanting in firmness
of character, more closely with his destinies; he gave him in marriage
his daughter Julia, a young woman of twenty-three years of age, richly
endowed with graces and intelligence, who had already been affianced to
Servilius Cæpio. To compensate the latter, Pompey promised him his own
daughter, though she also was engaged to another, to Faustus, the son of
Sylla. Soon afterwards Cæsar espoused Calpurnia, the daughter of Lucius
Piso. [1099] Cato protested energetically against these marriages, which
he qualified as disgraceful traffics with the common weal. [1100] The
nobles, and especially the two Curios, made themselves the echoes of
this reprobation. Their party, nevertheless, did not neglect to
strengthen themselves by such alliances. Doubtless, when Cato gave his
daughter to Bibulus, it was for a political motive; and when he ceded
his own wife to Hortensius,[1101] although the mother of three children,
to take her back again when enriched by the death of her last husband,
there was also an interest hardly honourable, which Cæsar subsequently
unveiled in a book entitled _Anti-Cato_. [1102]

The first care of the new consul was to establish the practice of
publishing daily the acts of the Senate and those of the people, in
order that public opinion might bear with all its weight upon the
resolutions of the conscript fathers, whose deliberations had previously
been often secret. [1103] The initiative taken by Cæsar from the
commencement of his consulship, in questioning the senators on the
projects of laws, is an evidence that he had the fasces before Bibulus.
We know, in fact, that the consuls enjoyed this honour alternately for a
month, and it was in the period when they were invested with the signs
distinctive of power that they were permitted to ask the advice of the
senators. [1104]


[Sidenote: Agrarian Laws. ]

II. He proposed next, in the month of January, an agrarian law founded
upon wise principles, and which respected all legitimate rights. The
following were its principal provisions:--

Partition of all the free part of the _ager publicus_, except that of
Campania and that of Volaterræ; the first excepted originally on account
of its great fertility,[1105] and the second guaranteed to all those who
had got it into their possession. [1106]--In case of insufficiency of
territory, new acquisitions, by means either of money coming from
Pompey’s conquests, or from the overplus of the public
revenues. --Prohibition of all appropriation by force. --The nomination of
twenty commissioners to preside at the distribution of the lands, with
exclusion of the author of the proposal. --Estimate of private lands for
sale, made according to the declaration at the last census, and not
according to the valuation of the commissioners. --Obligation upon each
senator to swear obedience to the law, and to engage never to propose
anything contrary to it.

It was, as may be seen, the project of Rullus, relieved from the
inconveniences pointed out with so much eloquence by Cicero. In fact,
instead of ten commissioners, Cæsar proposed twenty, in order to
distribute among a greater number a power of which men feared the abuse.
He himself, to avoid all suspicion of personal interest, excluded
himself from the possibility of forming part of it. The commissioners
were not, as in the law of Rullus, authorised to act according to their
will, and tax the properties arbitrarily. Acquired rights were
respected; those territories only were distributed of which the State
had still the full disposal. The sums arising from Pompey’s conquests
were to be employed in favour of the old soldiers; and Cæsar said
himself that it was just to give the profit of that money to those who
had gained it at the peril of their lives. [1107] As to the obligation of
the oath imposed upon the senators, it was not an innovation, but an
established custom. In the present case, the law having been voted
before the elections, all the candidates, and especially the tribunes of
the following year, had to take the engagement to observe it. [1108]

“Nobody,” says Dio Cassius,[1109] “had reason for complaint on this
subject. The population of Rome, the excessive increase of which had
been the principal aliment of seditions, was called to labour and a
country life; the greater part of the countries of Italy, which had lost
their inhabitants, were re-peopled. This law insured means of existence
not only to those who had supported the fatigues of the war, but also to
all the other citizens, without causing expenditure to the State or
loss to the nobles; on the contrary, it gave to several honours and
power. ”

Thus, while some historians accuse Cæsar of seeking in the populace of
Rome the point of support for his ambitious designs, he, on the
contrary, obtains a measure, the effect of which is to transport the
turbulent part of the inhabitants of the capital into the country.

Cæsar, then, read his project to the Senate; after which, calling the
senators by their names, one after the other, he asked the opinion of
each, declaring his readiness to modify the law, or withdraw it
altogether, if it were not agreeable to them. But, according to Dio
Cassius, “It was unassailable, and, if any disapproved of it, none dared
to oppose it; what afflicted its opponents most was, that it was drawn
up in such a manner as to leave no room for a complaint. ”[1110] So the
opposition was limited to adjourning from time to time, under frivolous
pretexts. Cato, without making a direct opposition, alleged the
necessity of changing nothing in the constitution of the Republic, and
declared himself the adversary of all kind of innovation; but, when the
moment came for voting, he had recourse again to his old tactics, and
rendered all deliberation impossible by speaking the entire day, by
which he had already succeeded in depriving Cæsar of the triumph. [1111]
The latter lost patience, and sent the obstinate orator to prison; Cato
was followed by a great number of senators, and M. Petreius, one of
them, replied to the consul, who reproached him for withdrawing before
the meeting was closed: “I would rather be in prison with Cato than here
with thee. ” Regretting, however, this first movement of anger, and
struck by the attitude of the assembly, Cæsar immediately restored Cato
to liberty; then he dismissed the Senate, addressing them in the
following words: “I had made you supreme judges and arbiters of this
law, in order that, if any one of its provisions displeased you, it
should not be referred to the people; but, since you have refused the
previous deliberation, the people alone shall decide it. ”

His attempt at conciliation having failed with the Senate, he renewed it
towards his colleague, and, in the assembly of the tribes, adjured
Bibulus to support his proposal. On their side, the people joined their
entreaties with those of Cæsar; but Bibulus, inflexible, merely said:
“You will not prevail with me, though you were all of one voice; and, as
long as I shall be consul, I will suffer no innovation. ”[1112]

Then Cæsar, judging other influences necessary, appealed to Pompey and
Crassus. Pompey seized happily this opportunity for speaking to the
people: he said that he not only approved the agrarian law, but that the
senators themselves had formerly admitted the principle, in decreeing,
on his return from Spain, a distribution of lands to his soldiers and to
those of Metellus; if this measure had been deferred, it was on account
of the penury of the treasury, which, thanks to him, had now ceased.
Then, replying to Cæsar, who asked him if he would support the law in
case it were opposed by violence, “If any one dared to draw his sword,”
he cried, “I would take even my buckler;” meaning by that, that he would
come into the public place armed as for the combat. This bold
declaration of Pompey, supported by Crassus and Cæpio,[1113] silenced
all opposition except that of Bibulus, who, with three tribunes his
partisans, called an assembly of the Senate in his own house, where it
was resolved that at all risk the law should be openly rejected. [1114]

The day of meeting of the comitia having been fixed, the populace
occupied the Forum during the night. Bibulus hurried with his friends to
the temple of Castor, where his colleague was addressing the multitude;
he tried in vain to obtain a hearing, was thrown down from the top of
the steps, and obliged to fly, after seeing his fasces broken to pieces
and two tribunes wounded. Cato, in his turn, tried to mount the rostra;
expelled by force, he returned, but, instead of treating of the
question, seeing that nobody listened to him, he attacked Cæsar with
bitterness, until he was dragged a second time from the tribune. Calm
being restored, the law was adopted. Next day Bibulus tried to propose
to the Senate its abrogation; but nobody supported him, such was the
effect of this burst of popular enthusiasm;[1115] from this moment he
took the part of shutting himself up at home during the residue of
Cæsar’s consulship. When the latter presented a new law on the days of
the comitia, he contented himself with protesting, and with sending by
his lictors to say that he was observing the sky, and that consequently
all deliberation was illegal. [1116] This was to proclaim loudly the
political aim of this formality.

Cæsar was far from yielding to this religious scruple, which, indeed,
had lost its authority. At this very time Lucullus wrote a bold poem
against the popular credulity, and for some time the observation of the
auspices had been regarded as a puerile superstition; two centuries and
a half before, a great captain had given a remarkable proof of this.
Hannibal, then a refugee at the court of King Prusias, engaged the
latter to accept his plans of campaign against the Romans; the king
refused, because the auspices had not been favourable. “What! ” cried
Hannibal, “have you more confidence in a miserable calf’s liver than in
the experience of an old general like me? ”[1117]

Be this as it may, the obligation not to hold the comitia while the
magistrate was observing the sky was a law; and to excuse himself for
not having observed it, as well as to prevent his acts from being
declared null, Cæsar, before quitting his office, brought the question
before the Senate, and thus obtained a legal ratification of his
conduct.

The law being adopted by the people, each senator was called to take his
oath to observe it. Several members, and, among others, Q. Metellus
Celer, M. Cato, and M. Favonius,[1118] had declared that they would
never submit to it; but when the day of taking the oath arrived, their
protests vanished before the fear of the punishment decreed against
those who abstained, and, except Laterensis, everybody, even Cato, took
the oath. [1119]

Irritated at the obstacles which he had encountered, and sure of the
approval of the people, Cæsar included, by a new law, in the
distribution of the public domain, the lands of Campania and of Stella,
omitted before out of deference to the Senate.