FROM POMPEY'S RETURN FROM THE EAST TO CICERO'S BANISHMENT AND RECALL.
B.C. 62-57.
Pompey, as we have already seen, reached Italy in B.C. 62. It was
generally feared that he would seize the supreme power, but he soon
calmed these apprehensions by disbanding his army immediately after
landing at Brundusium. He did not, however, enter Rome in triumph till
the 30th of September, B.C. 61. The triumph lasted two days, and
surpassed in splendor every spectacle that Rome had yet seen. The
tablets carried in the procession, on which his victories were
emblazoned, declared that he had taken 1000 strong fortresses, 900
towns, and 800 ships; that he had founded 39 cities; that he had raised
the revenue of the Roman people from 59 millions to 85 millions; and
that he had brought into the public treasury 20,000 talents. Before his
triumphal car walked 324 captive princes.
With this triumph the first and most glorious part of Pompey's life may
be said to have ended. Hitherto he had been employed almost exclusively
in war; but now he was called upon to play a prominent part in the civil
commotions of the Republic--a part for which neither his natural talents
nor his previous habits had in the least fitted him. From the death of
Sulla to the present time, a period of nearly twenty years, he had been
unquestionably the first man in the Roman world, but he did not retain
much longer this proud position, and soon discovered that the genius of
Cæsar had reduced him to a second place in the state. It would seem as
if Pompey, on his return to Rome, hardly knew to which party to attach
himself. He had been appointed to the command against the pirates and
Mithridates in opposition to the aristocracy, and they still regarded
him with jealousy and distrust. He could not, therefore, ally himself to
them, especially too as some of their most influential leaders, such as
M. Crassus and L. Lucullus, were his personal enemies. At the same time
he seems to have been indisposed to unite himself to the popular party,
which had risen into importance during his absence in the East, and over
which Cæsar possessed unbounded influence. But the object which engaged
the immediate attention of Pompey was to obtain from the Senate a
ratification of his acts in Asia, and an assignment of lands which he
had promised to his veterans. In order to secure this object, he had
purchased the Consulship for one of his officers, L. Afranius, who was
elected with Q. Metellus for B.C. 60. But L. Afranius was a man of
slender ability; and the Senate, glad of an opportunity to put an
affront upon a person whom they both feared and hated, resolutely
refused to sanction Pompey's measures in Asia. This was the unwisest
thing they could have done. If they had known their real interests, they
would have yielded to all Pompey's wishes, and have sought by every
means to win him over to their side, as a counterpoise to the growing
and more dangerous influence of Cæsar. But their short-sighted policy
threw Pompey into Cæsar's arms, and thus sealed the downfall of their
party. Pompey was resolved to fulfill the promises he had made to his
Asiatic clients and his veteran troops.
Cæsar had returned from Spain in the middle of this year. He had been in
that province for one year as Proprætor, during which time he displayed
that military ability which was soon to be exhibited on a still more
conspicuous field. He subdued the mountainous tribes of Lusitania, took
the town of Brigantium in the country of the Gallæci, and gained many
other advantages over the enemy. His troops saluted him as Imperator,
and the Senate honored him by a public thanksgiving. He now laid claim
to a triumph, and at the same time wished to become a candidate for the
Consulship. For the latter purpose his presence in the city was
necessary; but, as he could not enter the city without relinquishing his
triumph, he applied to the Senate to be exempted from the usual law, and
to become a candidate in his absence. As this was refused, he at once
relinquished his triumph, entered the city, and became a candidate for
the Consulship. He was elected without difficulty, but the aristocracy
succeeded in associating with him in the Consulship M. Bibulus, who
belonged to the opposite party, and who had likewise been his colleague
in the Ædileship and Prætorship.
Cæsar now represented to Pompey the importance of detaching from the
aristocracy M. Crassus, who, by his connections and immense wealth,
possessed great political influence. Pompey and Crassus had for a long
time past been deadly enemies, but they were now reconciled, and the
three entered into an agreement to divide the power between themselves.
This first Triumvirate, as it is called, was therefore merely a private
arrangement between the three most powerful men at Rome, which remained
a secret till the proceedings of Cæsar in his Consulship showed that he
was supported by a power against which it was in vain for his enemies to
struggle.
As soon as Cæsar had entered upon his Consulship he proposed an agrarian
law for the division of the rich Campanian land. The execution of the
law was to be intrusted to a board of twenty commissioners. The
opposition of the aristocratical party was in vain. Porapey and Crassus
spoke in favor of the law; and the former declared that he would bring
both sword and buckler against those who used the sword. On the day on
which it was put to the vote, Bibulus and the other members of the
aristocracy were driven out of the forum by force of arms: the law was
carried, the commissioners appointed, and about 20,000 citizens,
comprising, of course, a great number of Pompey's veterans, received
allotments subsequently. Bibulus, despairing of being able to offer any
farther resistance to Cæsar, shut himself up in his own house, and did
not appear again in public till the expiration of his Consulship.
Cæsar obtained from the people a ratification of all Pompey's acts in
Asia, and, to cement their union more closely, gave his only daughter
Julia in marriage to Pompey. His next step was to gain over the Equites,
who had rendered efficient service to Cicero in his Consulship, and had
hitherto supported the aristocratical party. An excellent opportunity
now occurred for accomplishing this object. In their eagerness to obtain
the farming of the public taxes in Asia, the Equites had agreed to pay
too large a sum, and accordingly petitioned the Senate for more
favorable terms. This, however, had been opposed by Metellus Celer,
Cato, and others of the aristocracy; and Cæsar, therefore, now carried a
law to relieve the Equites from one third of the sum which they had
agreed to pay. Having thus gratified the people, the Equites, and
Pompey, he was easily able to obtain for himself the provinces which he
wished.
It is not attributing any extraordinary foresight to Cæsar to suppose
that he already saw that the struggle between the different parties at
Rome must eventually be terminated by the sword. The same causes were
still in operation which had led to the civil wars between Marius and
Sulla; and he was well aware that the aristocracy would not hesitate to
call in the assistance of force if they should ever succeed in detaching
Pompey from his interests. It was therefore of the first importance for
him to obtain an army which he might attach to himself by victories and
rewards. Accordingly, he induced the Tribune Vatinius to propose a bill
to the people granting him the provinces of Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum
for five years (B.C. 58-54). Transalpine Gaul was shortly afterward
added. Cæsar chose the Gallic provinces, as he would thus be able to
pass the winter in Italy and keep up his communication with the city,
while the disturbed state of Farther Gaul promised him sufficient
materials for engaging in a series of wars in which he might employ an
army that would afterward be devoted to his purposes. In addition to
these considerations, Cæsar was also actuated by the ambition of
subduing forever that nation which had once sacked Rome, and which had
been, from the earliest times, more or less an object of dread to the
Roman state.
The Consuls of the following year (B.C. 58) were L. Calpurnius Piso and
A. Gabinius. Piso was Cæsar's father-in-law, and Gabinius in his
Tribunate had proposed the law conferring upon Pompey the command
against the pirates. Cæsar saw that it was evident they would support
whatever the Triumvirs might wish. Cicero was now threatened with
destruction.
In B.C. 62, while the wife of Cæsar was celebrating in the house of her
husband, then Prætor and Pontifex Maximus, the rites of the Bona Dea,
from which all male creatures were excluded, it was discovered that P.
Clodius Pulcher, a profligate noble, whom we have seen inciting the army
of Lucullus to insurrection, had found his way into the mansion
disguised in woman's apparel, and, having been detected, had made his
escape by the help of a female slave. The matter was laid before the
Senate, and by them referred to the members of the Pontifical College,
who passed a resolution that sacrilege had been committed. Cæsar
forthwith divorced his wife. Clodius was impeached and brought to trial.
In defense he pleaded an alibi, offering to prove that he was at
Interamna at the very time when the crime was said to have been
committed; but Cicero came forward as a witness, and swore that he had
met and spoken to Clodius in Rome on the day in question. In spite of
this decisive testimony, and the evident guilt of the accused, the
Judices pronounced him innocent by a majority of voices (B.C. 61).
Clodius now vowed deadly vengeance against Cicero. To accomplish his
purpose more readily, he determined to become a candidate for the
Tribunate, but for this it was necessary, in the first place, that he
should be adopted into a plebeian family by means of a special law.
This, after protracted opposition, was at length accomplished through
the interference of the Triumvirs, and he was elected Tribune for B.C.
58.
One of the first acts of Clodius, after entering upon office, was to
propose a bill interdicting from fire and water any one who should be
found to have put a Roman citizen to death untried. Cicero changed his
attire, and, assuming the garb of one accused, went round the Forum
soliciting the compassion of all whom he met. For a brief period public
sympathy was awakened. A large number of the Senate and the Equites
appeared also in mourning, and the better portion of the citizens seemed
resolved to espouse his cause. But all demonstrations of such feelings
were promptly repressed by Piso and Gabinius. Cæsar had previously made
overtures to Cicero, which the orator, overrating his influence and
relying upon the support of Pompey, had rejected. The Triumvirs now left
him to his fate, and Cicero, giving way to despair, quitted Rome at the
beginning of April (B.C. 68), and reached Brundusium about the middle of
the month. From thence he crossed over to Greece. The instant that the
departure of Cicero became known, a law was passed pronouncing his
banishment, forbidding any one to entertain or harbor him, and
denouncing as a public enemy whosoever should take any steps toward
procuring his recall. His mansion on the Palatine, and his villas at
Tusculum and Formiæ, were at the same time given over to plunder and
destruction. Clodius, having thus gratified his hatred, did not care to
consult any longer the views of the Triumvirs. He restored Tigranes to
liberty, whom Pompey had kept in confinement, ridiculed the great
Imperator before the people, and was accused of making an attempt upon
his life. Pompey, in revenge, resolved to procure the recall of Cicero
from banishment, and was thus brought again into some friendly
connections with the aristocratical party. The new Consuls (B.C. 57)
were favorable to Cicero; but, though Clodius was no longer in office,
he had several partisans among the Tribunes who offered the most
vehement opposition to the restoration of his great enemy. One of the
chief supporters of Cicero was the Tribune T. Annius Milo, a man as
unprincipled and violent as Clodius himself. He opposed force to force,
and at the head of a band of gladiators attacked the hired ruffians of
Clodius. The streets of Rome were the scenes of almost daily conflicts
between the leaders of these assassins. At length the Senate, with the
full approbation of Pompey, determined to invite the voters from the
different parts of Italy to repair to Rome and assist in carrying a law
for the recall of Cicero. Accordingly, on the 4th of August, the bill
was passed by an overwhelming majority. On the same day Cicero quitted
Dyrrhachium, and crossed over to Brundusium. He received deputations and
congratulatory addresses from all the towns on the line of the Appian
Way; and having arrived at Rome on the 4th of September, a vast
multitude poured forth to meet him, while the crowd rent the air with
acclamations as he passed through the Forum and ascended the Capitol to
render thanks to Jupiter (B.C. 57).
[Illustration: Temple of Hercules at Rome.]
[Illustration: Temple of Nemausus (_Nimes_), now called the _Maison
Carrée_.]