No sooner was Cato again alone, than he dragged off the bandages and let himself bleed to death.
Gnæus and Sextus Pompeius had gone to Spain, and Scipio escaped to a ship and sailed away, hoping to join the lads.
But Cæsar sent a vessel in pursuit of the defeated general, and Scipio, seeing that he must be captured, threw himself overboard and was drowned.
Numidia was now made a Roman province, and Cæsar’s work in Africa was ended. He returned to Rome in July 46 B.C. as ruler of the great Roman Empire.
CHAPTER CXIV
CÆSAR IS LOADED WITH HONOURS
When Cæsar reached Rome in July 46 B.C., he found that he had already been appointed Dictator for ten years.
In the Senate there was now not a member who was not eager to agree to his slightest wish. Yet it was but a year or two since many of them had been ready to brand him as a traitor. But Cæsar had crossed the Rubicon now, and was king in all but name.
The conqueror had, however, no wish to remind those who had been his enemies of their unkindnesses. His return to Rome was made a joyous season, and was not spoiled by the punishment of those who had been opposed to him, much less by their murder.
Indeed, Cæsar not only pardoned those who had been the friends of Pompey, but he gave them positions of trust in the State.