Chapter L: Section 7 (7)

At the time when Cæsar was in a difficult position at
Alexandria, and the subjects of Rome were generally uncertain
as to whether their yoke would be broken or not by the pending
civil war, Pharnaces, son of the vanquished Pontic king,
Mithridates, made an effort to recover the lost kingdom of his
father. He himself had been a traitor to his father, and had
been rewarded for his treason by Pompeius, who gave him the
small kingdom of Bosporus, in the Crimea. He now thought the
moment favorable for regaining Pontus, Cappadocia and Lesser
Armenia. Cæsar's lieutenant in Asia Minor, Domitius Calvinus,
marched against him with a small force, and was badly defeated
at Nicopolis (B. C. 48), in Armenia Minor.
{2694}
As a consequence, Cæsar, on being extricated from Alexandria,
could not return to Rome, although his affairs there sorely
needed him, until he had restored the Roman authority in Asia
Minor. As soon as he could reach Pharnaces, although his army
was small in numbers, he struck and shattered the flimsy
throne at a single blow. The battle was fought (B. C. 47) at
Zela, in Pontus, where Mithridates had once gained a victory
over the Romans. It was of this battle that Cæsar is said to
have written his famous 'Veni, vidi, vici.' "Plutarch says
that this expression was used in a letter to one Amintius; the
name is probably a mistake. Suetonius asserts that the three
words were inscribed on a banner and carried in Cæsar's
triumph. Appian and Dion refer to them as notorious."

_C. Merivale,
History of the Romans,
chapter 18._

After defeating Pharnaces at Zela, destroying his army, "Cæsar
passed on through Galatia and Bithynia to the province of Asia
proper, settling affairs in every centre; and leaving the
faithful Mithridates [of Pergamum—See ALEXANDRIA: B. C. 48-47]
with the title of King of the Bosphorus, as a guarantee for
the security of these provinces, he sailed for Italy, and
arrived at Tarentum before anyone was aware of his approach.
If he had really wasted time or lost energy in Egypt, he was
making up for it now. On the way from Tarentum to Brundisium
he met Cicero, who had been waiting for him here for nearly a
year. He alighted, embraced his old friend, and walked with
him some distance. The result of their talk was shown by
Cicero's conduct for the rest of Cæsar's lifetime; he retired
to his villas, and sought relief in literary work, encouraged
doubtless by Cæsar's ardent praise. The magical effect of
Cæsar's presence was felt throughout Italy; all sedition
ceased, and Rome, which had been the scene of riot and
bloodshed under the uncertain rule of Antonius, was quiet in
an instant. The master spent three months in the city, working
hard. He had been a second time appointed dictator while he
was in Egypt, and probably without any limit of time, space or
power; and he acted now without scruple as an absolute
monarch. Everything that had to be done he saw to himself.
Money was raised, bills were passed, the Senate recruited,
magistrates and provincial governors appointed. But there was
no time for any attempt at permanent organisation; he must
wrest Africa from his enemies. … He quelled a most serious
mutiny, in which even his faithful tenth legion was concerned,
with all his wonderful skill and knowledge of human nature;
sent on all available forces to Sicily, and arrived himself at
Lilybæum in the middle of December."

_W. W. Fowler,
Julius Cæsar,
chapter 17._

The last stand of Cæsar's opponents as a party—the senatorial
party, or the republicans, as they are sometimes called—was
made in Africa, on the old Carthaginian territory, with the
city of Utica for their headquarters, and with Juba, the
Numidian king, for their active ally. Varus, who had held his
ground there, defeating and slaying Cæsar's friend Curio, was
joined first by Scipio, afterwards by Cato, Labienus and other
leaders, Cato having led a wonderful march through the desert
from the Lesser Syrtis. In the course of the year of respite
from pursuit which Cæsar's occupations elsewhere allowed them,
they gathered and organized a formidable army. It was near the
end of the year 47 B. G. that Cæsar assembled his forces at
Lilybæum, in Sicily, and sailed with the first detachment for
Africa. As happened so often to him in his bold military
adventures, the troops which should follow were delayed by
storms, and he was exposed to imminent peril before they
arrived. But he succeeded in fortifying and maintaining a
position on the coast, near Ruspina, until they came. As soon
as they reached him he offered battle to his adversaries, and
found presently an opportunity to force the fighting upon them
at Thapsus, a coast town in their possession, which he
attacked. The battle was decided by the first charge of
Cæsar's legionaries, which swept everything—foot-soldiers,
cavalry and elephants —before it. The victors in their
ferocity gave no quarter and slaughtered 10,000 of the enemy,
while losing from their own ranks but fifty men. The decisive
battle of Thapsus was fought on the 6th of April, B. C. 46,
uncorrected calendar, or February 6th, as corrected later.
Scipio, the commander, fled to Spain, was intercepted on the
voyage, and ended his own life. The high-minded, stoical Cato
committed suicide at Utica, rather than surrender his freedom
to Cæsar. Juba, the Numidian king, likewise destroyed himself
in despair; his kingdom was extinguished and Numidia became a
Roman province. A few scattered leaders of revolt still
disputed Cæsar's supremacy, but his power was firmly fixed.

_A. Hirtius,
The African War._

ALSO IN
_G. Long,
Decline of the Roman Republic,
volume 5, chapters 24-27._

ROME: B. C. 45:
Cæsar's last campaign against the Pompeians in Spain.
His victory at Munda.

After Thapsus, Cæsar had one more deadly and desperate battle
to fight for his sovereignty over the dominions of Rome. Cnæus
Pompeius, son of Pompeius Magnus, with Labienus and Varus, of
the survivors of the African field, had found disaffection in
Spain, out of which they drew an army, with Pompeius in
command. Cæsar marched in person against this new revolt,
crossing the Alps and the Pyrenees with his customary
celerity. After a number of minor engagements had been fought,
the decisive battle occurred at Munda, in the valley of the
Guadalquiver (modern Munda, between Honda and Malaga), on the
17th of March, B. C. 45. "Never, it is said, was the great
conqueror brought so near to defeat and destruction;" but he
won the day in the end, and only Sextus Pompeius survived
among the leaders of his enemies. The dead on the field were
30,000.

_Julius Cæsar,
Commentary on the Spanish War._

ALSO IN
_C. Merivale,
History of the Romans,
chapter 19._

_G. Long,
Decline of the Roman Republic,
volume 5, chapter 30._

ROME: B. C. 45-44.
The Sovereignty of Cæsar and his titles.
His permanent Imperatorship.
His unfulfilled projects.

"At Home, official enthusiasm burst forth anew at the tidings
of these successes [in Spain]. The Senate decreed fifty days
of supplications, and recognized Cæsar's right to extend the
pomœrium, since he had extended the limits of the Empire. …
After Thapsus he was more than a demi-god; after Munda he was
a god altogether. A statue was raised to him in the temple of
Quirinus with the inscription: 'To the invincible God,' and a
college of priests, the Julian, was consecrated to him. … On
the 18th September the dictator appeared at the gates of Rome,
but he did not triumph till the beginning of October.
{2695}
This time there was no barbarian king or chieftain to veil the
victories won over citizens. But Cæsar thought he had no
longer need to keep up such consideration; since he was now
the State, his enemies, whatever name they bore, must be
enemies of the State. … It was expected that Cæsar, having
suffered so many outrages, would now punish severely, and
Cicero, who had always doubted his clemency, believed that
tyranny would break out as soon as the tyrant was above fear.
But jealousies, recollections of party strifes, did not reach
to the height of Cæsar. … He restored the statues of Sylla; he
replaced that of Pompey on the rostra. … He pardoned Cassius,
who had tried to assassinate him, the consularis Marcellus who
had stirred up war against him, and Quintus Ligarius who had
betrayed him in Africa. As a temporary precaution, however, he
forbade to the Pompeians, by a 'lex Hirtia,' admission to the
magistracy. For his authority, Cæsar sought no new forms. …
Senate, comitia, magistracies existed as before; but he
centred public action in himself alone by combining in his own
hands all the republican offices. The instrument which Cæsar
used in order to give to his power legal sanction was the
Senate. In former times, the general, after the triumph; laid
aside his title of imperator and imperium, which included
absolute authority over the army, the judicial department and
the administrative power; Cæsar, by a decree of the Senate,
retained both during life, with the right of drawing freely
from the treasury. His dictatorship and his office of
præfectus morum were declared perpetual; the consulship was
offered him for ten years, but he would not accept it; the
Senate wished to join executive to electoral authority by
offering him the right of appointment in all curule and
plebeian offices; he reserved for himself merely the privilege
of nominating half the magistracy. The Senate had enjoined the
members chosen to swear, before entering on office, that they
would undertake nothing contrary to the dictator's acts, these
having the force of law. Further, they gave to his person the
legal inviolability of the tribunes, and in order to ensure
it, knights and senators offered to serve as guards, while the
whole Senate took an oath to watch over his safety. To the
reality of power were added the outward signs. In the Senate,
at the theatre, in the circus, on his tribunal, he sat,
dressed in the royal robe, on a throne of gold, and his effigy
was stamped on the coins, where the Roman magistrates had not
yet ventured to engrave more than their names. They even went
as far as talking of succession, as in a regular monarchy. His
title of imperator and the sovereign pontificate were
transmissible to his legitimate or adopted children. … Cæsar
was not deceived by the secret perfidy which prompted such
servilities, and he valued them as they deserved. But his
enemies found in them fresh reasons for hating the great man
who had saved them. … The Senate had … sunk from its character
of supreme council of the Republic into that of a committee of
consultation, which the master often forgot to consult. The
Civil war had decimated it; Cæsar appointed to it brave
soldiers, even sons of freedmen who had served him well, and a
considerable number of provincials, Spaniards, Gauls of Gallia
Narbonensis, who had long been Romans. He had so many services
to reward that his Senate reached the number of 900 members. …
One day the Senate went in a body to the temple of Venus
Genetrix to present to Cæsar certain decrees drawn up in his
honor. The demi-god was ill and dared not leave his couch.
This was imprudent, for the report spread that he had not
deigned to rise. … The higher nobles remained apart, not from
honours, but from power; but they forgot neither Pharsalia nor
Thapsus. They would have consented to obey on condition of
having the appearance of commanding. This disguised obedience
is for an able government more convenient than outward
servility. A few concessions made to vanity obtain tranquil
possession of power. This was the policy of Augustus, but it
is not that of great ambitions or of a true statesman. These
pretences leave everything doubtful; nothing is settled; and
Cæsar wished to lay the foundations of a government which
should bring a new order of things out of a chaos of ruins.
Unless we are paying too much attention to mere anecdotes, he
desired the royal diadem. … It is difficult not to believe
that Cæsar considered the constituting of a monarchical power
as the rational achievement of the revolution which he was
carrying out. In this way we could explain the persistence of
his friends in offering him a title odious to the Romans, who
were quite ready to accept a monarch, but not monarchy. … In
order to attain to this royal title … he must mount still
higher, and this new greatness he would seek in the East. … It
was meet that he should wipe out the second military
humiliation of Rome after effacing the first; that he should
avenge Crassus."

_V. Duruy,
History of Rome,
chapter 58, sections 2-3 (volume 3)._

"Cæsar was born to do great things, and had a passion after
honor. … It was in fact a sort of emulous struggle with
himself, as it had been with another, how he might outdo his
past actions by his future. In pursuit of these thoughts he
resolved to make war upon the Parthians, and when he had
subdued them, to pass through Hyrcania; thence to march along
by the Caspian Sea to Mount Caucasus, and so on about Pontus,
till he came into Scythia; then to overrun all the countries
bordering upon Germany, and Germany itself; and so to return
through Gaul into Italy, after completing the whole circle of
his intended empire, and bounding it on every side by the
ocean. While preparations were making for this expedition, he
proposed to dig through the isthmus on which Corinth stands;
and appointed Anienus to superintend the work. He had also a
design of diverting the Tiber, and carrying it by a deep
channel directly from Rome to Circeii, and so into the sea
near Tarracina, that there might be a safe and easy passage
for all merchants who traded to Rome. Besides this, he
intended to drain all the marshes by Pomentium and Setia, and
gain ground enough from the water to employ many thousands of
men in tillage. He proposed further to make great mounds on
the shore nearest Rome, to hinder the sea from breaking in
upon the land, to clear the coast at Ostia of all the hidden
rocks and shoals that made it unsafe for shipping, and to form
ports and harbors fit to receive the large number of vessels
that would frequent them. These things were designed without
being carried into effect; but his reformation of the calendar
[See CALENDAR, JULIAN], in order to rectify the irregularity
of time, was not only projected with great scientific
ingenuity, but was brought to its completion, and proved of
very great use."

_Plutarch,
Cæsar (Clough's Dryden's translation)._

ALSO IN
_T. Mommsen,
History of Rome,
book 5, chapter 11, with note._

{2696}

ROME: B. C. 44.
The Assassination of Cæsar.

"The question of the kingship was over; but a vague alarm had
been created, which answered the purpose of the Optimates.
Cæsar was at their mercy any day. They had sworn to maintain
all his acts. They had sworn, after Cicero's speech,
individually and collectively to defend his life. Cæsar,
whether he believed them sincere or not, had taken them at
their word, and came daily to the Senate unarmed and without a
guard. … There were no troops in the city. Lepidus, Cæsar's
master of the horse, who had been appointed governor of Gaul,
was outside the gates with a few cohorts; but Lepidus was a
person of feeble character, and they trusted to be able to
deal with him. Sixty senators, in all, were parties to the
immediate conspiracy. Of these, nine tenths were members of
the old faction whom Cæsar had pardoned, and who, of all his
acts, resented most that he had been able to pardon them. They
were the men who had stayed at home, like Cicero, from the
fields of Thapsus and Munda, and had pretended penitence and
submission that they might take an easier road to rid
themselves of their enemy. Their motives were the ambition of
their order and personal hatred of Cæsar; but they persuaded
themselves that they were animated by patriotism, and as, in
their hands, the Republic had been a mockery of liberty, so
they aimed at restoring it by a mock tyrannicide. … One man
only they were able to attract into coöperation who had a
reputation for honesty, and could be conceived, without
absurdity, to be animated by a disinterested purpose. Marcus
Brutus was the son of Cato's sister Servilia, the friend, and
a scandal said the mistress, of Cæsar. That he was Cæsar's son
was not too absurd for the credulity of Roman drawing-rooms.
Brutus himself could not have believed in the existence of
such a relation, for he was deeply attached to his mother; and
although, under the influence of his uncle Cato, he had taken
the Senate's side in the war, he had accepted afterwards not
pardon only from Cæsar, but favors of many kinds, for which he
had professed, and probably felt, some real gratitude. …
Brutus was perhaps the only member of the senatorial party in
whom Cæsar felt genuine confidence. His known integrity, and
Cæsar's acknowledged regard for him, made his accession to the
conspiracy an object of particular importance. … Brutus, once
wrought upon, became with Cassius the most ardent in the cause
which assumed the aspect to him of a sacred duty. Behind them
were the crowd of senators of the familiar faction, and others
worse than they, who had not even the excuse of having been
partisans of the beaten cause; men who had fought at Cæsar's
side till the war was over, and believed, like Labienus, that
to them Cæsar owed his fortune, and that he alone ought not to
reap the harvest. … The Ides of March drew near. Cæsar was to
set out in a few days for Parthia. Decimus Brutus was going,
as governor, to the north of Italy, Lepidus to Gaul, Marcus
Brutus to Macedonia, and Trebonius to Asia Minor. Antony,
Cæsar's colleague in the consulship, was to remain in Italy.
Dolabella, Cicero's son-in-law, was to be consul with him as
soon as Cæsar should have left for the East. The foreign
appointments were all made for five years, and in another week
the party would be scattered. The time for action had come, if
action there was to be. … An important meeting of the Senate
had been called for the Ides (the 15th) of the month. The
Pontifices, it was whispered, intended to bring on again the
question of the Kingship before Cæsar's departure. The
occasion would be appropriate. The Senate-house itself was a
convenient scene of operations. The conspirators met at supper
the evening before at Cassius's house. Cicero, to his regret,
was not invited. The plan was simple, and was rapidly
arranged. Cæsar would attend unarmed. The senators not in the
secret would be unarmed also. The party who intended to act
were to provide themselves with poniards, which could be
easily concealed in their paper boxes. So far all was simple;
but a question rose whether Cæsar only was to be killed, or
whether Antony and Lepidus were to be dispatched along with
him. They decided that Cæsar's death would be sufficient. …
Antony and Lepidus were not to be touched. For the rest the
assassins had merely to be in their places in the Senate in
good time. When Cæsar entered, Trebonius was to detain Antony
in conversation at the door. The others were to gather about
Cæsar's chair on pretence of presenting a petition, and so
could make an end. A gang of gladiators were to be secreted in
the adjoining theatre to be ready should any unforeseen
difficulty present itself. … Strange stories were told in
after years of the uneasy labors of the elements that night. …
Calpurnia dreamt her husband was murdered, and that she saw
him ascending into heaven, and received by the hand of God. In
the morning (March 15th) the sacrifices were again
unfavorable. Cæsar was restless. Some natural disorder
affected his spirits, and his spirits were reacting on his
body. Contrary to his usual habit, he gave way to depression.
He decided, at his wife's entreaty, that he would not attend
the Senate that day. The house was full. The conspirators were
in their places with their daggers ready. Attendants came in
to remove Cæsar's chair. It was announced that he was not
coming. Delay might be fatal. They conjectured that he already
suspected something. A day's respite, and all might be
discovered. His familiar friend whom he trusted —the
coincidence is striking—was employed to betray him. Decimus
Brutus, whom it was impossible for him to distrust, went to
entreat his attendance. … Cæsar shook off his uneasiness, and
rose to go. As he crossed the hall his statue fell and
shivered on the stones. Some servant, perhaps, had heard
whispers, and wished to warn him. As he still passed on, a
stranger thrust a scroll into his hand, and begged him to read
it on the spot. It contained a list of the conspirators, with
a clear account of the plot. He supposed it to be a petition
and placed it carelessly among his other papers. The fate of
the Empire hung upon a thread, but the thread was not broken.
… Cæsar entered and took his seat.
{2697}
His presence awed men, in spite of themselves, and the
conspirators had determined to act at once, lest they should
lose courage to act at all. He was familiar and easy of
access. They gathered round him. … One had a story to tell
him; another some favor to ask. Tullius Cimber, whom he had
just made governor of Bithynia, then came close to him, with
some request which he was unwilling to grant. Cimber caught
his gown, as if in entreaty, and dragged it from his
shoulders. Cassius, who was standing behind, stabbed him in
the throat. He started up with a cry and caught Cassius's arm.
Another poniard entered his breast, giving a mortal wound. He
looked round, and seeing not one friendly face, but only a
ring of daggers pointing at him, he drew his gown over his
head, gathered the folds about him that he might fall
decently, and sank down without uttering another word. … The
Senate rose with shrieks and confusion, and rushed into the
Forum. The crowd outside caught the words that Cæsar was dead,
and scattered to their houses. Antony, guessing that those who
had killed Cæsar would not spare himself, hurried off into
concealment. The murderers, bleeding some of them from wounds
which they had given one another in their eagerness, followed,
crying that the tyrant was dead, and that Rome was free; and
the body of the great Cæsar was left alone in the house where
a few weeks before Cicero told him that he was so necessary to
his country that every senator would die before harm should
reach him."

_J. A. Froude,
Cæsar,
chapter 26._

ROME: B. C. 44.
The genius and character of Cæsar.
His rank among great men.

"Was Cæsar, upon the whole, the greatest of men? Dr. Beattie
once observed, that if that question were left to be collected
from the suffrages already expressed in books, and scattered
throughout the literature of all nations, the scale would be
found to have turned prodigiously in Cæsar's favor, as against
any single competitor; and there is no doubt whatsoever, that
even amongst his own countrymen, and his own contemporaries,
the same verdict would have been returned, had it been
collected upon the famous principle of Themistocles, that he
should be reputed the first, whom the greatest number of rival
voices had pronounced the second."

_T. De Quincey,
The Cæsars,
chapter 1._

"The founder of the Roman Empire was a very great man. With
such genius and such fortune it is not surprising that he
should be made an idol. In intellectual stature he was at
least an inch higher than his fellows, which is in itself
enough to confound all our notions of right and wrong. He had
the advantage of being a statesman before he was a soldier,
whereas Napoleon was a soldier before he was a statesman. His
ambition coincided with the necessity of the world, which
required to be held together by force; and, therefore, his
Empire endured for four hundred, or, if we include its Eastern
offset, for fourteen hundred years, while that of Napoleon
crumbled to pieces in four. But unscrupulous ambition was the
root of his character. It was necessary, in fact, to enable
him to trample down the respect for legality which still
hampered other men. To connect him with any principle seems to
me impossible. He came forward, it is true, as the leader of
what is styled the democratic party, and in that sense the
empire which he founded may be called democratic. But to the
gamblers who brought their fortunes to that vast hazard table,
the democratic and aristocratic parties were merely rouge and
noir. The social and political equity, the reign of which we
desire to see, was, in truth, unknown to the men of Cæsar's
time. It is impossible to believe that there was an essential
difference of principle between one member of the triumvirate
and another. The great adventurer had begun by getting deeply
into debt, and had thus in fact bound himself to overthrow the
republic. He fomented anarchy to prepare the way for his
dictatorship. He shrank from no accomplice however tainted,
not even from Catiline; from no act however profligate or even
cruel. … The noblest feature in Cæsar's character was his
clemency. But we are reminded that it was ancient, not modern
clemency, when we find numbered among the signal instances of
it his having cut the throats of the pirates before he hanged
them, and his having put to death without torture (simplici
morte punivit) a slave suspected of conspiring against his
life. Some have gone so far as to speak of him as the
incarnation of humanity. But in the whole history of Roman
conquest will you find a more ruthless conqueror? A million of
Gauls we are told perished by the sword. Multitudes were sold
into slavery. The extermination of the Eburones went to the
verge even of ancient licence. The gallant Vercingetorix, who
had fallen into Cæsar's hands under circumstances which would
have touched any but a depraved heart, was kept by him a
captive for six years, and butchered in cold blood on the day
of the triumph. The sentiment of humanity was then
undeveloped. Be it so, but then we must not call Cæsar the
incarnation of humanity. Vast plans are ascribed to Cæsar at
the time of his death, and it seems to be thought that a world
of hopes for humanity perished when he fell. But if he had
lived and acted for another century, what could he have done
with those moral and political materials but found, what he
did found, a military and sensualist empire. A multitude of
projects are attributed to him by writers, who, we must
remember, are late, and who make him ride a fairy charger with
feet like the hands of a man. Some of these projects are
really great, such as the codification of the law, and
measures for the encouragement of intellect and science;
others are questionable, such as the restoration of commercial
cities from which commerce had departed; others, great works
to be accomplished by an unlimited command of men and money,
are the common dreams of every Nebuchadnezzar. … Still Cæsar
was a very great man, and he played a dazzling part, as all
men do who come just at the fall of an old system, when
society is as clay in the hands of the potter, and found a new
system in its place; while the less dazzling task of making
the new system work, by probity and industry, and of restoring
the shattered allegiance of a people to its institutions,
descends upon unlaurelled heads. But that the men of his time
were bound to recognise in him a Messiah, to use the phrase of
the Emperor of the French, and that those who opposed him were
Jews crucifying their Messiah is an impression which I venture
to think will in time subside."

_Goldwin Smith,
The Last Republicans of Rome
(Macmillan's Magazine, April, 1868)._

ALSO IN:
_T. Arnold,
History of the Later Roman Commonwealth,
chapter 9 (volume 2)._

_A. Trollope,
Life of Cicero,
volume 2, chapter 8._

{2698}

ROME: B. C. 44.
After Cæsar's death.
Flight of "the Liberators."
Mark Antony in power.-
Arrival and wise conduct of Cæsar's heir, the young Octavius.

The assassins of Cæsar were not long in discovering that Rome
gave no applause to their bloody deed. Its first effect was a
simply stupefying consternation. The Senators fled,—the forum
and the streets were nearly emptied. When Brutus attempted an
harangue his hearers were few and silent. In gloomy alarm, he
made haste, with his associates, to take refuge on the heights
of the capitol. During the night which followed, a few
senators, who approved the assassination—Cicero among the
number—climbed the hill and held council with them in their
place of retreat. The result was a second attempt made, on the
following day, to rouse public feeling in their favor by
speeches in the forum. The demonstration was again a failure,
and the "liberators," as they wished to be deemed, returned
with disappointment to the capitol. Meantime, the surviving
consul, who had been Cæsar's colleague for the year, M.
Antonius—known more commonly as Mark Antony—had acted with
vigor to secure power in his own hands. He had taken
possession of the great treasure which Cæsar left, and had
acquired his papers. He had come to a secure understanding,
moreover, with Lepidus, Cæsar's Master of Horse, who
controlled a legion quartered near by, and who really
commanded the situation, if his energy and his abilities had
been equal to it. Lepidus marched his legion into the city,
and its presence preserved order. Yet, with all the advantage
in their favor, neither Antony nor Lepidus took any bold
attitude against Cæsar's murderers. On the contrary, Antony
listened to propositions from them and consented, as consul,
to call a meeting of the Senate for deliberation on their act.
At that meeting he even advocated what might be called a
decree of oblivion, so far as concerned the striking down of
Cæsar, and a confirmation of all the acts executed and
unexecuted, of the late Imperator. These had included the
recent appointment of Brutus, Cassius and other leaders among
the assassins to high proconsular commands in the provinces.
Of course the proposed measure was acceptable to them and
their friends, while Antony, having Cæsar's papers in his
possession, expected to gain everything from it. Under cover
of the blank confirmation of Cæsar's acts, he found in Cæsar's
papers a ground of authority for whatever he willed to do, and
was accused of forging without limit where the genuine
documents failed him. At the same time, taking advantage of
the opportunity that was given to him by a public funeral
decreed to Cæsar, he delivered an artful oration, which
infuriated the people and drove the bloodstained "liberators"
in terror from the city. But in many ways Antonius weakened
the strong position which his skilful combinations had won for
him. In his undisguised selfishness he secured no friends of
his own; he alienated the friends of Cæsar by his calm
indifference to the crime of the assassins of Cæsar, while he
harvested for himself the fruits of it; above all, he offended
and insulted the people by his impudent appropriation of
Cæsar's vast hoard of wealth. The will of the slain Imperator
had been read, and it was known that he had bequeathed three
hundred sesterces—nearly £3 sterling, or $15—to every citizen
of Rome. The heir named to the greater part of the estate was
Cæsar's favorite grand-nephew (grandson of his younger sister,
Julia) Caius Octavius, who became, by the terms of the will,
his adopted son, and who was henceforth to bear the name Caius
Julius Cæsar Octavianus. The young heir, then but eighteen
years of age, was at Apollonia, in Illyria, at the quarters of
a considerable force which Cæsar had assembled there. With
wonderful coolness and prudence for his age, he declined
proposals to lead the army to Rome, for the assertion of his
rights, but went quietly thither with a few friends, feeling
the public pulse as he journeyed. At Rome he demanded from
Antony the moneys which Cæsar had left, but the profligate and
reckless consul had spent them and would give no account. By
great exertions Octavius raised sufficient means on his own
account to pay Cæsar's legacy to the Roman citizens, and
thereby he consolidated a popular feeling in his own favor,
against Antony, which placed him, at once, in important
rivalry with the latter. It enabled him presently to share the
possession of power with Antony and Lepidus, in the Second
Triumvirate, and, finally, to seize the whole sovereignty
which Cæsar intended to bequeath to him.

_C. Merivale,
History of the Romans,
chapters 23-24._

ALSO IN:
_G. Long,
Decline of the Roman Republic,
volume 5, chapter 34._

ROME: B. C. 44-42.
Destruction of the Liberators.
Combination of Antony, Octavius and Lepidus.
The Second Triumvirate.

Mark Antony's arrangement of peace with the murderers of
Cæsar, on the basis of a confirmation in the Senate of all
Cæsar's acts, gave to Marcus Brutus the government of
Macedonia, to Decimus Brutus that of Cisalpine Gaul, and to
Cassius that of Syria, since Cæsar had already named them to
those several commands before they slew him. But Antony
succeeded ere long in procuring decrees from the Senate,
transferring Macedonia to his brother, and Syria to Dolabella.
A little later he obtained a vote of the people giving
Cisalpine Gaul to himself, and cancelling the commission of
Decimus Brutus. His consular term was now near its expiration
and he had no intention to surrender the power he had enjoyed.
An army in northern Italy would afford the support which his
plans required. But, before those plans were ripe, his
position had grown exceedingly precarious. The Senate and the
people were alike unfriendly to him, and alike disposed to
advance Octavius in opposition. The latter, without office or
commission, had already, in the lawless manner of the time, by
virtue of the encouragement given to him, collected an army of
several legions under his personal banner. Decimus Brutus
refused to surrender the government of Gaul, and was supported
by the best wishes of the Senate in defying Antony to wrest it
from him. The latter now faced the situation boldly, and,
although two legions brought from Epirus went over to
Octavius, he collected a strong force at Ariminum, marched
into Cisalpine Gaul and blockaded Decimus Brutus in Mutina
(modern Modena). Meantime, new consuls, Hirtius and Pansa, had
taken office at Rome, and the Senate, led by Cicero, had
declared its hostility to Antony.
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Octavius was called upon to join the new consuls with his
army, in proceeding against the late consul—now treated as a
public enemy, though not so pronounced. He did so, and two
battles were fought, on the 15th of April, B. C. 43, at Forum
Gallorum, and on the 27th of the same month under the walls of
Mutina, which forced Antony to retreat, but which cost Rome
the lives of both her consuls. Antony retired across the Alps
and joined his old friend Lepidus in Transalpine Gaul.
Octavius declined to follow. Instead of doing so, he sent a
military deputation to Rome to demand the consulship, and
quickly followed it with his army when the demand had been
refused. The demonstration proved persuasive, and he was
elected consul, with his half-brother for colleague. His next
business was to come to terms with Antony and Lepidus, as
against the Liberators and their friends. A conference was
arranged, and the three new masters of Rome met in October, B.
C. 43, on an island near Bononia (modern Bologna),
constituting themselves a commission of three—a triumvirate
—to settle the affairs of the commonwealth. They framed a
formal contract of five years' duration; divided the powers of
government between themselves; named officials for the
subordinate places; and—most serious proceeding of
all—prepared a proscription list, as Sulla had done, of
enemies to be put out of the way. It was an appalling list of
300 senators (the immortal Cicero at their head) and 2,000
knights. When the work of massacre in Rome and Italy had been
done, and when the terrified Senate had legalized the
self-assumed title and authority of the triumvirs, these
turned their attention to the East, where M. Brutus and
Cassius had established and maintained themselves in power.
Decimus Brutus was already slain, after desertion by his army
and capture in attempted flight. In the summer of the year 42
B. C., Antony led a division of the joint army of the
triumvirate across the sea and through Macedonia, followed
soon after by Octavius with additional forces. They were met
at Philippi, and there, in two great battles, fought with an
interval of twenty days between, the republic of Rome was
finally done to death. "The battle of Philippi, in the
estimation of the Roman writers, was the most memorable
conflict in their military annals. The numbers engaged on
either side far exceed all former experience. Eighty thousand
legionaries alone were counted on the one side, and perhaps
120,000 on the other—at least three times as many as fought at
Pharsalia." Both Cassius and Brutus died by their own hands.
There was no more opposition to the triumvirs, except from
Sextus Pompeius, last survivor of the family of the great
Pompeius, who had created for himself at sea a little
half-piratical realm, and who forced the three to recognize
him for a time as a fourth power in the Roman world. But he,
too, perished, B. C. 35. For seven years, from B. C. 42 to B.
C. 36, Antony ruled the East, Octavius the West, and Lepidus
reigned in Africa.

_C. Merivale,
History of the Romans,
chapters 24-28._

ALSO IN:
_C. Merivale,
The Fall of the Roman Republic,
chapter 15._

ROME: B. C. 31.
The victory of Octavius at Actium.
The rise of the Empire.

The battles of Philippi, which delivered the whole Roman world
to Antony, Octavius and Lepidus (the Triumvirs), were fought
in the summer of 42 B. C. The battle of Actium, which made
Octavius—soon to be named Augustus—the single master of a now
fully founded Empire, was fought on the 2d of September, B. C.
31. In the interval of eleven years, Octavius, governing Rome,
Italy, and the provinces of the West, had steadily
consolidated and increased his power, gaining the confidence,
the favor and the fear of his subject people. Antony,
oppressing the East, had consumed his energies and his time in
dalliance with Cleopatra, and had made himself the object of
hatred and contempt. Lepidus, who had Africa for his dominion
to begin with, had measured swords with Octavius and had been
summarily deposed, in the year 36 B. C. It was simply a
question of time as to when Antony, in his turn, should make
room for the coming monarch. Already, in the year after
Philippi, the two sovereign-partners had been at the verge of
war. Antony's brother and his wife, Fulvia, had raised a
revolt in Italy against Octavius, and it had been crushed at
Perusia, before Antony could rouse himself to make a movement
in support of it. He did make a formidable demonstration at
last; but the soldiers of the two rivals compelled them on
that occasion to patch up a new peace, which was accomplished
by a treaty negotiated at Brundisium and sealed by the
marriage of Antony to Octavia, sister of Octavius. This peace
was maintained for ten years, while the jealousies and
animosities of the two potentates grew steadily more bitter.
It came to an end when Octavius felt strong enough to defy the
superior resources, in money, men and ships, which Antony held
at his command. The preparations then made on both sides for
the great struggle were stupendous and consumed a year. It was
by the determination of Antony that the war assumed chiefly a
naval character; but Octavius, not Antony, forced the
sea-fight when it came. His smaller squadrons sought and
attacked the swarming fleets of Egypt and Asia, in the
Ambracian gulf, where they had been assembled. The great
battle was fought at the inlet of the gulf, off the point, or
"acte," of a tongue of land, projecting from the shores of
Acarnania, on which stood a temple to Apollo, called the
Actium. Hence the name of the battle. The cowardly flight of
Cleopatra, followed by Antony, ended the conflict quickly, and
the Antonian fleet was entirely destroyed. The deserted army,
on shore, which had idly watched the sea-fight, threw down its
arms, when the flight of Antonius was known. Before Octavius
pursued his enemy into Egypt and to a despairing death, he had
other work to do, which occupied him for nearly a year. But he
was already sure of the sole sovereignty that he claimed. The
date of the battle of Actium "has been formally recorded by
historians as signalizing the termination of the republic and
the commencement of the Roman monarchy."

_C. Merivale,
History of the Romans,
chapter 28._

{2700}

ROME: B. C. 31-A. D. 14.
The settlement of the Empire by the second Cæsar,
Octavius, called Augustus.
His organization of government.

"Power and repute had passed away from the old forms of the
Republic. The whole world lay at the feet of the master of
many legions; it remained only to define the constitutional
forms in which the new forces were to work. But to do this was
no easy task. The perplexities of his position, the fears and
hopes that crossed his mind, are thrown into dramatic form by
the historian Dion Cassius, who brings a scene before our
fancy in which Octavianus listens to the conflicting counsels
of his two great advisers, Agrippa and Mæcenas. … There is
little doubt that schemes of resignation were at some time
discussed by the Emperor and by his circle of advisers. It is
even possible, as the same writer tells us, that he laid
before the Senators at this time some proposal to leave the
helm of state and let them guide it as of old. … The scene, if
ever really acted, was but an idle comedy. … It is more
probable that he was content with some faint show of
resistance when the Senate heaped their honours on his head,
as afterwards when, more than once, after a ten years'
interval, they solemnly renewed the tenure of his power. But
we cannot doubt his sincerity in one respect—in his wish to
avoid the kingly title and all the odious associations of the
same. … He shrank also from another title, truly Roman in its
character, but odious since the days of Sulla; and though the
populace of Rome, when panic-struck by pestilence and famine,
clamoured to have him made dictator, … yet nothing would
induce him to bear the hateful name. But the name of Cæsar he
had taken long ago, after his illustrious uncle's death, and
this became the title first of the dynasty and then of the
imperial office.

See CÆSAR, THE TITLE.

Besides this he allowed himself to be styled Augustus, a name
which roused no jealousy and outraged no Roman sentiment, yet
vaguely implied some dignity and reverence from its long
association with the objects of religion. …

See AUGUSTUS, THE TITLE.

With this exception he assumed no new symbol of monarchic
power, but was satisfied with the old official titles, which,
though charged with memories of the Republic, yet singly
corresponded to some side or fragment of absolute authority.
The first of these was Imperator, which served to connect him
with the army. … The title of the tribunician power connected
the monarch with the interests of the lower orders. … The
Emperor did not, indeed, assume the tribunate, but was vested
with the tribunician power which overshadowed the annual
holders of the office. It made his person sacred. … The
'princeps senatus' in old days had been the foremost senator
of his time. … No one but the Emperor could fill this position
safely, and he assumed the name henceforth to connect him with
the Senate, as other titles seemed to bind him to the army and
the people. For the post of Supreme Pontiff, Augustus was
content to wait awhile, until it passed by death from the
feeble hands of Lepidus. He then claimed the exclusive tenure
of the office, and after this time Pontifex Maximus was always
added to the long list of imperial titles. … Besides these
titles to which he assumed an exclusive right he also filled
occasionally and for short periods most of the republican
offices of higher rank, both in the capital and in the country
towns. He took from time to time the consular power, with its
august traditions and imposing ceremonial. The authority of
censor lay ready to his hands when a moral reform was to be
set on foot, … or when the Senate was to be purged of unworthy
members and the order of equites or knights to be reviewed and
its dignity consulted. Beyond the capital the pro-consular
power was vested in him without local limitations. … The
offices of state at Rome, meantime, lasted on from the
Republic to the Empire, unchanged in name, and with little
seeming change of functions. Consuls, Prætors, Quæstors,
Tribunes, and Ædiles rose from the same classes as before, and
moved for the most part in the same round of work, though they
had lost for ever their power of initiative and real control.
… They were now mainly the nominees of Cæsar, though the forms
of popular election were still for a time observed. … The
consulship was entirely reserved for his nominees, but passed
rapidly from hand to hand, since in order to gratify a larger
number it was granted at varying intervals for a few months
only. … It was part of the policy of Augustus to disturb as
little as possible the old names and forms of the Republic. …
But besides these he set up a number of new offices, often of
more real power, though of lower rank. … The name præfectus,
the 'préfêt' of modern France, stood in earlier days for the
deputy of any officer of state charged specially to execute
some definite work. The præfects of Cæsar were his servants,
named by him and responsible to him, set to discharge duties
which the old constitution had commonly ignored. The præfect
of the city had appeared in shadowy form under the Republic to
represent the consul in his absence. Augustus felt the need,
when called away from Rome, to have some one there whom he
could trust to watch the jealous nobles and control the fickle
mob. His trustiest confidants, Mæcenas and Agrippa, filled the
post, and it became a standing office, with a growing sphere
of competence, overtopping the magistracies of earlier date.
The præfects of the prætorian cohorts first appeared when the
Senate formally assigned a body-guard to Augustus later in his
reign. …

See PRÆTORIAN PRÆFECTS.

Next to these in power and importance came the præfects of the
watch—the new police force organised by Augustus as a
protection against the dangers of the night, and of the corn
supplies of Rome, which were always an object of especial care
on the part of the imperial government. … The title
'procurator,' which has come down to us in the form of
'proctor,' was at first mainly a term of civil law, and was
used for a financial agent or attorney. The officers so called
were regarded at the first as stewards of the Emperor's
property or managers of his private business. … The agents of
the Emperor's privy purse throughout the provinces were called
by the same title, but were commonly of higher rank and more
repute. Such in its bare outline was the executive of the
imperial government. We have next to see what was the position
of the Senate. … It was one of the first cares of Augustus to
restore its credit. At the risk of odium and personal danger
he more than once revised the list, and purged it of unworthy
members, summoning eminent provincials in their place. … The
functions also of the Senate were in theory enlarged. … But
the substance of power and independence had passed away from
it forever. Matters of great moment were debated first, not in
the Senate House, but in a sort of Privy Council formed by the
trusted advisers of the Emperor. …
{2701}
If we now turn our thoughts from the centre to the provinces
we shall find that the imperial system brought with it more
sweeping changes and more real improvement. … Augustus left to
the Senate the nominal control of the more peaceful provinces,
which needed little military force. … The remaining countries,
called imperial provinces, were ruled by generals, called
'legati,' or in some few cases by proctors only. They held
office during the good pleasure of their master. … There are
signs that the imperial provinces were better ruled, and that
the transference of a country to this class from the other was
looked upon as a real boon, and not as an empty honour. Such
in its chief features was the system of Augustus. … This was
his constructive policy, and on the value of this creative
work his claims to greatness must be based."

_W. W. Capes,
Roman History: The Early Empire,
chapter 1._

"The arrangement undoubtedly satisfied the requirements of the
moment. It saved, at least in appearance, the integrity of the
republic, while at the same time it recognised and legalised
the authority of the man, who was already by common consent
'master of all things'; and this it effected without any
formal alteration of the constitution, without, the creation
of any new office, and by means of the old constitutional
machinery of senate and assembly. But it was an arrangement
avowedly of an exceptional and temporary character. The powers
voted to Augustus were, like those voted to Pompey in 67 B.
C., voted only to him, and, with the exception of the
tribunician power, voted only for a limited time. No provision
was made for the continuance of the arrangement, after his
death, in favour of any other person. And though in fact the
powers first granted to Augustus were granted in turn to each
of the long line of Roman Cæsars, the temporary and
provisional character impressed upon the 'principate' at its
birth clung to it throughout. When the princeps for the time
being died or was deposed, it was always in theory an open
question whether any other citizen should be invested with the
powers he had held. Who the man should be, or how he should be
chosen, were questions which it was left to circumstances to
answer, and even the powers to be assigned to him were,
strictly speaking, determined solely by the discretion of the
senate and people in each case. It is true that necessity
required that some one must always be selected to fill the
position first given to Augustus; that accidents, such as
kinship by blood or adoption to the last emperor, military
ability, popularity with the soldiers or the senate,
determined the selection; and that usage decided that the
powers conferred upon the selected person should be in the
main those conferred upon Augustus. But to the last the Roman
emperor was legally merely a citizen whom the senate and
people had freely invested with an exceptional authority for
special reasons. Unlike the ordinary sovereign, he did not
inherit a great office by an established law of succession;
and in direct contrast to the modern maxim that 'the king
never dies,' it has been well said that the Roman
'principate,' died with the princeps. Of the many attempts
made to get rid of this irregular, intermittent character,
none were completely successful, and the inconveniences and
dangers resulting from it are apparent throughout the history
of the empire."

_H. F. Pelham,
Outlines of Roman History,
book 5, chapter 3._

ALSO IN:
_W. T. Arnold,
The Roman System of Provincial Administration,
chapter 3._

_C. Merivale,
History of the Romans under the Empire,
chapters 30-34 (volume 3-4)._

ROME: B. C. 16-15
Conquest of Rhætia.

See RHÆTIA.

ROME: B. C. 12-9.
Campaigns of Drusus in Germany.

See GERMANY: B. C. 12-9.

ROME: B. C. 8-A. D. 11.
Campaigns of Tiberius in Germany.

See GERMANY: B. C. 8-A. D. 11.

ROME: A. D. 14-16.
Campaigns of Germanicus in Germany.

See GERMANY: A. D. 14-16.

ROME: A. D. 14-37.
Reign of Tiberius.
Increasing vices and cruelties of his rule.
Campaigns of Germanicus in Germany.
His death.
The Delatores and their victims.
Malignant ascendancy of Sejanus.
The Prætorians quartered at Rome.