History of Julius Cæsar, Vol. 2 of 2

by Emperor of the French Napoleon III

We are astonished, in reading the “Commentaries”, at the ease with which Cæsar repaired every year from Gaul into Italy, or into Illyria. There must have been relays established on the principal lines along which he had to travel, not only for his own use, but also for the couriers who carried dispatches. We have seen that, in 696, Cæsar passed in eight days from the banks of the Tiber to Geneva. According to Suetonius, he travelled 100 miles a day, or 150 kilometres in twenty-four hours, which makes a little more than six kilometres an hour. The couriers took twenty-eight or thirty days to go from England to Rome. Plutarch informs us that, in order to lose no time, Cæsar travelled by night, sleeping in a chariot or litter.[657] By day he had with him a secretary, who wrote under his dictation, and he was followed by a soldier who carried his sword. In his military marches he went sometimes on horseback, but most frequently he preceded the soldiers on foot, and, with head uncovered, he gave no care either to sun or rain.[658]

In the midst of the most perilous enterprises, he found time to correspond with men of influence, and even to read poems which Cicero sent him, to whom he sent back his opinions and criticisms;[659] his mind was incessantly occupied with the events which were passing in Rome.

Consulship of Pompey and Crassus.

IV. At the beginning of the year 699, the consuls were not yet nominated. In such circumstances, the Senate appointed interreges, who, invested with the consular powers, succeeded each other in office every five days. It was by favour of this interregnum that the comitia were held. The result was foreseen. Besides their immense clientelle, Pompey and Crassus were assured of the support of Cæsar, who, as we have said, had taken care to send on leave a great number of his legionaries to vote.[660] They arrived in charge of Publius Crassus, son of the triumvir, whose exploits in Aquitaine had given him celebrity.

The only candidate of the previous year, L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, excited by Cato, his brother-in-law, persisted in his candidature to the last moment. Starting before daybreak to the comitia, with M.Cato and many of his clients, he and his followers were exposed to violent attacks. The slave who walked before him with a lantern in his hand was killed, and Cato wounded. Domitius was seized with terror, and sought shelter in his house. The interrex who presided over the comitia proclaimed, without opposition, Crassus and Pompey consuls.

The arrangements concluded at Lucca had thus succeeded, and the ambition of the three eminent personages who absorbed public attention was satisfied; but the aim of this ambition varied according to their several tempers. Crassus only desired the command of an army, in order to increase his reputation and his immense riches. Pompey, without deep convictions, placed his vanity in being the first man of the Republic. Cæsar, the head of the popular party, aspired to power, in order, above all other considerations, to ensure the triumph of his cause. The way which would offer itself to his mind was not to excite civil war, but to obtain his own nomination several times to the consulship; the great citizens who had preceded him had followed no other way, and the there is a natural tendency to take for our example that which has been successful in the past. The glory acquired in Gaul assured Cæsar beforehand of the public favour, which was to carry him again to the first magistracy. Nevertheless, to dispel the obstacles continually raised by a powerful party, it was necessary to remove hostile competitors from important offices; to gain the support of distinguished men, such as Cicero; and, as everything was venal, to buy, with the produce of the booty he made by war, the consciences which were for sale. This course, seconded by Pompey and Crassus, promised success.

Pompey, always under the influence of his wife’s charms, appeared to rest satisfied with the part which was assigned to him. Had he been free from all engagement, and obeyed his own instincts, he would have embraced the cause of the Senate rather than that which he was sustaining; for men of a nature so vain as his, prefer the flattering adherence of the aristocracy in the middle of which they live, to the expression of the approbation of the people, which rarely reaches their ears. Dragged on by the force of circumstances, he was obliged to wrestle against those who stood in his way; and the more the opposition showed itself ardent, the more he gave way to the violence of his temper. Legality, moreover, was observed by nobody, as the following incident proves. Cato aspired to the prætorship. On the day of the comitia, the first century, to which the epithet of prœrogativæ was given, and the suffrage of which exercised a great influence over the others, voted for him. Pompey, not doubting the same result from the other centuries, declared suddenly that he heard a clap of thunder,[661] and dismissed the assembly. Some days afterwards, by purchasing votes and employing all the means of intimidation at their disposal, the new consuls caused P. Vatinius, the author of the motion which, in 695, procured for Cæsar the government of the Cisalpine province, to be elected prætor, in the place of M. Cato.[662] Most of the other magistrates were similarly chosen among their creatures, and there were only two tribunes of the people, C. Ateius Capito and P. Aquilius Gallus, to represent the opposition. All these elections were conducted with a certain degree of order, troubled only once in the comitia for the ædileship. A battle took place in the Campus Martius, in which there were killed and wounded. Pompey rushed into the middle of the riot to appease it, and had his toga covered with blood. His slaves took it to his house to bring another. At the view of this blood, Julia, who was in an advanced state of pregnancy, believed that her husband had been slain, and suffered a miscarriage. This accident injured her health, but was not, as has been stated, the cause of her death, which occurred only in the year following.[663]

Motion of Trebonius on the Government of the Provinces.

V. There was no further resistance to the two consuls. The factions appeared to be vanquished. Cicero himself and Clodius became reconciled, and, through the mediation of Pompey and Crassus, promised reciprocal concessions.[664] The moment had arrived for presenting the law which was to give provinces and armies to the two first magistrates of the Republic: the latter wished the motion to come from a tribune of the people, and they had entrusted it to C. Trebonius, who was subsequently one of Cæsar’s lieutenants. The Senate had not proceeded to the distribution of provinces before the consular elections, as the law required. Trebonius, following the example given a few years before, in the case of the government of Gaul, addressed the people, and took the initiative of the two motions, one relating to Pompey and Crassus, the other to Cæsar.

The provinces destined for the two consuls, on quitting office, were not named separately for each, but Pompey and Crassus were to arrange the partition between them: Dio Cassius even pretends that they drew lots. This assertion appears to be incorrect. An insurrection of the Vaccæi and the reduction of the revolt of Clunia[665] served as a pretext to ask that Spain should be given to Pompey with four legions; Crassus was to have Syria and the neighbouring states, with a considerable army. The name of Parthians was not pronounced, but everybody knew why Crassus coveted Syria.[666] Although advanced in age (he was sixty years old), he dreamt of making the conquest of the countries which extend from the Euphrates to the Indus.[667] As to Cæsar, he was to be continued in his province. The duration of these governments was for five years; they conferred the power of raising Roman or allied troops, and of making war or peace.