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X
History of Julius Caesar by Jacob Abbott CHAPTER X.
CAESAR IMPERATOR.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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]
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. 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.