Chapter XX: Part 20

XLIX. Kleopatra,[550] taking Apollodorus the Sicilian alone of all her friends with her, and getting into a small boat, approached the palace as it was growing dark; and as it was impossible for her to escape notice in any other way, she got into a bed sack and laid herself out at full length, and Apollodorus, tying the sack together with a cord, carried her through the doors to Cæsar. Cæsar is said to have been first captivated by this device of Kleopatra, which showed a daring temper, and being completely enslaved by his intercourse with her and her attractions, he brought about an accommodation between Kleopatra and her brother on the terms of her being associated with him in the kingdom. A feast was held to celebrate the reconciliation, during which a slave of Cæsar, his barber, owing to his timidity in which he had no equal, leaving nothing unscrutinized, and listening and making himself very busy, found out that a plot against Cæsar was forming by Achillas the general and Potheinus the eunuch. Cæsar being made acquainted with their design, placed a guard around the apartment, and put Potheinus to death. Achillas escaped to the camp, and raised about Cæsar a dangerous and difficult war for one who with so few troops had to resist so large a city and force. In this contest the first danger that he had to encounter was being excluded from water, for the canals[551] were dammed up by the enemy; and, in the second place, an attempt being made to cut off his fleet, he was compelled to repel the danger with fire, which spreading from the arsenals to the large library[552] destroyed it; and, in the third place, in the battle near the Pharos[553] he leaped down from the mound into a small boat and went to aid the combatants; but as the Egyptians were coming against him from all quarters, he threw himself into the sea and swam away with great difficulty. On this occasion it is said that he had many papers in his hands, and that he did not let them go, though the enemy were throwing missiles at him and he had to dive under the water, but holding the papers above the water with one hand, he swam with the other; but the boat was sunk immediately. At last, when the King had gone over to the enemy, Cæsar attacked and defeated them in a battle in which many fell and the King[554] himself disappeared. Leaving Kleopatra[555] Queen of Egypt, who shortly after gave birth to a child that she had by Cæsar, which the Alexandrines named Cæsarion, he marched to Syria.

L. From Syria continuing his march through Asia he heard that Domitius had been defeated by Pharnakes[556] son of Mithridates, and had fled from Pontus with a few men; and that Pharnakes, who used his victory without any moderation, and was in possession of Bithynia and Cappadocia, also coveted Armenia, called the Little, and was stirring up all the kings and tetrarchs in this part. Accordingly Cæsar forthwith advanced against the man with three legions and fighting a great battle near Zela drove Pharnakes in flight from Pontus, and completely destroyed his army. In reporting to one of his friends at Rome, Amantius,[557] the celerity and rapidity of this battle, he wrote only three words: "I came, I saw, I conquered." In the Roman language the three words ending in the like form of verb, have a brevity which is not without its effect.

LI. After this, passing over to Italy he went up to Rome at the close of the year for which he had been chosen Dictator[558] the second time, though that office had never before been for a whole year; and he was elected consul for the following year. He was much blamed about a mutiny[559] that broke out among the soldiers in which they killed two men of prætorian rank, Cosconius and Galba, because he reproved his men no further than by calling them citizens instead of soldiers, and he gave to each of them a thousand drachmæ, and allotted to them much land in Italy. He also bore the blame of the madness of Dolabella,[560] the covetousness of Amantius, and the drunkenness of Antonius, and the greedy tricks of Corfinius in getting the house of Pompeius, and his building it over again as if it were not fit for him; for the Romans were annoyed at these things. But Cæsar, in the present state of affairs, though he was not ignorant of these things, and did not approve of them, was compelled to employ such men in his service.

LII. As Cato[561] and Scipio, after the battle near Pharsalus, had fled to Libya, and there, with the assistance of King Juba, got together a considerable force, Cæsar determined to go against them; and about the winter solstice passing over to Sicily and wishing to cut off from the officers about him all hopes of delay and tarrying there, he placed his own tent on the margin of the waves,[562] and as soon as there was a wind he went on board and set sail with three thousand foot-soldiers and a few horsemen. Having landed them unobserved he embarked again, for he was under some apprehension about the larger part of his force; and having fallen in with it on the sea, he conducted all to the camp. Now there was with him in the army a man in other respects contemptible enough and of no note, but of the family of the Africani, and his name was Scipio Sallutio;[563] and as Cæsar heard that the enemy relied on a certain old oracular answer, that it was always the privilege of the family of the Scipios to conquer in Libya, either to show his contempt of Scipio as a general by a kind of joke, or because he really wished to have the benefit of the omen himself (it is difficult to say which), he used to place this Sallutio in the front of the battles as if he were the leader of the army; for Cæsar was often compelled to engage with the enemy and to seek a battle, there being neither sufficient supply of corn for the men nor fodder for the animals, but they were compelled to take the sea-weed after washing off the salt and mixing a little grass with it by way of sweetening it, and so to feed their horses. For the Numidians, by continually showing themselves in great numbers and suddenly appearing, kept possession of the country; and on one occasion while the horsemen of Cæsar were amusing themselves with a Libyan, who was exhibiting to them his skill in dancing and playing on a flute at the same time in a surprising manner, and the men, pleased with the sight, were sitting on the ground and the boys holding their horses, the enemy suddenly coming round and falling upon them killed some, and entered the camp together with the rest, who fled in disorderly haste. And if Cæsar himself and Asinius Pollio had not come out of the camp to help the men, and checked the pursuit, the war would have been at an end. In another battle, also, the enemy had the advantage in the encounter, on which occasion it is said that Cæsar, seizing by the neck the man who bore the eagle and was running away, turned him round, and said, "There is the enemy!"

LIII. However Scipio[564] was encouraged by these advantages to hazard a decisive battle; and leaving Afranius and Juba[565] encamped each separately at a short distance, he commenced making a fortified camp above a lake near the city Thapsus, intending it as a place for the whole army to sally forth from to battle and a place of refuge also. While he was thus employed, Cæsar with incredible speed making his way through woody grounds which contained certain approaches that had not been observed, surrounded part of the enemy and attacked others in front. Having put these to flight he availed himself of the critical moment and the career of fortune, by means of which he captured the camp of Afranius on the first assault, and at the first assault also he broke into the camp of the Numidians from which Juba fled; and in a small part of a single day he made himself master of three camps and destroyed fifty thousand of the enemy without losing as many as fifty of his own men. This is the account that some writers give of that battle; but others say that Cæsar was not in the action himself, but that as he was marshalling and arranging his forces, he was attacked by his usual complaint, and that perceiving it as soon as it came on, and before his senses were completely confounded and overpowered by the malady, just as he was beginning to be convulsed, he was carried to one of the neighbouring towers and stayed there quietly. Of the men of consular and prætorian rank who escaped from the battle, some killed themselves when they were being taken, and Cæsar put many to death who were captured.

LIV. Being ambitious to take Cato[566] alive, Cæsar hastened to Utica, for Cato was guarding that city and was not in the battle. Hearing that Cato had put an end to himself, Cæsar was evidently annoyed, but for what reason is uncertain. However, he said, "Cato, I grudge you your death, for you also have grudged me the preservation of your life." But the work which be wrote against Cato after his death cannot be considered an indication that he was mercifully disposed towards him or in a mood to be easily reconciled. For how can we suppose that he would have spared Cato living, when he poured out against him after he was dead so much indignation? However, some persons infer from his mild treatment of Cicero and Brutus and ten thousand others of his enemies that this discourse also was composed not from any enmity, but from political ambition, for the following reason. Cicero wrote a panegyric on Cato and gave the composition the title "Cato"; and the discourse was eagerly read by many, as one may suppose, being written by the most accomplished of orators on the noblest subject. This annoyed Cæsar, who considered the panegyric on a man whose death he had caused to be an attack upon himself. Accordingly in his treatise he got together many charges against Cato; and the work is entitled "Anticato."[567] Both compositions have many admirers, as well on account of Cæsar as of Cato.

LV. However, on his return[568] to Rome from Libya, in the first place Cæsar made a pompous harangue to the people about his victory, in which he said that he had conquered a country large enough to supply annually to the treasury two hundred thousand Attic medimni of corn, and three million litræ of oil. In the next place he celebrated triumphs,[569] the Egyptian, the Pontic, and the Libyan, not of course for his victory over Scipio, but over Juba.[570] On that occasion Juba also, the son of King Juba, who was still an infant, was led in the triumphal procession, most fortunate in his capture, for from being a barbarian and a Numidian he became numbered among the most learned of the Greek writers. After the triumphs Cæsar made large presents to the soldiers, and entertained the people with banquets and spectacles, feasting the whole population at once at twenty-two thousand triclina,[571] and exhibiting also shows of gladiators and naval combats in honour of his daughter Julia who had been dead for some time. After the shows a census[572] was taken, in which instead of the three hundred and twenty thousand of former enumerations, there were enrolled only one hundred and fifty thousand. So much desolation had the civil wars produced and so large a proportion of the people had been destroyed in them, not to reckon the miseries that had befallen the rest of Italy and the provinces.

LVI. All this being completed, Cæsar was made consul[573] for the fourth time, and set out to Iberia to attack the sons of Pompeius, who were still young, but had got together a force of amazing amount and displayed a boldness that showed they were worthy to command, so that they put Cæsar in the greatest danger. The great battle was fought near the city of Munda,[574] in which Cæsar, seeing that his men were being driven from their ground and making a feeble resistance, ran through the arms and the ranks calling out, "If they had no sense of shame, to take and deliver him up to the boys." With difficulty and after great exertion he put the enemy to flight and slaughtered above thirty thousand of them, but he lost a thousand of his own best soldiers. On retiring after the battle he said to his friends, that he had often fought for victory, but now for the first time he had fought for existence. He gained this victory on the day of the festival of Bacchus, on which day it is said that Pompeius Magnus also went out to battle; the interval was four years. The younger of the sons[575] of Pompeius escaped, but after a few days Didius[576] brought the head of the elder. This was the last war that Cæsar was engaged in; but the triumph[577] that was celebrated for this victory vexed the Romans more than anything else. For this was no victory over foreign leaders nor yet over barbarian kings, but Cæsar had destroyed the children of the bravest of the Romans, who had been unfortunate, and had completely ruined his family, and it was not seemly to celebrate a triumph over the calamities of his country, exulting in these things, for which the only apology both before gods and men was that they had been done of necessity; and that too when he had never before sent either messenger or public letters to announce a victory gained in the civil wars, but had from motives of delicacy rejected all glory on that account.

LVII. However, the Romans, gave way before the fortune of the man and received the bit, and considering the monarchy to be a respite from the civil wars and miseries they appointed him dictator[578] for life. This was confessedly a tyranny, for the monarchy received in addition to its irresponsibility the character of permanency; and when Cicero[579] in the Senate had proposed the highest honours[580] to him, which though great were still such as were befitting a human being, others by adding still further honours and vying with one another made Cæsar odious and an object of dislike even to those who were of the most moderate temper, by reason of the extravagant and unusual character of what was decreed; and it is supposed that those who hated Cæsar cooperated in these measures no less than those who were his flatterers, that they might have as many pretexts as possible against him and might be considered to make their attempt upon him with the best ground of complaint. For in all other respects, after the close of the civil wars, he showed himself blameless; and it was not without good reason that the Romans voted a temple to Clemency to commemorate his moderate measures. For he pardoned many of those who had fought against him, and to some he even gave offices and honours, as to Brutus and Cassius, both of whom were Prætors. He also did not allow the statues of Pompeius to remain thrown down, but he set them up again, on which Cicero said that by erecting the statues of Pompeius, Cæsar had firmly fixed his own. When his friends urged him to have guards and many offered their services for this purpose, he would not consent, and he said, that it was better to die at once than to be always expecting death. But for the purpose of surrounding himself with the affection of the Romans as the noblest and also the securest protection, he again courted the people with banquets and distribution of corn, and the soldiers with the foundation of colonies, of which the most conspicuous were Carthage[581] and Corinth, to both of which it happened that their former capture and their present restoration occurred at once and at the same time.

LVIII. To some of the nobles he promised consulships and prætorships for the future, and others he pacified with certain other offices and honours, and he gave hopes to all, seeking to make it appear that he ruled over them with their own consent, so that when Maximus[582] the consul died, he appointed Caninius Revilius consul for the one day that still remained of the term of office. When many persons were going, as was usual, to salute the new consul and to form part of his train Cicero said, "We must make haste, or the man will have gone out of office." Cæsar's great success did not divert his natural inclination for great deeds and his ambition to the enjoyment of that for which he had laboured, but serving as fuel and incentives to the future bred in him designs of greater things and love of new glory, as if he had used up what he had already acquired; and the passion was nothing else than emulation of himself as if he were another person, and a kind of rivalry between what he intended and what he had accomplished; and his propositions and designs were to march against the Parthians,[583] and after subduing them and marching through Hyrkania and along the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus, and so encompassing the Euxine, to invade Scythia, and after having overrun the countries bordering on the Germans and Germany itself to return through Gaul to Italy, and so to complete his circle of the empire which would be bounded on all sides by the ocean. During this expedition he intended also to dig through the Corinthian Isthmus,[584] and he had already commissioned Anienus to superintend the work; and to receive the Tiber[585] immediately below the city in a deep cut, and giving it a bend towards Circæum to make it enter the sea by Tarracina, with the view of giving security and facility to those who came to Rome for the purpose of trade: besides this he designed to draw off the water from the marshes about Pomentium and Setia,[586] and to make them solid ground, which would employ many thousands of men in the cultivation; and where the sea was nearest to Rome he designed to place barriers to it by means of moles, and after clearing away the hidden rocks and dangerous places on the shore of Ostia[587] to make harbours and naval stations which should give security to the extensive shipping. And all these things were in preparation.

LIX. But the arrangement of the Kalendar[588] and the correction of the irregularity in the reckoning of time were handled by him skilfully, and being completed were of the most varied utility. For it was not only in very ancient times that the Romans had the periods of the moon in confusion with respect to the year, so that the feasts and festivals gradually changing at last fell out in opposite seasons of the year, but even with respect to the solar year at that time nobody kept any reckoning except the priests, who, as they alone knew the proper time, all of a sudden and when nobody expected it, would insert the intercalary month named Mercedonius, which King Numa is said to have been the first to intercalate, thereby devising a remedy, which was slight and would extend to no great period, for the irregularity in the recurrence of the times, as I have explained in the Life of Numa. But Cæsar laying the problem before the ablest philosophers and mathematicians, from the methods that were laid before him compounded a correction of his own which was more exact, which the Romans use to the present time, and are considered to be in less error than other nations as to the inequality. However, even this furnished matter for complaint to those who envied him and disliked his power; for Cicero, the orator, as it is said, when some observed that Lyra would rise to-morrow, "Yes," he replied, "pursuant to the Edict," meaning that men admitted even this by compulsion.

LX. But the most manifest and deadly hatred towards him was produced by his desire of kingly power, which to the many was the first, and to those who had long nourished a secret hatred of him the most specious, cause. And indeed those who were contriving this honour for Cæsar spread about a certain report among the people, that according to the Sibylline writings[589] it appeared that Parthia could be conquered by the Romans if they advanced against it with a king, but otherwise could not he assailed. And as Cæsar was going down from Alba to the city, they ventured to salute him as King, but as the people showed their dissatisfaction, Cæsar was disturbed and said that he was not called King but Cæsar; and as hereupon there was a general silence, he passed along with no great cheerfulness nor good humour on his countenance. When some extravagant honours had been decreed to him in the Senate, it happened that he was sitting above the Rostra,[590] and when the consuls and prætors approached with all the Senate behind them, without rising from his seat, but just as if he were transacting business with private persons, he answered that the honours required rather to be contracted than enlarged. This annoyed not the Senate only, but the people also, who considered that the State was insulted in the persons of the Senate; and those who were not obliged to stay went away forthwith with countenance greatly downcast, so that Cæsar perceiving it forthwith went home, and as he threw his cloak from his shoulders he called out to his friends, that he was ready to offer his throat to anyone who wished to kill him; but afterwards he alleged his disease as an excuse for his behaviour, saying that persons who are so affected cannot usually keep their senses steady when they address a multitude standing, but that the senses being speedily convulsed and whirling about bring on giddiness and are overpowered. However, the fact was not so, for it is said that he was very desirous to rise up when the Senate came, but was checked by one of his friends, or rather one of his flatterers, Cornelius Balbus,[591] who said, "Will you not remember that you are Cæsar, and will you not allow yourself to be honoured as a superior?"

LXI. There was added to these causes of offence the insult offered to the tribunes. It was the festival of the Lupercalia,[592] about which many writers say that it was originally a festival of the shepherds and had also some relationship to the Arcadian Lykæa. On this occasion many of the young nobles and magistrates run through the city without their toga, and for sport and to make laughter strike those whom they meet with strips of hide that have the hair on; many women of rank also purposely put themselves in the way and present their hands to be struck like children at school, being persuaded that this is favourable to easy parturition for those who are pregnant, and to conception for those who are barren. Cæsar was a spectator, being seated at the Rostra on a golden chair in a triumphal robe; and Antonius was one of those who ran in the sacred race, for he was consul. Accordingly, when he entered the Forum and the crowd made way for him, he presented to Cæsar a diadem[593] which he carried surrounded with a crown of bay; and there was a clapping of hands, not loud, but slight, which had been already concerted. When Cæsar put away the diadem from him all the people clapped their hands, and when Antonius presented it again, only a few clapped; but when Cæsar declined to receive it, again all the people applauded. The experiment having thus failed, Cæsar rose and ordered the crown to be carried to the Capitol. But as Cæsar's statues were seen crowned with royal diadems, two of the tribunes, Flavius and Marullus, went up to them and pulled off the diadems, and having discovered those who had been the first to salute Cæsar as king they led them off to prison. The people followed clapping their hands and calling the tribunes Bruti, because it was Brutus who put down the kingly power and placed the sovereignty in the Senate and people instead of its being in the hands of one man. Cæsar being irritated at this deprived Flavius and Marullus of their office, and while rating them he also insulted the people by frequently calling the tribunes Bruti and Cumæi.[594] LXII. In this state of affairs the many turned to Marcus Brutus,[595] who on his father's side was considered to be a descendant of the ancient Brutus, and on his mother's side belonged to the Servilii, another distinguished house, and he was the son-in-law and nephew of Cato. The honours and favours which Brutus had received from Cæsar dulled him towards attempting of his own proper motion the overthrow of the monarchical power; for not only was his life saved at the battle of Pharsalus after the rout of Pompeius, and many of his friends also at his entreaty, but besides this he had great credit with Cæsar. He had also received among those who then held the prætorship[596] the chief office, and he was to be consul in the fourth year from that time, having been preferred to Cassius who was a rival candidate. For it is said that Cæsar observed that Cassius urged better grounds of preference, but that he could not pass over Brutus. And on one occasion when some persons were calumniating Brutus to him, at a time when the conspiracy was really forming, he would not listen to them, but touching his body with his hand he said to the accusers, "Brutus waits[597] for this dry skin," by which he intended to signify that Brutus was worthy of the power for his merits, but for the sake of the power would not be ungrateful and a villain. Now, those who were eager for the change and who looked up to him alone, or him as the chief person, did not venture to speak with him on the subject, but by night they used to fill the tribunal and the seat on which he sat when discharging his functions as prætor with writings, most of which were to this purport, "You are asleep, Brutus," and "You are not Brutus." By which Cassius,[598] perceiving that his ambition was somewhat stirred, urged him more than he had done before, and pricked him on; and Cassius himself had also a private grudge against Cæsar for the reasons which I have mentioned in the Life of Brutus. Indeed Cæsar suspected Cassius, and he once said to his friends, "What think ye is Cassius aiming at? for my part, I like him not over much, for he is over pale." On the other hand it is said that when a rumour reached him, that Antonius and Dolabella were plotting, he said, "I am not much afraid of these well-fed,[599] long-haired fellows, but I rather fear those others, the pale and thin," meaning Cassius and Brutus.

LXIII. But it appears that destiny is not so much a thing that gives no warning as a thing that cannot be avoided, for they say that wondrous signs and appearances presented themselves. Now, as to lights in the skies and sounds by night moving in various directions and solitary birds descending into the Forum, it is perhaps not worth while recording these with reference to so important an event: but Strabo[600] the Philosopher relates that many men all of fire were seen contending against one another, and that a soldier's slave emitted a great flame from his hand and appeared to the spectators to be burning, but when the flame went out, the man had sustained no harm; and while Cæsar himself was sacrificing the heart of the victim could not be found, and this was considered a bad omen, for naturally an animal without a heart cannot exist. The following stories also are told by many; that a certain seer warned him to be on his guard against great danger on that day of the month of March, which the Romans call the Ides;[601] and when the day had arrived, as Cæsar was going to the Senate-house, he saluted the seer and jeered him saying, "Well, the Ides of March are come;" but the seer mildly replied, "Yes, they are come, but they are not yet over." The day before, when Marcus Lepidus was entertaining him, he chanced to be signing some letters, according to his habit, while he was reclining at table; and the conversation having turned on what kind of death was the best, before any one could give an opinion he called out, "That which is unexpected!" After this, while he was sleeping, as he was accustomed to do, by the side of his wife, all the doors and windows in the house flew open at once, and being startled by the noise and the brightness of the moon which was shining down upon him, he observed that Calpurnia[602] was in a deep slumber, but was uttering indistinct words and inarticulate groans in the midst of her sleep; and indeed she was dreaming that she held her murdered husband in her arms and was weeping over him. Others say this was not the vision that Calpurnia had, but the following: there was attached to Cæsar's house by way of ornament and distinction pursuant to a vote of the Senate an acroterium,[603] as Livius says, and Calpurnia in her dream seeing this tumbling down lamented and wept. When day came accordingly she entreated Cæsar, if it were possible, not to go out, and to put off the meeting of the Senate; but if he paid no regard to her dreams, she urged him to inquire by other modes of divination and by sacrifices about the future. Cæsar also, as it seems, had some suspicion and fear; for he had never before detected in Calpurnia any womanish superstition, and now he saw that she was much disturbed. And when the seers also after sacrificing many victims reported to him that the omens were unfavourable, he determined to send Antonius to dismiss the Senate.

LXIV. In the mean time Decimus Brutus,[604] surnamed Albinus, who was in such favour with Cæsar that he was made in his will his second heir,[605] but was engaged in the conspiracy with the other Brutus and Cassius, being afraid that if Cæsar escaped that day, the affair might become known, ridiculed the seers and chided Cæsar for giving cause for blame and censure to the Senate who would consider themselves insulted: he said, "That the Senate had met at his bidding and that they were all ready to pass a decree, that he should be proclaimed King of the provinces out of Italy and should wear a diadem whenever he visited the rest of the earth and sea; but if any one shall tell them when they are taking their seats, to be gone now and to come again, when Calpurnia shall have had better dreams, what may we not expect to be said by those who envy you? or who will listen to your friends when they say that this is not slavery and tyranny; but if," he continued, "you are fully resolved to consider the day inauspicious, it is better for you to go yourself and address the Senate and then to adjourn the business." As he said this, Brutus took Cæsar by the hand and began to lead him forth: and he had gone but a little way from the door, when a slave belonging to another person, who was eager to get at Cæsar but was prevented by the press and numbers about him, rushing into the house delivered himself up to Calpurnia and told her to keep him till Cæsar returned, for he had important things to communicate to him.

LXV. Artemidorus,[606] a Knidian by birth, and a professor of Greek philosophy, which had brought him into the familiarity of some of those who belonged to the party of Brutus, so that he knew the greater part of what was going on, came and brought in a small roll the information which he intended to communicate; but observing that Cæsar gave each roll as he received it to the attendants about him, he came very near, and said, "This you alone should read, Cæsar, and read it soon; for it is about weighty matters which concern you." Accordingly Cæsar received the roll, but he was prevented from reading it by the number of people who came in his way, though he made several attempts, and he entered the Senate holding that roll in his hand and retaining that alone among all that had been presented to him. Some say that it was another person who gave him this roll, and that Artemidorus did not even approach him, but was kept from him all the way by the pressure of the crowd.

LXVI. Now these things perchance may be brought about by mere spontaneity; but the spot that was the scene of that murder and struggle, wherein the Senate was then assembled, which contained the statue of Pompeius[607] and was a dedication by Pompeius and one of the ornaments that he added to his theatre, completely proved that it was the work of some dæmon to guide and call the execution of the deed to that place. It is said also that Cassius[608] looked towards the statue of Pompeius before the deed was begun and silently invoked it, though he was not averse to the philosophy of Epikurus; but the critical moment for the bold attempt which was now come probably produced in him enthusiasm and feeling in place of his former principles. Now Antonius,[609] who was faithful to Cæsar and a robust man, was kept on the outside by Brutus Albinus, who purposely engaged him in a long conversation. When Cæsar entered, the Senate rose to do him honour, and some of the party of Brutus stood around his chair at the back, and others presented themselves before him, as if their purpose was to support the prayer of Tillius Cimber[610] on behalf of his exiled brother, and they all joined in entreaty, following Cæsar as far as his seat. When he had taken his seat and was rejecting their entreaties, and, as they urged them still more strongly, began to show displeasure towards them individually, Tillius taking hold of his toga with both his hands pulled it downwards from the neck, which was the signal for the attack. Casca[611] was the first to strike him on the neck with his sword, a blow neither mortal nor severe, for as was natural at the beginning of so bold a deed he was confused, and Cæsar turning round seized the dagger and held it fast. And it happened that at the same moment he who was struck cried out in the Roman language, "You villain, Casca, what are you doing?" and he who had given the blow cried out to his brother in Greek, "Brother, help." Such being the beginning, those who were not privy to the conspiracy were prevented by consternation and horror at what was going on either from flying or going to aid, and they did not even venture to utter a word. And now each of the conspirators bared his sword, and Cæsar, being hemmed in all round, in whatever direction he turned meeting blows and swords aimed against his eyes and face, driven about like a wild beast, was caught in the hands of his enemies; for it was arranged that all of them should take a part in and taste of the deed of blood. Accordingly Brutus[612] also gave him one blow in the groin. It is said by some authorities, that he defended himself against the rest, moving about his body hither and thither and calling out, till he saw that Brutus had drawn his sword, when he pulled his toga over his face and offered no further resistance, having been driven either by chance or by the conspirators to the base on which the statue of Pompeius stood. And the base was drenched with blood, as if Pompeius was directing the vengeance upon his enemy who was stretched beneath his feet and writhing under his many wounds; for he is said to have received three and twenty wounds. Many of the conspirators were wounded by one another, while they were aiming so many blows against one body.

LXVII. After Cæsar was killed, though Brutus came forward as if he was going to say something about the deed, the Senators,[613] without waiting to listen, rushed through the door and making their escape filled the people with confusion and indescribable alarm, so that some closed their houses, and others left their tables and places of business, and while some ran to the place to see what had happened, others who had seen it ran away. But Antonius and Lepidus,[614] who were the chief friends of Cæsar, stole away and fled for refuge to the houses of other persons. The partizans of Brutus, just as they were, warm from the slaughter, and showing their bare swords, advanced all in a body from the Senate-house to the Capitol, not like men who were flying, but exultant and confident, calling the people to liberty and joined by the nobles who met them. Some even went up to the Capitol with them and mingled with them as if they had participated in the deed, and claimed the credit of it, among whom were Caius Octavius and Lentulus Spinther.[615] But they afterwards paid the penalty of their vanity, for they were put to death by Antonius and the young Cæsar, without having enjoyed even the reputation of that for which they lost their lives, for nobody believed that they had a share in the deed. For neither did those who put them to death, punish them for what they did, but for what they wished to do. On the next day Brutus came down and addressed the people, who listened without expressing disapprobation or approbation of what had been done, but they indicated by their deep silence that they pitied Cæsar and respected Brutus. The Senate, with the view of making an amnesty and conciliating all parties, decreed that Cæsar should be honoured as a god and that not the smallest thing should be disturbed which he had settled while he was in power; and they distributed among the partisans of Brutus provinces and suitable honours, so that all people supposed that affairs were quieted and had been settled in the best way.

LXVIII. But when the will[616] of Cæsar was opened and it was discovered that he had given to every Roman a handsome present, and they saw the body, as it was carried through the Forum, disfigured with the wounds, the multitude, no longer kept within the bounds of propriety and order, but heaping about the corpse benches, lattices and tables taken from the Forum, they set fire to it on the spot and burnt it; then taking the flaming pieces of wood they ran to the houses of the conspirators to fire them, and others ran about the city in all directions seeking for the men to seize and tear them in pieces. But none of the conspirators came in their way, and they were all well protected. One Cinna,[617] however, a friend of Cæsar, happened, as it is said, to have had a strange dream the night before; for he dreamed that he was invited by Cæsar to sup with him, and when he excused himself, he was dragged along by Cæsar by the hand, against his will and making resistance the while. Now, when he heard that the body of Cæsar was burning in the Forum, he got up and went there out of respect, though he was somewhat alarmed at his dream and had a fever on him. One of the multitude who saw Cinna told his name to another who was inquiring of him, and he again told it to a third, and immediately it spread through the crowd that this man was one of those who had killed Cæsar; and indeed there was one of the conspirators who was named Cinna: and taking this man to be him the people forthwith rushed upon him and tore him in pieces on the spot. It was principally through alarm at this that the partisans of Brutus and Cassius after a few days left the city. But what they did and suffered before they died is told in the Life of Brutus.[618] LXIX. At the time of his death Cæsar was full fifty-six years old, having survived Pompeius not much more than four years, and of the power and dominion which all through his life he pursued at so great risk and barely got at last, having reaped the fruit in name only, and with the glory of it the odium of the citizens. Yet his great dæmon,[619] which accompanied him through life, followed him even when he was dead, the avenger of his murder, through every land and sea hunting and tracking out his murderers till not one of them was left, and pursuing even those who in any way whatever had either put their hand to the deed or been participators in the plot. Among human events the strangest was that which befell Cassius, for after his defeat at Philippi he killed himself with the same dagger that he had employed against Cæsar; and among signs from heaven, there was the great comet, which appeared conspicuous for seven nights after Cæsar's assassination and then disappeared, and the obscuration of the splendour of the sun. For during all that year the circle of the sun rose pale and without rays, and the warmth that came down from it was weak and feeble, so that the air as it moved was dark and heavy owing to the feebleness of the warmth which penetrated it, and the fruits withered and fell off when they were half ripened and imperfect on account of the coldness of the atmosphere. But chief of all, the phantom that appeared to Brutus showed that Cæsar's murder was not pleasing to the gods; and it was after this manner. When Brutus was going to take his army over from Abydus[620] to the other continent, he was lying down by night, as his wont was, in his tent, not asleep, but thinking about the future; for it is said that Brutus of all generals was least given to sleep, and had naturally the power of keeping awake longer than any other person. Thinking that he heard a noise near the door, he looked towards the light of the lamp which was already sinking down, and saw a frightful vision of a man of unusual size and savage countenance. At first he was startled, but observing that the figure neither moved nor spoke, but was standing silent by the bed, he asked him who he was. The phantom replied, "Thy bad dæmon, Brutus; and thou shalt see me at Philippi." Upon which Brutus boldly replied, "I shall see;" and the dæmon immediately disappeared. In course of time having engaged with Antonius and Cæsar at Philippi, in the first battle he was victorious, and after routing that part of the army which was opposed to him he followed up his success and plundered Cæsar's camp. As he was preparing to fight the second battle, the same phantom appeared again by night, without speaking to him, but Brutus, who perceived what his fate was, threw himself headlong into the midst of the danger. However he did not fall in the battle, but when the rout took place, he fled to a precipitous spot, and throwing himself with his breast on his bare sword, a friend also, as it is said, giving strength to the blow, he died.[621] FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 435: It has been remarked by Niebuhr (_Lectures on the History of Rome_, ii. 33) that the beginning of the Life of Cæsar is lost. He says, "Plutarch could not have passed over the ancestors, the father, and the whole family, together with the history of Cæsar's youth, &c." But the reasons for this opinion are not conclusive. The same reason would make us consider other lives imperfect, which are also deficient in such matters. Plutarch, after his fashion, gives incidental information about Cæsar's youth and his family. I conceive that he purposely avoided a formal beginning; and according to his plan of biography, he was right. Niebuhr also observes that the beginning of the Life of Cæsar in Suetonius is imperfect; "a fact well known, but it is only since the year 1812, that we know that the part which is wanting contained a dedication to the præfectus prætorio of the time, a fact which has not yet found its way into any history of Roman Literature." It is an old opinion that the Life of Cæsar in Suetonius is imperfect. The fact that the dedication alone is wanting, for so Niebuhr appears to mean, shows that the Life is not incomplete, and there is no reason for thinking that it is.

C. Julius Cæsar, the son of C. Julius Cæsar and Aurelia, was born on the twelfth of July, B.C. 100, in the sixth consulship of his uncle C. Marius. His father, who had been prætor, died suddenly at Pisa when his son was in his sixteenth year.]

[Footnote 436: See the Life of Pompeius, c. 9, and notes.]

[Footnote 437: Cæsar was first betrothed to Cossutia, the daughter of a rich Roman Eques, but he broke off the marriage contract, and married Cornelia, B.C. 83.]

[Footnote 438: A different story is told by Suetonius (_Cæsar_, c. 1), and Velleius Paterculus (ii. 43).]

[Footnote 439: Cornelius Phagita (Suetonius, c. 1, 74.) The words of Sulla are also reported by Suetonius (c. 1).]

[Footnote 440: Nicomedes III. Cæsar was sent to him by Thermus to get ships for the siege of Mitylene. Suetonius, a lover of scandal, has preserved a grievous imputation against Cæsar, which is connected with this visit to Nicomedes (_Cæsar_, c. 2, 49). Cæsar in a speech for the Bithynians (Gellius, v. 13) calls Nicomedes his friend. He felt the reproach keenly, and tried to clear himself (Dion Cassius, 43, c. 20). But it is easier to make such charges than to confute them.

M. Minucius Thermus, Proprætor. Cæsar served his first campaign under him at the siege and capture of Mitylene B.C. 80. Cæsar gained a civic crown. See the note in Burmaun's edition of Suetonius.]

[Footnote 441: This island was near Miletus. Stephan. Byzant., [Greek: Pharmakoussa] Φαρμακοῦσσα.]

[Footnote 442: See the Life of Pompeius, c. 26. Cæsar served a short time against the Cilician pirates under P. Servilius Isauricus (Sueton. _Cæsar_, 2) B.C. 77, or perhaps later.]

[Footnote 443: He was now in Bithynia according to Vell. Paterculus (ii. 42). This affair of the pirates happened according to Drumann in B.C. 76. Plutarch places it five years earlier.]

[Footnote 444: Plutarch should probably have called him only Molo. He was a native of Alabanda in Caria. Cicero often mentions his old master, but always by the name of Molo only. He calls the rhetorician, who was the master of Q. Mucius Scævola, consul B.C. 117. Apollonius, who was also a native of Alabanda.]

[Footnote 445: See c. 54.]

[Footnote 446: See the first chapter of the Life of Lucullus.]

[Footnote 447: Cn. Cornelius Dolabella, consul B.C. 81, afterwards was governor of Macedonia as proconsul, in which office he was charged with maladministration. Cicero (_Brutus_, c. 71, 92) mentions this trial. Drumann places it in B.C. 77. Cicero (_Brutus_, c. 72) gives his opinion of the eloquence of Cæsar. (Suetonius, _Cæsar_, 4; Vell. Paterculus, ii. 42.)]

[Footnote 448: His name was Caius. He was consul B.C. 63 with Cicero. The trial, which was in B.C. 76, of course related to misconduct prior to that date. The trial was not held in Greece. M. Lucullus was the brother of L. Lucullus, and was Prætor in Rome at the time of the trial.]

[Footnote 449: Some amplification is necessary here in order to preserve Plutarch's metaphor. He was fond of such poetical turns.

Nec poterat quemquam placidi pellacia ponti
Subdola pellicere in fraudem ridentibus undis.

_Lucretius_, v. 1002.]

[Footnote 450: See the Life of Pompeius, c. 48.]

[Footnote 451: The military tribunes, it appears, were now elected by the people, or part of them at least. Comp. Liv. 43, c. 14.]

[Footnote 452: His aunt Julia and his wife Cornelia died during his quæstorship, probably B.C. 68.]

[Footnote 453: The Roman word is Imagines. There is a curious passage about the Roman Imagines in Polybius (vi. 53, ed. Bekker)--"Viginti clarissimarum familiarum imagines antelatæ sunt." Tacit. _Annal._ iii. 76.]

[Footnote 454: The origin of this custom with respect to women is told by Livius (5. c. 50). It was introduced after the capture of the city by the Gauls, as a reward to the women for contributing to the ransom demanded by the enemy.]

[Footnote 455: Antistius Vetus (Vell. Paterculus, ii. 18) was Prætor of the division of Iberia which was called Bætica. His son C. Antistius Veius was Quæstor B.C. 61 under Cæsar in Iberia.]

[Footnote 456: She was a daughter of Q. Pompeius Rufus, the son-in-law of Sulla, who lost his life B.C. 88, during the consulship of his father. See the Life of Sulla, c. 6 notes. The daughter who is here mentioned was Julia, Cæsar's only child.]

[Footnote 457: This was the road from Rome to Capua, which was begun by the Censor Appius Claudius Cæcus B.C. 312, and afterwards continued to Brundisium. It commenced at Rome and ran in nearly a direct line to Terracina across the Pomptine marshes.

The appointment as commissioner (curator) for repairing and making roads was an office of honour, and one that gave a man the opportunity of gaining popular favour.]

[Footnote 458: Cæsar was Curule Ædile B.C. 65.]

[Footnote 459: Q. Metellus Pius, Consul B.C. 80. Cæsar's competitors were P. Servilius Isauricus, consul B.C. 79, under whom Cæsar had fought against the pirates, and Q. Lutatius Catulus, consul B.C. 78, the son of the Catulus whom Marius put to death. Cæsar was already a Pontifex, but the acquisition of the post of Pontifex Maximus, which places him at the head of religion, was an object of ambition to him in his present position. The office was for life, it brought him an official residence in the Via Sacra, and increased political influence.]

[Footnote 460: The conspiracy of Catiline happened B.C. 63, when Cicero was consul. See the Life of Cicero, c. 10, &c. Sallustius (_Catilina_, c. 51, &c.) has given the speeches of Cæsar and Cato in the debate upon the fate of the conspirators who had been seized. If we have not the words of Cæsar, there is no reason for supposing that we have not the substance of his speech. Whatever might be Cæsar's object, his proposal was consistent with law and a fair trial. The execution of the conspirators was a violent and illegal measure.]

[Footnote 461: This circumstance is mentioned by Sallustius (_Catilina_, 49), apparently as having happened when Cæsar was leaving the Senate, after one of the debates previous to that on which it was determined to put the conspirators to death. Sallustius mentions Catulus and C. Piso as the instigators. He also observes that they had tried to prevail on Cicero to criminate Cæsar by false testimony. (See Drumann, _Tullii_, § 40, p. 531.)]

[Footnote 462: C. Scribonius Curio, consul B.C. 76, father of the Curio mentioned in the Life of Pompeius, c. 58, who was a tribune B.C. 50.]

[Footnote 463: Cicero wrote his book on his Consulship B.C. 60, in which year Cæsar was elected consul, and it was published at that time. Cæsar was then rising in power, and Cicero was humbled. It would be as well for him to say nothing on this matter which Plutarch alludes to (_Ad Attic._ ii. 1).

Cicero wrote first a prose work on his consulship in Greek (_Ad Attic._ i. 19), and also a poem in three books in Latin hexameters (_Ad Attic._ ii. 3).]

[Footnote 464: Attic drachmæ, as usual with Plutarch, when he omits the denomination of the money. In his Life of Cato (c. 26) Plutarch estimates the sum at 1250 talents. This impolitic measure of Cato tended to increase an evil that had long been growing in Rome, the existence of a large body of poor who looked to the public treasury for part of their maintenance. (See the note on the Life of Caius Gracchus, c. 5.)]

[Footnote 465: Cæsar was Prætor B.C. 62. He was Prætor designatus in December B.C. 63, when he delivered his speech on the punishment of Catiline's associates.]