Ex praetura ulteriorem sortitus Hispaniam, retinentes creditores interventu sponsorum removit, ac neque more neque iure, ante quam provinciae ornarentur, profectus est; pacataque provincia, pari 15 festinatione, non expectato successore, ad triumphum simul consulatumque decessit. Sed cum, edictis iam comitiis, ratio eius haberi non posset nisi privatus introisset urbem, et ambienti ut legibus solveretur multi contradicerent, coactus est triumphum, 20 ne consulatu excluderetur, dimittere.
Suetonius, Divus Iulius, 18.
Context. In 69 B.C. Caesar was elected to a Quaestorship (the lowest step in the ladder of official life) and discharged his judicial duties in Further Spain with tact and industry.
13 retinentes . . . removit = freed himself from his creditors, who were for detaining him, by the help of sureties. Caesar is said to have borrowed from Crassus 830 talents.
14-15 ante quam provinciae ornarentur: a regular phrase used of supplying the newly chosen magistrate with money, arms, attendants, etc.
18 ratio . . . posset = his candidature could not be considered.
Propraetor in F. Spain. ‘His governorship enabled him partly to rid himself of his debts partly to lay the foundation for his military repute.’—M.