SUETONIUS:"THE TWELVE CAESARS": I: JULIUS CAESAR
Introduction:
It is surely one of the curious circumstances of Sabidius' blog that he has taken so long to get round to translating an extract from the works of the famous Latin biographer Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus. The reasons for this are not entirely clear, even to Sabidius himself. It may be that Suetonius has often been considered to be relatively difficult to translate, partly because his writings occur right at the end of the classical period in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. Indeed, his text does include a number of words of post-Augustan origin, not found in some Latin dictionaries. His language is certainly brief and precise in style, sometimes rather obscure, although in Sabidius' opinion it rarely requires the wholesale reordering of word order and structure considered necessary at times by Robert Graves, whose renowned Penguin translation of "The Twelve Caesars" was published in 1957.
Suetonius, himself was said to have been born in 69 A.D., and was chief secretary to the Emperor Hadrian from 117 to 122 A.D. but was then dismissed, apparently because he had become too intimate with the Empress Sabina, during Hadrian's absence in Britain. He wrote a considerable number of books, but the only one that survives extant is the "The Twelve Caesars", a book of biographies of the first twelve rulers of Rome after the downfall of the republic in The Civil war of 49-45 B.C. Suetonius had ready access to the Imperial and Senatorial archives, and to a number of public documents and contemporary memoirs. He himself lived for almost thirty years under the Flavian emperors, and much of the information he provides about the earlier emperors, from Tiberius to Nero, comes from eye-witness accounts of the events he tells us about. Although the date of his death is unknown, he apparently lived to a ripe old age. Sabidius has decided to translate Suetonius' biography of Julius Caesar first, not only because it comes first, but because of his particular interest in the life and character of that great man.
(N.B. The introductory paragraphs on the origins of Caesar's family are lost in all manuscripts).
I. Early life.
(1) In the course of his sixteenth year (i.e. 85-84 B.C.) he lost his father (i.e. Gaius Julius Caesar, praetor 92); during the following consulship, after he had been appointed priest of Jupiter, he broke off his engagement to Cossutia, to whom he had been betrothed while he was under age, (who was) very rich but of an equestrian family, and he married Cornelia, daughter of (Lucius Cornelius) Cinna, (who was) consul four times (i.e. 87, 86, 85, 84), from whom Julia was soon born to him; nor could he in any way be compelled to repudiate (her) by the dictator (Lucius Cornelius) Sulla (Felix) (i.e. cos. 88, 80; dictator 82-80). (2) And therefore (he was) punished by (the loss of) his priesthood, and his wife's dowry, and his family inheritances, and he was considered to be of the opposite faction (i.e. the 'populares'), and even forced to disappear from view, and, although suffering severely from quartan fever, to change his hiding place every night, and to save himself from the spies by bribery, until through the intercession of the Vestal Virgins, and his close relatives Mamercus Aemilius (Lepidus Livianus) (i.e. cos. 77) and (Gaius) Aurelius Cotta (i.e. cos. 75), he obtained a pardon. (3) It is quite well known that Sulla, when he had rejected for some time the entreaties of his closest friends and men of the most eminent rank, and they obstinately continued to put their case, (was) finally overcome (and) proclaimed, either by divine inspiration or by some shrewd foresight: "Let them have their way and take him, provided that they know that the (man), whose safety they desire so much, will some day (bring about) the ruin of the party of the 'optimates' which they are (now) defending together with him; for Caesar has many Mariuses (i.e. Gaius Marius, cos. 107, 104-100, 87, who was married to Caesar's aunt, Julia) within him."
II. First campaign.
(1) He undertook his first campaign in Asia on the staff of Marcus (Minucius) Thermus (i.e. praetor in 81 and governor of Asia in the following year); having been dispatched by him to Bithynia (i.e. a kingdom in the north-west of Asia Minor) in order to raise a fleet, he lingered at the court of Nicomedes (i.e. Nicomedes IV, King of Bithynia 94-75), not without a rumour (arising) that he had shamefully prostrated himself before the king; he exacerbated this rumour by going back again within a few days, for the sake of recovering a debt which was owed to a certain freedman client of his. The rest of this military service was more favourable to his reputation, and he was awarded the civic crown (i.e. a chaplet of oak-leaves given for saving the life of a fellow-citizen, the Roman equivalent of the Victoria Cross) by Thermus during the storming of Mytilene (i.e. in 80).
III. Return to Rome.
(1) He also served in Cilicia (i.e. the south coastal region of Asia Minor, south of the Central Anatolian plateau) under (Publius) Servilius (Vatia) Isauricus (i.e. cos. 79), but (only) for a short time. For, having learned of Sulla's death, he hastily returned to Rome (i.e. in 78), with the hope at the same time (that he would benefit from) the fresh revolt, which was led by Marcus (Aemilius) Lepidus (i.e. cos. 78). But yet he avoided close contact with Lepidus, although he was enticed by favourable terms, since he doubted his ability and found the circumstances less promising than he had expected.
IV. The Dolabella trial, his capture by pirates, and fighting in Asia Minor.
(1) Then, (after) the civil sedition (had been) settled, he prosecuted (Gnaeus) Cornelius Dolabella, (a man) of consular rank (i.e. cos. 81) and (one who had) celebrated a triumph, for extortion; and, on his acquittal, he resolved to retire to Rhodes (i.e. a Greek island 11 miles south-east of Asia Minor in the eastern Aegean), in order both to avoid any ill-feeling and to give his attention, in (circumstances of) leisure and tranquillity, to Apollonius Molon, the most celebrated teacher of rhetoric at that time. While the winter season (had) already (begun), he sailed across there, (but) was captured by pirates off the island of Pharmacussa (i.e. situated between the Dodecanese islands to the west and the coast of Asia Minor to the east), and he remained with them, not without very great annoyance, for nearly forty days with (but) one physician and two valets. (2) For at the outset he had immediately dispatched his companions and the rest of his servants to raise the money, by which he might be ransomed. As soon as the fifty talents (had been) paid, (he was) put down on the shore, and he did not delay, but instantly launched a fleet and pursued the departing (pirates), and, when he had brought them back, he inflicted (on them) the (very) punishment (i.e. crucifixion) which he had often threatened them with in jest (while he was) in their power. With Mithridates (i.e. Mithridates VI, the Great, King of Pontus and Armenia Minor in Northern Anatolia 119-63) ravaging the neighbouring regions, lest he should appear inactive amid the danger to our allies, he crossed over from Rhodes, where he had continued to reside, into Asia, and, having recruited some auxiliaries, he expelled the king's deputy from the province and retained the faltering and irresolute cities in their loyalty.
V. Military tribune in Rome.
(1) As military tribune, which (was) the first honour that befell him through popular suffrage on his return to Rome, he most strenuously assisted those who were seeking to restore the authority of the tribunes, whose power Sulla had diminished. He also accomplished, through the bill of Plotius, the recall to citizenship of his wife's brother, Lucius (Cornelius) Cinna, and (those,) who together with him had followed Lepidus during the civil strife, (and,) after the consul's death (i.e. in 77), had fled to (Quintus) Sertorius (i.e. the leader of the rebel 'populares' in Spain), and he himself had delivered an address at a public assembly concerning this matter.
VI. Family eulogies.
(1) As quaestor (i.e. in 67) he made the customary funeral orations from the Rostra in praise of his aunt Julia, and his wife Cornelia, who had (both) died. Now, in the eulogy of his aunt, he spoke in the following terms of her descent on both sides of her family, and (that) of his father: "The ancestry of my aunt Julia on her mother's side (is) derived from kings, and on her father's side it is joined together with the immortal gods. For the Marcii Reges, from whom her mother's (family) were named, are (descended) from Ancus Marcius (i.e. King of Rome 640-616), while the Julii (are descended) from Venus, from whose stock our family comes. Therefore, there is in her stock both the sanctity of kings, who exercise the most power among men, and the veneration of the gods, in whose power are the kings themselves."
(2) Now, in place of Cornelia, he married Pompeia, daughter of Quintus Pompeius (Rufus) (i.e. cos. 88), (and) granddaughter of Lucius Sulla; but he later divorced her in the belief that she had committed adultery with Publius Clodius (Pulcher), and so well-known was the rumour that he had gained access to her while dressed as a woman during a public religious ceremony (i.e. the festival of the 'Bona Dea', from which all men were excluded), that the senate decreed an investigation concerning the pollution of the sacred rites.
VII. His destiny.
(1) Further Spain (i.e. Hispania Baetica) was allotted to him as quaestor; when there he was going round (the province), at the instigation of the praetor, (holding) assizes to administer justice, and had come to Gades (i.e. Cadiz), and, when he noticed the statue of Alexander the Great in the temple of Hercules, he let out a groan, as if disgusted at his own lack of achievement at an age when Alexander had already subjugated the whole world, and at once he earnestly demanded his discharge, in order to grasp the opportunities of greater enterprises in the City as soon as possible. (2) He (was) also disturbed by a dream during the following night - for it seemed that he had performed sexual intercourse with his mother while she was asleep - ; (but) soothsayers raised his hopes to the highest pitch (by) interpreting (it to mean) that he should possess mastery of the whole earth, since the mother, whom he thought had submitted to him, was none other than the earth who is regarded as the mother of (us) all.
VIII. The Italian colonies.
(1) So, quitting (the province) before (the usual) time, he visited the Latin colonies (that were) in a state of unrest concerning their demand for citizenship (i.e. towns north of the River Po, such as Cremona, Comum and Verona), and he might have spurred (them) on to some daring (act), if the consuls had not, for that very (reason), retained (there) for some time the legions that had been recruited (to serve) in Cilicia.
IX. Conspiracy.
(1) Soon he was exerting himself no less greatly there in the City (itself); for a few days before he entered upon his aedileship (i.e. in 65), he came under suspicion of conspiring with Marcus (Licinius) Crassus, an ex-consul (i.e. he had been consul in 70 together with Pompey), and likewise with Publius (Cornelius) Sulla and Lucius Autronius (Paetus), (who,) after their election as consuls, had been condemned of bribery, to fall upon the senate at the beginning of the year, and, having slaughtered whomever it pleased (them to do so), Crassus would take possession of the dictatorship, and he himself would be named by him as Master of the Horse, and, when they had set up the state in accordance with their wishes, the consulship would be restored to Sulla and Autronius. (2) Tanusius Geminus in his history, Marcus (Calpurnius) Bibulus (i.e. cos. 59) in his edicts, (and) Gaius (Scribonius) Curio, the father (i.e. cos. 76), in his speeches, made mention of it. (Marcus Tullius) Cicero (i.e. cos. 63), too, seems to hint at this, in a certain letter to Axius, when he says that Caesar in his consulship (i.e. in 59), had secured that arbitrary power which he had planned as an aedile. Tanusius adds that Crassus, either from remorse or fear, failed to arrive on the day appointed for the massacre, and that for this reason Caesar did not give the signal which it had been agreed was to be given by him; now, it had been agreed, says Curio, that he should let the toga drop from his shoulder. (3) Now, the same Curio and Marcus Actorius Naso are witnesses that he also conspired with the young Gnaeus (Calpurnius) Piso, to whom, on account of a suspicion of an urban conspiracy, the province of Spain was allotted well outside the usual practice; and (it was) agreed (between them) that the other (i.e. Piso) should stir up revolution abroad, at the same time as he himself (should do so) in Rome, by means of the Lambrani and the (tribes that lived) beyond the Po; (but) this plan (was) frustrated in both cases by the death of Piso.
X. Wooing the masses.
(1) When aedile, he embellished not only the Comitium and the Forum and its public buildings, but also the Capitol, with porticoes constructed on a temporary basis, in which part of his material could be displayed from the abundant supply of these things. Then, he provided public displays of hunting wild beasts and games both with his colleague and separately, and for this reason it happened that he also gained the sole credit for their shared outlay, and his colleague Marcus Bibulus could not conceal that he was being treated like Pollux; for, as the temple erected in the Forum to the twin brothers was called (that) of Castor only, so his generosity and (that) of Caesar was credited to Caesar alone. (2) Caesar also added a gladiatorial show on top, but with somewhat fewer pairs (of combatants) than he had intended, for, since he had (so) terrified his opponents by the huge band (that he had) assembled from all quarters, (a law) was passed, which limited the number of gladiators that anyone was allowed to keep in Rome.
XI. Political In-fighting.
(1) Having secured the favour of the people, he tried by means of some of their tribunes (to arrange) that Egypt should be assigned to him (as) a province by a popular vote, seizing the opportunity for such an unusual appointment, because the Alexandrians had repudiated their king (i.e. Ptolemy XII Auletes, King of Epypt 80-58 and 55-51), (who was) recognised by the senate (as) an ally and friend (of the Roman people), and their action was widely condemned. But he did not obtain (it), as it was opposed by the optimate (i.e. aristocratic) faction: in order to diminish their authority by any means he could, he restored the trophies of Gaius Marius relating to (his victories over) Jugurtha (i.e. in 106) and the Cimbri (i.e. in 101) and Teutones (i.e. in 102), (which had been) dismantled by Sulla some time ago, and in exercising justice over murderers (i.e. in the capacity of 'iudex quaestionis', the office he held between the aedileship and the praetorship) he also regarded in the category of murderers those (men), who, during the proscription (i.e. in 82-80) had received financial rewards from the treasury for bringing in the heads of Roman citizens, although they had been exempted by the Cornelian laws (i.e. laws of Sulla, 82-79).
XII. The trial of Gaius Rabirius.
(1) He also bribed a man (i.e. Titus Labienus) to impeach for treason Gaius Rabirius, by whose special assistance the senate had put a stop to the seditious tribune Lucius (Appuleius) Saturninus (i.e. in 100), and, having been chosen by lot as judge in the trial, he condemned (him) so zealously that, when he appealed to the people, nothing benefited (him) as much as the bitter hostility of the judge.
XIII. He becomes Chief Pontiff.
(1) Having set aside all hope of (obtaining) that province (i.e. Egypt), he sought the (position of) Chief Pontiff, (but) not without the most profuse bribery; calculating the magnitude of the debt (he had incurred) in relation to this, he is reputed to have declared to his mother, as she kissed (him) on the morning when he was going down to the assembly, that he would not be returning home unless (he had been elected) pontiff. And, in fact, he so surpassed his two most able competitors, who greatly preceded him both in age and rank (i.e. Quintus Lutatius Catulus, cos. 78, and Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus, cos. 79), that he himself had more votes from their tribes than they both (had) from all (of them).
XIV. The Catilinarian conspiracy.
(1) (After he (i.e. Caesar) had been) elected praetor (i.e. for the year 62), the conspiracy of (Lucius Sergius) Catilina came to light, and, while the whole of the senate decreed that the ultimate penalty (should be inflicted) on the associates of this crime, he alone proposed that they should be distributed, and held in custody, among the towns (of Italy), once their property (had been) confiscated. Indeed, he injected such fear into those advocating a sterner (course, by) repeatedly demonstrating what great hatred in (the minds of) the Roman people would await them in the future, that Decimus (Junius) Silanus, the consul-elect (i.e. for the year 62), did not regret softening his proposal by means of its interpretation, since to change (it) was (considered) shameful, as if it had been understood in a harsher sense than he himself had intended. (2) And, in fact, he would have prevailed, as he had brought more (of the senators) over to his (side), and among them (Quintus Tullius) Cicero, the consul's brother, if a speech by Marcus (Porcius) Cato had not strengthened their tottering ranks. Even so, he did not desist from obstructing the measure, until a band of Roman knights, who stood around in arms as a guard, threatened (him) with death if he persisted in his unbridled (opposition), even thrusting their drawn swords at him, so that those sitting next to him moved away, and a few protected (him) with difficulty, by embracing (him) and covering (him) with their togas. Then, plainly deterred, he not only withdrew, but he also kept away from the senate-house for the rest of the year.
XV. Caesar takes up the praetorship.
(1) On the first day of his praetorship, he summoned Quintus (Lutatius) Catulus to answer the people's inquiry concerning the restoration of the Capitol, and he proposed a motion, by which he would transfer its management to another (person); however, he set this (measure) aside, (being) unequal to the combined opposition of the 'optimates', who at once gave up their attendance in throngs on the newly appointed consuls, and decided to move quickly to obstinate resistance.
XVI. Caesar receives support from the Commons.
(1) Nevertheless, when (Quintus) Caecilius Metellus (Nepos), tribune of the plebs, brought forward some highly seditious legislation against the veto of his colleagues, he proved himself (to be) his most resolute supporter and champion, until they were both removed from public office, by a decree of the senate. But, nevertheless, he ventured to remain in post and to administer justice, but, when he found that preparations were being made to obstruct (him) by force of arms, he dismissed his lictors and took off his praetorian robe, and retired to his home in private to live quietly in accordance with the circumstances of the time. (2) Two days later, when the populace, unasked and of their own accord, flocked (to his house) and, in a most riotous manner, promised him their help in recovering his office, he even quietened (them) down. But, since this had happened contrary to their expectation, the senate, meeting in haste on account of this tumult, gave him their thanks by means of some of their senior members, and, having summoned (him) to the senate-house, they both praised (him) highly in a shower of words, and, having rescinded their earlier decree, they restored him to his position.
XVII. Accusations against Caesar for complicity in the Catilinarian conspiracy.
(1) He fell into some other trouble again, (when he was) named among the accomplices of Catiline, both before the quaestor Novius Niger by Lucius Vettius, the informer, and in the senate by Quintus Curius, to whom a reward had been publicly voted, because he had (been the) first (to) detect the plots of the conspirators. Curius affirmed that he had received this information from Catiline, (while) Vettius even promised (to produce a piece) of his handwriting, given to Catiline. (2) But Caesar, thinking that this (treatment) was not to be tolerated in any way, when he had demonstrated, by appealing to the testimony of Cicero that he had voluntarily disclosed to him certain (details) of the conspiracy, he ensured that no reward should be paid to Curius; as for Vettius, his bonds were forfeited and his goods were seized, and, after he had been roughly handled and almost torn to pieces in the assembly before the rostra, he (i.e. Caesar) threw (him) into prison; (and he treated) the quaestor Novius in the same way, because he had allowed a magistrate of superior rank to be arraigned before him.
XVIII. Caesar as governor of Further Spain.
(1) Having been allotted Further Spain after his praetorship, he got rid of the creditors, who were trying to detain (him), by the intervention of sponsors (i.e. those - particularly Crassus - who provided sureties for the repayment of his debts), and, contrary to law and contrary to custom, he went on his way before the provinces had been confirmed by the senate: (it is) uncertain whether this happened through his fear of impeachment, which could be served while he was a private (citizen), or so that (he could respond) as swiftly as possible to those allies who were imploring (him to) help (them); and, having pacified the province, he departed with equal haste, without waiting for his successor, (to sue for) a triumph and the consulship at the same time. (2) But, since the day of the elections had already been announced, no account could be taken of his (candidacy) unless he entered the City as a private (person), and, when he asked that there should be a suspension of the laws in his favour, many spoke against (it), and he was forced to forgo the triumph, lest he should be excluded from the consulship.
XIX. The consulship; strategic alliances.
(1) Of his two competitors for the consulship, Lucius Lucceius and Marcus (Calpurnius) Bibulus, he attached Lucceius to himself, and, since he was inferior in influence, but was well off financially, it was agreed that he would deliver money to the electors in their joint names. When this arrangement became known, the 'optimates', who were seized with fear that there was nothing that he would not venture upon in the highest office in harmony and agreement with his colleague, had advised Bibulus to promise as much (as they had), and many (of them) contributed money (themselves), with not even Cato denying that such bribery was for the good of the commonwealth.
(2) Accordingly, he was elected consul together with Bibulus (i.e. for the year 59 or AUC 695). For the same reason, great care was taken by the 'optimates' that provinces should be assigned to the forthcoming consuls that involved the least responsibility, that is (the care of) woods and vales. Greatly incensed by this insult, he acquired, by every possible means, the goodwill of Gnaeus Pompeius (Magnus), who was at odds with the senate, because of its delay in confirming his acts after his victory over king Mithridates; in the case of Pompey, he brought about a reconciliation with Marcus (Licinius) Crassus, his old enemy from (the time of) their consulship (i.e. in 70), which had generated a very high amount of discord (between them); and he entered into a compact with both of them that nothing should be transacted in public affairs that was displeasing to any one of the three (of them).
XX. The 'Consulship of Julius and Caesar'.
(1) On entering office, the first of all (the things) he established (was) that the daily proceedings of senate and people should be written down and published. He also revived an old custom, that in the months, when he did not have the 'fasces' and orderly officer should go before him, (and) the lictors should follow behind. Then, when he promulgated an agrarian law, he expelled from the forum by (force of) arms his colleague who was opposing (it), and, when on the next day, he complained (about this) in the senate, such was the consternation that no one could be found, who dared to lay a motion or express an opinion of any kind, such as had quite often led to decrees in lesser disturbances, (and) he was driven into such (a state of) desperation, that until he left office, he (stayed) hidden at home (doing) nothing other than announce adverse omens by edict.
(2) From that time, he managed everything in the state alone and in accordance with his judgement, so that some wags, when, by way of a joke, they signed some (document) for the sake of giving evidence, did not add "in the consulship of Caesar and Bibulus", but would write "(in the consulship) of Julius and Caesar", putting down the same (person) twice, by his name and his surname; and these verses were soon on everyone's lips: "Not in Bibulus' (year), but in Caesar's, something recently got done; for I remember nothing got done when Bibulus was consul."
(3) The plain of Stellas, consecrated (to the gods) by our ancestors, and some land in Campania left subject to tribute for the support of the state, he divided, without casting lots, among twenty thousand citizens who had three or more children. When the publicans sought some remission, he relieved (them) of a third part of their fee, and openly admonished (them) not to bid so extravagantly when the collection of fresh taxes were to be leased out. Moreover, he gave away liberally everything that anyone cared to ask for, with no one speaking against (it), and, if anyone did try (to do so), he was driven off. (4) When Marcus (Porcius) Cato obstructed (his proceedings), he ordered that he should be extracted from the senate-house by a lictor and hauled off to prison. He cast such great fear of retribution into Lucius (Licinius) Lucullus (i.e. cos. 74), who had opposed (him) rather freely, that he fell on his knees of his own accord (to ask for pardon). When (Marcus Tullius) Cicero (i.e. cos. 63), during some trial, deplored the current state of affairs, he transferred his enemy Publius Clodius (Pulcher) from the patricians to the plebs, (when he had) long (been) endeavouring to effect such a transfer in vain, (and he did so) on the very same day and at the ninth hour (i.e. after the close of the normal times of business, and thus an indication of the haste in which the transfer was rushed through). (5) Finally, in (an attack) upon the whole of the opposite faction (i.e. the 'optimates'), he induced an informer (i.e. Lucius Vettius) by bribes to declare that he had been solicited by certain (members of the aristocracy) to bring about the death of Pompey, and, having been brought before the rostra, to name the promoters of the plot; but, after he had named one or two to no purpose, and not without suspicion of deceit, (and) despairing of such a rash stratagem, he is thought to have done away with the informer by poison.
XXI. Alliance with Pompey.
(1) At about the same time, he married Calpurnia, the daughter of Lucius (Calpurnius) Piso, who was to succeed him in the consulship (i.e. he was consul in 58), and he gave his own (daughter) Julia in marriage to Gnaeus Pompey, thus repudiating (Quintus) Servilius Caepio, to whom she had been previously betrothed, and whose outstanding services had impugned Bibulus shortly before. After this fresh alliance, he began to ask for Pompey's opinion first (in the senate), when he had (previously) been accustomed (to ask) Crassus, and it was the usual practice for the consul to maintain for the whole year the order of asking opinions, which he had established on the Kalends (i.e. the 1st) of January.
XXII. Governor of Gaul.
(1) So, with the support of his father-in-law and son-in-law, of all the abundance of provinces he chose Gaul as being the one most likely to provide him with wealth and a suitable opportunity, and the materials, for triumphs. Now, in the first place, he received Cisalpine Gaul, with the addition of Illyricum, through the law of (Publius) Vatinius (i.e. tr. pl. 59 and cos. 47); soon, by means of the senate (he received Gallia) Comata as well, with the members fearing that, if they were to refuse (it) themselves, the people would grant it also. (2) Elated with joy at this, he could not refrain from boasting in a well-attended senate-house a few days later that he had obtained (all) that he desired, to the regret and mortification of his adversaries, and that he would therefore leap from there on all their heads; and, when someone remarked by way of an insult that this would not be easy for any woman (to do), he responded as if in jest: that Semiramis had reigned in Assyria too, and that the Amazons had once possessed a great part of Asia.
XXIII. The threat of impeachment.
(1) After he had completed his consulship, when the praetors Gaius Memmius and Lucius Domitius (Ahenobarbus) (i.e. cos. 54) moved a motion with regard to his transactions in the previous year, he laid the matter before the senate; but, when they did not take the matter up, after three days had been wasted in useless altercations, he left for his province. And, at once, his quaestor was charged with misdemeanours, some prejudicial (to him). Soon, he was also prosecuted himself by Lucius Antistius, a tribune of the plebs, and he only prevailed by appealing to his colleagues that he could not be brought to trial, when he was absent in the service of the republic. (2) Therefore, to secure himself for the time to come, he paid great attention to putting the magistrates for each year under an obligation (to himself), and not to help any of the applicants, or to allow (them) to come into office, unless they had undertaken to defend his (cause) in his absence; nor, with regard to such an agreement, did he hesitate, in some cases, to exact an oath, and even a written promise.
XXIV. Caesar's power base in Gaul.
(1) But, when Lucius Domitius (became) a candidate for the consulship and openly threatened that he would effect (as) consul what he had been unable (to do as) praetor and take away his armies from him, he brought Crassus and Pompey to Lucca, a city in his province and urged them to seek a second consulship in order to deprive Domitius, and he persuaded the two of them that his command should be extended for a period of five years. (2) With this encouragement, he added to the legions, which he had received from the state, others at his private expense, one (of which was) even conscripted from men of Transalpine (Gaul) - for it was called 'Alauda' (i.e. 'Crested Lark') - , and it was trained and equipped in Roman discipline and culture, (and) afterwards he gave citizenship to the entire (legion). (3) From then on, he lost no opportunity for war, not even when it was unjust and dangerous, attacking without provocation our allies as much as hostile and barbarous tribesmen, to such an extent that the senate once decreed that delegates should be sent to examine the condition of Gaul, and some (i.e. Cato in particular) proposed that he should be handed over to the enemy. But his enterprises turned out so successfully that he obtained thanksgivings in his honour more often and on more days than anyone ever (had done).
Chapter XXV. Campaigns in Britain and beyond the Rhine.
(1) During the nine years, in which he was in command, these in substance (are the things) he did. All of Gaul, which is bounded by the Pyrenean forest, and the Alps, and mount Cebenna (i.e. the Cevennes), (and) by the rivers Rhine and Rhone, and extends in its circuit to some three thousand two hundred miles, with the exception of some allied and well-deserving states, he reduced into the form of a province, and imposed upon it in the name of tribute 40 (million sesterces) each year. (2) (He was) the first of the Romans to build a bridge and attack the Germans, who live across the Rhine, and he inflicted heavy casualties (on them); he also attacked the Britons, formerly an unknown (people), and, having defeated (them), he extracted money and hostages (from them); amid these great successes, he met with adverse fortune on no more than three (occasions): in Britain, when his fleet was nearly destroyed by a violence of a storm, and in Gaul, when (one of) his legions (was) routed at Gergovia, and on the borders of Germany, when his legates Titurius and Aurunculeius (were) slain in an ambush.
Chapter XXVI. Caesar's mounting ambition.
(1) Within the same period of time (i.e. during 54 B.C.), he lost his mother (i.e. Aurelia) first of all, then his daughter (i.e. Julia), and not long afterwards his granddaughter. Meanwhile, with the republic alarmed at the murder of Publius Clodius, when the senate resolved that one (man) should be made consul, namely Gnaeus Pompeius, and the tribunes of the plebs were planning that he (should become) Pompey's colleague, he urged them rather to propose to the people that he should be granted the right to stand for a second consulship in his absence, whenever the term of his governorship had begun to reach completion, lest for this reason he should have to leave (his province) prematurely and with the war still unfinished. (2) When he acquired this, aiming now at higher (things), but full of hope, he omitted no kind of lavish expenditure or means of doing favours to anyone, whether in a public or private capacity. From the spoils of war, he began (to build) a forum, the ground of which cost (him) a hundred million sesterces. He promised the people public entertainment and a feast in memory of his daughter, (something) which no one before him (had ever provided). So that their expectations should be raised to the highest possible (pitch) concerning the materials which related to the feast, although victuallers had been hired, he also provided food in domestic houses. (3) He ordered that celebrated gladiators, whenever they met hostile spectators, should be taken away by force and reserved (for him). He trained the novice (gladiators) not in a school or by professionals, but by Roman knights in their houses, and even by senators (if they were) skilled (in the use of) arms, earnestly entreating (them), as is shown in his letters, to undertake the instruction of individual (novices) and themselves to give (them) directions as they were exercising. He doubled the pay of the legions on a permanent basis. He also supplied corn, whenever it was in plenty without any restriction or measurement, and sometimes he gave each man individual slaves from the booty.
Chapter XXVII. Buying favour.
(1) In order to retain Pompey's friendship and goodwill, he offered him in marriage his sister's granddaughter Octavia, who was married to Gaius (Claudius) Marcellus (i.e. cos. 50 B.C.), and for himself he sought in marriage his daughter (i.e. Pompeia Magna), (who was) betrothed to Faustus (Cornelius) Sulla (i.e. the eldest surviving son of the dictator Sulla). All those around him, however, and also a large part of the senate, he laid under an obligation to himself, by lending money without interest, or at a very low rate, and he lavished the most generous gifts on those of all other classes too, who came to him either by invitation or of their own accord, including any of their freedmen and young slaves, who were favoured by their masters or patrons. (2) In short, he was the sole and ever ready source of support to those who were facing prosecution or debt or the prodigality of youth, excepting those whose burden of guilt, or poverty, or riotous living oppressed (them) so heavily that they could not (even) be saved by him; for these, he openly declared there was plainly a need for a civil war.
Chapter XXVIII. Opposition from Marcus Claudius Marcellus.
(1) With no less enthusiasm, he sought to win the devotion of kings and provincial (authorities) throughout the world, (by) offering thousands of prisoners as a gift to some, (by) supplying auxiliary troops to others, whenever they wished and as often as they wished, without the authority of the senate and people (of Rome), besides embellishing the most important cities of Italy, and Gaul and Spain, (and) of Asia also and Greece, with magnificent public works; (2) until, with people now being astonished and contemplating the direction in which things were going, Marcus Claudius Marcellus, the consul (i.e. in 51 B.C.) (had) declared in advance in an edict that he would be proposing a motion concerning a matter of the highest importance to the state, put a motion to the senate that he (i.e. Caesar) should be succeeded by someone before his term (of office had expired), since, as the war had been brought to an end, there was peace and the victorious army should be disbanded, and his claim to be an election candidate in his absence should not be admitted, since Pompey had not afterwards abrogated (the privilege) by a decree of the people. (3) Now it happened that he, when proposing a law concerning the rights of magistrates, in the section, in which he removed the right to stand for office (from those who were) absent, did not, in his forgetfulness, even exempt Caesar, but he soon corrected his mistake, when the law was inscribed in brass and deposited in the treasury. (3) Marcellus, not content with depriving Caesar of his provinces and this privilege, also moved that citizenship should be removed from the colonists, whom, by the bill of (Publius) Vatinius (i.e. when he was tribune of the plebs in 59 B.C.), he had settled in Novum Comum, because it had been awarded for political motives and (was) beyond (what the law) prescribed.
Chapter XXIX. Caesar appeals to the senate.
(1) Caesar, provoked by these (proceedings), and thinking (that it would be) more difficult for him, as the leading (man) in the state, to be reduced from the first rank to the second than from the second to the lowest (of all), opposed (the measure) with all his strength, partly through the intercession of the tribunes, and partly through the other consul, Servius Sulpicius (Rufus) (i.e. cos. 51 B.C.). Likewise, in the following year, when Gaius (Claudius) Marcellus (i.e. cos 50 B.C.), who had succeeded his cousin Marcus in the consulship, tried the same (thing), he procured by heavy bribery his colleague, (Lucius) Aemilius (Lepidus) Paulus (i.e. cos. 50 B.C.), and Gaius (Scribonius) Curio, the most energetic of the tribunes, as his supporters. (2) But, when it seemed that everything was being enacted more stubbornly (against him), and the consuls-elect (were) also from the opposite party (i.e. the 'optimates'), he begged the senate in a letter not to deprive him of the privilege (granted) by the people, or (else) that the other generals should also step down from (command of) their armies; he believed, as it is thought, that he could more easily muster his veterans, whenever it pleased him, than Pompey (could muster) his newly-raised troops. Then he made an offer to his adversaries that he would give up eight legions and Transalpine Gaul, on condition that he should be granted two legions and the Cisalpine province, or, at least, one legion with Illyricum, until he should be elected consul.
Chapter XXX. The eve of Civil War.
(1) But, as the senate would not intervene (in the matter) and his enemies declared that they would not enter into any compromise with regard to (the safety of) the republic, he crossed into Hither (i.e. Cisalpine) Gaul, and, having conducted his assizes, he halted at Ravenna, asserting a claim to war, if any forceful action should be taken against the tribunes of the plebs intervening on his behalf.
(2) This was indeed his pretext for civil war; but it is thought that there were other motives. So Gnaeus Pompeius frequently used to say that he wished to disturb and throw everything into confusion, because he could not complete the works which he had begun, nor satisfy with (all) his private wealth the expectations of the people which he had created on his return. (3) Others say that he was afraid lest he be forced to render an account of the (things) that he had done in his first consulship, contrary to the auspices, the laws and the (tribunician) vetoes; now Marcus (Porcius) Cato repeatedly declared, and not without swearing an oath, that he would indict (him) as soon as he had disbanded his army, and it was openly proclaimed that, if he should return as a private (citizen), he would, like (Titus Annius) Milo, have to plead his cause before the judges with armed men placed around (him). (Gaius) Asinius Pollio makes this more probable, when he reports that, on seeing his enemies lying slaughtered on the ground at the battlefield of Pharsalus (i.e. in 48 B.C.), he said: "They would have it (so); despite the great deeds I had performed, I, Gaius Caesar, would have been condemned, if I had not sought help from my army." (5) Some think that, overcome by the love of power, and, having weighed up his own power and (that) of his enemies, he took the opportunity of seizing supreme power, which he had coveted from the time of his youth. (Marcus Tullius) Cicero seemed to have thought this too, when writing in the third book of his 'De Officiis' (i.e. 'On Duty') that Caesar always had on his lips these lines of Euripides that are in his 'Phoenissae' (i.e. 'Phoenician Women'): "If ever it is necessary to use violence, violence is best used for the sake of (achieving) supreme power; but other things require one to live piously," which he himself (i.e. Cicero) translates thus: "For, if the use of violence is (ever) right, it is necessary to use violence to gain supreme power: in all other things, cherish piety!"
Chapter XXXI. Caesar advances to the Rubicon.
(1) So, when it had been reported (to him) that the intercession of the tribunes had been blocked and that they themselves had left the City, he immediately sent forth some cohorts in secret, lest any suspicion might be created, and was present, for the sake of appearances, at a public spectacle, and examined the plans of a school for gladiators, which he was intending to build, and attended, as usual, a banquet in the presence of many people. (2) Then, after sunset, after mules from a nearby mill had been attached to his carriage, he embarked on a journey, in all secrecy, with a small retinue; and, when his lights went out, he lost his way, and wandered about for quite some time, but at last at dawn he found a guide and escaped on foot along some very narrow paths. Having pursued his troops to the river Rubicon, which was the boundary of his province, he halted for a while, and, considering in his mind what a great step he was taking, he turned to (those) nearest (to him) and said: "Now we can still go back; but, if we go across this little bridge, everything must be decided by (force of) arms."
Chapter XXXII. The die is cast.
(1) While he was (thus) hesitating, the following portent occurred. Someone of marvellous stature and beauty suddenly appeared, sitting nearby playing on a red pipe; when not only several shepherds, but also soldiers, and trumpeters among them, had flocked together from their posts to listen to him, he snatched a trumpet from one (of them), and ran down to the river, and, having sounded the signal to advance with a mighty blast, he crossed to the other bank. Then, Caesar exclaimed: "Let us go where the portents of the gods and the iniquity of our enemies call (us). The die is cast," he said.
Chapter XXXIII. Exhorting the troops.
(1) And so, his army having crossed (the river), he showed them the tribunes of the people, who had come to him after being expelled (i.e. Marcus Antonius and Quintus Cassius Longinus), and he publicly appealed to the loyalty of his troops, while weeping and ripping the clothes from his chest. It is even thought that he promised each one of them a knight's estate; but that is based on a misunderstanding. For, since, while addressing and exhorting (them), he frequently held out the finger of his left hand and declared that to reward all (those) through whom he might defend his honour, he would willingly even part with that ring of his, (the soldiers) assembled at a distance, who could more easily see than hear (him) while he spoke, formed their opinion of what he meant by sight; so the word went around that (he had) promised (them) the right (to wear) the signet ring together with (an estate) of four hundred thousand sesterces (i.e. the equestrian property qualification).
Chapter XXXIV. Having overrun Italy, Caesar is victorious in Spain.
(1) The sum total of the actions which he undertook happened to him as follows. He occupied Picenum, Umbria (and) Etruria, and took as prisoner Lucius Domitius (Ahenobarbus), who had been irregularly nominated as his successor, and was holding Corfinium with a garrison, and, having released (him), he proceeded along (the coast of) the Upper sea (i.e. the Adriatic) to Brundisium, to which the consuls and Pompey had fled, in order to cross the sea as soon as possible. (2) After trying in vain to prevent their departure by every (kind of) hindrance, he directed his journey to Rome, and, having summoned the senate to discuss public business, he attacked Pompey's strongest forces, which were in Spain under (the command of) three of his legates, Marcus Petreius, and Lucius Afranius (i.e. cos. 60 B.C.), and Marcus (Terentius) Varro, after saying to his (friends) before (he left) that he was going to (meet) an army without a leader, and that he would then be returning to (meet) a leader without an army. And, although he was delayed by the siege of Massilia (i.e. Marseilles), which had closed its gates against him on his journey, and by the extreme scarcity of his commissariat, yet in a short time he won a complete victory.
Chapter XXXV. In pursuit of Pompey and his followers.
After that, he returned to the City and crossed (the sea) into Macedonia, and, after blockading Pompey for almost four months with mighty ramparts, at last he routed (him) at the battle of Pharsalus (i.e. in Thessaly in 48 B.C.), and, having pursued (him) in his flight to Alexandria, when he learned that (he had been) slain, he engaged in (what was) indeed a most difficult war with King Ptolemy (i.e. Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator, King of Egypt 51-47 B.C.), by whom he thought his own ambush was being planned as well; (for it was fought in circumstances) that were favourable neither in place nor in time, but during the winter season and within the (city) walls of a well-equipped and most ingenious enemy, while he himself was in need of everything and ill-prepared. (As) victor, he entrusted the kingdom of Egypt to Cleopatra (i.e. Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator, Queen of Egypt 51-30 B.C.) and her younger brother (i.e. Ptolemy XIV), fearing to make (it) a province, lest some day, having gained a more impetuous governor, it might be the source of revolution. From Alexandria he crossed into Syria and then into Pontus, spurred on by the news of Pharnaces (i.e. King of Pontus and King of the Bosporos 63-47 B.C.), who (as) the son of Mithridates the Great (viz. Ch. IV above) had taken advantage of the situation to make war, and was already flushed with numerous successes, (but,) within five days after he had arrived and four hours after he came into his sight, he overthrew (him) in a single battle (i.e. the Battle of Zela 47 B.C.); (later) he often remarked on the good fortune of Pompey, whose principal fame as a general had rested on such a feeble kind of foe. Afterwards, he conquered (Quintus Caecilius Metellus) Scipio (i.e. cos. 52 B.C.) and Juba (i.e. King of Numidia 60-46 B.C.), who were rallying the remnants of their party in Africa (i.e. at the Battle of Thapsus 46 B.C.), and Pompey's sons (i.e. Gnaeus Pompeius and Sextus Pompeius) in Spain (i.e. at the Battle of Munda 45 B.C.).
Chapter XXXVI. Caesar is victorious, despite some setbacks.
(1) During the whole of the civil war he suffered no defeat, except in relation to his legates, of whom Gaius (Scribonius) Curio perished in Africa (i.e. in 49 B.C.), Gaius Antonius (i.e. pr. 44 B.C.) fell into the hands of his enemies in Illyricum (i.e. in 49 B.C.), Publius (Cornelius) Dolabella (i.e. cos. suff. 44 B.C.) lost a fleet also in Illyricum (i.e. in 49 B.C.), (and) Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus (i.e. cos. 53 B.C.) an army in Pontus (i.e. in 47 B.C.). He himself was always completely successful in battle, nor were his fortunes ever in doubt, save on two occasions: once at Dyrrachium (i.e. in 48 B.C.), when, having been pushed back, (and) with Pompey not pursuing (him), he said that he did not know (how) to conquer, (and) the second time during his last battle in Spain (i.e. at Munda in 45 B.C.), when the situation being desperate, he even thought of committing suicide.
Chapter XXXVII. Caesar celebrates five triumphs.
(1) When the wars had ended, he triumphed on five occasions, four times in the same month after Scipio had been defeated (i.e. at Thapsus in 46 B.C.), but with a (few) days intervening (between them), and once again after Pompey's sons (had been) overcome (i.e. at Munda in 45 B.C.). The first and most glorious triumph concerned Gaul, the next (one) Alexandria, then Pontus, after that Africa, and last of all Spain, each one differing in its equipment and presentation. (2) On the day of the Gallic triumph, after passing through the Velabrum (i.e. the ground between the Palatine Hill and the Capitol), he was almost knocked off his chariot, when an axle broke, and he ascended the Capitol by torchlight with forty elephants bearing lamps on his right and left. In the Pontic triumph, among the wagons of the procession one held out (an inscription) of three words: "VENI; VIDI: VICI," (i.e. I came, I saw, I conquered!), not signifying the events of the war, as in other cases, but as a token of its speedy completion.
Chapter XXXVIII. His gifts to his soldiers and the people.
(1) To every foot-soldier in his veteran legions, besides the two thousand sesterces, which he had paid out at the beginning of the civil conflict, he gave money (worth) twenty-four thousand (sesterces). He also assigned plots of land, but not close together, lest any one of their owners might be evicted. To the people, besides ten pecks of corn, and as many pounds of oil, he also distributed to each man three hundred (sesterces in) coins, which he had formerly promised (them), and a hundred more apiece on account of the delay. (2) He also remitted the annual (rent) for every house in Rome (such as did) not (pay) above five hundred sesterces (a year). He added a banquet and a public distribution of meat, and two public dinners after his Spanish victory (i.e. at Munda in 45 B.C.); for, since he judged that the first (one) had been given sparingly and without his (customary) generosity, he supplied another most succulent (one) five days afterwards.
Chapter XXXIX. His public entertainments.
(1) He produced public entertainments of various kinds: a show of gladiators, and also stage-plays in wards throughout the City, involving actors speaking in every language, as well as circus races, athletic contests, (and) a sham sea-fight. Furius Leptinus, (a man) of praetorian stock, fought in the contest in the Forum, as did Quintus Calpenus, a former senator and pleader of causes (at the bar). The sons of princes in Asia and Bithynia performed the Pyrrhic (sword) dance. (2) During the stage-plays, Decimus Liberius, a Roman knight, acted in his own farce, and, having been awarded five hundred thousand sesterces and a gold ring, he made his way from the stage through the orchestra to a seat in the fourteen rows (i.e. the fourteen rows above the orchestra were reserved by law for members of the equestrian order). In the circus races, the extent of the circus having been enlarged at both ends, and a conduit having been added to the course, some very noble young men drove four-horse and two-horse chariots and vaulted from one horse to another. A two-fold company of older and younger boys played (the game of) Troy. (3) The hunting of wild beasts (was) performed for five days, and on the last (one) the battle (was) divided between two armies, with five hundred foot-soldiers, twenty elephants, (and) thirty horses engaged on each side. For, in order that they could fight with more space, the goals were removed, and in their place two camps were pitched right opposite (each other). Wrestlers competed for three days in a stadium built for the purpose in the region of the Campus Martius. (4) A lake having been dug for the naval battle in the lesser Codeta (i.e. a meadow beyond the Tiber), biremes and triremes, and quadririmes, taken from the Tyrian and Egyptian fleets, (and manned) by a large number of warriors, came into conflict with one another. To all these spectacles, so many men flocked from all parts, that most of the strangers had to lodge in tents erected either in the streets or along the roads, and many of them were often crushed to death in the press, and two senators among them.
Chapter XL. The Reform of the Calendar.
(1) Then, turning his attention to the reorganisation of the state, he corrected the calendar, which had long since become so disordered by the negligence of the pontiffs through their regular use of intercalation, that harvest festivals did not take place in the summer, nor (those) of the vintage in the autumn; and he adapted the year to the course of the sun, so that it consisted of three hundred and sixty-five days, and, the intercalary month (i.e. the insertion of twenty-two or twenty-three days after February) having been abolished, one day was added to the calendar every fourth year. (2) So that the reckoning of the seasons might from that time onwards regularly coincide with the Kalends, or the first, of January, he inserted two other (months) between the month of November and (that) of December; and the year in which these arrangements were made (i.e. 46 B.C.) consisted of fifteen months, including the intercalary (month) which had occurred during that year in accordance with custom.
Chapter XLI. Reform of the administration and the electoral system.
(1) He filled the vacancies in the senate, he enrolled patricians, and he increased the number of praetors, aediles, quaestors and minor magistrates also, he reinstated (those who had been) downgraded by the action of the censors or condemned for bribery by the verdict of jurors. (2) He shared the elections for office with the people, on the basis that he arranged that, with the exception of (those) competing for the consulship, half of the remaining number of candidates (who) were nominated (should be those) whom the people wanted, and the other half (should be those) whom (he) himself (wanted). And then he announced by means of short written notes sent around each tribe: "Caesar the dictator to (this or) that tribe. I recommend so and so to you, so that by your vote they may attain their office." He even admitted to office the sons of (those who been) proscribed. He restricted the hearing of trials to two kinds of jurors, those of equestrian and of senatorial rank; he removed the tribunes of the treasury, because it was a third (class).
(3) He made the enumeration of the people (i.e. for the purpose of the distribution of free grain) neither in the usual manner nor place, but from street to street by means of the owners of blocks of flats, and he reduced (the number of those) receiving corn at the public expense from three hundred and twenty to a hundred and fifty thousand; and, lest any fresh meetings could ever occur on account of the census, he arranged that the choice of substitutes by lot should be made each year by the praetor in place of (those who had) died from those who had not been counted.
Chapter XLII. Other reforms made by Caesar.
(1) In order that a multitude (of people) should still be available to the city, depleted of its population (as it was), after eighty thousand citizens had been assigned to colonies overseas, he enacted that no citizen above twenty years of age, or less than forty, who was not bound by the military oath of allegiance, should be continuously absent from Italy for more than three years, and that no son of a senator should go abroad, unless he was in the household or on the staff of a magistrate; and that those who bred cattle should have among their herdsmen no less than a third (who were) indigenous freeborn youths. He also granted citizenship to all (those who) practised medicine in Rome and (who were) teachers of the liberal arts, so that they themselves might wish to reside in the City, and that others might seek (to do so).
(2) With regard to borrowed money, having shattered the expectation of debt cancellation, which was generally entertained, at last he decreed that debtors should satisfy their creditors in accordance with the valuation of their estates at the rate at which they were purchased before the civil war (began), deducting from the amount of the debt whatever had been paid out or pledged (through bankers' bonds) on the basis of interest; through this arrangement, about a fourth part of the loan was written off. (3) He dissolved all (workers') guilds except (the ones) established long ago. He increased the penalties for crimes; and, since the rich were more easily inclined to render themselves liable to crimes, because they went into exile with their family estates intact, he stripped the murderers of fellow-citizens, as Cicero writes, of the whole of their property, (and) other (offenders) of half of it.
Chapter XLIII. His strict administration of justice.
(1) He administered justice with great assiduousness and strictness. He even removed (those who had been) convicted of extortion from the senatorial order. He dissolved the marriage of a man of praetorian rank who had married (a woman) just two days after she had separated from her husband, although without any suspicion of adultery. He imposed duties on foreign goods. He forbade the use of litters, and (the wearing of) purple robes and pearls, except in (the case of) persons of a certain age and station, and on particular days. (2) He particularly enforced the sumptuary legislation, setting watchmen around the market to seize certain prohibited dishes and bring (them) to him, (and,) sometimes he sent his lictors and soldiers to take from a dining-room such (articles) as had escaped the notice of the watchmen, even after they had been served.
Chapter XLIV. Caesar's civil projects.
(1) For, with regard to the embellishment and improvement of the City, as well as defending and extending the empire, he set up more (projects) and greater (ones) on a daily basis; in the first place, (he planned) to construct a temple of Mars as great as any in existence, to fill in and level the lake, on which he had produced the spectacle of a sea-fight, and (to build) a theatre of the greatest magnitude on the slopes of the Tarpeian Rock; (2) to reduce the civil law to fixed limits, and out of the vast and wordy mass of statutes to bring together the best and the most important ones into the smallest (possible number of) books; (and) to open to the public the greatest number of Greek and Latin libraries as he could, the task of providing and classifying (them) having been assigned to Marcus (Terentius) Varro; (3) (he intended) to drain the Pomptine marshes; to let out (water) from the Fucine Lake, to build a road from the Adriatic Sea across the ridge of the Appennines as far as the Tiber; to cut a canal through the Isthmus (of Corinth); to check the Dacians, who had poured into Pontus and Thrace; then to make war on the Parthians by way of Lesser Armenia, but not to undertake an engagement until he had first tried (them) out.
(4) Now, his death intervened while he was contemplating doing all these (things). Before I speak of this, it will not be improper to set forth summarily the (things) that relate to his appearance, and dress, and way of life, and character, as well as (the things) which (relate) to his civil and military pursuits.
Chapter XLV. His appearance and dress.
(1) He is said to have been tall of stature, with a fair complexion, shapely limbs, a rather full face, and black piercing eyes, and of excellent health, except that in his latter days he was accustomed to sudden fainting fits and also nightmares. He was likewise seized with epilepsy on two occasions during his campaigns. (2) He was so concerned about the care of his body, that he not only cut his hair and shaved diligently, but he also plucked out hairs (from elsewhere), (a practice) for which some people criticised (him), while he suffered the deformity of baldness with great unease, as he often found himself exposed to the jibes of his critics. And so he used to comb forward the scanty locks from the crown of his head, and of all the the honours voted to him by the senate and people, he received or made use of none other more gladly than the right to wear a laurel wreath at all times.
(3) They say, too, that he was particular in his dress: for he used to wear a broad-striped (toga) with sleeves fringed at the wrist, and he never wore it other than (with a girdle) over it, and he would actually wear (it) rather loosely; from this sprang Sulla's dictum, when he quite often used to warn the 'optimates' to beware of 'that ill-girt boy'.
Chapter XLVI. His residences.
(1) He lived at first in a small house in the Suburra, but, after he became Chief Priest, in the official residence on the Sacred Way. Many have written that that (he was) very fond of elegant and luxurious (residences); that he totally destroyed a country-house at Nemi that he had started (to build) from the foundations and brought to completion at great expense, because it did not meet his wishes in every respect, although (he was) still of slender means and (was) in debt; (and) that he carried around on his expeditions tessellated and marble floors (for his tent).
Chapter XLVII. Caesar's acquisitiveness.
(1) (He is said) to have invaded Britain in the hope of (acquiring) pearls, the size of which he would compare, and sometimes judge their weight, by (placing them in the palm of) his hand; he always purchased gems, carvings, statues and frescoes of ancient manufacture with the utmost enthusiasm; (and he purchased) slaves of great virtue and refinement at an enormous price, and he himself was also so ashamed of this that he forbade their entry in his accounts.
Chapter XLVIII. His household management.
(1) (It is said) that in the provinces he continually held banquets in two dining halls, one in which there reclined those who wore a military cloak (i.e. army officers) or a pallium (i.e. Greek-speaking secretarial staff), and the other, in which those wearing togas (i.e. Roman citizens) (dined) with the distinguished (men) of the provinces. He imposed domestic discipline in small or more important matters so diligently and strictly, that he (once) bound a baker in shackles for serving a different kind of bread to his guests than to himself, (and) he inflicted capital punishment on a greatly favoured freedman (of his) for committing adultery with the wife of a Roman knight, even though no one had made a complaint.
Chapter XLIX. His relationship with King Nicomedes.
(1) There was no stain on his reputation for chastity except his intimacy with Nicomedes (vid. Ch. II), but (this was) a grave and perennial (source of) reproach (in his case), and exposed (him) to insults from all quarters. I say nothing of the notorious lines of Licinius Calvus: "Whatever Bithynia and Caesar's paramour possessed." I pass over the indictments of Dolabella and Curio's father, in which Dolabella calls him "the queen's partner and the inner bedstead of the royal bedchamber" and Curio "Nicomedes' stable and Bithynia's brothel."
(2) I also forgo the edicts of Bibulus, in which he describes his colleague as queen of Bithynia, and who once (wished) to be pleasing to a king, (and) now to be (on) a throne. And now, as Marcus Brutus records, a certain Octavius, (whose) mental sickness made him rather free with his comments, after he had called Pompey king in a crowded assembly, also greeted him as queen. But Gaius Memmius also alleged that he acted as Nicomedes' cup-bearer at a well-attended banquet, together with the rest of his wanton (friends), and with some civic merchants, whose names he records, at his side. (3) Cicero, indeed, (was) not satisfied to have written in several letters that he (had been) led by attendants to the king's bed-chamber, and that he lay on a golden couch (arrayed) in purple vestments, and that the virginity of that offspring of Venus (had been) lost in Bithynia, but he also once said in the senate, when he (i.e. Caesar) was defending the position of Nysa, Nicomedes' daughter, and was recalling the king's favours towards him: "Withdraw those (remarks), I pray you, since it is well known what he gave you and what you (gave) him (in return)." (4) Finally, in his Gallic triumph, his soldiers, among those other songs such as those who follow the chariot, (usually) sing in jest, also chanted the following most notorious (lines): "Caesar vanquished Gaul, Nicomedes (vanquished) Caesar: behold Caesar, who conquered Gaul now triumphs, (but) Nicomedes who conquered Caesar does not triumph."
Chapter L. Caesar's affairs with Roman women.
(1) It is the general opinion that he was extravagantly inclined to sexual affairs, and that he seduced numerous illustrious women, among whom (were) Postumia, (wife) of Servius Sulpicius (Rufus) (i.e. cos. 51 B.C.), Lollia, (wife) of Aulus Gabinius (i.e. cos. 58 B.C.), Tertulla, (wife) of Marcus (Licinius) Crassus (Dives) (i.e. cos. 70 and 55 B.C.), (and) also Mucia, (wife) of Gnaeus Pompeius (Magnus) (i.e. cos. 70, 55, and 52 B.C.). For it was undoubtedly the subject of a reproach to Pompey by the Curiones, father and son, and by many (others), because through his desire for power, he had afterwards taken into matrimony the daughter (i.e. Julia) of a man, upon whose account he had divorced his wife (i.e. Mucia), after (having had) three children (by her), and whom he used, with a deep sigh, to call Aegisthus (i.e. the paramour of Agamemnon's wife, Clytemnestra). (2) But, before all others he loved Servilia, the mother of Marcus (Junius) Brutus, for whom in his first consulship he bought a pearl (costing) six million sesterces, and during the civil war, besides other presents, he knocked down to a very low (price) some fine estates at an auction sale; when several people expressed surprise at the lowness of the price, Cicero wittily remarked: "In order that you should know better (the value of) the purchase, a third (of the price) has been) deducted;" for Servilia was thought to have made over her daughter Tertia (i.e. Junia Tertia, her third daughter by her second husband Decimus Junius Silanus, cos. 62 B.C.) to Caesar.
Chapter LI. His reputation elsewhere.
(1) That he did not even refrain from (affairs) with married (women) in the provinces is particularly shown in this distich, which was also shouted out by soldiers during his Gallic triumph: "Citizens, watch out for your wives: (for) we bring a bald adulterer. You've squandered on his Gallic (dalliances) the gold you lent (him) here."
Chapter LII. His royal love affairs.
(1) He particularly chose to make love to queens, among whom was the Moorish Eunoë, wife of Bogudes, to whom, and to her husband, he gave several large gifts, as (Marcus Actorius) Naso has told us in his writings; but (he) especially (loved) Cleopatra, with whom he often indulged in entertainments until dawn, and he would have gone in the same large state barge (as her) through Egypt almost as far as Ethiopia, if his army had not refused to follow (him). He afterwards summoned her to the City, and did not send (her) back without loading her with great honours and presents, and he allowed (her) to call the son (she had) borne by his name (i.e. Caesarion). (2) Some Greek (historians) also recorded that he was similar to Caesar both in his appearance and in his gait. Marcus Antonius also declared in the senate that (he had) acknowledged that (he came) from him, and that Gaius Matius and Gaius Oppius, and other friends of Caesar's, knew this; of these, Gaius Oppius, as if the situation clearly required defence and advocacy, published a book (to say) that he was not the son of Caesar, as Cleopatra had said.
(3) Helvius Cinna, tribune of the plebs, admitted to several (people) that he had a bill drawn up and ready, which Caesar had ordered (him) to enact, when he himself was absent, to allow (him), for the sake of acquiring children, to take whatever wives (he chose), and as many as he wished. And, in order that there should be no room at all for doubt that his evil reputation for shameful behaviour and adultery was alive and burning, Curio the father, in one of his speeches, calls him "every woman's man and every man's woman."
Chapter LIII. His food and drink.
(1) Not even his enemies denied that (he was), very sparing with wine. This is (a statement) of Marcus (Porcius) Cato: "that Caesar (was) the only sober (person) out of all (those) seeking to overthrow the state." Now, with regard to diet, Gaius Oppius informs (us) that he was so indifferent (to food) that once, (when he had been) served by his host with stale rather than fresh oil, (and) the rest (of the guests) had rejected (it), he alone drew up even more abundant helpings, lest he should seem to accuse their host of carelessness and rustic manners.
Chapter LIV. His cupidity.
(1) This abstinemce did not show itself either in his military commands or in his civil offices. For, as certain (writers) declared in their memoirs, that, (when he was) governor in Spain (i.e. in 61-60 B.C.), he received money by begging from the allies to help (pay) his debts, and he plundered in a hostile manner some towns of the Lusitanians, although they did not reject his commands and opened their gates (to him) on his arrival. (2) In Gaul he plundered the sanctuaries and temples of the gods, filled (as they were) with rich offerings, and demolished cities more often for the sake of plunder than on account of any wrongdoing; whence it came about that he had (such) an abundance of gold that he sold (it) throughout Italy and the provinces at the rate of three thousand sesterces a pound. (3) During his first consulship (i.e. in 59 B.C.), he stole three thousand pounds of gold from the Capitol and replaced (it) with the same amount of gilded bronze. He granted alliances and thrones at a price, so that he extorted from Ptolemy (i.e. Ptolemy XII Auletes, King of Egypt 80-58 and 55-51 B.C.) alone nearly six thousand talents in his own name and (that) of Pompey. Indeed afterwards he sustained the onerous expenses of the civil wars, and of his triumphs and public spectacles, by the most blatant pillage and sacrilege.
LV. His oratory.
(1) In eloquence and military achievements he either equalled or exceeded the reputation of the most outstanding of (men). After his prosecution of Dolabella, he was undoubtedly reckoned (to be) among the best of advocates. Assuredly, Cicero, in enumerating orators to Brutus, denies that he knows (anyone) to whom Caesar ought to yield (the palm), and says that he possesses a style of speaking (that is) elegant, and clear, and even grand and noble in some way; and he wrote to Cornelius Nepos concerning him as follows: (2) "What? Which orator, out of those that have done nothing else, can you put before him? Who (is) more pointed or prolific in his opinions? Who (is) more polished or more elegant in his language?"At least (when he was) still a young man, he seems to have followed (Gaius Julius) Caesar Strabo (i.e. curule aedile 90 B.C.), from whose oration which is inscribed 'On behalf of the Sardinians', he transcribed some (passages) word for word into a trial address of his own. Now, he is said to have delivered (it) in a high-pitched voice with ardent motions and gestures (that were) not without charm. (3) He left behind several speeches, among which some are said to be of uncertain authorship. Augustus seems to think, not unjustly, that (the speech) 'On behalf of Quintus Metellus' (i.e. Quintus Caecilius Metellus Nepos, tr. pl. 62 B.C. and cos. 57 B.C.) (was) rather taken down by shorthand-writers, (who were) struggling to follow the words of his speech, than published by (Caesar) himself; for in some copies I do indeed find that the title (is) not 'On behalf of Metellus' but 'What he wrote to Metellus', although the discourse seems to come from Caesar in person, and exculpates Metellus and himself from the charges of their common detractors. (4) Likewise, Augustus also thinks that (the speech) 'To his soldiers in Spain', but which is said (to have) two (sections), (is) scarcely his: one (is) supposedly delivered before the first battle, the other before the second (one), where Asinius Pollio says that he did not have time to deliver a harangue due to the sudden onslaught of the enemy.
LVI. His writings.
(1) He also left behind commentaries on his own deeds in the Gallic (war) and the civil war with Pompey. For the author of the Alexandrian, and the African (wars) is uncertain: some think (it was) (Gaius) Oppius, others (Aulus) Hirtius (i.e. cos. 43 B.C.), who also completed the last book, imperfect (as it is), of the 'Gallic War'. Of Caesar's commentaries, Cicero in his 'Brutus' speaks thus: (2) "Indeed, he wrote his commentaries in a manner deserving of the highest praise: they are plain, precise, and graceful, stripped, like a garment, of all adornment; but, while he wished to supply materials to others, which (those) who wanted to write history might use, he possibly gratified silly (folk) who might wish to brand his (narratives) with curling-irons, but yet he deterred men of sense from writing." (3) Concerning these same commentaries, Hirtius declares as follows: "They are so esteemed in the judgment of everyone, that an opportunity seems to have been taken from writers, not offered (to them). But, with regard to his work, our admiration should be greater than others; for they know how well and (how) faultlessly he wrote, whereas we also know how easily and rapidly (he did so)."
(4) (Gaius) Asinius Pollio (i.e. cos. 40 B.C.) thinks they were not composed with much care, nor (were they) unimpaired with regard to the truth, since Caesar generally believed too readily what had been done by others, and, either by design or even from lapse of memory, gave out falsely what had been done by himself; and he (i.e. Pollio) thought there would be a rewritten and corrected (edition). (5) He left behind (him) 'On Analogy' in two books, and the same number of books (called) 'Speeches against Cato', and, besides, a poem which was entitled 'The Journey'. Of these books, he wrote the first while crossing the Alps when returning to his army from Hither (i.e. Cisalpine) Gaul, where he had held assizes; the second around the time of the battle of Munda (i.e. in 45 B.C.); and the last (one) while he was on a twenty-four day journey from the City to Further Spain. (6) Some letters of his to the senate are also preserved, which it seems he was the first to have converted to pages in the form of a memorandum book, when, previously, consuls and generals had not sent writings, except those that went across the sheet. There are also extant some (letters of his) to Cicero, and others to his intimate friends concerning his domestic affairs, in which, if anything of a rather secret nature was being conveyed, he wrote in cipher, that is in such a way that he arranged the order of his letters, so that not a single word could be made out: if anyone wishes to decipher these and work out their meaning, he must substitute the fourth letter of the alphabet, that is D for A, and likewise all the others. (7) Some (things) are said to have been written by (him as) a boy or a young man, such as 'The Praises of Hercules', 'Oedipus', a tragedy, and also 'A Collection of Proverbs': Augustus forbade the publication of all these minor works in a letter which he sent to Pompeius Macer (i.e. praetor 15 A.D.), whom he had chosen to put his libraries in order.
LVII. His physical skills and powers of endurance.
(1) He was highly skilled in arms and horsemanship, and was able to endure fatigue beyond belief. On a march, he used to go ahead of (his army), sometimes on horseback, more often on foot, bareheaded, whether there was sun or rain; he would travel very long journeys with incredible speed, (covering) a hundred miles each day in a hired four-wheeled carriage with little baggage; if rivers blocked (his path), he crossed (them) by swimming, or floating on inflated skins, so that he very often arrived before the news of his (coming).
LVIII. His sound judgment on campaign.
(1) When conducting his campaigns, (it is) uncertain (whether he was) more cautious or more daring, for he never led his army through routes which were liable to ambush without having carefully examined the nature of the ground, nor did he cross over to Britain without having previously explored in person the harbours, and the sailing route and the point of entrance to the island. When news came to him that his camp in Germany was under siege, he made his way to his (men) through the enemy guard-posts in Gallic dress. (2) In winter he crossed from Brundisium to Dyrrachium between enemy fleets, and, when the troops he had ordered to follow (him) prevaricated, and, when he had sent for them to be fetched many times in vain, at last and in secret he boarded a small boat alone with his head covered up, and he did not reveal who he was, or allow the helmsman to give way to the adverse storm-wind, until (he was) almost overwhelmed by the waves.
LIX. His lack of superstition.
(1) He was never deterred from some undertaking, nor retarded (in doing it), by any superstition (i.e. an unfavourable omen). When a victim, as it was being sacrificed, made its escape, he did not defer his expedition against Scipio and Juba. Also, when he happened to fall on leaving his ship he turned the omen to a better (use): "I hold you, Africa!" he said. Furthermore, in order to make fun of the prophecies, in which the name of the Scipiones was borne by fate to be lucky and invincible in that province, he kept with him in his camp some most despicable (wretch) from the family of the Cornelii, who had the surname of Salvito on account of his profligate life.
LX. His battle tactics.
(1) He joined battle not only after planning (his movements in advance), but on the spur of the moment, and often immediately at the end of a march, (and) sometimes in the filthiest weather, when one would least expect (him) to make a move; (it was) not until his later years that he became more hesitant to engage, thinking that the more often he conquered the less he ought to tempt fate, and that he would gain nothing so much by a victory as the calamity (of a defeat) would take from (him). He never put the enemy to flight without stripping his camp; so, in their terror, he gave (them) no chance (to rally). If the battle (was to be) a hard-fought (one), he sent away the horses, and his own in the first place, so, the possibility of flight having been removed, the greater would the necessity of standing their ground be imposed upon (them).
LXI. His horse.
Now, he rode a remarkable horse, with almost human feet, and with hooves cloven like toes, and he bred it by himself, (and,) since soothsayers had pronounced that it foretold the rule of the world for its master, he reared (it) with great care, and (he was) the first (to) mount (it), as it would allow no other rider; afterwards, he also dedicated a statue of it in front of the temple of Venus Genetrix.
LXII. His rallying of the troops.
(1) When his battle-line gave way, he often rallied (it) single-handedly, stopping (those) fleeing, and laying hold of them one by one, and catching (them) by their throats and turning (them) to face the enemy, and yet they were generally so frightened that an eagle-bearer, thus stopped, threatened him with a spear-head, and another one so detained left the standard in his hand.
LXIII. His determination after Pharsalus.
(1) That resolve of his (was) no less (renowned), and the instances of it were even more (striking). After the battle of Pharsalus (i.e. in 48 B.C.), when, having sent his troops ahead (of him) into Asia, he was crossing the straits of the Hellespont in a small passenger boat, he met Lucius Cassius with ten brazen-beaked ships, and he did not go back, but, coming up close to him, he urged him to surrender of his own accord, and took him on board as a suppliant.
LXIV. His presence of mind at Alexandria.
(1) While attacking a bridge at Alexandria, (he was) forced into a skiff, with several of his men rushing (with him) into the same (boat), and, when he had jumped into the sea, he escaped to the nearest ship by swimming for two hundred yards, with his left hand raised (above the water), lest the papers, which he was holding, should get wet, (and) dragging his cloak in his teeth, lest the enemy should acquire (it) as spoil.
LXV. How he handled his troops.
(1) He valued his soldiers neither for their characters nor their social circumstances, but solely for their courage, and he treated them with equal severity and indulgence. For he did not strictly control (them) everywhere and at all times, but (only) when the enemy were close at hand: then he was such a strict enforcer of discipline, that he did not announce the time of a march or of a battle, but kept them ready and alert to be suddenly led out at any moment wherever he might wish. Now, he frequently made (them) turn out, even without a reason, especially on rainy days and holidays. And, repeatedly warning (them) to keep a close eye on him, he would suddenly steal away by day or night, and extended the march in order to exhaust (those who were) rather tardy in following (him).
LXVI. His exhortations to his army.
(1) Now, (when they were) panic-stricken by the enemy's numbers, he used to encourage (them) not by denying or minimising (the numbers), but by increasing and fabricating (them) still further. So, when the expectation of Juba's arrival was causing terror, he called his soldiers to a meeting and said: "You should know that within the very next few days the King will be here with ten legions, thirty (thousand) horsemen, a hundred thousand lightly-armed (men and) three hundred elephants. Therefore, may some (of you) cease to inquire or make suppositions, and believe me, (the one) who has the knowledge; or, otherwise, I shall order (such men) to be carried off by some very ancient craft to whatever lands they may be borne by whatever wind (may blow).
LXVII. His indulgence.
(1) He neither noticed, nor systematically punished, all transgressions, but, (while he was) on the look out for deserters and mutineers and was a most keen chastiser (of them), he shut his eyes with regard to other (faults). And sometimes after a great battle and victory, he relieved (them) of every kind of duty, and gave (them) full licence to revel indiscriminately, being used to boast that his soldiers could fight well even when reeking of perfume. (2) In public, he did not address them (as) 'soldiers', but by the kinder name of 'fellow-soldiers', and he kept (them) so well cultivated that he adorned (them) with arms inlaid with silver and gold, both for the sake of appearances and so that they might be more tenacious of them in battle, through fear of their loss. He also loved (them) to such an extent that, when he heard of the disaster to those under Titurius (i.e. Quintus Titurius Sabinus, massacred with all his men by Ambiorix of the Eburones in 54 B.C.), he let his beard and hair grow long, and would not cut them until he had avenged (them).
LXVIII. His troops' loyalty and courage.
(1) By these means he made (them) most devoted to his (cause), and most valiant. When he began the civil war, the centurions of every legion offered (to provide) a separate horseman from his own savings, and his soldiers, one and all (of them), (offered) their services freely and without rations and (without) pay, while the richer (of them) had taken upon themselves the maintenance of the poor (ones). Not one (of them) during the long course (of the war) deserted at all, and many (of those) taken prisoner, though they were granted their lives on condition that they would take up arms against him, refused (to do so). (2) They endured want and other exigencies, not only when they were besieged but also when they themselves were besieging, to such a degree that Pompey in the fortress of Dyrrachium, when he saw the kind of bread (made) from herbs, on which they lived, said that he was having to deal with wild beasts, and ordered that it be quickly removed, nor shown to anyone, lest the spirits of his men should be shattered by the endurance and perseverance of the foe.
(3) With what bravery they fought, there is the testimony that once, after the unsuccessful battle at Dyrrachium, they demanded punishment for themselves of their own accord, such that their commander felt that they should rather be consoled than punished. In other battles, they easily defeated immense forces of the enemy, though they themselves were much smaller in numbers. In short, one cohort of the sixth legion, when set in front of a redoubt, held out against four of Pompey's legions for several hours, although almost all (of its men were) wounded by the shower of enemy arrows, of which a hundred and thirty thousand were found within the ramparts. (4) Nor (is it) surprising if one considers the deeds of some individuals (among them), whether (it is those) of Cassius Scaeva the centurion or (those) of the soldier Gaius Acilius, not to speak of several (others). Scaeva, having lost an eye, (was) transfixed in the thigh and shoulder, and, his shield having been pierced by a hundred and twenty blows, he retained the guardianship of the gate of the fortress, (which had been) entrusted (to him). Acilius in the naval battle at Marseilles, having seized the stern of an enemy ship in his right hand, and (having had it) cut off, boarded the ship in imitation of that memorable example of Cynegirus among the Greeks (i.e. pursuing Persians after the Battle of Marathon in 480 B.C.), driving off (those) in his way with the boss (of his shield).
LXIX. His reaction to the mutiny at Placentia.
(1) They never provoked a mutiny at all during the ten years of the Gallic wars, (but they did so) now and then in the civil wars, but they returned quickly to their duty, not so much due to the indulgence of their general as to his authority. For he never yielded (to them), when they were behaving insubordinately, and he always went against (them); and, indeed, he disbanded the whole of the Ninth legion with ignominy at Placentia (i.e. in 47 B.C., when his legionaries refused to go across the sea to fight in Africa), although Pompey was still in arms, and (only) reinstated (them) with reluctance, after numerous and abject entreaties, and not without enforcing punishment of the ringleaders.
LXX. His handling of the Tenth legion in Rome.
(1) Then, at Rome, when (the men) of the Tenth (legion) were demanding their discharge and rewards with huge threats and also with the greatest danger to the City, although the war was still raging in Africa, he did not hesitate to go before (them), although his friends were discouraging (him from doing so), nor to discharge (them); but by a single word, in which he addressed them (as) 'Quirites' (i.e. 'Citizens') instead of 'soldiers', he so easily brought (them) around and persuaded (them), that they immediately replied that they were his soldiers, and that they would follow him to Africa of their own accord, even though he had refused (to employ them); even so, he punished all the most seditious (of them, by depriving them) of a third part of the booty and the land (that had been) intended (for them).
LXXI. His devotion to his dependants.
(1) Not even as a young man were devotion and loyalty to his clients lacking. He defended Masintha, a noble young man, so earnestly against king Hiempsal (i.e. Hiempsal, King of Numidia 88-60 B.C.) that he caught hold of the king's son Juba by the beard, and (when he) (i.e. Masintha) (was) declared (to be the king's) vassal, he rescued (him) at once from (those who would) carry (him) off, and kept (him) hidden in his own house for a long time, and then, when he left for Spain on the completion of his praetorship (i.e. in 62 B.C.), he took (him) away in his own litter (hidden) amid the activities of those following them and the rods of the lictors.
LXXII. His kindness to his friends.
He always treated his friends with such kindness and indulgence that, when Gaius Oppius, (who) was accompanying him on a journey through a forest, was suddenly seized by an illness, he gave up (to him) the only shelter that there was (i.e. probably a woodcutter's hut), and he himself slept on the ground and in the open air. And then, when he was in charge of affairs, he advanced some (of his adherents), even those of the lowest social rank, to the highest offices, (and,) when he was censured for this reason, he openly said that, if he had found help from robbers and cut-throats in defending his honour, he would have conveyed equal gratitude even to such (men as they were).
LXXIII. His reconciliation with former opponents.
(1) He never entertained such bitter enmities against anyone, that he did not lay (them) aside when the opportunity offered. He was a supporter of Gaius Memmius in his application for the consulship (i.e. in 54 B.C.), even after he had replied with no less bitterness to his caustic speeches (against him). When Gaius Calvus, after (writing) some slanderous epigrams (against him), tried to effect a reconciliation through his friends, he wrote (to him) first of his own accord. He had not concealed (the fact) that Valerius Catullus had inflicted a lasting stigma on his (name) by his verses about Mamurra (viz. Catullus' Poems 29 and 57), but, when he apologised, he invited (him) to dinner on the very same day, and continued (to maintain) the friendship with his father, such as he had established.
LXXIV. His clemency.
(1) But even in avenging (wrongs), (he was) most merciful by nature: when he had brought under his control the pirates, by whom he had been captured, since he had sworn beforehand that he would have them crucified, he ordered their throats to be cut first, (and) then (for them) to be crucified; he could never bring himself to harm Cornelius Phagitas, by whom he had once been waylaid night after night, (when he was) sick and in hiding, in order to be brought to Sulla, (something which) he barely avoided by the giving of a bribe; (and) Philemon, his amanuensis, who had promised his enemies his death by poison, he punished no more heavily than by a simple death; (2) When summoned (as) a witness against Publius Clodius (Pulcher), his wife Pompeia's paramour, (who had been) accused of the pollution of religious ceremonies, he said that he knew nothing (of it), although both his mother Aurelia and his sister Julia had given the same panel of jurors a full and truthful account (of the affair); and, being asked why then had he divorced his wife, he said, "Because my (family) should be free from the suspicion of a crime as much as the discernment (of one)."
LXXV. His acts of mercy in warfare.
(1) In truth, he showed admirable self-restraint and clemency, both in his conduct of the civil war and in (the hour of) victory. While Pompey declared that he would consider as his enemies (those) who failed to (take up arms) on behalf of the republic, he himself publicly announced that those who were neutral and belonged to neither party would be considered by him as his (friends). To all (those) to whom he had given military appointments on Pompey's recommendation, he gave the right to go over to him. (2) After the conditions for surrender were being discussed at Ilerda (i.e. in Spain in 49 B.C.), which gave rise to constant communication between both parties, when (Lucius) Afranius (i.e. cos. 60 B.C.) and (Marcus) Petreius (i.e. Pompey's commanders in Spain), through a sudden change of heart, put to death any of Caesar's (men) whom they caught within their camp, he could not bring himself to imitate the treachery practised against him. At the battle of Pharsalus (i.e. in Illyricum in 48 B.C.) he cried out that they should spare their fellow-citizens, and, afterwards, he allowed each one of his (men) to preserve the life of one (man) of the opposing party, whom he wished (to save). (3) Not one (of them) would be found to have perished other than in battle, excepting only (Lucius) Afranius, and Faustus (Cornelius Sulla), and the young Lucius (Julius) Caesar (i.e. they all died after the Battle of Thapsus in North Africa in 46 B.C.); and it is thought that even they were put to death against his wishes; yet of these the former (two) had taken to arms again, after their pardon (had been) secured, and Caesar, having put to death his (relative's) freedmen and slaves with fire and sword in a cruel manner, had also butchered the wild beasts (that he had) procured for the people's entertainment. (4) And finally, in his later years, he even permitted all those whom he had not yet pardoned to return to Italy and take up magistracies and (army) commands; and he actually replaced the statues of Lucius Sulla and Pompey, (which had been) shattered by the people, and, after this, if any serious plots were made, or slanders uttered, against him, he preferred to discourage rather than punish (those responsible). (5) And so, having detected conspiracies and nocturnal assemblies, he went no further than to show by proclamation that they were known to him, and he publicly warned those who found satisfaction in speaking harshly (against him) not to persist (in their offence), and he bore with a courteous nature the attacks on his reputation in that most libellous pamphlet of Aulus Caecina and those most abusive lampoons of Pitholaus.
LXXVI. His abuse of power.
(1) But his other actions and sayings (so) outweighed (these good qualities) that he is thought to have abused his power and to have been rightly slain. For not only did he accept excessive honours, (such as) a continuous consulship, perpetual dictatorship and a prefecture of (public) morals, as well as the forename 'Emperor', the surname 'Father of his Country', a statue among (those of) the kings, (and) a raised couch in the orchestra (of the theatre), but he also allowed honours to be bestowed on him (which were) too much for a human being: a golden throne in the senate-house and on the tribunal (i.e. the elevated platform in the forum), a consecrated chariot and a litter for the procession around the Circus, a sacred couch, a priest, (an additional college of) Lupercals, and the calling of a month from his name (i.e. July); in fact, (there were) no honours which he did not receive and confer at his pleasure.
(2) He held his third and fourth consulships (i.e. in 46 and 45 B.C.) in name only, being content with the power of the dictatorship, conferred (on him) at the same time as the consulships, and in both these years he substituted two consuls for himself during the last three months (n.b. actually, this only applies to 45 B.C., when he appointed Quintus Fabius Maximus and Gaius Trebonius as consuls for the last three months of the year), and so in the meantime he held no elections, except (those) for tribunes and plebeian aediles, and he appointed prefects instead of praetors to manage the affairs of the City in his absence. On the sudden death of a consul (i.e. Quintus Fabius Maximus) on the day before the Kalends of January (i.e. January 1st 44 B.C.), he gave the vacant office for a few hours (to a man who was) seeking (it) (i.e. Gaius Caninius Rebilus). (3) Disregarding national precedent with the same licence, he appointed magistrates for several years (ahead), he bestowed the emblems of the consulship on ten men who had been praetors, (and) admitted to the senate-house (those who had been) given citizenship, and some from the semi-barbarous (peoples) of Gaul. Moreover, he put his own slaves in charge of the Mint and the public revenues, (and) he entrusted the care and command of the three legions he had left behind in Alexandria, to his favourite, (who was) the son of his freedman Rufio.
LXXVII. His public arrogance.
(1) He gave forth publicly utterances of no less arrogance, as Titus Ampius records: that the state was nothing (but) a name only, without shape or substance, that Sulla did not know his alphabet, when he gave up the dictatorship; that men ought now to be more circumspect when talking with him, and consider what he may saw as law. And he proceeded with such arrogance that, when a soothsayer reported unfavourable entrails without a heart, he said that they will be more favourable when he wishes (it); nor should it be regarded as a prodigy, if a heart should be found wanting in a beast.
LXXVIII. The last straw.
(1) But it was for the following reason that a particular and deadly hatred was aroused against him. He received all the conscript fathers as they came to him with numerous most honourable (awards, which they had just) voted (him), sitting in front of the temple of Venus Genetrix (i.e. built in the new Forum of Caesar in 46 B.C.). Some think that he was held down by Cornelius Balbus, when he attempted to rise; others (say) that he did not attempt (to do so) in any way at all, but that he even admonished Gaius Trebatius, and gave him an angry look, (for suggesting) that he should rise. (2) And this behaviour of his seemed much more intolerable, because he was so indignant that Pontius Aquila, one of the college (of tribunes), did not stand up as he passed by the tribunician benches during his triumph, that he exclaimed: "Well then, tribune Aquila, take back the republic from me!"And for several days he would not desist from promising anything to anyone without adding: "If only it should be permitted by Pontius Aquila."
LXXIX. Caesar and the kingship.
(1) To such a conspicuous insult being shown to the senate, he added an act of even greater arrogance. For, when, as he was returning home after the sacrificial rites of the Latin (festival) amid the extravagant and unprecedented acclamations of the people, someone in the crowd placed a (laurel) crown, bound with a white fillet, on his statue, and the tribunes of the people, Epidius Marullus and Caesetius Flavus, had ordered that the fillet be removed from the crown, and the man be taken to prison, (he,) being greatly concerned either that the idea of monarchy had been suggested with such little success, or, as was said, that he was robbed of the credit of refusing (it), severely reprimanded the tribunes and deprived (them) of their office. (2) From that (day forward) he was never able to wipe away the infamy of aspiring to the name of king, although he responded to the people, when they saluted him as king, that he was 'Caesar', not 'king'; and during the feast of the Lupercalia (i.e. in Rome on 15th February 44 B.C.), (when) a diadem (was) placed several times on his head on the rostrum by the consul (Marcus) Antonius, he removed (it) and sent (it) to the Capitol for Jupiter the Best and the Greatest. (3) But a variegated report was spread abroad that he would be migrating to Alexandria or Ilium, to where the ruling powers would be transferred, and that he would allow the management of the City (to go) to his friends, and that at at the next meeting of the senate, Lucius (Aurelius) Cotta, one of the Quindecemviri (Sacris Faciundi) (i.e. the college of Fifteen priests in charge of interpreting the Sibylline Books), would put forward a motion that, since it was contained in the fateful books that the Parthians could never be conquered except by a king, Caesar should be called king.
LXXX. The conspiracy against Caesar.
(1) For this reason it was decided by the conspirators to hasten their designs, in order that it should not be necessary (for them) to assent (to this proposal).
Therefore, the deliberations, (which had) previously (been) held separately, and in which two or three (people) had often taken part, all came together into a single (group), since not even the people (were) now pleased with the present situation, but they secretly and openly disparaged his tyranny, and demanded a champion (of their cause). (2) When foreigners were admitted into the senate, a placard was put up, (stating): "(This is) a good deed: let no one consent to show (the way) to the senate-house to a newly-appointed senator!" And these (verses) were commonly sung: "Caesar led the Gauls in triumph, (then he took them) to the senate-house; the Gauls took off their breeches, (and) put on the laticlave (i.e. the tunic with a purple stripe, worn by senators)." As Quintus (Fabius) Maximus, whom he had appointed consul (in his place) for three months (i.e. October-December 45 B.C.), was entering the theatre, when a lictor, in accordance with custom, bid (the people) pay attention to (who was coming), it was shouted out by everyone that he was no consul. (3) After the tribunes Caesetius and Marullus (had been) removed from office, at the next elections several votes were found for them to be proclaimed (as) consuls. Someone (then) wrote on (the base of) the statue of Lucius (Junius) Brutus: "If only you were (still) alive!" (and) likewise (on that) of Caesar himself: "Brutus was made the first consul (i.e. in 509 B.C.) because he drove away the kings; this (man), because he drove away the consuls, has become our king at last." (4) He was conspired against by more then sixty (people), Gaius Cassius (Longinus) and Marcus and Decimus (Junius) Brutus being the leaders of the conspiracy. At first, they (were) undecided as to whether they should divide into (two) groups at the elections on the Campus (Martius), (so that some) should hurl (him) from the bridge, as he summoned the tribes to vote, and the others should slay (him below), or (whether) they should set about (him) on the Sacred Way or at the entrance to the theatre, (but) after (a meeting) of the senate was called for the Ides (i.e. 15th) of March in the hall of Pompey, they readily gave their preference (to this as) the time and place.
LXXXI. Warnings and portents.
(1) But his coming murder was brought to Caesar's notice by unmistakable signs. A few months before, when the colonists, settled in the colony of Capua under the Julian law, were demolishing some ancient sepulchres in order to build country houses, and they did this all the more keenly because, on examining (them), they discovered certain vessels of ancient workmanship, a brass tablet was found in a tomb, in which the founder of Capua, Capys (i.e. the legendary king of Alba Longa 963-935 B.C. and descendant of Caesar's ancestor, Aeneas of Troy), was said (to have been) buried, with an inscription in Greek words and letters to this effect: "Whenever the bones of Capys shall be discovered, it will come to pass that a descendant of his shall be slain and shall then be avenged at great cost to Italy." (2) Lest anyone should think this anecdote fabulous or fictitious, its circulator was Cornelius Balbus, Caesar's most intimate (associate). In the next (few) days, he learned that the herds of horses which he had consecrated to the river Rubicon after crossing (it), and had turned loose to graze without a keeper, had entirely abstained from food and were shedding tears copiously. And, (while he was) sacrificing, the prophet Spurinna warned (him) to beware of (some) danger, which could not be put off until after the Ides of March. (3) And on the day before the Ides itself, birds of various kinds, (coming) from a neighbouring grove, pursued a small bird (i.e. a wren perhaps), bearing a laurel sprig (in its beak), as it was flying into Pompey's hall, and tore (it) to pieces then and there. On that very night, from which arose the day of his murder,, he seemed in a dream at one moment to be soaring above the clouds, and at another to have joined hands with Jupiter, and his wife Calpurnia imagined that the pediment of their house had collapsed and that her husband (lay) stabbed in her bosom; and at once the chamber doors sprung open of their own accord.
(4) On account of these (omens), as well as on account of his infirm health (i.e. his fits of epilepsy), he was in doubt for some time as to whether he should remain at home and defer what he had proposed to do in the senate, (but) at last, being exhorted by Decimus Brutus not to disappoint that full meeting (of senators) that had been waiting for him for some time, he went forth at about the fifth hour (i.e. ten o'clock in the morning), and, when a note revealing the plot was handed (him) by someone on the way, he intermingled (it) with the other papers which he was holding in his left hand, as though he was intending to read (it) soon. Then, after several victims had been slain, although he could not obtain any favourable omens, he entered the senate-house, superstition being scorned, and deriding Spurinna as a false prophet, because the Ides of March had come, without him (suffering) any harm; and yet he (i.e. Spurinna) said that they had come indeed, but they had not gone away.
LXXXII. Caesar's assassination.
(1) When (he) had taken his seat, the conspirators stood around (him) on the pretext of paying their respects, and immediately Tillius Cimber, who had undertaken the leading role, came up closer (than the others), as if he were going to ask something, and, having received a declining gesture deferring him to another time, he took hold of his toga by each shoulder: then, as he cried out: "This is violence indeed!" one of the Casca (brothers) stabbed (him) from behind just below the throat. (2) Caesar seized Casca's arm and ran (it) through with his stylus, and, when trying to spring forward, he was impeded by another wound; and seeing that he was being attacked from all sides with drawn daggers, he wrapped his toga around his head, and at the same time he drew down its fold to the lower (parts of) his legs with his left hand, so that he might fall more decently with the lower parts of his body also covered. And so he was stabbed in one way by twenty-three blows, uttering a groan but no word at the first stroke, though they said that, when Marcus Brutus rushed at (him), he did say (in Greek): "You too, my child?" (3) With everyone dispersing, he lay (there) lifeless for some time, until three of his slaves, having put (him) in a litter, took (him) home, with an arm hanging down (over the side).
(4) It had been the intention of the conspirators to drag the body of the dead (man) into the Tiber, to confiscate his property, (and) to revoke his edicts, but they desisted through fear of the consul, Mark Antony, and of Lepidus, the master of the horse.
LXXXIII. Caesar's will.
(1) Then, at the request of his father-in-law, Lucius (Calpurnius) Piso, his will, which he had made on the preceding Ides of September at (his villa) near Lavicum, and entrusted (to the care of) the chief Vestal Virgin, was opened and read in Antony's house. Quintus Tubero states that from (the time of) his first consulship (i.e. in 59 B.C.) right up to the beginning of the civil war (i.e. in 49 B.C.), (it was) customary for Gnaeus Pompey to be assigned by him (as) his heir, and for this to be read to his soldiers in public. (2) But in his latest will he named three heirs, his sister's grandsons, three-quarters of (his estate) to Gaius Octavius, and the remaining quarter of (it to be shared between) Lucius Pinarius (Scarpus) and Quintus Pedius; at the end of the document he also adopted Gaius Octavius into his name and family; and he named several of his assassins among the guardians of his son, if one should be born to him, (and) Decimus Brutus among his secondary heirs. He bequeathed to the people his gardens near the Tiber for public use, and three hundred sesterces to each man.
LXXXIV. Caesar's funeral.
(1) (When) the funeral (was) announced, a pyre was erected on the Campus Martius near the tomb of (his daughter) Julia, and on the Rostra a gilded shrine (was) set up which resembled the temple of Venus Genetrix; and within (it they placed) an ivory couch, covered with purple and golden (cloth), and at its head (there was) a memorial pillar with the robe, in which he was murdered. Since a day seemed insufficient for the offering of gifts, (people were) directed to take (them) to the Campus (Martius) by whatever routes of the City each one wished (to use), with no order of precedence. (2) Among the plays (enacted at the funeral) were some (passages designed) to arouse pity and indignation at his murder: (one) from Pacuvius' 'The Trial of Arms': "Did I save (these men), so that they might be able to destroy me?" and (another) from Atilius' 'Electra' to the same effect. In place of a panegyric, the consul Antonius proclaimed by means of a herald the resolution of the senate, by which it had decreed to him all (honours), divine and human at the same time; and, likewise, the oath by which they had bound themselves to (secure) the safety of this one (man); to these he added a few words from himself. (3) Magistrates and (those who had) fulfilled the offices of state carried the bier from the Rostra into the Forum. While some proposed to burn his (body) in Jupiter's sanctuary on the Capitol, (and) others in the hall of Pompey, suddenly two men girt with swords, and both of them bearing javelins, set fire (to it) with blazing torches, and the throng of bystanders at once heaped upon (it) dry faggots and the judgment seats with their benches, and whatever else could serve as an offering. (4) Then, the pipers and the dramatic artists tore from themselves the robe which they had worn on the present occasion, (taken) from the stock of his triumphs, and ripped (it) in pieces and flung it into the flames, and the legionaries of his veteran bands (did the same) with their armour, with which they were refining and glorifying the funeral; very many of the women also (acted similarly) with the jewellery, which they wore, and the gold buttons and embroidered tunics of their children. (5) At the height of the public grief, a multitude of foreign peoples went around lamenting, each in accordance with their own custom, especially the Jews, who even flocked to the funeral spot for several night in succession.
LXXXV. The aftermath of the funeral.
(1) The populace went straight from the funeral to the house of Brutus and (that) of Cassius with torches (in their hands) and were repelled with difficulty; (then,) they slew Helvius Cinna, through a mistake about his name, as though he were Cornelius (Cinna), whom they were looking for, because he had spoken critically about Caesar on the previous day, and they carried his head about fixed on the (head of a) spear. Afterwards, they set up in the Forum a substantial column of Numidian marble, nearly twenty-foot (high), and on it they inscribed (the words) "To the Father of His Country". At this (column), they continued for a long time to offer sacrifices, to make vows, (and) to settle certain disputes, by taking oaths sworn in the name of Caesar.
LXXXVI. Caesar anticipates his death.
(1) Caesar left a suspicion in (the minds of) some of his (friends) that he neither wished nor cared to live any longer, because he was suffering from unfavourable health, and that, for this reason, he had ignored what the portents were warning and what his friends were telling (him). There are (those) who think that, trusting in that latest decree of the senate and in their oath (of loyalty), he even dispensed with the guard of Spaniards who attended (him) with (drawn) swords. (2) Others, on the contrary, are of the opinion that he chose to expose himself once and for all to the plots (against him) that threatened (him) on all sides. Some say that he also used to say (this): "(That it was) not so much in his own interests as (it was) in the interests of the commonwealth that he should be alive; that he had long since had enough of power and glory; (but, that) if anything were to happen to him, the commonwealth would have no peace, and would undergo civil wars under much worse conditions (than before)."
LXXXVII. His wish for a swift end.
(1) This is plainly agreed amongst almost everyone, that the death such as befell him (was) almost in accordance with his wishes. For once, when he had read in Xenophon's (account) that Cyrus (i.e. Cyrus the Great, King of Persia 600 -530 B.C.), in his last illness, had given instructions concerning his funeral, he rejected such a slow kind of death, and opted for a sudden and speedy (one) in his own case; and, on the day before he was killed, during a conversation at a dinner in the house of Marcus Lepidus (concerning) what was the most appropriate (way to) end one's life, he chose a sudden and unexpected (one).
LXXXVIII. The Comet.
(1) He died in the fifty-sixth year of his age, and was reckoned among the number of the gods, not only by a decree of the legislators but also in the opinion of the common people. In fact, (it was) during the games, which his heir Augustus first provided in his honour, that a comet star, rising at about the eleventh hour, shone continuously for seven days, and it was believed to be Caesar's soul being received into heaven; and, for this reason, a star is attached to the top of his statue.
It was agreed that the senate-house, in which he was murdered, should be shut, that the Ides of March should be called (the Day of) Parricide, and that the senate should never be called on that day.
LXXXIX. The fate of the conspirators.
(1) Almost none of the conspirators survived for more than three years, or died a natural death. Having all been condemned (by the senate), some perished in one way, some in another, some by shipwreck, others in battle (i.e. particularly at the battle of Philippi in October 42 B.C.); some (e.g. Marcus Brutus and Lucius Cassius) killed themselves with the very same dagger, with which they had stabbed Caesar.
