“I have recognised in Cæsar very eminent and wonderful qualities; but his other virtues are, as on a vast theatre, exposed to the gaze of nations. To choose with skill the place for a camp, to marshal an army, to take fortresses, break through enemies’ lines, face the rigour of winter and those frosts which we support with difficulty in the bosom of our towns and houses, to pursue the enemy in that same season when the wild beasts hide in the depth of their retreats, and where everywhere the law of nations gives a truce to combats: these are great things; who denies it? but they have for their motive the most magnificent of recompenses, the hope of living for ever in men’s memory. Such efforts cause us no surprise in the man who aspires to immortality.
“But this is the glory which I admire in Cæsar, a glory which is neither celebrated by the verses of poets nor by the monuments of history, but which is weighed in the balance of the sage: a Roman knight, his old friend, attached, devoted, affectioned to his person, had been ruined, not by his excesses, not by shameful extravagance and the losses brought on by indulgence of the passions, but by a speculation which had for its object to augment his patrimony: Cæsar has arrested him in his descent; he has not suffered him to fall, he has held out his hand to him, has sustained him with his wealth, with his credit, and he still sustains him at the present time; he holds back his friend on the edge of the precipice, and the calm of his mind is no more disturbed by the brightness of his own name, than his eyes are dazzled by the blaze of his glory. May the actions of which I have spoken be as great in our esteem as they are in reality! Let people think what they will of my opinion in this respect; but when I see, in the bosom of such a power and of such a prodigious fortune, this generosity towards others, this unforgetfulness of friendship, I prefer them to all the other virtues. And you, judges, far from this character of goodness, so new and so rare among considerable and illustrious men, being disdained or repulsed by you, you should wrap it up in your favour, and seek to encourage it; you should do this the more, since this moment seems to have been chosen for attacking Cæsar’s consideration, although, in this respect, we could do nothing but he supports it with constancy or repairs it without difficulty. But if he hears that one of his best friends has been struck in his honour, it will be with the deepest pain, and to him an irreparable misfortune.”[710]
In another circumstance, Cicero explained as follows the reason of his attachment for the conqueror of Gaul: “Should I refuse my praises to Cæsar, when I know that the people, and, after its example, the Senate, from which my heart has never been severed, have shown their esteem for him by loud and multiplied testimonies? Then, without doubt, it must be confessed that the general interest has no influence on my sentiments, and that individuals alone are the objects of my hatred or of my friendship! What then? Should I see my vessel float with full sails towards a port which, without being the same which I preferred formerly, is neither less sure nor less tranquil, and, at the risk of my life, wrestle against the tempest rather than trust myself to the skill of the pilot who promises to save me? No, there is no inconstancy in following the movements which storms impress on the vessel of the state. For me, I have learned, I have recognized, I have read a truth, and the writers of our nation, as well as those of other peoples, have consecrated it in their works by the example of the wisest and most illustrious of men; it is, that we ought not to persist irrevocably in our opinions, but that we ought to accept the sentiments which are required by the situation of the state, the diversity of conjunctures, and the interests of peace.”[711]
In his Oration against Piso, he exclaims: “It would be impossible for me, in contemplation of the great things which Cæsar has done, and which he is doing every day, not to be his friend. Since he has the command of your armies, it is no longer the rampart of the Alps which I seek to oppose to the invasion of the Gauls; it is no longer by means of the barrier of the Rhine, with all its gurges, that I seek to arrest the fierce Germanic nations. Cæsar has done so much that, if the mountains should be levelled, and the rivers dried, our Italy, deprived of her natural fortifications, would find, in the result of his victories and exploits, a safe defence.”[712]
The warm expansion of such sentiments must have touched Cæsar, and inspired him with confidence; therefore he earnestly engaged Cicero not to quit Rome.[713]
The influence of Cæsar continued to increase, as the letters and orations of Cicero sufficiently testify. If it was required to raise citizens such as C. Messius, M. Orfius, M. Curtius, C. Trebatius,[714] to elevated positions, or to excite the interest of the judges in favour of an accused, as in the trials of Balbus, Rabirius, and Gabinius, it was always the same support which was invoked.[715]
CHAPTER VI.
EVENTS OF THE YEAR 701.
Expedition to the North of Gaul. Second Passage of the Rhine.
I. THE disturbed state of Gaul and the loss of fifteen cohorts at Tongres obliged Cæsar to augment his army; he raised two legions in the Cisalpine, and asked for a third from Pompey. Again at the head of ten legions, Cæsar, with his usual activity, hastened to repress the incipient insurrections. From the Scheldt to the Rhine, from the Seine to the Loire, most of the peoples were in arms. Those of Trèves had called the Suevi to their assistance.
Without waiting for the end of winter, Cæsar brought together four legions at Amiens, and, falling unexpectedly upon the peoples of Hainault, forced from them a speedy submission. Then he convoked in this latter town the general assembly of Gaul; but the peoples of Sens, Orleans, and Trèves did not repair to it. He then transferred the assembly to Paris, and afterwards marched upon Sens, where his appearance sufficed to pacify not only that country, but also that of Orleans. Having thus appeased in a short time the troubles of the north and centre of Gaul, he directed all his attention towards the countries situated between the Rhine and the Meuse, where Ambiorix continued to excite revolt. He was impatient to avenge upon him the defeat of Sabinus; but, to make more sure of overtaking him, he resolved first to make two expeditions, one into Brabant, the other into the country of Trèves, and in this manner to cut off that chieftain from all retreat, either on the side of the north, or on the side of the east, where the Germans were.