V. We are astonished to see personages such as Pompey and Cæsar protecting men who seem to have borne such bad character as Gabinius; but, to judge with impartiality the men of that period, we must not forget, in the first place, that there were very few without blemish, and, further, that the political parties never hesitated in throwing upon their adversaries the most odious calumnies. Gabinius, belonging to the popular faction, and the partisan of Pompey, had incurred the hatred of the aristocracy and of the farmers of the revenues. The nobles never pardoned him for being the author of the law which had entrusted to Pompey the command of the expedition against the pirates, and for having shown, during his proconsulship in Syria, want of deference in regard to the Senate. So that assembly refused, in 698, to order thanksgivings for his victories.[691] The farmers of the revenues bore ill-will towards him on account of his decrees against usury,[692] and his solicitude for the interests of his province.[693] This proconsul, who is represented as an adventurer pillaging those under his administration, appears to have governed Judæa with justice, and to have restored with skill, on his return from Egypt, the order which had been disturbed during his absence. His military capacity cannot be called in doubt. In speaking of him, the historian Josephus closes with these words his account of the battle against the Nabathæi: “This great captain, after so many exploits, returned to Rome, and Crassus succeeded him in the government of Syria.”[694] Nevertheless, it is very probable that Gabinius was not more scrupulous than the other proconsuls in matter of probity; for, if corruption then displayed itself with impudence in the provinces, it was perhaps still more shameless in Rome. The following is a striking example. Two candidates for the consulship, Domitius Calvinus and Memmius Gemellus, united their clients and resources of all kinds to obtain the first magistracy. In their desire to procure the support of Ahenobarbus and Claudius Pulcher, the consuls in office, they engaged by writing to secure for them, on their quitting office, the provinces they desired, and that by a double fraud: they promised first to bring three augurs to affirm the existence of a supposititious curiate law, and then to find two consulars who would declare that they had assisted at the regulation relative to the distribution of the provinces; in case of non-performance, there was stipulated, for the profit of the consuls, 400,000 sestertii.[695] This shameless traffic and others of the same kind, in which were compromised Æmilius Scaurus and Valerius Messala, had caused the interest of money to be doubled.[696] The bargain would probably have been carried out, if, in consequence of a quarrel between the two consuls, Memmius had not denounced the convention in full Senate, and produced the contract. The scandal was enormous, but it remained unpunished as regarded the consuls.
Memmius, formerly Cæsar’s enemy, had recently joined his party; nevertheless, the latter, incensed at his impudence, blamed his conduct, and abandoned him; Memmius was exiled.[697] As to Domitius, he was, it is true, accused of solicitation, and the Senate intended absolutely to close the consulship against him by deciding that the consular comitia should not be held until after judgment had been given on his trial.
All these facts bear witness to the decay of society, for the moral degradation of the individuals must infallibly bring with it the abasement of the institutions.
Death of Cæsar’s Daughter.
VI. Towards the month of August of the year 700, Cæsar lost his mother Aurelia, and, a few days afterwards, his daughter Julia. The latter, whose health had been declining since the troubles of the preceding year, had become pregnant; she died in giving birth to a son, which did not survive. Cæsar was painfully affected by this misfortune,[698] of which he received the news during his expedition to Britain.[699] Pompey was desirous of burying his wife in his estate of Alba; but the populace opposed it, carried the body to the Campus Martius, and insisted on its being buried there. By that rare privilege reserved to illustrious men, the people sought, according to Plutarch, to honour rather the daughter of Cæsar than the wife of Pompey.[700] This death broke one of the ties which united the two most important men of the Republic. To create new ties, Cæsar proposed his niece Octavia in marriage to Pompey, whose daughter he offered to espouse, although she was already married to Faustus Sylla.[701]
Cæsar’s Buildings at Rome.
VII. At the same period, the proconsul of Gaul was, with the produce of his booty, rebuilding at Rome a magnificent edifice, the old basilica of the Forum, which was extended as far as to the Temple of Liberty. “It will be the most beautiful thing in the world,” says Cicero; “there will be in the Campus Martius seven electoral enclosures and galleries of marble which will be surrounded with great porticoes of a thousand paces. Near it will be a public villa.” Paulus was charged with the execution of the works; Cicero and Oppius considered that 60,000,000 sestertii was a small sum for such an undertaking.[702] According to Pliny, the mere purchase of the site in the Forum cost Cæsar the sum of 100,000,000 sestertii.[703] This building, interrupted by events, was only finished after the African war.[704]
His Relations with Cicero.
VIII. While Cæsar was gaining, by these works destined for the public, the general admiration, he neglected none of those attentions which were of a nature to ensure him the alliance of men of importance. Cicero, as we have seen, was already reconciled with him, and Cæsar had done all in his power to gain his attachment still further. He flattered his self-love, listened to all his recommendations,[705] treating with great friendship Quintus Cicero, whom he had made one of his lieutenants; he went so far as to place at the disposal of the great orator his credit and fortune,[706] and accordingly Cicero was in continual correspondence with him. He composed, as we have seen, poems in his honour, and he wrote to Quintus “that he placed above everything the friendship of such a man, whose affection he prized as much as that of his brother and children.”[707] Elsewhere he said: “The memorable and truly divine behaviour of Cæsar towards me and towards my brother has imposed upon me the duty of seconding him in all his designs.”[708] And he had kept his word. It was at Cæsar’s request that Cicero had consented to resume his old friendly relations with Crassus,[709] and to defend Gabinius and Rabirius. This last, compromised in the affairs of Egypt, was accused of having received great sums of money from King Ptolemy; but Cicero proved that he was poor, and reduced to live upon Cæsar’s generosity, and, in the course of the trial, he expressed himself as follows:—
“Will you, judges, know the truth? If the generosity of C. Cæsar, extreme towards everybody, had not, in regard to Rabirius, passed all belief, we should have ceased long ago to see him in the Forum. Cæsar singly performs towards Postumus the duty of his numerous friends; and the services which these rendered to his prosperity, Cæsar lavishes them upon his adversity. Postumus is no longer more than the shadow of a Roman knight; if he preserves this title, it is by the protection, by the devotedness of a single friend. This phantom of his old rank, which Cæsar alone has preserved for him and assists him in sustaining, is the only wealth that we can now take from him. And this is a reason why we ought the more to maintain him in it in his distress. It cannot be the effect of a mean merit, to inspire, absent and in misfortune, so much interest in such a man, who, in so lofty a fortune, does not disdain to cast down his looks on the affairs of others. In that pre-occupation with the great things which he is doing or has done, we should not be astonished if we saw him forget his friends, and, if he forgot them, he would easily obtain forgiveness.