Chapter III: Events in Rome During the Year 698

[Sidenote: Presence in Rome of Ptolemy Auletes.]

I. The Consuls of the year preceding had just been succeeded by Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus and L. Marcius Philippus; the latter allied by family to Cæsar, whose niece, Atia, he had married.[603] It was in vain that the chief magistrates succeeded each other annually, the change of persons led to no change in the state of the Republic.

There happened about this time a circumstance which showed to what a low degree of contempt law and morality had fallen. Ptolemy Auletes, King of Egypt, father of the famous Cleopatra, hated by his subjects, had fled from Alexandria, and arrived in Rome, towards the end of 697, in spite of the advice of M. Cato, whom he had met at Rhodes. He came to solicit the protection of the Republic against the Egyptians, who, in his absence, had given the crown to his daughter Berenice. He had obtained the title, then the object of so much emulation, of friend and ally of the Roman people, by purchasing the suffrages of a great number of considerable personages, which had obliged him to exact heavy taxes from his subjects. He was at first well received, for it was known that he had brought with him his treasure, ready for distribution among his new protectors. Pompey gave him a lodging in his house,[604] and declared publicly in his favour. But the Egyptians, when they were informed of his departure, sent an embassy, composed of more than a hundred persons, to defend their cause; most of them were assassinated on their way by Ptolemy’s agents; and the rest, terrified or corrupted by force of bribery, never carried out their mission.[605] This affair made so much noise, that Favonius, called the _ape_ of Cato, because he imitated his austerity, denounced the conduct of Ptolemy in the Senate, and added that he knew one of the Egyptian deputies, named Dio, who was ready to confirm his assertions. Dio did not dare to appear, and, a short time after, was assassinated. In spite of this crime, Pompey persisted in his friendship for Ptolemy, and no one dared to prosecute the guest of so powerful a man.[606]

Several plans were proposed for replacing the King of Egypt on the throne, and this enterprise, which promised glory and profit, excited everybody’s ambition. Those who, probably, were opposed to it, proposed to consult the Sibylline books, which gave the answer: “If the King of Egypt come to ask you for succour, do not refuse him your friendship, but grant him no army.” Caius Cato, tribune of the people, kinsman of M. Porcius Cato, and yet his adversary, lost no time in divulging this reply, although it was not permitted, without a decree of the Senate, to publish the Sibylline oracles.[607] The Senate decreed that the King of Egypt should be restored to his throne by the Roman magistrates, but without an armed intervention.[608] But this mission was a cause of great dispute: some proposed to charge Lentulus Spinther with it, others preferred Pompey, with the obligation to employ only two lictors; the jealousy of the candidates caused it soon to be renounced. Ptolemy, abandoning all hope, quitted Rome and retired to Ephesus.[609] He was restored subsequently by Gabinius.

[Sidenote: Clodius named Ædile. Trial of Milo.]

II. The election for the ædileship had taken place on the 11th of the Calends of February of the year 698 (28th of December, 697), and, thanks to the money he had distributed, Clodius had been named ædile.[610] He had hardly been invested with this office, which protected him from the prosecutions of Milo, when he turned round and attacked his accuser, charging him with an armed conspiracy, precisely the same crime with which Milo reproached him. It was not Milo he had in view, but his powerful protectors. Moreover, alleging unfavourable auspicia, or employing for that purpose some tribunes of the people, he absolutely opposed the presentation by the consuls of all public affairs of any importance, not excepting the curiate law, which decreed their commands to the proconsuls and proprætors.[611]

The trial with which he was threatened by Clodius gave little uneasiness to Milo, who had lost none of his habitual audacity. In fact, at a time when a political personage could not be in safety unless escorted by a band of armed men, it was difficult to condemn Milo for having gladiators in his pay, especially when his enemies had set the example of having recourse to similar auxiliaries.

The judicial struggle was at hand, and preparations were made as for a combat. The accused had for his defenders Cicero and Pompey; the greater part of the Senate was favourable to him, and, as a precaution against riots, his friends brought their clients from all parts of Italy, and even from Cisalpine Gaul.[612] Clodius and Caius Cato, on their side, had assembled all their forces. They calculated, moreover, that the populace, rendered still more turbulent by the dearth, would give a very ill reception to Pompey, who found no remedy for the public misery; and to Cicero, who, as superstitious people said, had drawn upon the town the anger of the gods, by choosing to rebuild his house on a piece of ground consecrated to the goddess _Libertas_.[613] It appears that many enemies of Pompey secretly encouraged and aided Clodius. Crassus himself was suspected of giving money to him, as well as to Caius Cato.

On the 8th of the Ides of February, (the 12th January, 698), Milo appeared before his judges.[614] When Pompey presented himself to speak in his defence, the mob, excited by Clodius, received him with hooting and insults. The town mob knew all Pompey’s vanities, and wounded them with subtle cruelty. He, meanwhile, though every moment interrupted, kept his temper, and strove to speak. Clodius replied to him; but his adversaries also had a mob organised and paid to abuse him, and to sing infamous verses on the subject of his amours with his own sister.[615] In this strange and ignoble dispute Milo was forgotten; it had become nothing more than a sort of duel between Clodius and Pompey. Clodius, in the midst of his satellites, cried out at the utmost extent of his voice, “Who is the man who makes us die of hunger?” And all the populace, with the unity of a tragic chorus, cried “Pompey!”--“Who wants to go into Egypt?” cried Clodius again. A thousand voices replied, “Pompey!”--“Who ought to be sent there?” “Crassus!”[616] Clodius added, “Who is the autocrat whom nothing satisfies? Who is the man who seeks a man? Who scratches his head with a single finger?” “Pompey! Pompey!” the crowd continued repeating. After all these mutual provocations, the two parties, tired of shouting, came to blows. Cicero prudently made his escape,[617] and the victory once again remained with the nobles, who were probably supported by a greater number of gladiators.[618] The judgment of Milo, adjourned to another day, gave rise again to similar scenes; but he was acquitted.

[Sidenote: Return of Cato.]

III. In the midst of these intestine quarrels, M. Cato returned from Cyprus to Rome. He brought with him the treasure of Ptolemy, the brother of Ptolemy Auletes, amounting to 7,000 talents (about 40,000,000 francs), a considerable quantity of personal goods, and a great number of slaves. Ptolemy had poisoned himself on the report of Cato’s arrival, leaving him no other trouble than that of collecting his treasures, for the Cypriots, then slaves, in the hope of becoming the allies and friends of Rome, received him with open arms. Proud of his expedition, which he had carried out with the most perfect integrity, he was very anxious that it should be approved.[619]

The return of Cato could bring no remedy to the deeply troubled state of the Republic.[620] His virtue was not one of those which attract, but of those which repulse. Blaming everybody, because, perhaps, everybody was to blame, he remained the only one of his party.

From the moment of his arrival, he found himself at the same time in opposition with Cicero, who attacked the legality of his mission; and with Clodius, who, having entrusted it to him in his quality of tribune, counted on appropriating all the glory of it to himself. In these new intrigues of Clodius, Cæsar, it is said, supported him, and furnished him with subjects of accusation against Cato.[621]

[Sidenote: State of Anarchy in Rome.]

IV. A concise view of the events at Rome at this time shows to what a degree the moral level had been abased. It was no longer those memorable struggles between the patricians and the plebeians, where the greatness of the object aimed at ennobled the means. It was no longer a question of defending secular rights, or of acquiring new rights, but of vulgar ambitions and personal interests to be satisfied.

Nothing indicates more the decay of society than when law becomes an engine of war for the use of the different parties, instead of remaining the sincere expression of the general needs. Each man who arrived at power rendered himself guilty on the morrow of that which he had condemned on the eve, and made the institutions of his country the slaves of his momentary passion. At one time it was the Consul Metellus who, in 697, retarded the nomination of the quæstors, in order to prevent that of the judges, with the view of shielding Clodius, his kinsman, from a judiciary accusation;[622] at another time it was Milo and Sextius who, by way of reprisals against the same consul, opposed all imaginable obstacles to the convocation of the comitia;[623] lastly, it was the Senate itself which (in 698) sought to retard the election of the judges, in order to deprive Clodius of the chance of being named ædile. The ancient custom of taking the auspices was no longer, in the eyes of anybody, more than a political manœuvre. Not one of the great personages whom the momentary favour of the people and the Senate raise to distinction preserve any true sentiment of rectitude. Cicero, who sees the whole Republic in himself, and who attacks as monstrous all which is done against him and without him, declares all the acts of the tribuneship of Clodius illegal; the rigid Cato, on the contrary, defends, through personal interest, these same acts, because Cicero’s pretension wounds his pride, and invalidates the mission he has received from Clodius.[624] Caius Cato violates the law by making public the Sibylline oracle. On all sides people have recourse to illegal means, which vary according to their several tempers; some, like Milo, Sextius, and Clodius, openly place themselves at the head of armed bands; others act with timidity and dissimulation, like Cicero, who, one day, after a previous unsuccessful attempt, carries away by stealth from the Capitol the plate of brass which bore inscribed the law which had proscribed him. A singular error of men, who believe that they efface history by destroying a few visible signs of the past!

This relaxation of the social bonds caused inevitably the dispersion of all the forces, the union of which would have been so useful to the public good. It was no sooner agreed, in a moment of danger, to give to one man the authority necessary to restore order and tranquillity, than, at the same moment, everybody united to attack and degrade him, as if each were afraid of his own work. Cicero has hardly returned from exile, when the friends who have recalled him become jealous of his influence; they see with pleasure a certain degree of coldness arise between Pompey and him, and secretly support the intrigues of Clodius.[625] Pompey, amid the famine and the public agitation, is hardly invested with new powers, before the Senate on one side, and the popular faction on the other, plot together to ruin his credit: by clever intrigues, they awaken the old hatred between him and Crassus.

Pompey believed, or pretended to believe, that there was a conspiracy against his life. He would no longer attend the Senate, unless the session were held close to his residence, he seemed to think it so dangerous to pass through the town.[626] “Clodius,” he said, “seeks to assassinate me. Crassus pays him, and Cato encourages him. All the talkers, Curio, Bibulus, all my enemies excite him against me. The populace, who love the tattle of the tribune, have almost abandoned me; the nobility is hostile to me; the Senate is unjust towards me; the youth is entirely perverted.” He added that he would take his precautions, and that he would surround himself with people from the country.[627]

Nobody was safe from the most odious imputations. Caius Cato accused the Consul P. Lentulus of having assisted Ptolemy with the means of quitting Rome clandestinely.[628] M. Cato was exasperated against everybody. Lastly, an implacable party never ceased manifesting, by its motions, without result, it is true, its rancour and animosity against the proconsul of Gaul. Towards the spring of 698, L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, the brother-in-law of Cato, whose sister Porcia he had espoused, and who had enriched himself with the spoils of the victims of Sylla, proposed to deprive him of his command.[629] Others renewed the proposal to put an end to the distribution of the lands of the Campania, and revived the opposition to the Julian laws.[630] But Cicero, at the request of Pompey, obtained the adjournment of this question to the month of May.[631] He was, indeed, himself perplexed on this question, and confessed that he had no very clear views upon it.[632]

[Sidenote: The Interview at Lucca.]

V. In the midst of the general confusion, many citizens turned their eyes towards Cæsar. Appius Claudius had already paid him a visit.[633] Crassus left Rome suddenly to join him at Ravenna, at the beginning of the spring of 698, before the campaign against the Veneti, and explain to him the state of affairs, for, as Cicero says in a letter of a subsequent date, there was no occurrence so small in Rome that Cæsar was not informed of it.[634]

Some time afterwards, Pompey, who was to embark at Pisa, to proceed to Sardinia, in order to hasten the supply of wheat, arrived at Lucca, where he had an interview with Cæsar and Crassus. A crowd of people assembled similarly in that town; some were drawn thither by the prestige of Cæsar’s glory, others by his well-known generosity, all by the vague instinct which, in moments of crisis, points to the place where strength exists, and gives a presentiment of the side from which safety is to come. The Roman people sent him a deputation of senators.[635] All the most illustrious and powerful personages in Rome, such as Pompey, Crassus, Appius, governor of Sardinia, Nepos, proconsul of Spain,[636] came to show their warm admiration for him and invoke his support;[637] even women repaired to Lucca, and the concourse was so great that as many as 200 senators were seen there at a time; 120 lictors, the obligatory escort of the first magistrates,[638] besieged the door of the proconsul. “Already,” Appius writes, “he disposed of everything by his ascendance, by his riches, and by the affectionate eagerness with which he conferred obligations upon everybody.”[639]

What took place in this interview? No one knows; but we may conjecture from the events which were the immediate consequences of it. It is evident, in the first place, that Crassus and Pompey, who had recently quarrelled, were reconciled by Cæsar, who, no doubt, placed before their eyes the arguments most calculated to reconcile them: “The public interest required it; they alone could put an end to the state of anarchy which afflicted the capital; in a country which was a prey to vulgar ambitions, it required, to control them, ambitions which were greater, but, at the same time, purer and more honourable; they must easily have seen that it was not in the power of a man like Cicero, with his tergiversations, his cowardice, and his vanity, or Cato, with his stoicism, belonging to another age, or Domitius Ahenobarbus, with his implacable hatred and his selfish passions, to restore order, or put an end to the divisions of opinion. In order to obtain these results, it was necessary that Crassus and Pompey should labour resolutely to obtain the consulship.[640] As to himself, he only asked to remain at the head of his army, and complete the conquest he had undertaken. Gaul was vanquished, but not subjugated. Some years were still necessary to establish there the Roman domination. This fickle and warlike people, always ready for revolt, was secretly incited and openly supported by two neighbouring nations, the Britons and the Germans. In the last war against the Belgæ, the promoters of the rising, according to the confession of the Bellovaci, had clearly shown, by taking refuge in Britain after their defeat, whence came the provocation. Even at this very moment, the insurrection which was in preparation among the tribes of the Veneti, on the shores of the ocean, was instigated by these same islanders. As to the Germans, the defeat of Ariovistus had not discouraged them; and several contingents of that nation were lately found with the troops of Hainault. He intends to chastise these two peoples, and to carry his arms beyond the Rhine as well as beyond the sea; let them, then, leave him to finish his enterprise. Already the Alps are levelled; the barbarians, who, hardly forty-four years ago, were ravaging Italy, are driven back into their deserts and forests. A few years more, and fear or hope, punishments or recompenses, arms or laws, will have bound for ever Gaul to the empire.”[641]

Language like this could not fail to be understood by Pompey and by Crassus. People are easily persuaded when the public interest offers itself through the prism of self-love and personal interest. Beyond the consulship, Crassus and Pompey saw at once the government of provinces and the command of armies. As to Cæsar, the logical realisation of his desires was the prolongation of his powers. Only one difficulty lay in the way of the execution of this plan. The period of the elections was near at hand, and neither Pompey nor Crassus had taken steps to offer themselves as candidates for the consulship within the time fixed by the law; but it had been so usual for many years to delay the comitia, under frivolous pretexts, that the same thing might easily be done on the present occasion with a more legitimate object.

Cæsar promised to support their election with all his power, by his recommendations, and by sending his soldiers on leave to vote in the comitia. In fact, his soldiers, either recruited from the veterans whom he had carried from Rome, or among Roman citizens established in great numbers in Cisalpine Gaul, had the right to give their vote in Rome, and enjoy the legitimate influence which is the reward of a life of dangers and self-denial. Cicero assures us of this in these words: “Do you consider, in seeking the consulship, as a weak support the will of the soldiers, so powerful by their number and by the influence which they exercise in their families? Moreover, what authority must the vote of our warriors have over the whole Roman people in the question of nominating a consul! For, in the consular comitia, it is the generals they choose, and not the rhetoricians. It is a very powerful recommendation to be able to say, I was wounded, he has restored me to life; he shared the booty with me. It was under him that we captured the enemy’s camp, that we gave battle; he never required from the soldier more labour than he took upon himself; his success is as great as his courage. Can you imagine what a favourable influence such discourses have upon people’s minds?”[642] Thus Cæsar conformed to the established practice, in allowing his soldiers to exercise their rights of citizens.

[Sidenote: Consequences of the interview at Lucca. Conduct of Cicero.]

VI. The result of the interview at Lucca had been to unite in a common feeling the most important men in the Republic. Some historians have seen in it a mysterious conspiracy, and they have not hesitated to qualify it with the name of _triumvirate_, a denomination as inapplicable to this agreement as to that which took place in 694. An interview in the midst of so many illustrious citizens, who have assembled from all sides to salute a victorious general, had hardly the appearance of a mystery, and the mutual understanding of some men of influence in the same political thought was not a conspiracy. Some authors have, nevertheless, pretended that the Senate, informed of this plot devised in Cisalpine Gaul, had expressed its indignation; but there is nothing to support this allegation; if it had been the case, would they, a few months after the interview at Lucca, have granted Cæsar everything he desired, and rejected everything that was displeasing to him? We see, indeed, that at the annual distribution of the governments of provinces, the senators hostile to Cæsar proposed that he should be deprived of his command, or, at least, of the part of his command decreed by the Senate.[643] Yet, not only was this proposal rejected, but the Senate gave him ten lieutenants and subsidies to pay the legions he had raised on his own authority, in addition to the four legions originally placed at his disposal by the Senate. In fact, the triumphs of Cæsar had excited people’s minds. Public opinion, that irresistible force in all times, had declared loudly for him, and his popularity reflected upon Pompey and Crassus.[644] The Senate had then silenced its animosity, and even Cæsar showed himself full of deference for that assembly.[645]

It must be said, in praise of humanity, that true glory possesses the privilege of rallying all generous hearts; only men who are madly in love with themselves, or hardened by party fanaticism, can resist this general attraction towards those who constitute the greatness of their country. At this period, with the exception of a few spiteful and intractable individuals, the greater part of the senators felt the general impulse, as we learn from the orations of Cicero.[646]

But if, on one side, the members of this pretended triumvirate are represented as closely leagued together against the Republic, on the other, Dio Cassius asserts that, at this time, Pompey and Crassus were conspiring against Cæsar. This opinion has no better foundation. We see, on the contrary, by a letter of Cicero, how warmly Pompey at that time advocated the party of his father-in-law. Pompey, when he was leaving Lucca, met with Quintus Cicero, and, addressing him with warmth, he bade him remind his brother of his past engagements: “Cicero ought not to forget that what Pompey had done for his recall was also the work of Cæsar, whose acts he had promised not to attack; if he would not serve him, at least let him abstain from all hostility.”[647] These reproaches did not remain without effect. Cicero, very apt to turn to the side of fortune, wrote to Atticus: “There is an end to everything; and since those who are without power will have me no longer, I will seek friends among those who have the power.”[648]

He had already acted with the senators in voting thanks for Cæsar’s victories, since which he had employed all his efforts in seconding every proposal in favour of the conqueror of Gaul. As the part Cicero acted on this occasion has had a particular importance, it will not be uninteresting to quote his words: “Could I be the enemy of a man whose couriers and letters, in concert with his renown, make our ears listen every day to the names of so many peoples, of so many nations, of so many countries which he has added to our empire? I am inflamed with enthusiasm, senators, and you are the less inclined to doubt it, since you are animated by the same sentiments.[649] He has combated, with the greatest success, the most warlike and powerful nations of the Germans and Helvetii; he has overthrown, subdued, and driven back the others, and has accustomed them to obey the Roman people. Countries, which no history, no relation, no public report had hitherto brought to our knowledge, have been overrun by our general, our troops, our arms. We had formerly but one way into Gaul; the other parts were occupied by peoples who were either enemies of this empire, or little to be trusted, or unknown, or at least ferocious, barbarous, and warlike; there was no one who was not desirous of seeing them vanquished and subdued.[650] A report has been recently presented to us on the pay of the troops. I was not satisfied with giving my opinion, but I laboured to secure its adoption; I replied at great length to those who held a contrary opinion; I assisted in drawing up the decree; then, again, I granted more to the person than to I know not what necessity. I thought that, even without such a succour of money, with the mere produce of the booty, Cæsar might have maintained his army and terminated the war; but I did not consider that we ought, by a narrow parsimony, to diminish the lustre and glory of his triumph.

“Moreover, there has been a question of giving Cæsar ten lieutenants: some absolutely opposed the grant, others required precedents; these would have put off the consideration to another day; those granted it, without employing flattering terms. Under these circumstances, from the manner in which I spoke, everybody understood that, while I sought to serve the interests of the Republic, I did still more to honour Cæsar.”

In another speech, the same orator exclaims: “The Senate has decreed Cæsar public prayers in the most honourable form, and for a number of days hitherto without example. In spite of the exhausted state of the treasury, it has provided for the pay of his victorious army; it has decided that ten lieutenants shall be given to the general, and that, by derogation of the law Sempronia, a successor should not be sent him. It was I who moved these measures, and who spoke in support of them; and, rather than listen to my old disagreement with Cæsar, I lent myself to what is demanded, under present circumstances, by the interest of the Republic and the need of peace.”[651]

But if in public Cicero expressed himself with so much clearness, in his private intercourse he was still tender of the opinion of his former friends. It is, indeed, the only manner in which we can explain a contradiction too glaring even in a temper so inconstant. In fact, at the moment when he was boasting openly of the services he had assisted in rendering to Cæsar, he wrote to his friend P. Lentulus, proconsul in Cilicia: “They have just granted Cæsar subsidies and ten lieutenants, and they have paid no regard to the law Sempronia, which required that a successor should be given to him. But it is too sorrowful a subject, and I will not dwell upon it.”[652]

[Sidenote: Intrigues of Pompey and Crassus to obtain the Consulship.]

VII. From what precedes, it is evident that unpopularity did not fall upon Cæsar, but upon the means employed by Crassus and Pompey for the purpose of obtaining the consulship.

They made use of Caius Cato, kinsman of the Stoic, and of other men equally undeserving of esteem, to cause delay in the time of holding the comitia, and thus lead to the creation of an interrex,[653] which would facilitate their election, since the consuls, who were the ordinary presidents of the assembly of the people, were opposed to them.

The relations of the events of this period present great confusion. Dio Cassius informs us that, in the sequel of violent disputes in the curia, between Pompey, who had recently returned from Sardinia, and the Consul Marcellinus, the Senate, in sign of its displeasure, decreed that it would go into mourning, as for a public calamity, and immediately carried the decree into effect. Caius Cato opposed his veto. Then the Consul Cn. Marcellinus, at the head of the Senate, proceeded to the Forum, and harangued the people to ask it for the comitia, without success probably, since the senators returned immediately to the place of their session. Clodius, who, since the conference of Lucca, had become more intimate with Pompey, appeared suddenly among the crowd, interrupted the consul, and bantered him on this display of untimely mourning. In the public place Clodius would easily carry the approval of the multitude; but when he attempted to return to the Senate, he encountered the most resolute opposition. The senators rushed to meet him and prevent him from entering; many of the knights assailed him with insults; they would have treated him still worse, had not the populace rushed to his aid and delivered him, threatening to commit to the flames the entire assembly.[654]

On another hand, Pompey, with more authority and less violence, protested against the last senatus-consultus. Lentulus Marcellinus, addressing him in full Senate, demanded if it were true, as reported, that he aimed at the consulship. “As yet I know not what I shall do,” replied Pompey, roughly. Then, perceiving the bad impression caused by these disdainful words, he added immediately, “For the good citizens, there is no use in my being consul; against the factious, perhaps I am necessary.”[655] To a similar question, Crassus replied, modestly, “that he was ready to do whatever would be useful to the Republic.” Then Lentulus bursting into reproaches against Pompey’s ambition, the latter interrupted him insolently. “Remember,” he said, “that thou art indebted to me for everything. Thou wast dumb, I made thee a talker; thou wast a greedy beggar, I turned thee into a glutton, who vomits to eat again.” This language will give an idea of the violence of political passions at that period. The senators, and Marcellinus himself, seeing that they could not contend against the influence of these two men, withdrew. During the rest of the year they took no part in public affairs; they confined themselves to wearing mourning, and absenting themselves from the festivals of the people.

[Sidenote: Campaign against the Peoples on the Shores of the Ocean.]

VII. While Pompey and Crassus, in accord with the convention of Lucca, employed all the means in their power to arrive at the consulship, Cæsar had his regards still fixed on a conquest which every year seemed achieved, yet every year it had to be commenced again. If the Gauls, divided into so many different peoples, were incapable of uniting for their common defence, they did not allow themselves to be discouraged by a single misfortune. Hardly were they crushed on one point, when the standard of insurrection was raised somewhere else.

In 698, the agitation showed itself first along the shores of the ocean, from the Loire to the Seine. The peoples of the Morbihan, masters of a considerable fleet, and possessing the exterior trade, placed themselves at the head of the movement. They entered into alliance with all the peoples who dwelt on the coasts between the Loire and the Scheldt, and sent for assistance from England, with which country they were in constant relation. Under these circumstances, Cæsar foresaw that it was on the sea that he must curb the spirit of these maritime peoples. He gave orders for the building of ships on the Loire, demanded others from the peoples of the Charente and the Gironde, and sent from Italy Decimus Brutus with galleys and sailors. As soon as the season permitted, he repaired in person to the neighbourhood of Nantes, not far from Angers, where Publius Crassus was in winter quarters with the 7th legion. From the moment of his arrival his attention extended over the vast territory where he was to establish the domination of Rome. With this aim, he distributed his troops as follows: Labienus is sent with the cavalry to the east, in the direction of Trèves, to hold the Germans in check; on his way, he will confirm the fidelity of the people of Champagne and their neighbours; P. Crassus is sent towards Aquitaine, to subdue that country; Sabinus towards Normandy, to combat the insurgents of the Cotentin; Cæsar reserves for himself the operations in the Morbihan. After besieging, not without great difficulties, several small fortresses which, placed at the extremity of promontories, were surrounded with water at high tide, he resolved to wait for his fleet, and took a position on the coast, at Saint-Gildas, to the south of Vannes. Decimus Brutus led his vessels out of the Loire, encountered the enemy in sight of the Roman army, and, by a concurrence of fortunate circumstances, destroyed the Gaulish fleet; the flower of Brittany perished in the combat. The Morbihan and the neighbouring states submitted, and, nevertheless, the conqueror put to death all the principal citizens.

Cæsar’s conduct towards the inhabitants of this province has been justly blamed by the Emperor Napoleon I. “These people,” he says, “had not revolted; they had furnished hostages, and had promised to live peaceably; but they were in possession of all their liberty and all their rights. They had given Cæsar cause to make war upon them, no doubt, but not to violate international law in regard to them, and to commit so atrocious an abuse of victory. This conduct was not just, and it was still less politic. Such means never answer their object, they exasperate and revolt nations. The punishment of particular chiefs is all that justice and policy permit.”[656]

While Brittany was vanquished on the sea, Sabinus gained a decisive victory over the peoples of Normandy, near Avranches; and, at the same time, Publius Crassus reduced Aquitaine. Although this young lieutenant of Cæsar had only a single legion, a corps of cavalry, and some auxiliaries, he gained possession of the strong fortress of Sos, and inflicted a sanguinary defeat on the peoples situated between the Garonne and the Adour. His glory was the greater, as the Aquitanians had called to their assistance the Spanish chiefs, the wreck of that famous army which Sertorius had so long formed on the model of the Roman tactics.

Although the season was far advanced, Cæsar still resolved to subjugate the peoples of Brabant and the Boulonnais, and marched against them. The Gauls retired into their forests; he was then obliged to clear a road in the woods by cutting down the trees, which, placed to the right and left, formed on each side a rampart against the enemy. The bad state of the weather obliged him to retire before he had completed his task.

In this campaign of 698, most of the countries which extend from the mouth of the Adour to that of the Scheldt had felt the weight of the Roman arms. The sea was free; Cæsar was at liberty to attempt a descent upon England.