V
CÆSAR SUPREME
With his return begins the period of Cæsar’s full autocratic power in the largest sense of that term; honors extraordinary were heaped upon him and the whole machinery of government was in his hands. He was perpetual Tribune, and so might check all legislation which did not meet his approval. Moreover, he was made sole Censor, which position included not only the guardianship of manners and morals, but also gave him authority over the composition of the Senate, and the even more valuable supervision of contracts and financial affairs. Besides this there was the dictatorship and the consulship. No opposition could come from the religious side, for he was Pontifex Maximus and a member of all the religious colleges.
His position was not so novel as the way he used it. Sulla also had established personal autocratic rule, and Pompeius, who was looked to by the conservatives to preserve republican government, had been completely oblivious of constitutional traditions when they clashed with his interests. Cæsar did not abdicate as did Sulla, nor did he hypocritically veil his purposes as Pompeius had done. There was much ostentatious display in the way of triumphs, festivals, games, and largesses, to celebrate the conqueror’s victories, nor were deeds of cruelty absent in the Gallic triumph. Vercingetorix, who had spent six years in a Roman dungeon, was put to death in accordance with old-fashioned republican brutality.
Some citizens felt disgust at the extravagant expenditure of the autocrat, but this kind of discontent was not so deep as the resentment caused among the upper classes by the introduction of a virtual monarchy. Their point of view is vividly presented in Cicero’s correspondence during the closing years of Cæsar’s rule. He suffered all the more intensely because he had to belie his own principles and live on friendly terms with the man who had destroyed his ideals and robbed him of his chances of political distinction. Cæsar advanced oblivious of criticism, safe in the possession of uncontested powers. There were many things to do, and there was nothing to which he hesitated to set his hands. It was not a time to follow the maxim, “quieta non movere.”
Among the most difficult problems was the allotment of land to the discharged veterans. The plan followed was not to establish them in new colonies, but to incorporate them in existing communities. Apparently private rights were respected, for no serious complaints are recorded. A much-needed reform was taken in hand when Cæsar, using his power as Censor, reduced the number of those who received the dole of corn from 320,000 to 150,000 persons. Equally creditable was the extension of the Roman citizenship to non-Italians, special classes being chosen for this privilege, such as medical practitioners and teachers. Other measures were economic, such as the restoration of customs duties, or had a social aim like the attempt to extend free labor where slaves were commonly used. Municipal administration received special attention, rules being made for the maintenance of streets and lanes, for the control of wheeled traffic, and to prevent public ground from being occupied by the erectors of stands and platforms.
In general, the exceptional position of the city of Rome was not preserved; rather, provincial towns were organized after the model of the imperial metropolis. Probably it was this bold step in reducing Rome to the level of other towns, a proceeding strictly in harmony with Cæsar’s consistent and established policy of equal and fair treatment to the provinces, that led to the idle bit of gossip that he thought of transferring the capital to the East, to Alexandria or Troy. Criminal legislation was stiffened by adding to the recognized sentence of exile forfeiture of property as a penalty. Care was taken that Roman citizens should not travel abroad for a lengthy period, a provision probably intended to protect the provincials from the presence of needy individuals who would make use of official favor for questionable financial schemes. But perhaps the most striking of all these measures from the personal point of view was a law restricting the tenure of provincial governorship. There were to be no more chances open for a series of campaigns under one leader such as Cæsar had waged in Gaul.
Under this personal government there was little place for a Senate except as a registering body, and Cæsar did not always allow it to perform even this humble function. It came to have a make-believe existence. Decrees were drawn up in its name that had actually never come before it, and the conqueror’s unpopularity with the Senators was increased by the introduction of new members, who had no aristocratic traditions to maintain.
As an example of the versatility of his mind, no better one can be given than the fact that Cæsar’s work in bringing order out of chaos was extended to reorganization of the old Roman calendar, under which the year lasted only 355 days, and attempts were made to make the solar and civil years coincide by the occasional introduction of an intercalary month, a process often guided by political or superstitious motives. Since experienced scientists from Alexandria were called on as experts, Cæsar’s reformed calendar of 365 1/4 days with an intercalating day every fourth year was sufficiently accurate to stand for centuries, and with a slight correction is still in use in the civilized world.
The machinery of legislation, important and sound as it was, was not entirely depended upon to reveal the whole policy of the ruler. Cæsar is said to have explained in his public speeches that his ideal was not a despotism, but the paternal rule of a father over his children. He tried to live up to this standard, making a noteworthy display of doing so by his generous treatment of his adversaries during the period of the civil war. Some of his most truculent enemies were pardoned by an act of grace, a treatment which induced Cicero to try his hand again at the kind of decorative oratory he had displayed in his early panegyric on Pompeius. Popular as this clemency was, it did not shelter Cæsar from severe criticism when he renewed his amour with Cleopatra, now summoned to Rome, it was said on his invitation, and it was supposed that he was about to marry her, a foreign queen, as the first step to the attainment, by regular process, of regal power for himself.
Invincible as Cæsar was in war, and conciliatory as he was to those who had served against him, there was still a body of Pompeian partisans in Spain, Labienus and Cnæus Pompeius among them, who felt that there was reason for resistance and a chance of success. Cæsar’s governors in the peninsula had proved incompetent either to hold the loyalty of the provincials, or to prevent the mutiny of the troops when the Pompeian leaders appeared on Spanish ground. All they could do was to clamor for their leader’s presence. He left Rome hurriedly in December, 46. This, his last campaign, was conducted with an army inferior in numbers to that of his opponents. It was an arduous struggle, characterized by conspicuous barbarity on both sides, for neither depended on Roman legionaries alone. The Pompeians had native allies and liberated slaves, and both sides were helped by auxiliary troops from the wild tribesmen of Mauretania. After winning and taking the town of Cordova, Cæsar forced the eldest son of Pompeius to fight a pitched battle at Munda. (March 17, 45 B.C.)