CAESAR IMPERATOR.
[Sidenote: Caesar again at Rome.]
[Sidenote: Combinations against him.]
[Sidenote: Veni, vidi, vici.]
Although Pompey himself had been killed, and the army under his
immediate command entirely annihilated, Caesar did not find that the
empire was yet completely submissive to his sway. As the tidings of his
conquests spread over the vast and distant regions which were under the
Roman rule--although the story itself of his exploits might have been
exaggerated--the impression produced by his power lost something of its
strength, as men generally have little dread of remote danger. While he
was in Egypt, there were three great concentrations of power formed
against him in other quarters of the globe: in Asia Minor, in Africa,
and in Spain. In putting down these three great and formidable arrays of
opposition, Caesar made an exhibition to the world of that astonishing
promptness and celerity of military action on which his fame as a
general so much depends. He went first to Asia Minor, and fought a great
and decisive battle there, in a manner so sudden and unexpected to the
forces that opposed him that they found themselves defeated almost
before they suspected that their enemy was near. It was in reference to
this battle that he wrote the inscription for the banner, "_Veni, vidi,
vici_" The words may be rendered in English, "I came, looked, and
conquered," though the peculiar force of the expression, as well as the
alliteration, is lost in any attempt to translate it.
[Sidenote: Caesar made dictator.]
In the mean time, Caesar's prosperity and success had greatly
strengthened his cause at Rome. Rome was supported in a great measure by
the contributions brought home from the provinces by the various
military heroes who were sent out to govern them; and, of course, the
greater and more successful was the conqueror, the better was he
qualified for stations of highest authority in the estimation of the
inhabitants of the city. They made Caesar dictator even while he was
away, and appointed Mark Antony his master of horse. This was the same
Antony whom we have already mentioned as having been connected with
Cleopatra after Caesar's death. Rome, in fact, was filled with the fame
of Caesar's exploits, and, as he crossed the Adriatic and advanced
toward the city, he found himself the object of universal admiration
and applause.
[Sidenote: Opposition of Cato.]
[Sidenote: Pompey's sons.]
But he could not yet be contented to establish himself quietly at Rome.
There was a large force organized against him in Africa under Cato, a
stern and indomitable man, who had long been an enemy to Caesar, and who
now considered him as a usurper and an enemy of the republic, and was
determined to resist him to the last extremity. There was also a large
force assembled in Spain under the command of two sons of Pompey, in
whose case the ordinary political hostility of contending partisans was
rendered doubly intense and bitter by their desire to avenge their
father's cruel fate. Caesar determined first to go to Africa, and then,
after disposing of Cato's resistance, to cross the Mediterranean
into Spain.
[Sidenote: Complaints of the soldiers.]
Before he could set out, however, on these expeditions, he was involved
in very serious difficulties for a time, on account of a great
discontent which prevailed in his army, and which ended at last in open
mutiny. The soldiers complained that they had not received the rewards
and honors which Caesar had promised them. Some claimed offices, others
money others lands, which, as they maintained, they had been led to
expect would be conferred upon them at the end of the campaign. The fact
undoubtedly was, that, elated with their success, and intoxicated with
the spectacle of the boundless influence and power which their general
so obviously wielded at Rome, they formed expectations and hopes for
themselves altogether too wild and unreasonable to be realized by
soldiers; for soldiers, however much they may be flattered by their
generals in going into battle, or praised in the mass in official
dispatches, are after all but slaves, and slaves, too, of the very
humblest caste and character.
[Sidenote: The mutiny.]
[Sidenote: The army marches to Rome.]
The famous tenth legion, Cesar's favorite corps, took the most active
part in fomenting these discontents, as might naturally have been
expected, since the attentions and the praises which he had bestowed
upon them, though at first they tended to awaken their ambition, and to
inspire them with redoubled ardor and courage, ended, as such favoritism
always does, in making them vain, self-important, and unreasonable. Led
on thus by the tenth legion, the whole army mutinied. They broke up the
camp where they had been stationed at some distance beyond the walls of
Rome, and marched toward the city. Soldiers in a mutiny, even though
headed by their subaltern officers, are very little under command; and
these Roman troops, feeling released from their usual restraints,
committed various excesses on the way, terrifying the inhabitants and
spreading universal alarm. The people of the city were thrown into utter
consternation at the approach of the vast horde, which was coming like a
terrible avalanche to descend upon them.
[Sidenote: Plan of the soldiers.]
The army expected some signs of resistance at the gates, which, if
offered, they were prepared to encounter and overcome. Their plan was,
after entering the city, to seek Caesar and demand their discharge from
his service. They knew that he was under the necessity of immediately
making a campaign in Africa, and that, of course, he could not possibly,
as they supposed, dispense with them. He would, consequently, if they
asked their discharge, beg them to remain, and, to induce them to do it,
would comply with all their expectations and desires.
Such was their plan. To tender, however, a resignation of an office as a
means of bringing an opposite party to terms, is always a very hazardous
experiment. We easily overrate the estimation in which our own services
are held taking what is said to us in kindness or courtesy by friends
as the sober and deliberate judgment of the public; and thus it often
happens that persons who in such case offer to resign, are astonished to
find their resignations readily accepted.
[Sidenote: The army marches into the city.]
When Caesar's mutineers arrived at the gates, they found, instead of
opposition, only orders from Caesar, by which they were directed to
leave all their arms except their swords, and march into the city. They
obeyed. They were then directed to go to the Campus Martius, a vast
parade ground situated within the walls, and to await Caesar's
orders there.[3]
[Footnote 3: See map of the city of Rome, fronting the first page.]
[Sidenote: The Campus Martius.]
[Sidenote: Caesar's address to the army.]
Caesar met them in the Campus Martius, and demanded why they had left
their encampment without orders and come to the city. They stated in
reply, as they had previously planned to do, that they wished to be
discharged from the public service. To their great astonishment, Caesar
seemed to consider this request as nothing at all extraordinary, but
promised, an the other hand, very readily to grant it He said that they
should be at once discharged, and should receive faithfully all the
rewards which had been promised them at the close of the war for their
long and arduous services. At the same time, he expressed his deep
regret that, to obtain what he was perfectly willing and ready at any
time to grant, they should have so far forgotten their duties as Romans,
and violated the discipline which should always be held absolutely
sacred by every soldier. He particularly regretted that the tenth
legion, on which he had been long accustomed so implicitly to rely,
should have taken a part in such transactions.
[Sidenote: Its effects.]
[Sidenote: Attachment of Caesar's soldiers.]
In making this address, Caesar assumed a kind and considerate, and even
respectful tone toward his men, calling them _Quirites_ instead of
soldiers--an honorary mode of appellation, which recognized them as
constituent members of the Roman commonwealth. The effect of the whole
transaction was what might have been anticipated. A universal desire was
awakened throughout the whole army to return to their duty. They sent
deputations to Caesar, begging not to be taken at their word, but to be
retained in the service, and allowed to accompany him to Africa. After
much hesitation and delay, Caesar consented to receive them again, all
excepting the tenth legion, who, he said, had now irrevocably lost his
confidence and regard. It is a striking illustration of the strength of
the attachment which bound Caesar's soldiers to their commander, that
the tenth legion _would not_ be discharged, after all. They followed
Caesar of their own accord into Africa, earnestly entreating him again
and again to receive them. He finally did receive them in detachments,
which he incorporated with the rest of his army, or sent on distant
service, but he would never organize them as the tenth legion again.
[Sidenote: Caesar goes to Africa.]
[Sidenote: Cato shuts himself up in Africa.]
It was now early in the winter, a stormy season for crossing the
Mediterranean Sea. Caesar, however, set off from Rome immediately,
proceeded south to Sicily, and encamped on the sea-shore there till the
fleet was ready to convey his forces to Africa. The usual fortune
attended him in the African campaigns His fleet was exposed to imminent
dangers in crossing the sea, but, in consequence of the extreme
deliberation and skill with which his arrangements were made, he escaped
them all. He overcame one after another of the military difficulties
which were in his way in Africa. His army endured, in the depth of
winter, great exposures and fatigues, and they had to encounter a large
hostile force under the charge of Cato. They were, however, successful
in every undertaking. Cato retreated at last to the city of Utica, where
he shut himself up with the remains of his army; but finding, at length,
when Caesar drew near, that there was no hope or possibility of making
good his defense, and as his stern and indomitable spirit could not
endure the thought of submission to one whom he considered as an enemy
to his country and a traitor he resolved upon a very effectual mode of
escaping from his conqueror's power.
[Sidenote: He stabs himself.]
[Sidenote: Death of Cato.]
He feigned to abandon all hope of defending the city, and began to make
arrangements to facilitate the escape of his soldiers over the sea. He
collected the vessels in the harbor, and allowed all to embark who were
willing to take the risks of the stormy water. He took, apparently,
great interest in the embarkations, and, when evening came on, he sent
repeatedly down to the sea-side to inquire about the state of the wind
and the progress of the operations. At length he retired to his
apartment, and, when all was quiet in the house, he lay down upon his
bed and stabbed himself with his sword He fell from the bed by the blow,
or else from the effect of some convulsive motion which the penetrating
steel occasioned. His son and servants, hearing the fall, came rushing
into the room, raised him from the floor, and attempted to bind up and
stanch the wound. Cato would not permit them to do it. He resisted them
violently as soon as he was conscious of what they intended. Finding
that a struggle would only aggravate the horrors of the scene, and even
hasten its termination, they left the bleeding hero to his fate, and in
a few minutes he died.
[Sidenote: Folly of his suicide.]
The character of Cato, and the circumstances under which his suicide was
committed, make it, on the whole, the most conspicuous act of suicide
which history records; and the events which followed show in an equally
conspicuous manner the extreme folly of the deed. In respect to its
wickedness, Cato, not having had the light of Christianity before him,
is to be leniently judged. As to the folly of the deed, however, he is
to be held strictly accountable. If he had lived and yielded to his
conqueror, as he might have done gracefully and without dishonor, since
all his means of resistance were exhausted, Caesar would have treated
him with generosity and respect, and would have taken him to Rome; and
as within a year or two of this time Caesar himself was no more, Cato's
vast influence and power might have been, and un doubtedly would have
been, called most effectually into action for the benefit of his
country. If any one, in defending Cato, should say he could not foresee
this, we reply, he _could_ have foreseen it; not the precise events,
indeed, which occurred, but he could have foreseen that vast changes
must take place, and new aspects of affairs arise, in which his powers
would be called into requisition. We can _always_ foresee in the midst
of any storm, however dark and gloomy, that clear skies will certainly
sooner or later come again; and this is just as true metaphorically in
respect to the vicissitudes of human life, as it is literally in regard
to the ordinary phenomena of the skies.
[Sidenote: Caesar in Spain.]
[Sidenote: Defeat of Pompey's sons.]
From Africa Caesar returned to Rome, and from Rome he went to subdue the
resistance which was offered by the sons of Pompey in Spain. He was
equally successful here. The oldest son was wounded in battle, and was
carried off from the field upon a litter faint and almost dying. He
recovered in some degree, and, finding escape from the eager pursuit of
Caesar's soldiers impossible, he concealed himself in a cave, where he
lingered for a little time in destitution and misery. He was discovered
at last; his head was cut off by his captors and sent to Caesar, as his
father's had been. The younger son succeeded in escaping, but he became
a wretched fugitive and outlaw, and all manifestations of resistance to
Caesar's sway disappeared from Spain. The conqueror returned to Rome the
undisputed master of the whole Roman world.
[Illustration: The elephants made torch-bearers.]
[Sidenote: Caesar's triumphs.]
[Sidenote: The triumphal car breaks down.]
[Sidenote: Elephant torch-bearers.]
Then came his triumphs. Triumphs were great celebrations, by which
military heroes in the days of the Roman commonwealth signalized their
victories on their return to the city Caesar's triumphs were four, one
for each of his four great successful campaigns, viz., in Egypt, in Asia
Minor, in Africa, and in Spain. Each was celebrated on a separate day,
and there was an interval of several days between them, to magnify their
importance, and swell the general interest which they excited among the
vast population of the city. On one of these days, the triumphal car in
which Caesar rode, which was most magnificently adorned, broke down on
the way, and Caesar was nearly thrown out of it by the shock. The
immense train of cars, horses, elephants, flags, banners, captives, and
trophies which formed the splendid procession was all stopped by the
accident, and a considerable delay ensued. Night came on, in fact
before the column could again be put in motion to enter the city, and
then Caesar, whose genius was never more strikingly shown than when he
had opportunity to turn a calamity to advantage, conceived the idea of
employing the forty elephants of the train as torch-bearers; the long
procession accordingly advanced through the streets and ascended to the
Capitol, lighted by the great blazing flambeaus which the sagacious and
docile beasts were easily taught to bear, each elephant holding one in
his proboscis, and waving it above the crowd around him.
[Sidenote: Trophies and emblems.]
In these triumphal processions, every thing was borne in exhibition
which could serve as a symbol of the conquered country or a trophy of
victory, Flags and banners taken from the enemy; vessels of gold and
silver, and other treasures, loaded in vans; wretched captives conveyed
in open carriages or marching sorrowfully on foot, and destined, some of
them, to public execution when the ceremony of the triumph was ended;
displays of arms, and implements, and dresses, and all else which might
serve to give the Roman crowd an idea of the customs and usages of the
remote and conquered nations; the animals they used, caparisoned in the
manner in which they used them: these, and a thousand other trophies
and emblems, were brought into the line to excite the admiration of the
crowd, and to add to the gorgeousness of the spectacle. In fact, it was
always a great object of solicitude and exertion with all the Roman
generals, when on distant and dangerous expeditions, to possess
themselves of every possible prize in the progress of their campaign
which could aid in adding splendor to the triumph which was to
signalize its end.
[Sidenote: Banners and paintings.]
In these triumphs of Caesar, a young sister of Cleopatra was in the line
of the Egyptian procession. In that devoted to Asia Minor was a great
banner containing the words already referred to, Veni, Vidi, Vici. There
were great paintings, too, borne aloft, representing battles and other
striking scenes. Of course, all Rome was in the highest state of
excitement during the days of the exhibition of this pageantry. The
whole surrounding country flocked to the capital to witness it, and
Caesar's greatness and glory were signalized in the most conspicuous
manner to all mankind.
[Sidenote: Public entertainments.]
[Sidenote: Various spectacles and amusements.]
[Sidenote: Naval combats.]
After these triumphs, a series of splendid public entertainments were
given, over twenty thousand tables having been spread for the populace
of the city Shows of every possible character and variety were
exhibited. There were dramatic plays, and equestrian performances in the
circus, and gladiatorial combats, and battles with wild beasts, and
dances, and chariot races, and every other imaginable amusement which
could be devised and carried into effect to gratify a population highly
cultivated in all the arts of life, but barbarous and cruel in heart and
character. Some of the accounts which have come down to us of the
magnificence of the scale on which these entertainments were conducted
are absolutely incredible. It is said, for example, that an immense
basin was constructed near the Tiber, large enough to contain two fleets
of galleys, which had on board two thousand rowers each, and one
thousand fighting men. These fleets were then manned with captives, the
one with Asiatics and the other with Egyptians, and when all was ready,
they were compelled to fight a real battle for the amusement of the
spectators which thronged the shores, until vast numbers were killed,
and the waters of the lake were dyed with blood. It is also said that
the whole Forum, and some of the great streets in the neighborhood where
the principal gladiatorial shows were held, were covered with silken
awnings to protect the vast crowds of spectators from the sun, and
thousands of tents were erected to accommodate the people from the
surrounding country, whom the buildings of the city could not contain.
[Sidenote: Caesar's power.]
[Sidenote: Honors conferred upon him.]
All open opposition to Caesar's power and dominion now entirely
disappeared. Even the Senate vied with the people in rendering him every
possible honor. The supreme power had been hitherto lodged in the hands
of two consuls, chosen annually, and the Roman people had been extremely
jealous of any distinction for any one, higher than that of an _elective
annual office,_ with a return to private life again when the brief
period should have expired. They now, however, made Caesar, in the first
place, consul for ten years, and then Perpetual Dictator. They conferred
upon him the title of the Father of his Country. The name of the month
in which he was born was changed to Julius, from his praenomen, and we
still retain the name. He was made, also, commander-in-chief of all the
armies of the commonwealth, the title to which vast military power was
expressed in the Latin language by the word IMPERATOR.
[Sidenote: Statues of Caesar.]
Caesar was highly elated with all these substantial proofs of the
greatness and glory to which he had attained, and was also very
evidently gratified with smaller, but equally expressive proofs of the
general regard. Statues representing his person were placed in the
public edifices, and borne in processions like those of the gods.
Conspicuous and splendidly ornamented seats were constructed for him in
all the places of public assembly, and on these he sat to listen to
debates or witness spectacles, as if he were upon a throne He had,
either by his influence or by his direct power, the control of all the
appointments to office, and was, in fact, in every thing but the name, a
sovereign and an absolute king.
[Sidenote: His plans of internal improvement.]
He began now to form great schemes of internal improvement for the
general benefit of the empire. He wished to increase still more the
great obligations which the Roman people were under to him for what he
had already done. They really were under vast obligations to him; for,
considering Rome as a community which was to subsist by governing the
world, Caesar had immensely enlarged the means of its subsistence by
establishing its sway every where, and providing for an incalculable
increase of its revenues from the tribute and the taxation of conquered
provinces and kingdoms. Since this work of conquest was now completed,
he turned his attention to the internal affairs of the empire, and made
many improvements in the system of administration, looking carefully
into every thing, and introducing every where those exact and systematic
principles which such a mind as his seeks instinctively in every thing
over which it has any control.
[Sidenote: Ancient division of time.]
[Sidenote: Change effected by Caesar.]
[Sidenote: The old and new styles.]
One great change which he effected continues in perfect operation
throughout Europe to the present day. It related to the division of
time. The system of months in use in his day corresponded so imperfectly
with the annual circuit of the sun, that the months were moving
continually along the year in such a manner that the winter months came
at length in the summer, and the summer months in the winter. This led
to great practical inconveniences; for whenever, for example, any thing
was required by law to be done in certain months, intending to have them
done in the summer, and the specified month came at length to be a
winter month, the law would require the thing to be done in exactly the
wrong season. Caesar remedied all this by adopting a new system of
months, which should give three hundred and sixty-five days to the year
for three years, and three hundred and sixty-six for the fourth; and so
exact was the system which he thus introduced, that it went on unchanged
for sixteen centuries. The months were then found to be eleven days out
of the way, when a new correction was introduced,[4] and it will now go
on three thousand years before the error will amount to a single day.
Caesar employed a Greek astronomer to arrange the system that he
adopted; and it was in part on account of the improvement which he thus
effected that one of the months, as has already been mentioned, was
called July. Its name before was Quintilis.
[Footnote 4: By Pope Gregory XIII. at the time of the change from the
old style to the new]
[Sidenote: Magnificent schemes.]
[Sidenote: Caesar collects the means to carry out his vast schemes.]
Caesar formed a great many other vast and magnificent schemes. He
planned public buildings for the city, which were going to exceed in
magnitude and splendor all the edifices of the world. He commenced the
collection of vast libraries, formed plans for draining the Pontine
Marshes, for bringing great supplies of water into the city by an
aqueduct, for cutting a new passage for the Tiber from Rome to the sea,
and making an enormous artificial harbor at its mouth. He was going to
make a road along the Apennines, and cut a canal through the Isthmus of
Corinth, and construct other vast works, which were to make Rome the
center of the commerce of the world. In a word, his head was filled with
the grandest schemes, and he was gathering around him all the means and
resources necessary for the execution of them.