THE ROMAN EMPIRE AT THE DEATH OF IULIUS CÆSAR
_Vicinæ ruptis inter se legibus_
_urbes Arma ferunt; sævit toto_
_Mars impius orbe._
[Sidenote: Natural boundaries of the Roman Empire.]
At the death of Cæsar the Roman Empire had been for the most part won.
Egypt was indeed annexed by Augustus, though on a peculiar tenure, but
subsequent additions were in a manner consequential, the inevitable
rectifications of a long frontier. Such were the provinces of the Rhine,
the Alps, and the Danube as far east as Mœsia; and to a certain extent
the province of Galatia and Lycaonia (B.C. 25). The Rhine, the Danube,
and the Euphrates seemed already the natural boundaries of the Empire
on the north and east, the Atlantic Ocean on the west, and the African
and Arabian deserts on the south. And these boundaries, with occasional
modifications, and for the most part temporary extensions, continued to
the end.
[Sidenote: Its dangers.]
But though the greater part of this wide Empire was already won, it was
not all equally well organised and secured. Thus, in Northern Gaul,
there were still Germans and other enemies to be conquered or repelled;
in Southern Spain a son of the great Pompey was in arms; Macedonia was
continually subject to invasion by Getæ, Bessi, and other barbarians; the
Dalmatians and neighbouring tribes made Illyricum an uncertain member of
the Empire; in Syria, Cæcilius Bassus—an old officer of Pompey’s—was
defying Roman armies, and inviting the aid of the Parthians always ready
to cross the Euphrates into the Roman province.
[Sidenote: Cæsar’s precautions and preparations.]
To confront two of these dangers Cæsar had collected a large army in
Macedonia in the autumn of B.C. 45 to crush the Getæ, and then crossing
to Syria to force the Parthian to respect the frontier of the Euphrates,
or even to attack them in Mesopotamia. The former of these projects
was no doubt important for the safety of the Empire, and was in after
years successfully secured by Augustus and his legates. The latter was
more visionary and theatrical, meant perhaps to strike the imagination
of the Romans rather than to secure great practical advantage. After
Cæsar’s death Antony lost more than he gained by similar enterprises, and
Augustus always avoided coming into actual contact with the Parthians,
or attempting to extend his rule beyond the Euphrates. But there were
dangers within the Empire no less formidable than from without. Its
integrity had rested, and generally securely rested, on the loyalty
of its provincial governors to the central authority as represented
by the Senate, or, in the last resort, by the order of the people
expressed in a _lex_ or _plebiscitum_. It was the beginning of the
end when these governors used the forces under their command, or the
wealth and influence secured abroad, to defy or coerce the authorities
at home. Sertorius, Sulla, and Cæsar himself, had shewn that this was
not an impossible contingency. It was against this danger that, among
other reforms in the government of the Provinces, Cæsar’s own law had
provided that the tenure of a proprætor should be confined to one, and
of a proconsul to two years. But now that he was going on a distant
expedition, calculated as likely to occupy three years, he took other
precautions. Having provided for the chief offices at home,[19] he was
careful to see that the provinces should be held by men whom he believed
to be loyal to himself, and likely from their character and ability to
maintain their peace and security. Being Consul and Dictator, and his
_acta_ being confirmed beforehand by Senate and people, he could make
what nominations he pleased. A decree of the Senate was still taken
as a matter of form, but the old practice (often a farce) of drawing
lots for the provinces was abandoned;[20] Pompey’s law ordaining a five
years’ interval between curule office and a province was neglected, and
Cæsar practically nominated the governors. But it raises a doubt as to
the unfettered power or the insight of the Dictator that five of those
thus nominated were among the assassins on the Ides of March.[21] Nor
in other respects did his choice prove happy. The state of open war or
dangerous unrest which shewed itself in almost all parts of the Empire
after his death must be learnt by a review of the provinces, if we are to
understand the problem presented to Augustus and his colleagues in the
triumvirate, and the relief felt by the Roman world when Augustus finally
took the administration into his own hands, and shewed himself capable of
restoring law and order.
[Sidenote: (1) THE GAULS.]
The GAULS now included three districts, the status of which was somewhat
unsettled. (1) _Cisalpine Gaul_, that is, Italy between Etruria and the
Alps, was still nominally a province, though Cæsar’s law of B.C. 48
had granted full _civitas_ to the transpadane, as that of B.C. 89 had
to the cispadane, towns. It had formed part of Cæsar’s province from
B.C. 58 to B.C. 48, and he seems to have retained it until after the
battle of Pharsalia, when he appointed first Marcus Brutus and then C.
Vibius Pansa to it. Though part of Italy, and generally peaceful, it had
great military importance in case of an invasion from the north. After
March B.C. 44 it was to be in the hands of Decimus Brutus, who had long
served under Cæsar, and was regarded by him with special confidence and
affection. Antony’s attempt to wrest it from Decimus Brutus brought on
the first civil war after Cæsar’s death.
[Sidenote: (2) TRANSALPINE GAUL.]
(2) _Transalpine Gaul_ technically consisted of “the Province,” that is,
South-eastern France, from the Cevennes on the west to Italy, and from
the Lake of Geneva on the north to the sea. But since Cæsar’s conquests
there had to be added to this the rest of France, Belgium, and Holland
as far as the Rhine. No formal division into distinct provinces had yet
been made. In B.C. 49 Decimus Brutus, after driving out Ahenobarbus,
the governor named by the Senate, remained in command of the whole
till B.C. 45, when he returned in Cæsar’s train to Italy. But in the
course of these four years, or on his return, (3) Belgica was separated
from the rest and assigned to Hirtius, who, however, governed it by a
legate named Aurelius, without going there himself.[22] In the course of
the next year a farther division was made: Aurelius retained Belgica;
Lepidus, with four legions, was appointed to “the Province” (afterwards
called Gallia Narbonensis) together with Hispania Citerior; while L.
Munatius Plancus governed the rest, consisting of what was afterwards
two provinces—Aquitania and Lugdunensis. Plancus and Decimus Brutus were
named consuls for B.C. 42, and therefore their governorships necessarily
terminated at the end of B.C. 43, and might do so earlier. In the course
of B.C. 43 Plancus founded Lugdunum[23] (Lyon), which was afterwards
the capital of the central province of the four organised by Augustus.
But though the organisation of this country was not complete, Cæsar’s
conquest had been so decisive that no advantage was taken of the civil
war by the natives to attempt a rising.[24] There seem to have been some
insignificant movements in B.C. 42, but it was not for some years later
that any danger of importance arose there. The Belgæ had been expected
to rise on Cæsar’s assassination, but their chiefs hastened to assure
Hirtius’s legate of their adhesion to the Roman government.[25]
[Sidenote: (3) ILLYRICUM.]
The province of ILLYRICUM had been formed about the same time as that
of Macedonia (B.C. 146), but its limits had fluctuated, and it had
not received much continuous attention. It included places, such as
Dyrrachium, Corcyra, Issa, Pharus, which had been declared free after
the contest with Queen Teuta in B.C. 228, but were practically under
Roman control. Yet some of the most powerful tribes not only did not
acknowledge Roman authority, but made frequent incursions upon Roman
Illyricum. The most dangerous of these were the Dalmatians, with whom
several wars are recorded. In B.C. 117 L. Cælius Metellus occupied
Salonæ;[26] in B.C. 87-5 Sulla won a victory over them;[27] in B.C. 78-77
C. Cosconius, after a two years’ campaign, took Salonæ by storm.[28] But
little was really effected in securing the province against its enemies.
It was let much alone so long as its tribute was paid, and was put under
the governor sometimes of Macedonia, sometimes of Cisalpine Gaul. In
Cæsar’s case (B.C. 58) it was specially assigned, like the rest of his
province, and he seems at first to have intended to go there in force
and subdue the hostile barbarians. But the Gallic campaigns drew him
away, and he only once actually entered Illyricum (B.C. 54) to overawe
the invading Pirustæ. In the last year of his proconsulship (B.C. 50)
some troops which he sent against the Dalmatians were cut to pieces.
The result of this was that the barbarians, fearing his vengeance,
adhered to Pompey in the civil war, whose legate, M. Octavius, with a
considerable fleet, maintained himself there,[29] and in B.C. 49 defeated
and captured Gaius Antonius, whom Cæsar sent against him.[30] At the
beginning of the next year Aulus Gabinius, while trying to lead a force
round the head of the Adriatic to join Cæsar, lost nearly all his men
in a battle with the Dalmatians.[31] After Pharsalia Gabinius was sent
back to assist Cornificius, who had been despatched to Illyricum as
proprætor after the mishap of Gaius Antonius; but he was again defeated
and shut up in Salonæ, where he died suddenly.[32] In B.C. 47, however,
P. Vatinius, having joined Cornificius, defeated and drove Octavius out
of the country.[33] After serving also in the African campaign of B.C.
46, Vatinius was sent back to Illyricum with three legions (B.C. 45)
expressly to reduce the still independent tribes. At first he gained
sufficient success to be honoured by a _supplicatio_,[34] but after
Cæsar’s death he was defeated by the Dalmatians with the loss of five
cohorts, and was driven to take refuge in Dyrrachium.[35] Early in B.C.
43 he was forced to surrender his legions to M. Brutus, who, however, in
the year and a half which preceded his death at Philippi, was too busy
elsewhere to attend to Illyricum.[36] Hence the expeditions of Pollio in
B.C. 39,[37] and of Augustus in B.C. 35 were rendered necessary, and they
for a time secured the pacification of the country and the extension of
Roman provinces to the Danube.
[Sidenote: (4) SPAIN.]
At the death of Iulius SPAIN was also a source of great danger
and difficulty. Since B.C. 197 it had been divided into two
provinces—Citerior and Ulterior—separated by the Saltus Castulonensis
(_Sierra Morena_), each governed by a prætor or proprætor. In B.C. 54
Pompey introduced a triple division. Of his three legates Afranius held
Hispania Citerior; but the farther province was divided between Petreius,
who held the district as far west as the Anas (_Guadiana_), afterwards
called Bætica, while Terentius Varro governed the country west of that
river with Lusitania. Having forced Pompey’s legates to surrender the
country (B.C. 49), Cæsar seems not to have continued the triple division.
Q. Cassius was sent to Hispania Ulterior, M. Lepidus to Hispania
Citerior. But Cassius offended his own soldiers as well as the natives,
and had to escape by sea, being drowned on his way home. Nor did his
successor Trebonius do much better in B.C. 47; for many of his soldiers
deserted to Gnæus Pompeius when he came to Spain after the defeat at
Thapsus in the spring of B.C. 46.[38] And though Gnæus Pompeius perished
soon after the battle of Munda (B.C. 45) his younger brother Sextus
survived. At Cæsar’s death he was already at the head of a considerable
fleet which enabled him to control Sicily and re-occupy Bætica, when
its last Cæsarean governor—the famous C. Asinius Pollio—left it to join
Antony in Gallia Narbonensis in the summer of B.C. 43. The upper province
had meanwhile been governed by the legates of Metellus, who was about to
return to it and Gallia Narbonensis with four legions when Cæsar’s death
introduced new complications.[39]
[Sidenote: (5) SICILY.]
SICILY for eight years after Cæsar’s death was practically separated from
the Empire. In B.C. 49 it had been easily won over to Cæsar’s authority
by C. Curio, and after his success in Spain against Pompey’s legates
Cæsar had nominated Aulus Allienus[40] as its proprætor. In B.C. 46
Allienus was succeeded by M. Acilius[41] (afterwards sent to Achaia), who
in his turn was succeeded by T. Furfanius Postumus (B.C. 45). Finally,
among Cæsar’s arrangements for B.C. 44 was the appointment of Pompeius
Bithynicus to Sicily. His father had served under Pompey and had perished
with him in Egypt; and Bithynicus seems to have feared retaliation from
the Pompeians if they returned to power; for on the death of Cæsar we
find him writing to Cicero in evident anxiety as to his position.[42]
He failed to hold the island against Sext. Pompeius, who landed in B.C.
43, and after sustaining a slight reverse at Messene forced Bithynicus
to yield him a share in the government, and shortly afterwards put him
to death because he believed him to be plotting against him.[43] Sicily
therefore had to be restored to the Empire by the triumvirs, a task which
fell chiefly to Augustus.
[Sidenote: (6) SARDINIA.]
SARDINIA was important for its supply of corn. In B.C. 49 Cæsar’s
legate Q. Valerius Orca occupied it without difficulty, its governor,
M. Aurelius Cotta, escaping to Africa. In B.C. 48 Orca was succeeded by
Sext. Peducæus.[44] But the arrangements made between that date and B.C.
44 are not known, for Peducæus appears to have been in Rome from the end
of B.C. 45.[45] In the first division of the provinces by the triumvirs
(November, B.C. 43) it fell to Octavian’s share,[46] though Suetonius
remarks that Africa and Sardinia were the only two provinces never
visited by him.[47] Meanwhile Sext. Pompeius occupied it,[48] and it was
not recovered till B.C. 38.
[Sidenote: (7) AFRICA. NUMIDIA.]
The province of AFRICA—the ancient territory of Carthage—may be taken
with this western part of the Empire. It had long been a peaceful
province, but in B.C. 46 it was the scene of the great rally of the
Pompeians after the disaster at Pharsalia. Since their final defeat at
Thapsus it had been farther secured by Cæsar’s colony at Carthage (B.C.
46-5), and had been governed by a fervent Cæsarean, C. Calvisius Sabinus.
At the end of B.C. 45 Sabinus returned to Rome, and Q. Cornificius (once
Cæsar’s quæstor) was named to succeed him. But affairs in Africa had
been complicated by the formation of a new province from the dominions
of Iuba, called sometimes New Africa, sometimes Numidia (B.C. 46).
Of this new province the first proprætor was the historian Sallust,
succeeded in B.C. 45 by T. Sextius with three legions. On Cæsar’s
death, therefore, there were two men in Africa who might possibly
take different views of the situation. Cornificius indeed—friend and
correspondent of Cicero—shewed at once that he meant to stand by the
Senate. A few months later he was confirmed in this resolution by the
fact of his continuance in office depending on the senatorial decree
of the 20th of December,[49] whereas Antony had commissioned Calvisius
Sabinus (who had never withdrawn his legates from Africa) to go back to
the province.[50] Accordingly, after Antony’s defeat at Mutina (April,
B.C. 43), the Senate felt strong enough to order Sextius to transfer
his three legions to Cornificius, who was himself under orders to send
two of them to Rome.[51] This was done, and with the remaining legion
Cornificius maintained his position in Old Africa, when the Triumvirate
was formed in November, and was able to offer protection to many of the
proscribed. But Sextius now claimed both provinces, as having fallen to
Octavian’s share. He enrolled troops in his own province and obtained the
help of Arabion, of the royal family of Numidia and chief of the robber
tribe of Sittians; and though Cornificius had the stronger force, he was
presently defeated and killed. Octavian, however, looked upon Sextius
as a partisan of Antony rather than of himself, and presently sent C.
Fuficius Fango to supersede him. Sextius seems to have foreseen that
differences would occur between Antony and Octavian likely to give him a
chance of recovering his province. Therefore under pretence of wishing to
winter in a genial climate he stayed on in Africa. His opportunity came
with the new distribution of provinces after Philippi (October-November,
B.C. 42). Old or “Prætorian” Africa fell to Antony, New Africa or Numidia
to Octavian. But upon the quarrel between Octavian and Fulvia (supported
by Lucius Antonius) in B.C. 41, Sextius was urged by Fulvia to demand
the prætorian province from Fango as properly belonging to Antony. After
several battles, in which he met with various fortunes, Fango was at last
driven to take refuge in the mountains, and there killed himself. Sextius
then held both provinces till, in B.C. 40, the triumvir Lepidus took
possession of them as his share of the Empire.[52]
Thus the Western Provinces, in spite of Cæsar’s precautions, were all in
a condition to cause difficulty to his successors in the government. The
Eastern Provinces were for the most part in a state of similar disorder.
Illyricum has already been discussed, as most conveniently taken with
the Gauls. For those farther east Cæsar’s arrangements were no more
successful in securing peace than in the West.
[Sidenote: (8) MACEDONIA.]
The victory at Pharsalia put MACEDONIA under Cæsar’s control, and he
apparently continued to govern it till B.C. 45 by his legates. While in
Egypt (B.C. 48-7), fearing, it seems, that it might be made a centre of
resistance,[53] he directed Gabinius to go there with his legions, if the
state of Illyricum allowed of it.[54] We have no farther information
as to its government till the autumn of B.C. 45, when a large military
force was stationed there; and in that, or the following year, Q.
Hortensius—son of the famous orator—was made governor. Marcus Brutus was
named by Cæsar to succeed him in B.C. 43, and Hortensius did, in fact,
hand over the province to him at Thessalonica at the beginning of that
year. But meanwhile Antony had induced the Senate to nominate himself
(June, B.C. 44). He withdrew five of the legions and then managed to get
the province transferred to his brother Gaius. When Antony was declared
a _hostis_, the Senate revoked the nomination of Gaius and restored the
province, along with Illyricum, to M. Brutus, who was in fact already in
possession, having defeated and captured Gaius Antonius.
[Sidenote: (9) GREECE.]
Closely connected with Macedonia was GREECE, which had been left, since
B.C. 146, in a somewhat anomalous position. Thessaly indeed, was, to
a great extent, incorporated with Macedonia; but the towns in Bœotia,
as well as Athens and Sparta, were nominally free, though connected
with Rome in such a way as to be sometimes spoken of separately as
“provinces.” So with the towns in the Peloponnese once forming the Achæan
League. The League was dissolved and each town had a separate _fœdus_
or charter.[55] But with all this local autonomy Greece was practically
governed by Rome, and in certain cases the proprætor of Macedonia
exercised jurisdiction in it. But as yet there was no “province” of
Greece or even of Achaia, with a separate proconsul or proprætor. Cæsar,
as in other cases, made temporary arrangements which afterwards became
permanent under Augustus. In B.C. 48, Q. Fufius Calenus, one of his
legates, was sent to take possession of Greek cities in Cæsar’s interest,
and remained at Patræ with troops till B.C. 47, exercising authority
over the whole of the Peloponnese.[56] In the autumn he went home and
was rewarded by the consulship for the rest of the year. But in B.C.
46, Cæsar appointed Serv. Sulpicius Rufus governor of Greece, and his
authority seems to have extended throughout the Peloponnese and as far
north as Thessaly.[57] Sulpicius returned to Rome at the end of B.C.
45, or beginning of B.C. 44, and does not seem to have had a successor.
Greece appears to have been tacitly allowed to revert to its old position
of nominal freedom and real attachment to Macedonia. M. Brutus at any
rate, as governor of Macedonia, assumed that he had authority in Greece.
After the re-arrangement at Philippi (B.C. 42), it fell to Antony’s
share, who, for a time at least, yielded Achaia to Sext. Pompeius.[58]
[Sidenote: The Asiatic Provinces.]
[Sidenote: (10) BITHYNIA AND PONTUS.]
As Cæsar was meditating a settlement of Syria, it was important that the
Asiatic provinces should be in safe hands. To BITHYNIA and PONTUS—among
the newest of Roman provinces—L. Tillius Cimber had been nominated.
We know nothing of his antecedents except that we find him among the
influential friends of Cæsar in B.C. 46; but his provincial appointment
was readily confirmed by the Senate after his share in Cæsar’s death.[59]
He devoted himself to the collection of a fleet, with which he aided the
pursuit of Dolabella, and afterwards assisted Brutus and Cassius.
[Sidenote: (11) ASIA.]
The province of ASIA was quiet and wealthy. For financial and strategic
reasons it was specially necessary at this time to have it in safe hands.
Cæsar had nominated C. Trebonius, who had been his legate in Gaul and
Britain, and had often been intrusted with important commands. He had
stuck to his old general in the civil war and had been rewarded by the
prætorship of B.C. 48, and the province of Farther Spain in the next
year. Though he was not successful in Spain Cæsar continued to trust
him sufficiently to send him to Asia. He did not actually strike a blow
in the assassination, but he aided it by withdrawing Antony from the
Senate on a treacherous pretence of business. His appointment was readily
confirmed by the Senate, and he went to Asia purposing to fortify towns
and collect troops to aid the party of the assassins. It was this—not
alone his participation in the murder—which caused Dolabella, probably at
the instigation and certainly with the approval of Antony,[60] to put him
to death when refused admittance by him into Smyrna or Pergamus. At the
end of the year the Senate had arranged that he was to be succeeded by
one of the Consuls, Hirtius or Pansa. But after his murder the province
remained in the hands of his quæstor,[61] and on the death of Hirtius and
Pansa at Mutina it was transferred by the Senate to M. Brutus (to be held
with Macedonia), who in the course of B.C. 42 made a progress through it
to hold the _conventus_, to collect men and money, and to meet Cassius.
It was, no doubt, heavily taxed; and after the battle of Philippi Antony
took possession of it and again unmercifully drained its resources.
[Sidenote: (12) CILICIA.]
On quitting the province of CILICIA in July, B.C. 50, Cicero left it in
charge of his quæstor, C. Cælius Caldus. Whether, in the confusion of the
first years of civil war, any successor was appointed we do not know.
The province needed some resettlement, for in B.C. 47 Cæsar stopped at
Tarsus, on his way to Pontus, for some days, to meet the chief men and
make certain regulations, of which he does not tell us the nature.[62]
But it seems that then, or shortly afterwards, it was considerably
reduced in extent. The Phrygian “dioceses”—Laodicea, Apamea, and
Synnada—were assigned to Asia, as well as most of Pisidia and Pamphylia.
The remainder—Cilicia Aspera, and Campestris, with Cyprus—seem to have
been held somewhat irregularly by Cæsar’s own legates. It was afterwards
treated by Antony as though at his own disposal, Cyprus and Cilicia
Aspera being presented to Cleopatra, part of Phrygia with Lycaonia,
Isaurica, and Pisidia to Amyntas, king of Galatia. The province, in
fact, as known to Cicero, was almost separated from the Empire until
reorganised by Augustus.
[Sidenote: (13) SYRIA.]
The province of SYRIA was extremely important in view of the danger from
the Parthians. Bounded on the north by Mount Amanus it included Phœnicia
and Cœle-Syria as far south as the head of the Red Sea and the eastern
mouth of the Nile. On the east it was bounded by the Euphrates and the
deserts of Arabia. After the organisation of Pompey in B.C. 63 it had
been administered by proconsuls and the usual staff. In B.C. 57-6 it was
held by Gabinius, who employed his forces for the restoration of Ptolemy
Auletes to the throne of Egypt. In B.C. 54-3 it was held by Crassus; and
after his fall at Carrhæ it was successfully defended and administered
by C. Cassius as _quæstor_ and _proquæstor_. In B.C. 51-50, while Cicero
was in Cilicia, it was ruled by Bibulus; and in B.C. 49 Pompey secured
it for his father-in-law, Q. Cæcilius Metellus Scipio, who collected
troops and went to the aid of Pompey in Thessaly, and after Pharsalia
escaped to Africa. It was then put in the hands of the quæstor, Sextus
Iulius, a connection of the Dictator, with some legions, one of which
had been left there by Cæsar in anticipation of the coming Parthian war.
But a new complication had been introduced by Q. Cæcilius Bassus. This
man had been with Pompey at Pharsalia and had escaped to Syria, where
for a time he lived obscurely. But after a while, by tampering with
the soldiers of Sextus Iulius, who was both incompetent and vicious,
he induced them to assassinate their commander and transfer their
allegiance to himself.[63] Professing to be lawful proconsul of Syria
he fortified himself in Apamea, and there repulsed forces sent by Cæsar
under Antistius Vetus and L. Statius Murcus successively. He made some
agreement with the Parthians which secured their aid;[64] and though
Murcus was reinforced by Crispus governor of Bithynia, Bassus was still
unsubdued at the time of Cæsar’s death. There had been, therefore,
a double need for a strong man in Syria, and Cæsar had nominated C.
Cassius, the former defender of it against the Parthians. After Cæsar’s
death, however, Dolabella secured the passing of a law transferring Syria
to himself with the command against the Parthians. But some irregularity
in the auguries taken at the comitia gave Cassius a plausible excuse
for ignoring this law. Consequently when Dolabella entered the province
from the north, Cassius did so from the south. After some successful
movements in Palestine, Cassius induced Murcus and Crispus, and finally
Bassus himself, to hand over their legions to him, as well as Trebonius’s
legate, Allienus, who was bringing some legions from Egypt.[65] Thus
reinforced he shut up Dolabella in Laodicea and frightened him into
committing suicide. Syria therefore remained in the hands of Cassius; and
when he fell at Philippi it was vacant. In accordance with the agreement
made with Octavian after that battle it fell to the lot of Antony, who
retained it personally, or by his legates, till his death.
[Sidenote: (14) EGYPT.]
EGYPT was still an independent kingdom, ruled since B.C. 47 by Cleopatra.
Nevertheless, there was a considerable Roman force stationed in it,
partly left by Gabinius, when he restored Ptolemy Auletes in B.C. 57-6,
partly stationed there by Cæsar himself. They must have been somewhat
in the position of the English troops supporting the authority of the
Khedive, but prepared to resist all outside interference. So in this case
the Romans retained a preponderating influence, though with no legal
authority or right of raising revenue. These troops appear to have been
in a very disorderly state, and in B.C. 50 murdered two of the sons of
Bibulus who were among their officers.[66]
[Sidenote: (15) CYRENE AND CRETE.]
The district between Egypt and Roman Africa, called CYRENE, was once
joined to Egypt and then governed by a king of its own (B.C. 117). This
king (Ptolemy Apion), dying in B.C. 96 without issue, left his dominions
to the Romans. The Roman government took over the royal estates, and
placed a tax on the principal product of the country—silphium (valuable
for its medicinal qualities)—but did not organise it as a province.
The five principal cities[67] were allowed to retain a pretty complete
autonomy. But upon disagreements between these states breaking out, the
whole country in B.C. 74 was reduced to the form of a province governed
by a _quæstor pro prætore_.[68] Six years later (B.C. 68-7) complaints
as to the harbouring of pirates caused Q. Cæcilius Metellus to reduce
CRETE also.[69] When Pompey superseded Metellus in B.C. 67, he introduced
certain changes in the administration of both provinces, though there
is no proof that he combined them as was done at a later date. In B.C.
44 indeed, they were assigned separately—Crete to Brutus and Cyrene to
Cassius[70]—while Antony produced a memorandum of Cæsar’s directing that
Crete should be restored to liberty,[71] that is, should cease to pay
_tributum_. At the division of the provinces after Philippi both were
assigned to Antony, and he assumed the right some years later of forming
out of them a kingdom for his daughter by Cleopatra.
[Sidenote: The general disorders in the Empire.]
It will be seen therefore that at Cæsar’s death there was hardly any
part of the Empire in which there were not elements of mischief more or
less active. The most peaceful district was perhaps Greece, though it
managed to put itself under the frown of the triumvirs by sympathising
with Brutus, and later on under that of Octavian by sympathising with
Antony. The disturbances which most affected the actual residents in Rome
and Italy were those in Sicily and Sardinia, Gaul and Illyricum. The
man who should put an end to these would seem a saviour of society. The
struggles in the far East, though from a financial point of view they
were of considerable importance, would not loom so large in the eyes of
the Italians. We have now to trace the steps by which Augustus was able
to satisfy the needs of the state; to restore peace and plenty to Italy;
to organise and safeguard the provinces; and thus to be almost worshipped
as the visible guarantee of order and tranquillity.