JULIUS CÆSAR
It now remains to relate the life history of the man by whom the
republican form of government at Rome was fated to be finally
overthrown. That the existence of this Roman republic was doomed, that
democratic or oligarchical government must give way either to anarchy
or despotism, had been certain ever since the refusal of the Roman
citizens to support the attempted reforms of the Gracchi.
There is no greater obstacle to the complete success of popular
government than the almost inexplicable tendency of the majority of
men to crucify the true reformer and conscientious lover of humanity
as a disturber of, and a menace to, society, and to heap honors upon
the head of the selfish, unprincipled, egotistical, and vicious
demagogue. The result is that the reforms which might save the country
fail; and later the people, at last roused to a realization of the
evils which surround them, grasp at the promises of the imposter and
follow him with hysterical and insane enthusiasm until their false
leader directs their footsteps to the precipice, over which they fall
to their destruction. If France had adopted the moderate reforms of
Necker and Turgot she might have been saved from the terrible
retribution of the French Revolution; if Rome had not rejected the
leadership of Tiberius Gracchus, and later accepted that of Julius
Cæsar, the Roman republic need not have fallen.
Julius Cæsar was born in the year 100 B.C. His family were of old
patrician stock, and in addition were possessed of considerable
wealth, but the share that was inherited by young Julius was very
quickly squandered. From the outset of his career Cæsar exhibited
talents of a widely diversified character, showing literary ability as
well as strength and skill in athletic exercises and in military life.
With all these Cæsar combined a dissipated character, and extreme
selfish ambition. Cæsar, by the accidental course of events, became
allied with the popular party at Rome; but throughout his whole life
it was with him merely a case of using the popular favor as a means to
promote his personal ends; never a case of sacrificing himself, his
ambition, or his pleasure for the people's welfare. It was by
marriage that Cæsar had become connected with the popular party, his
aunt Julia having become the wife of Marius, while he himself had
married the daughter of Cinna, the colleague of Marius in his last
consulship. On account of these marriage relations Cæsar barely
escaped being included in the proscriptions of Sulla. He finally
succeeded in making his peace with Sulla, and received his first
military experience under Thermus, whom Sulla had left to besiege
Mitylene. In this campaign young Cæsar distinguished himself by
winning a civic crown for saving the life of a citizen. After the
death of Sulla Cæsar made his first attempt to attract attention in
the political field by impeaching Dolabella for extortion in his
administration in Macedonia. Although Dolabella was acquitted, Cæsar
acquired some reputation from this affair.
This trial persuaded Cæsar that he should take up the field of
oratory, and he accordingly set out to study rhetoric at Rhodes under
Molo, the great teacher in this subject at that time. On his way,
Cæsar underwent the second great peril of his life by being captured
by Cilician pirates. After being ransomed he abandoned the idea of
studying rhetoric, and instead fitted up an expedition with which he
captured his former captors, whom he crucified at Pergamus. In 74 B.C.
Cæsar was elected one of the pontifices at Rome, and immediately
returned to the city, where he spent several years in ease and
pleasure, not neglecting, however, to use every effort to win the
favor of the populace.
Cæsar was elected quæstor in 68 B.C., and it was during his year in
this office that he made his first bold play to secure the popular
support. His aunt Julia, the widow of Marius, dying, Cæsar delivered a
panegyric over her in which he spoke far less about his aunt than
about her husband Marius, still the great idol of the popular party,
and in defiance of a still unrepealed statute of Sulla he caused the
bust of Marius to be carried among the family images.
In 65 B.C. Cæsar was elected ædile. He was obliged to plunge himself
heavily into debt to obtain this office; and after his election he did
not hesitate to go still deeper into debt for the purpose of providing
magnificent shows for the people at the public games. In virtue of the
power of his office Cæsar placed the statue of Marius, surrounded by
the trophies of his Cimbrian and Jugurthine victories, among the new
ornaments of the capitol. At the close of his term as ædile Cæsar
sought to be sent to Egypt for the purpose of forming Egypt into a
Roman province, in accordance with the will of the Egyptian king,
Ptolemy Alexander. This important mission, however, was denied to
Cæsar, to whom was assigned the duty of presiding in the tribunal
which conducted the investigation in cases of suspected murder.
The following year, the year of the consulship of Cicero and the
conspiracy of Catiline, Cæsar passed temporarily under a cloud on
account of his suspected connection with the conspiracy. The suspicion
that Cæsar had at least been privy to the plans of the conspirators
was strengthened by his efforts to prevent the death sentence being
passed against their leaders.
The Roman historian Sallust, in his history of Catiline, has reported
Cæsar's speech in the Senate on this occasion, which serves to
illustrate the craftiness of the man. A portion of this speech is here
inserted:
"In all debates, Conscript Fathers, when the matter under
deliberation is in its nature doubtful, it is the duty of
every senator to bring to the question a mind free from
animosity and friendship, from anger and compassion. When
those emotions prevail, the understanding is clouded, and
truth is scarcely perceived. To be passionate and just at
the same time is not in the power of man. Reason, when
unbiased, and left to act with freedom, answers all our
purposes; when passion gains the ascendant, reason is
fatigued, and judgment lends no assistance.
"In the case now before us, let it be our wisdom, Conscript
Fathers, not to suffer the crimes of Lentulus and his
accomplices to hurry you beyond the bounds of moderation.
Indignation may operate on your minds, but a due sense of
your own dignity, I trust, will preponderate. My opinion is
this; if you know of any pains and penalties adequate to the
guilt of the conspirators, pronounce your judgment; I have
no objection. If you think death a sufficient punishment, I
concur with Silanus; but if the guilt of the prisoners
exceeds all forms of vindictive justice, we should rest
contented with the laws known to the constitution.
"The senators who have gone before me have exhausted the
colors of rhetoric, and in a pathetic style have painted
forth the miseries of their country. They have displayed the
horrors of war, and the wretched condition of the
vanquished; the young of both sexes suffering violation;
children torn from the mother's arms; virtuous matrons
exposed to the brutal passions of the conqueror; the houses
of citizens, and the temples of the gods, pillaged without
distinction; the city made a theater of blood and horror; in
a word, desolation and massacre in every quarter.
"But why, immortal gods! why all that waste of eloquence?
Was it to inflame our passions? to kindle indignation? to
excite a detestation of rebellion? If the guilt of these men
is not of itself sufficient to fire us with resentment, is
it in power of words to do it? I answer, No; resentment is
implanted in our hearts by the hand of nature; every man is
sensible of injury and oppression; many are apt to feel too
intensely. But we know, Conscript Fathers, that resentment
does not operate alike in all the ranks of life: he who
dwells in obscurity may commit an act of violence, but the
consequence is confined to a small circle. The fame of the
offender, like his fortune, makes no noise in the world. It
is otherwise with those who figure in exalted stations; the
eyes of mankind are upon them; and the wrong they do is
considered an abuse of power. Moderation is the virtue of
superior rank. In that preëminence, no apology is allowed
for the injustice that proceeds from partiality, from anger,
aversion, or animosity. The injury committed in the lower
classes of life is called the impulse of sudden passion; in
the higher stations, it takes the name of pride and
cruelty....
"With regard to capital punishment, it is a truth well known
that to the man who lives in distress and anguish of heart,
death is not an evil; it is a release from pain and misery;
it puts an end to the calamities of life; and after the
dissolution of the body, all is peace; neither care nor joy
can then intrude....
"It may be said, who will object to a decree against the
enemies of their country? The answer is obvious; time may
engender discontent; a future day may condemn the
proceeding; unforeseen events and even chance, that with
wild caprice perplexes human affairs, may give us reason to
repent. The punishment of traitors, however severe, cannot
be more than their flagitious deeds deserve; but it behooves
us, Conscript Fathers, to weigh well the consequences before
we proceed to judgment. Acts of state, that sprung from
policy, and were perhaps expedient on the spur of the
occasion, have grown into precedents often found to be of
evil tendency. The administration may fall into the hands of
ignorance and incapacity; and in that case, the measure,
which at first was just and proper, becomes by
misapplication to other men and other times the rule of bad
policy and injustice.
"It must be admitted that, in times like the present, when
Marcus Tullius Cicero conducts the administration, scenes of
that tragic nature are not to be apprehended. But in a large
populous city, when the minds of men are ever in agitation,
a variety of jarring opinions must prevail. At a future day
and under another consul, who may have an army at his back,
falsehood may appear in the garb of truth, and gain
universal credit. In such a juncture, should the consul,
encouraged by our example, and armed with the power by the
decree of the Senate, think proper to unsheath the sword,
who shall stop him in his career? who will be able to
appease his vengeance?...
"But you will say, What is the scope of this long argument?
Shall the conspirators be discharged, and suffered to
strengthen Catiline's army? Far from it; my advice is this;
let their estate and effects be confiscated; detain their
persons in separate prisons, and for that purpose choose the
strongest of the municipal towns; declare, by a positive
law, that no motion in their favor shall be brought forward
in the Senate, and that no appeal shall be made to the
people. Add to your decree, that whoever shall presume to
espouse the cause of the guilty shall be deemed an enemy to
the Commonwealth."
The year following the conspiracy of Catiline Cæsar secured the office
of prætor. By this time Cæsar had secured such a hold upon the popular
mind as to excite both the fear and hatred of the senatorial party.
This fear and hatred were manifested during Cæsar's year of office as
prætor by the Senate passing a decree depriving Cæsar and one of the
tribunes (Cæcilius Metellus Cepos) of their offices. Fear of popular
violence, however, soon induced the Senate to repeal this decree.
In December, 62 B.C., there occurred at Rome one of the best
remembered of historical scandals; but one whose exact nature we are
unable to determine on account of lack of knowledge of the character
of the mysteries which were violated.
The historian Merivale thus describes this scandal:
"P. Clodius, the corrupt accuser of Catiline, a turbulent
intriguer like so many members of his house, had ingratiated
himself with the people by his popular manners. This
beardless youth, already alike notorious for his debts and
gallantries, had introduced himself into Cæsar's house in
female attire during the celebration of the rites of the
Bona Dea, which should have been studiously guarded from
male intrusion. A servant maid discovered him and uttered a
cry of alarm; the mysteries were hastily veiled, and the
intruder expelled; but the assembled matrons rushing hastily
home revealed each to her husband the scandal and the sin.
The nobles affected grave alarm; the pontiffs were summoned
and consulted, and the people duly informed of the insult
offered to the deity. As chief of the sacred college, Cæsar
could not refrain from lending himself to the general
clamour; but his position was delicate. On the one hand, the
presumed delinquent was an instrument of his own policy,
while on the other his own honour and that of his wife
Pompeia were compromised by the offence. He disappointed
everybody. He divorced his wife, not because she was guilty,
but because 'the wife of Cæsar,' as he said, 'should be
above suspicion.' But he refused to countenance the measures
which the consuls took, by direction of the senate, for the
conviction of the reputed culprit; and it may be suspected
that the money with which Clodius bribed his judges was a
loan negotiated with Crassus by Cæsar himself. Cicero for
his part had been lukewarm in an affair, the barefaced
hypocrisy of which he was perhaps too honourable to
countenance; but, urged by his wife Terentia, a violent
woman who meddled much in his affairs, and was jealous at
the moment of a sister of the culprit, he clearly disproved
his allegation of absence from the city, and thus embroiled
himself, to no purpose, with an able and unscrupulous enemy.
The senate believed their cause gained; the proofs indeed
were decisive, and they had assigned at their own request a
military guard to the judges to protect them from the
anticipated violence of a Clodian mob; but to their
consternation, on opening the urns, the votes for an
acquittal were found to be thirty-one opposed to
twenty-five. 'You only demanded a guard,' then exclaimed
Catulus with bitter irony, 'to secure the money you were to
receive.' Cicero attributed to Crassus the scandal of this
perversion of justice; the nobles sneered at the corruption
of the knights, and the gulf which separated the two orders
yawned more widely than ever."
In 60 B.C. Cæsar was given the command of the province of Farther
Spain; and it was here that his great military abilities were for the
first time displayed to the world. It had only been by the means of a
large loan (about one million dollars) received from Crassus that
Cæsar was enabled to pay off his most pressing creditors, and to make
preparations for his journey to Spain; into such a financial state had
Cæsar been reduced by his personal extravagances, his political
campaign expenses, and his lavish expenditures to win the popular
favor.
Upon Cæsar's return from Rome the young general found Pompey still
further alienated from the senatorial party. A comparison of the
character of these two Roman leaders, now for a while about to become
close associates and later (mainly through the limitless ambition and
unprincipled conduct of Cæsar) rivals in a bitter contest for
supremacy, is perhaps proper at this time. The briefest comparison
which can be made perhaps consists in saying that Pompey represented
the best type of an aristocrat--Cæsar the worst type of the
hypocritical popular demagogue. Neither man consistently stood for
those things which he was supposed to represent at the outset of his
career; neither man, it is probable, ever really believed in them. The
training and antecedents of Pompey were of the extreme oligarchical
character; his natural leanings were toward humanity and justice.
Cæsar, shouting his championship of the people from the housetops, was
in practice regardless of everything but his own selfish ambitions.
The populace which he flattered, deceived, and betrayed were to him
merely the tools by which his success was to be won and occupied about
the same position in his philosophy of life as the dice with which he
won large sums of money in gambling.
Pompey was imbued with a strong sense of the sanctity of the law;
Cæsar never regarded any law which stood between him and his goal.
Pompey dismissed his victorious troops before he approached Rome on
his return from his Eastern campaigns; Cæsar did not hesitate to lead
his legions across the Rubicon. Neither possessed any great degree of
constructive political ability. Pompey's life was one devoted to an
attempt to preserve, Cæsar's was devoted to an attempt to destroy.
Cæsar's ability was far greater than that of Pompey in every field of
human activity.
Cæsar's Spanish campaign had been so short in duration that he was
enabled to return to Rome in time to run for the consulship in 60 B.C.
In order to begin his canvass without delay, Cæsar asked leave to
enter the city before receiving his triumph. This permission being
refused, mainly through the influence of Cato and Cicero, Cæsar gave
up his claim to a triumph and, entering Rome immediately, began his
political campaign. Being again hard up for money, Cæsar made an
agreement with a very wealthy candidate for consul, named L. Lucceius,
by the terms of which Lucceius was to provide the campaign funds for
both candidates, while Cæsar was to furnish the reputation and
popularity. This combination resulted better for Cæsar than for
Lucceius; Cæsar received his share of the benefit from the campaign
fund, but the benefit of his popularity did not seem to extend to his
running mate. The election resulted in the choice of Cæsar and M.
Calpurnius Bibulus, the candidate of the Cato-Cicero faction.
At this time Cæsar persuaded Pompey and Crassus to form the first
triumvirate with him. This triumvirate was nothing more nor less than
a Roman political machine, by means of which these three men expected
to be able to make themselves the political bosses of the city. To
cement this political union, Pompey married Julia, the daughter of
Cæsar.
The most important event of Cæsar's consulship was the passage of an
agrarian act providing for the division of public lands in Campania
among the old soldiers of Pompey. The members of the triumvirate
proved themselves to be strong enough to force this measure through in
spite of the opposition of the consul Bibulus, of Cato, and of others.
The measure was not passed, however, without considerable violence and
disregard of the technical rules of the Roman law.
The Senate, acting under the authority of the Sempronian Law, had
assigned the woods and roads as the provinces to which the consuls of
the year were to be assigned after the expiration of their terms of
office. Cæsar, however, who throughout his career never bothered
himself very much as to what the law was, secured the passage by the
comitia tributa of a law introduced by the tribune Vatinius, which
gave to Cæsar the provinces of Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum and three
legions for five years. Later the Senate (to prevent another appeal by
Cæsar to the people) added Transalpine Gaul and another legion to his
command. The time of his command was also later extended.
It was the success of Cæsar's Gallic campaigns (58-51 B.C.) which
rendered possible his overthrow of the republic, and the importance of
this war is therefore very great, but it is unnecessary to deal with
the military details of these campaigns.
During the years of Cæsar's absence from Rome the first triumvirate
had fallen to pieces. In the year 55 B.C. Pompey and Crassus, without
opposition, had been elected to the consulship for a second term. At
the conclusion of this consulship Crassus was sent with an army
against the Parthians, by whom he was defeated and killed in 53 B.C.
In the meantime Julia, daughter of Cæsar and wife of Pompey, had died
at Rome in 54 B.C. Crassus and Julia had been the two persons who had
kept Cæsar and Pompey together, and from this time these two leaders
rapidly drifted apart.
All this time affairs at Rome were constantly falling into worse and
worse stages of corruption and confusion. In 58 B.C. (through the
efforts of Cæsar's friends, led by Clodius) Cicero had been banished
from Rome; in 57 B.C. he was recalled, and honors were heaped upon
him.
In 54 B.C. all the candidates for the consulship were prosecuted for
bribery, and the consular elections postponed seven months. Many
wanted Pompey named as dictator at this period. A little later he
actually served for a considerable period as sole consul. It would
probably have been possible for Pompey, at this time, to have
anticipated Cæsar and to have made himself emperor of Rome, but his
efforts were rather directed toward the restoration of the old order
of things in the republic. The course of events had once more united
Pompey with the moderate senatorial party.
The election of 52 B.C. was notable, even among the other elections of
this period, for the enormous extent of the corruption funds used by
the various candidates. In the course of this campaign the notorious
Clodius, who was a candidate for prætor, with a retinue of friends and
clients one day chanced to encounter T. Annius Milo, a candidate for
consul belonging to the senatorial party, with a like body of
retainers. A conflict resulted in which Clodius was killed. The next
day Clodius's friends, aided by all the lawless elements of the Roman
population, made a pyre for the corpse out of the seats of the senate
house and burned the dead body of Clodius and the senate house
together.
The Roman historian Florus thus reviews the situation reached by the
Roman republic at the time of the civil war between Cæsar and Pompey:
"This is the third age of the Roman people, with reference
to its transactions beyond the sea; an age in which, when
they had once ventured beyond Italy, they carried their arms
through the whole world. Of which age, the first hundred
years were pure and pious, and, as I have called them,
'golden'; free from vice and immorality, as there yet
remained the sincere and harmless integrity of the pastoral
life, and the imminent dread of a Carthaginian enemy
supported the ancient discipline.
"The succeeding hundred, reckoned from the fall of Carthage,
Corinth and Numantia, and from the inheritance bequeathed us
by King Attalus in Asia, to the times of Cæsar and Pompey,
and those of Augustus who succeeded them, and of whom we
shall speak hereafter, were as lamentable and disgraceful
for the domestic calamities, as they were honourable for the
lustre of the warlike exploits that distinguished them. For,
as it was glorious and praiseworthy to have acquired the
rich and powerful provinces of Gaul, Thrace, Cilicia, and
Cappadocia, as well as those of the Armenians and Britons,
so it was disgraceful and lamentable at the same time to
have fought at home with our own citizens, with our allies,
our slaves, our gladiators.
"I know not whether it would have been better for the Romans
to have been content with Sicily and Africa, or even to have
been without them, while still enjoying the dominion of
Italy, than to grow to such greatness as to be ruined by
their own strength. For what else produced these intestine
distractions but excessive good fortune? It was the conquest
of Syria that first corrupted us, and the succession
afterwards in Asia, to the estate of the king of Pergamus.
Such wealth and riches ruined the manners of the age, and
overwhelmed the republic, which was sunk in vices as in a
common sewer. For how did it happen that the Roman people
demanded from the tribunes lands and subsistence, unless
through the scarcity which they had by their luxury
produced? Hence there arose the first and second sedition of
the Gracchi, and a third, that of Apuleius Saturninus. From
what cause did the equestrian order, being divided from the
senate, domineer by virtue of the judiciary laws, if it was
not from avarice, in order that the revenues of the state
and trials of causes might be made a means of gain? Hence
again it was that the privilege of citizenship was promised
to the Latins, and hence were the arms of our allies raised
against us. And what shall we say as to the wars with the
slaves? How did they come upon us, but from the excessive
number of slaves? Whence arose such armies of gladiators
against their masters, if it was not that a profuse
liberality, by granting shows to gain the favour of the
populace, made that an art which was once but a punishment
of enemies? And to touch upon more specious vices, did not
the ambition for honours take its rise from the same excess
of riches? Hence also proceeded the outrages of Marius,
hence those of Sulla. The extravagant sumptuousness of
banquets, too, and profuse largesses, were not they the
effects of wealth, which must in time lead to want? This
also stirred up Catiline against his country. Finally,
whence did that insatiable desire of power and rule proceed,
but from a superabundance of riches? This it was that armed
Cæsar and Pompey with fatal weapons for the destruction of
the state.
"Almost the whole world being now subdued, the Roman Empire
was grown too great to be overthrown by any foreign power.
Fortune, in consequence, envying the sovereign people of the
earth, armed it to its own destruction. The outrages of
Marius and Cinna had already made a sort of prelude within
the city. The storm of Sulla had thundered even farther, but
still within the bounds of Italy. The fury of Cæsar and
Pompey, as with a general deluge or conflagration, overran
the city, Italy, other countries and nations, and finally
the whole empire wherever it extended; so that it cannot
properly be called a civil war, or war with allies; neither
can it be termed a foreign war; but it was rather a war
consisting of all these, or even something more than a war.
If we look at the leaders in it, the whole of the senators
were on one side or the other; if we consider the armies,
there were on one side eleven legions, and on the other
eighteen; the entire flower and strength of the manhood of
Italy. If we contemplate the auxiliary forces of the allies,
there were on one side levies of Gauls and Germans, on the
other Deiotarus, Ariobarzanes, Tarcondimotus, Cotys, and all
the force of Thrace, Cappadocia, Cilicia, Macedonia, Greece,
Ætolia, and all the East; if we regard the duration of the
war, it was four years, a time short in proportion to the
havoc made in it; if we attend to the space and ground on
which it was conducted, it arose within Italy, whence it
spread into Gaul and Spain, and returning from the West,
settled with its whole force on Epirus and Thessaly; hence
it suddenly passed into Egypt, then turned towards Asia,
next fell upon Africa, and at last wheeled back into Spain,
where it at length found its termination. But the
animosities of parties did not end with the war, nor
subsided till the hatred of those who had been defeated
satiated itself with the murder of the conqueror in the
midst of the city and the senate.
"The cause of this calamity was the same with that of all
others, excessive good fortune. For in the consulship of
Quintus Metellus and Lucius Afranius, when the majesty of
Rome predominated throughout the world and Rome herself was
celebrating, in the theatres of Pompey, her recent victories
and triumphs over Pontus and Armenia, the overgrown power of
Pompey, as is usual in similar cases, excited among the idle
citizens a feeling of envy towards him. Metellus,
discontented at the diminution of his triumph over Crete,
Cato, ever an enemy to those in power, calumniated Pompey,
and raised a clamour against his acts. Resentment at such
conduct drove Pompey to harsh measures, and impelled him to
provide some support for his authority. Crassus happened at
that time to be distinguished for family, wealth, and
honour, but was desirous to have his power still greater.
Caius Cæsar had become eminent by his eloquence and spirit,
and by his promotion to the consulate. Yet Pompey rose above
them both. Cæsar, therefore, being eager to acquire
distinction, Crassus to increase what he had got, and Pompey
to add to his, and all being equally covetous of power, they
readily formed a compact to seize the government. Striving,
accordingly, with their common forces each for his own
advancement, Cæsar took the provinces of Gaul, Crassus that
of Asia, and Pompey that of Spain; they had three vast
armies and thus the empire of the world was now held by
these leading personages. Their government extended through
ten years, at the expiration of this period (for they had
previously been kept in restraint by dread of one another) a
rivalry broke forth between Cæsar and Pompey, consequent on
the death of Crassus among the Parthians, and that of Julia,
who, being married to Pompey, maintained a good
understanding between the son-in-law and father-in-law by
means of this matrimonial bond. But now the power of Cæsar
was an object of jealousy to Pompey and the eminence of
Pompey was offensive to Cæsar. The one could not bear an
equal, nor the other a superior. Sad to relate, they
struggled for mastery, as if the resources of so great an
empire would not suffice for two."
The open rupture between Cæsar on the one side and Pompey and the
Senate on the other came in the year 49 B.C. Cæsar had been promised
the consulship for the year 48 B.C., but fear of the powerful position
in which Cæsar would be placed if put in possession of the highest
civil office of the state, while still holding his influence over his
veteran army, together with distrust of Cæsar's motives and ambitions,
caused great opposition to this plan to develop at Rome.
Cæsar, however, had his active partisans at Rome, among the most
energetic being the tribunes Gaius Curio, Mark Antony, and Gaius
Cassius. The former of these, a man of dissolute character and great
abilities as a politician, proposed to the Senate a resolution calling
upon both Cæsar and Pompey to resign their provinces.
Upon the passage of this resolution by the Senate, by a vote of three
hundred to seventy, Pompey began to raise troops without the proper
legal authority, and Cæsar refused to surrender his province, or to
appear before the Senate without the protection of his army. Cæsar,
however, sent to the Senate an offer to resign the governorship of
Transalpine Gaul and to reduce the size of his army from ten legions
to two, if the Senate would agree that he should retain the government
of Cisalpine Gaul and the two remaining legions until after the
consular election of 48 B.C. This offer was rejected by the Senate,
who then adopted a motion ordering Cæsar to disband his army and
resign his province within a fixed time under penalty of being
declared guilty of high treason. This measure was vetoed by the
tribunes, who, however, abandoned their posts and fled to Cæsar's camp
upon Pompey bringing two legions of his soldiers into Rome.
Cæsar, relying upon the support of his veteran army and of the
Transalpian Gauls, to whom, on his own authority and without any color
of legal right, he had granted the full civic rights of Roman
citizens, now decided on a resort to force.
The war was begun by Cæsar crossing the Rubicon. Pompey and his
friends fled to Greece, where the war was largely fought out. The
really decisive battle of the war was that of Pharsalus, fought on
August 4, 48 B.C. The result of this encounter was the complete
overthrow of Pompey, who fled to Egypt, where he was murdered by those
who hoped in this manner to earn the gratitude of Cæsar. Pompey's
followers in Africa and Spain were soon afterwards put down. The last
battle of the war, on March 17, 45 B.C., was that of Munda, where the
army of Pompey's son was defeated and thirty thousand of his soldiers
killed.
Cæsar entered Rome, to receive his last triumph in September, 45 B.C.
The Roman republic was now overthrown; and the mere puerile expedient
of giving a new name to the monarch, in place of the hated name of
king, did not in any degree alter the truth of the matter. The new
title of _imperator_, or emperor, in fact, soon came to be used to
designate a ruler of a higher rank, and possessed of a greater degree
of arbitrary power, than that of the monarch who ruled under the name
of _rex_ or king. The forms of government of the republic were still
retained; but the officers who were once the chosen representatives of
a free people were now only the ministerial officers through whom a
despot administered the affairs of his empire. Greatest degradation of
all, the tribunes, once the embodiment of the rights of manhood, now
became the especial tools of tyranical control.
Few people are unaffected by the glamour of success. It is this
criterion alone which, as Thomas Moore writes, generally marks the
distinction between the patriot and the traitor.
"Rebellion! foul, dishonoring word,
Whose wrongful blight so oft has stained
The holiest cause that tongue or sword
Of mortal ever lost or gained.
How many a spirit, born to bless,
Hath sunk beneath that withering name,
Whom but a day's, an hour's success
Had wafted to eternal fame!
As exhalations, when they burst
From the warm earth, if chilled at first,
If checked in soaring from the plain,
Darken to fogs and sink again;--
But if they once triumphant spread
Their wings above the mountain-head,
Become enthroned in upper air,
And turn to sun-bright glories there!"
This success, so necessary to earn for the patriot or reformer the
fame to which he is so justly entitled, is too often able to win
admiration and respect also for the successful enemies of mankind.
Few members of the human race ever deserved less praise from posterity
(unless indeed, as a tribute to great but misdirected abilities) than
Julius Cæsar; but, nevertheless, many tributes have been laid before
the tomb of this destroyer of his country's liberties. For example,
the historian Mommsen, thus eulogizes Cæsar:
"Cæsar, from the outset and as it were by hereditary right
the head of the popular party, had for thirty years borne
aloft its banner without ever changing or even so much as
concealing his colors; he remained democrat even when
monarch. As he accepted without limitation, apart of course
from the preposterous projects of Catiline and Clodius, the
heritage of his party; as he displayed the bitterest, even
personal, hatred to the aristocracy and the genuine
aristocrats; and as he retained unchanged the essential
ideas of Roman democracy, viz., alleviation of the burdens
of debtors, transmarine colonization, gradual equalization
of the differences of rights among the classes belonging to
the State, emancipation of the executive power from the
Senate; his monarchy was so little at variance with
democracy, that democracy on the contrary only attained its
completion and fulfillment by means of that monarchy. For
his monarchy was not the Oriental despotism of divine right,
but a monarchy such as Gaius Gracchus wished to found, such
as Pericles and Cromwell founded--the representation of the
nation by the man in whom it puts supreme and unlimited
confidence. The ideas which lay at the foundation of Cæsar's
work were so far not strictly new; but to him belongs their
realization, which after all is everywhere the main matter;
and to him pertains the grandeur of execution, which would
probably have surprised the brilliant projector himself if
he could have seen it, and which has impressed, and will
always impress, every one to whom it has been presented in
the living reality or in the mirror of history--to whatever
historical epoch or whatever shade of politics he may
belong--according to the measure of his ability to
comprehend human and historical greatness, with deep and
ever-deepening admiration."
The laudations of Cæsar, it is perhaps needless to say, are always
from men like Mommsen who are absolutely devoid of any true sympathy
for free government or popular rights. No more striking commentary on
such men can be found than from comparing Mommsen's attack upon the
revolutionary methods of Tiberius Gracchus with his defense of Cæsar,
given above.
The truth of the matter is that Cæsar was never at any time in his
career a sincere member of the popular party. The people were his
dupes, by whose aid he raised himself to the imperial power and
destroyed the political liberties of his native state. His almost
blasphemous use of the names of the great dead leaders and martyrs of
the popular cause as cloaks to cover his own selfish and unpatriotic
schemes is not the least of the indictments against him in the eyes of
the true advocate of popular rights. In such actions, however, Cæsar
does not stand alone. In our politics of to-day nothing is more common
for a politician than to try to cover his corruption by throwing over
himself the mantle of some great national hero. The cloak of Jefferson
in one political party, and of Lincoln in the other, are striven for
by men who desire to use them solely for the purpose of covering their
opposition to everything for which these men stood.
Nor has Cæsar been without imitators in every age, and in every
republic, who, if the opportunity would only permit, desire above all
else to imitate his life and success. The ability of Cæsar, however,
is seldom or never to be found in his imitators; but the ambition
itself is to be found somewhere among the politicians of every
republic. There is also generally a strong influential class that
would prefer the strong settled rule of one man to the constant
political controversies with "their unsettled effect upon business."
And the reality of a republic can always be destroyed without
affecting its form, as was done in Rome by the centering of the powers
of the different officials in Cæsar, or more recently, in Mexico, by
the many successive elections of Diaz to the presidency.
The early and violent death of Cæsar came before his plans were
completed, and before he had assumed the title, as well as the
authority, of a king or emperor. The ancient historian Appianus
Alexandrinus has left a vivid account of the closing scene of Cæsar's
life, some extracts from which are here inserted:
"A rumor was spread that there was an oracle of the Sibyls
which declared that the Parthians could not be subdued by
the Romans, unless they were commanded by a king. This made
some talk publicly that in regard of other nations taxed
under the Roman empire, there needed no scruple be made at
the giving Cæsar that title. He, having still refused it,
hastened all he could to get out of the city where many
envied him. But four days before the day appointed for his
departure he was slain by his enemies in the palace, either
out of malice to see him raised to such supreme felicity and
height of command, or else (as themselves said) out of a
desire to restore the commonwealth to its first estate; for
they feared that, after having overcome these other nations,
nothing could hinder him from making himself king; yet as it
appears to me it was only for the name's sake they
attempted all things; for in the thing itself there is no
difference between dictator and king.
"There were two chiefs of this conspiracy, the son of that
Brutus whom Sulla put to death, M. Brutus Cæpio, who came
for refuge to Cæsar himself after the battle of Pharsalus,
and C. Cassius, who yielded to him the galleys in the
Hellespont, both of Pompey's party, and with them was joined
one of Cæsar's most intimate friends, Decimus Brutus
Albinus.
"Having all decreed the palace the place of execution, there
were divers opinions concerning the manner of doing it; some
being of opinion that they should likewise make away with
Antony, Cæsar's colleague, the most powerful of his friends,
and well beloved of the soldiery. But Brutus opposed that,
saying that it was only by killing Cæsar, who was as a king,
that they ought to seek for the glory of destroying tyrants;
and that if they killed his friends too, men would impute
the action to private enmity, and the faction of Pompey.
This advice prevailing, they only expected the assembling of
the Senate. Now the day before, Cæsar being invited to sup
with Lepidus, carried along with him Decimus Brutus Albinus;
and during supper the question being proposed what death was
best for man, some desiring one kind, and some another, he
alone preferred the suddenest and most unexpected. Thus
divining for himself, they fell to discourse of the morrow's
affairs.
"At the same time that Cæsar went to the palace in his
litter, one of his domestics, who had understood something
of the conspiracy, came to find Calpurnia; but without
saying anything to her but that he must speak with Cæsar
about affairs of importance, he stayed, expecting his return
from the Senate, because he did not know all the
particulars; his host of Cnidus, called Artemidorus, running
to the palace to give him notice of it, came just at the
moment of his being killed; another, as he sacrificed before
the gate of the senate house, gave him a note of all the
conspiracy; but he going in without reading it, it was after
death found in his hands. As he came out of his litter,
Lænas, the same who before had spoken to Cassius, came to
him, and entertained him a long time in private; which
struck a damp into the chiefs of the conspiracy, the more
because their conference was long; they already began to
make signs to one another that they must now kill him before
he arrested them; but in the sequel of the discourse,
observing Lænas to use rather the gesture of suppliant than
accuser, they deferred it; till in the end, seeing him
return thanks to Cæsar, they took courage.
"They left Trebonius at the gate to stop Antony under the
pretense of discoursing some business with him; and as soon
as Cæsar was seated, the other conspirators surrounded him
according to custom, as friends, having each his dagger
concealed. At the same time Attilius Cimber standing before
him began to entreat him to grant the return of his brother
who was an exile; and upon his refusal, under pretence of
begging it with more humility, he took him by the robe, and,
drawing it to him, hung about his neck, crying out, 'Why do
you delay, my friends?' Thereupon Casca first of all
reaching over his head, thought to strike his dagger into
his throat, but wounded him only in the breast. Cæsar,
having disengaged himself from Cimber, caught hold of
Casca's hand, leaped from his seat, and threw himself upon
Casca with a wonderful force; but being at handy grips with
him, another struck his dagger into his side, Cassius gave
him a wound in the face, Brutus struck him quite through the
thigh, Bucolianus wounded him behind the head, and he, like
one enraged, and roaring like a savage beast, turned
sometimes to one and sometimes to another; till strength
failing him after the wound received from Brutus, he threw
the skirt of his robe over his face and suffered himself
gently to fall before Pompey's statue. They forebore not to
give him many stabs after he was down; so that there were
three and twenty wounds found in his body. And those that
slew him were so eager that some of them, through vehemence,
without thinking of it, wounded each other."