[520] In Plutarch's time the system of naming the Romans was greatly confused, and he extended the confusion to earlier times. C. Asinius Pollio, who was with Cæsar at the Rubico and at the battle of Pharsalia, wrote a history of the Civil Wars. He was also a poet. (Horatius, Od. ii. 1.) His work, as we may collect from c. 46, furnished materials for anecdotes about Cæsar.
[521] This dream according to Suetonius (Cæsar, c. 7) and Dion Cassius (41. c. 24) he had at Cades (Cadiz) in Spain during his quæstorship. The time of the dream is not unimportant, if the interpretation of it was that he was destined to have the dominion of the world. Cæsar has not recorded his dream. Sulla recorded his dreams. He was superstitious and cruel. Cæsar was not cruel, and there is no proof that he was superstitious.
[522] Pompeius went to Capua, where he thought of making a stand, but he soon moved on to Brundisium. On the confusion in the city see Dion Cassius (41. c. 5-9).
[523] The author of the Eighth book of the Gallic War (c. 52) speaks of Labienus being solicited by Cæsar's enemies. Cæsar had put him over Gaul south of the Alps. In the Civil War, Book 1, he is merely mentioned as having fortified Cingulum at his own cost. Cicero (Ad Attic. vii. 7) says that he was indebted to Cæsar for his wealth. His defection is mentioned by Cicero several times, and it gave a temporary encouragement to the party of Pompeius. (Ad Attic. vi. 12, 13.) Labienus joined Pompeius and the Consuls at Teanum in Campania on the 23rd of January.
[524] Corfinium three miles from the river Aternus. Cæsar (Civil War, i. 16-23) describes the siege of Corfinium. L. Domitius Ahenobarbus was treated kindly by Cæsar. He afterwards went to Massalia and defended it against Cæsar. This most excellent citizen, as Cicero calls him, met the death he so well deserved at the battle of Pharsalia, and as Cicero says (Phillipp. ii. 29), at the hand of M. Antonius.
[525] See the Life of Pompeius, c. 62.
[526] From this it appears that the Life of Pompeius was written after the Life of Cæsar.
[527] Cæsar (Civil War, i, 32) has reported his own speech.
[528] See the Life of Pompeius, c. 62.
[529] This was the "sanctius ærarium" (Cæsar, Civil War, i. 13), which Lentulus had left open; in such alarm had he left the city. This money, which was kept in the temple of Saturn, was never touched except in cases of great emergency. Vossius remarks that to save his own character, Cæsar says that he found this treasury open. But Cæsar does not say that he found it open. He says that Lentulus left it open. There was time enough for Metellus to lock the door after Lentulus ran away. Cæsar would have been a fool not to take the money; and if he wanted it, he would of course break the door open, if he found it shut. But whether the door was open or shut was unimportant; the wrongful act, if there was any, consisted in taking the money, and he would not have been excused for taking it simply because the door was unlocked. I believe Cæsar broke it open (Cicero Ad Attic. x. 4; Dion Cassius, 41. c. 17; and the authorities quoted by Reimarus). I also believe Cæsar when he says that Lentulus left the door unlocked. The Senate had supplied Pompeius with money for the war out of the ordinary treasury. When Cæsar took Corfinium, he gave to Domitius all the money that he found there, which was to a large amount, though this was public money and had been given to Domitius by Pompeius to pay his soldiers with. (Appianus, ii. 28; Cæsar, Civil War, i. 23.) When "that man of greatest purity and integrity," as Cicero calls him, M. Terentius Varro, commanded for Pompeius in Spain (B.C. 48), he carried off the treasure from the temple of Hercules at Cadiz. That man, on whom Cicero vents every term of abuse that his fear and hatred could supply, restored the stolen money to the god. (Cæsar, Civil War, ii. 18, 21.)