The lives of the first twelve Cæsars

발행: 1796년

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IULIUS CAESAR.

The land of Stella, consecrated by our ancestors to thegods, with so me other land of Campania test liable totribute, to support the eXpences Of the government, hedivided, but not by tot, among up wariis of twenty thou sand seamen, who had each of them three or more chil-dren. He eased the Publicans, upon their petition, of a

the public treasury ; and openly admonim ed them notio bid so extravagantly upon the nexi occasion. Allother things he disposed of at pleas ure, without the least Opposition stom any quarter ; or is any attempt to that pui pose ever became evident, it Mon was suppressed. Μ. Cato, who interrupted him in his proceedings, he orde redio be dragged out of the Senate-house by an ossicer, and Carried to prison. L. Lucullus, likewise, for opposinghim with some warmili, he so terrified mitti me apprehension os false accusation, that, to deprecate the Consu sresentinent, he seli down on his linees. And upon Cicero's lamenting in seme triat the miserable condition of the times, he the very fame day by nine o 'cloch, broughtover his enem y Ρ. Clodius stom me nobility to the commons ; a transition whicli that personage himself had a

long time sollicited in vain. At last, effectualty to intimida te ali mose of the opposite parib , he by great re-Wards prevalled upon Vettius to declare, that he had been sollicited by certain persons to assassinate Pompey ; and when he was brought upon the Rostra to name such as

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daughter of L. Piso, who was to succeed hirn in the Conis suismip, and gave his own daughter to Pompey; rejedi ingServilius Caepio, to whom sie had been contracted, and by whose means chiecty he had but a litile besere bassied Bibulus. Aster this new alli ance, he began, upon any debates in me Senate, to ask Pompey's opinion firs ;whereas he used besore to pay that compliment to M. Crassus; and it was the usual practice with the Consulto observe throughout the year the method os consultingthe house which he had adopted the itist of January. XXII. Being there re now supported by the interest

of his fallier and son-in-law, of ali the provinces he madechoice of Gaul, as most: lihely to furnish him with matterand occasion for trium plis. At si si indeed he receivedonly Cisalpine Gaul, with the addition of Illyricum, bya bili of Vatinius to the people ; but on after obtained by the senate Gallia Comata likewise; the house en-tertaining an apprehension, that is they should with-holdthis province, it would be conferred on hi in by the com

' Gallia was anciently divided into the Transalpina, or Ulterior, and Cisalpina, or Ciferior, with respect to Rome. The Citerior was properly a part of Italy, occupied by Gallic colonists; having the Rubicon, the ancient boundaryos Italy, on the solith. It was also called Gallia Togata, Bom the use of the Roman roga; the inhabitants of those Paris being, after the sociat war, admitted to the right os citiZens. The GaIlia Transalpina, or Ulterior, was called G mata, Dom the people wearing their hair long, Whicli the

Romans Wore mori; and the southern part of it, after ardScalled Narbonesis, came to have the epithet Braccata, Domthe use of braccis , which were no part of the Roman drest.

Some Writers suppos e the bracc e to have been breeches; but Aldus,

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IULIUS CAESAR.

mons. Elated now with his successi, he could not refra infrom boasting a sew days after in a fuli house, that he had, in spite of his enenates, and to their great mortification, obtained ali he dus1red, and should for the future treat them with what indigni ty he pleas ed. One of the members smartly observing, That will not be very ea sysor a moman to do,' ' he jocosely replied, Semiramis has formet ly reigne i in Assylia, and the AmaZOns been possessed of a great part of Asia. XXIII. When the term of his Consulsiaip had expired, upon a motion being made in the Senate by C. Memmius and L. Domitius the Praetors, respecting the transactions of the year past, he offered to refer himself to the liouse ;but they declining the business, after three days spent invain altercation, he set out for his province. Immediately, however, his Quaestor was impeached for severat misdem ea nors, by way of prelude to the future Condemnation os Caesar. An accusation was seon aliter prese

red against himself, by L. Antistius, Tribune of the commons; but by mahing an appeal to the rest of the body,

he prevalled, as being absent in the service of his coun- try, to have the prosecution suspended. . To secure himself theresere for the time to come, he was particularly caresul to oblige the magistrates of every year, and toassist none of the candidates with his interest, nor sufferany to be adu anced to any post whatever, Who would not positively undertake to defend him in his absence: for Aldus, in a mori disquisition on the subject, assirms that theywere a Lind of upper drest. And this opinion stems to beCOUntenanc ed by the nanae braccare heing applied by the modern Celtic nations, the descendents of the Gallic Celis,to signify their upper garment, or Plata.

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an cath, and even a Written obligation.

XXIV. But when L. Domitius was candidate for the Consuliti ip, and openly threatened that upon his electioninio office, he would effect what he could not in thecapacity of Praetor, and divest him of the command of the armies, he sent for Crassus and Pompey to Luca acity of liis province, and pressed them, for the purpo of dilappointing Domitius, to sue again for the Consul- hip, and to continue him in his command sor fiue years longer; with both whicli requisitions they complied. Presumptuous now from his success, he added, at his own private Charge, more legions to those which he had re-Ceived froin the governinent; among the former of whichwas one levied in Transalpine Gaul, and called by a Gallic name Alauda, which he trained and armed in the Roman famiqn, and asterwards made free of the citra Froni this period. he declineti no occasion of war, noteven os such as was ut ust and dan gerous; attaching, without any provocatiori, as meli the allies of Romeas the barbarous nations which were iis enenates : in much that me Senate passed a decree sor sending commissioners to eYamine into the condition os Gaul; andi lame members of the house even advised the delivering of him up to the enemy. But so great being the successos his enterprises, he had ille honor of obtaining more lays of supplication, and those more frequently, thau had ever besere been decreed to any Commander. XXV. During ni ne vears in which he held the military eommand, his alchieve ments were the following. IIe reduced ali Gaul, bo unded by the Pyrenean forest, the Alps, mount Gebenna, and the two rivers of the

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Rhine and Rhone, being abo ut three thous and two hundred miles in compassi, into the form os a province, eX-cepting only the allies of the republic, and suci, nationsas had merited his favor; imposing upon this new AC-quisition an annual ta X of forty millions of sesterces.

against the Germanic nations, and defeated them in severat engagements. He likew se invaded the Britons, a peopte formet ly unknown, of whom, after he had overthrown litem in batile, he exacted contributions and hos ages. Amidsi suci, a series of successes, he experi- enced only three times anu signat dis asser: once in Britain, when his fleet was almost destroyed by a storin: in Gaul, at Gergovia, where one of his legions was put tothe rotat; and in the territory of the Germans, his licute-nanis Titurius and Aurunculeius were Cut oss by an ambus cade.

XXVI. During this period he lost his mollier, whosedeath was followed by that of his davgliter, anil, notiong after, of his grand-daughter. In the mean time, the Republic being alarmed by the muriter of P. Clodius, and the Senate pasting a vote that only one consul, nam Cly Pompey, should be chos en for the ensu ing year, heprevalled v, illi the Tribunes of the commons, who intende ljoining him in nomination with Pompey, to propos e tolli e peopte a bill, enabling him to stand candidate for a second Consulsiip in his ab iace, when the term of his Command stlould be near expiring : that he might not beobliged on that account to quit his province too soon, and bes ore the conclusion of the war. Aster he had alta inedthis object, carrying his vlews stili higher, and anima ted mitti the liopes of successe , he omitted no opportunity Ofgaining universat affection, by adis of generosit y and

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kiiadnesi to individuals, both in public and private. Withmoney raised frona the spolis of the war lae began to constities a new Forum ; the ground-plot of whicli cost hirnabove a hundred millions os sesterces. He promised thepeopte a public entertain ment of gladiators, and a feas in memory of his davgliter, Which none before hina ha dever given. The more to raise their expectations onthis occasion, though he had agreed wim vi et uallers of alldcnominations for his feast, he made y et farther preparations in private houses, in different quarters of the city. He issiled an order, that the moli celebrated gladiators, is at any time during the combat they incurred the disia pleas ure of the public, should be immediately carried offby force, and reserved for son te future occasion. Yo unggladiators he tra ined up not in the school, and by themasters of deflance, but in gentiemen's hous es, by Roman knighis, and even Senators, shilled in the use ofarnas ; earnesi ly requesting them, as appears frona his

ing and forming those novitiates to the discipline of the combat. He do ubi ed the pay of the legions in perpetui ty ; alio ing them likewise corn, when it was in Plenty, Without any restriction; and semetimes distribut-ing to every soldier in his army a fave, and a portion of

standisag with Pompey, he offered hi in in marriage his sister's grand-daughter Octavia, who had been marriedio C. Marcellus, and requested for himself his davgliter, latet y contracted to Faustus Sylla. Every person abo ut him, and a great part likewi se of the Senate, he obliged

by the lo an os money at low interest or none at ali; andio ali others who came to wait upon him, et ther from invitation

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IULIUS CAESAR.

vitation or of their own accord, he made liberat presenis; not neglecting even freedmen and flaves, who were favoritos with their mas fers and patrons. He was, besides,

the signat protector and suppori os ali persons under pro' secution, or in debi, or prodigal yOung gentiemen ; eX- cluding Dom his beneficence only those who mere sodeeply immersed in guili, poverty, or luXury, that it was impossibie e flectualty to relieve them. These, he openlydeclared, could derive no benefit frona any other means than a civit War XXVIlI. He endeavored with equat assidui ty to en-gage in his interesst princes, and provinces, in every partos the known worid ; presenting some with thousaiadsos prisoners, and sending to others the assistance of troops, at whatever time and place they desii ed, without any authoi ity for such extraordinary acts, ei ther froni the Senate or people of Rome. He likewise ornamented

with magnificent public buit lings the most poterit Cities not only of Italy, Gaul, and Spain, but of Greece and Asia ; untii ali people being now astonis hed, and specu- loting on the obvio us tendency of those proceedings, Claudius Marcellus the Consul, declaring frst by proclamation, that he intended to proposse a mea fure of the Ut-most importance to the public, made a motion in the Senatethat sonae person saould be appotnted to succeed Caesar in his province, be re the term Os vice-gerenCy Was

and the victorious arm y sia olild be distanded. He farther moved, that Caesar bcing absent, his suit at thenexi election os Consuls sia ould not be admitted, as theexpedient practised by Pompey could not infringe the validity of the law which had been made by the peopte foribat purposse. The faet was, that Pompey in his la

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relating to the choice of chies magis rates, had sorgoi toexcepi Caesar, in the article in Which he declared alisuch as were not present incapable of being candidatessor anu post in the governivent; and Mon aster, whenthe law was inscribe t upon a copper- plate, and deposted in the troasury, he corrected his mistahe. Marcellus, not content mitti depriving Caesar of his provinces,

conferred upon them with an ambitio us vlew, and in exprest contradiction to the statute.

XXIX. Caesar heing alarmed at these proceed ings, and thinhing, as he was osten hearii to say, that it wouldbe a more dissiculi enterprise to bring him down, noruthat he was at the head of the govertament, froin the sirshrank of citiZens into the second, than fio m the second tothe lowest os ali, made a vigorous opposition to this

measure, partly by the Tribunes, who interposed in hisbelialf, and partly by Servius Sulpitius the other Consul. The sollowing year lihewise, when C. Marcellus, who

succeeiled his cousin Marcus in the Consulmip, puriued the same measu res, Caesar, by means os a large sum os money, engaged in hi 3 defence AEmilius Paulus, theothor Consul, and C. Curio, the most violent in temper ofv Comum mas a town of the Orobii, of ancient standitas, and formerly powerfui. Julius Caesar added to it sive thou sand neru colonists; whence it was generalty called Novocomum. But in time it recovered iis ancient name, Comum ;Pliny the younger, Who Was a native of this place, callingit by no other name .

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IULIUS CAESAR.

ii the Tribunes. But finding the opposition obstinatelybent against hina, and that the Consuls Elect were also of

the party, lae wrote a letter to the Senate, requesting thatthey v ould not obstruct the hind intentions expressed by the peopte towariis him; Or ella that the other generals1hould resign the command of their armies as weli as himself; fully persuaded, as it is thought, that he could more eastly cali together his veterari soldiers, whenever heplea sed, than Pompey could his ne clatsed troops, though favored with the influence of the goverrament. At the fame time, he made his adversaries an osser tosurrender eight of his legions and Transalpine Gaul, Upon condition iliat he might retain two legio ras, mitti the

Cisalpine province, or but one legion with Illyricum, tillhe s hsulit be elected Consul. XXX. But as the Senate declined to interpola in thebusiness, and his ene mi es declared that they would enter into no compromise relative to the administration of the

Republic, he adu anced into Hither Gaul, and having gone the circuit of the province for the holding of assiges, hemade a hali at Ravenna, resolving to avenge himself bywar, is the Senate stiould proceed to severit' against the Tribunes of the commons who had espoused his cause. And this vias indeed his pretexi for enga ging in a Warmilli his country ; but it is supposed that there were othermotives for his conduct. Cn. Pompey used frequentlyto say, that because he was not abie, With ait the riches he possessed, to complete the wortis he had begun, andans er, at his return, the vast expectations which he hadeXCited in the people, he wistaed to throw every thing into confusion. Others preteriit, he was apprehensive of be-ing Called to an account for what he had done in his fir si Consul snip, contrary to the auspices, laws, and authori ty

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iliority of the Tribunes ; M. Cato having metimes de. Hared, and that too with an oath, that he would preser animi cachinent against him, as soon as he dis anded hisai my. A report likewise prevalled, that is he returned a private person, he would, lihe Milo, be tried with a guardio attend the couri. This conjecture is rendered highlyprobabie by Asinius Pollio, who insorins us that Caesar,upon vlewing the vanquis laed and si aughtered enomy in the feld os Pharsalia, eXpressed himself in these very Horiis : This they intended : Ι, Caius Caesar, after all

gone a sentence of condemnation, had I not desii ed theasi1stance of my army. '' Some think, that having contracted stom long habit an eXtraordinary love os power, and weighed his own and his enem ies' strengili, he em braced that occasion of seiZing the govertament, of whichfrom his youth he had been ambitio us. This seems toliave been the opinion entertained by Cicero, Who telisus in the third book of his Oinces, that Caesar used toliave frequently in his mouth two verses of Euripides, Whicli ho thus translates:

Nam si violandum est jus, regnandi gratia

Violandum cst : aliis rebus pietatem colas. For nought but sev 'rctgn pow'r transgress the la s

XXXI. When advice there re mas brought, that the interposition of the Tribunes in his savor had been ulterly rejected, and that they themselves had sed frona the city, he forthwith private ly dispalched be re hi in s me bat- talions, and to prevent any suspicion of his desigia, heattended at a public stlew, examined the modet os a fen-

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