Dio Cassius, Histories

§ 42.52.1 The legions, however, caused him no slight trouble; for they had expected to receive a great deal, and when they found their rewards inferior to their expectation, though not less, to be sure, than their deserts, they made a disturbance. The most of them were in Campania, being destined to sail on ahead to Africa.2 These nearly killed Sallust, who had been appointed praetor in order to recover his senatorial rank; and when, after escaping them, he set out for Rome to inform Caesar of what was going on, many followed him, sparing no one on their way, but killing, among others whom they met, two senators.

§ 42.52.3 Caesar, as soon as he heard of their approach, wished to send his body-guard against them, but fearing that it, too, might join in the mutiny, he remained quiet until they reached the suburbs. While they waited there he sent to them and inquired what wish or what need had brought them. 4 Upon their replying that they would tell him personally he allowed them to enter the city unarmed, except for their swords; for they were regularly accustomed to wear these in the city, and they would not have submitted to laying them aside at that time.

§ 42.53.1 They had much to say about the toils and dangers they had undergone and much about what they had hoped for and what they declared they deserved to obtain. Next they asked to be released from service and were very insistent with him upon this point, 2 not that they wished to return to private life, — indeed they were far from anxious for this, since they had long been accustomed to the gains of war, — but because they thought they would scare Caesar in this way and accomplish anything they pleased, since his projected invasion of Africa was close at hand.

§ 42.53.3 He, however, made no reply to their first statements, but said merely: “Why, of course, Quirites, what you say is right; you are naturally weary and worn out with wounds,” and then at once disbanded them all as if he had no further need of them, promising that he would give the rewards in full to such as had served the appointed time. 4 At these words they were struck with alarm both at his intention in general and particularly because he had called them Quirites instead of soldiers; and so, humiliated and fearing they should meet with some severe penalty, they changed front and addressed him with many entreaties and offers, promising that they would join his expedition as volunteers and would carry the war through for him by themselves. When they had reached this stage and one of their leaders also, either on his own impulse or as a favour to Caesar, had said a few words and presented a few petitions in their behalf, he replied: “I discharge both you who are present here and all the rest whose years of service have expired; for I really have no further need of you. Yet even so I will pay you the rewards, that no one may say that after using you in dangers I later showed myself ungrateful, even though you were unwilling to join my campaign while perfectly strong in body and able to carry through all the wars that remain.”

§ 42.54.1 This he said for effect, for they were quite indispensable to him. He then assigned them all land from the public holdings and from his own, settling them in different places, and separating them far from one another, so that they should not, by living somewhere together, either be a source of terror to their neighbours or, again, be ready for rebellion. 2 As to the money that he owed them, — and on the eve of practically every action he had promised to give them large amounts, — he offered to pay part immediately and to settle for the remainder with interest in the near future. When he had said this and had so enthralled them that they showed no sign of boldness but even went so far as to express their gratitude, he added: 3 “You have all that is due to you from me, and I will compel no one of you to make campaigns any longer. If, however, any one wishes of his own accord to help me accomplish what remains, I will gladly receive him.” Hearing this, they were overjoyed, and all alike volunteered to serve again.

§ 42.55.1 Caesar put aside the turbulent spirits among them, — not all to be sure, but as many as were moderately well acquainted with farming and so could make a living, — and the others he used. He did the same also in the case of the rest of his soldiers: 2 those who were overbold and able to cause serious trouble he took away from Italy, in order that they might not be left behind there and begin an insurrection; and he took great satisfaction in using them up in Africa on various pretexts, since at the same time he was destroying his foes through their efforts he was also ridding himself of them.

§ 42.55.3 For although he was the kindliest of men and showed many favours not only to the citizens in general but particularly to his soldiers, he bitterly hated those of them who were mutinous and punished them with extreme severity.

§ 42.55.4 These were the things he did in that year in which he really ruled alone as dictator for the second time, though Calenus and Vatinius, appointed near the close of the year, were said to be the consuls.

§ 42.56.1 He also crossed over to Africa, although winter had set in. And he met with no little success from this very circumstance, by attacking his opponents unexpectedly. On all occasions, indeed, he accomplished a great deal by his rapidity and by the unexpectedness of his movements, so that if any one should try to find out what it was that made him so superior in the art of war to his contemporaries, he would find by careful comparison that there was nothing more striking than this very characteristic. 2 Now Africa had not been friendly to Caesar in the first place, and after Curio's death it became thoroughly hostile. For Varus and Juba were in charge of affairs, and furthermore Cato, Scipio and their followers had all taken refuge there, as I have stated.

§ 42.56.3 After this they made common cause in the war, carried on their preparations by land, and also made descents by sea upon Sicily and Sardinia, harrying their cities and taking back their ships, from which they obtained a plentiful supply of arms and of iron in other forms, which alone they lacked. 4 Finally they reached a state of preparedness and courage that, when no army opposed them and Caesar delayed in Egypt and the capital, they sent Pompey to Spain. For on learning that the country was in revolt they thought that the people would readily receive him as the son of Pompey the Great; and while he was making preparations to occupy Spain in a short time and to set out from there to the capital, the others were getting ready to make the voyage to Italy.

§ 42.57.1 At first they experienced a slight delay, due to a dispute between Varus and Scipio about the leadership, inasmuch as the former had held sway for a longer time in these regions, and Juba also, elated by his victory, demanded that he should have first place because of it. 2 But Scipio and Cato, who far excelled them all in rank and in shrewdness respectively, reached an agreement and won the rest over to it, persuading them to entrust everything to Scipio. For Cato, who might have commanded on equal terms with him, or even alone, refused,

§ 42.57.3 first, because he thought it a most injurious course in such circumstances, and second, because he was inferior to the other in official rank. He saw that in military matters even more than elsewhere it was very important that the commander should have some legal precedence over the others, and therefore he willingly yielded him the command and furthermore delivered to him the armies that he had brought there. 4 After this Cato interceded on behalf of Utica, which was suspected of favouring Caesar's cause and had come near being destroyed by the others on this account, and thus he received it to guard, and the whole country and sea in that vicinity were entrusted to his protection. The other districts were governed by Scipio as commander-in chief.

§ 42.57.5 His very name was a source of strength to all those who sided with him, since by some strange, unreasonable hope they believed that no Scipio could meet with misfortune in Africa.

§ 42.58.1 When Caesar learned of this and saw that his own soldiers also were persuaded that it was so and were consequently afraid, he added to his retinue a man of the family of the Scipios who bore that name (he was otherwise known as Salutio ), 2 and then made the voyage to Hadrumetum, since the neighbourhood of Utica was strictly guarded; and since his crossing in the winter was unexpected, he escaped the enemy's notice. When he had left his ship, an accident happened to him which, even if some disaster was portended to his expedition by Heaven, he nevertheless turned to a good omen.

§ 42.58.3 Just as he was setting foot on land he slipped, and the soldiers, seeing him fall on his face, were disheartened and in their chagrin raised an outcry; Caesar, however, did not lose his presence of mind, but stretching out his hands as if he had fallen on purpose, he embraced and kissed the ground, crying out: “I have thee, Africa!” 4 Thereupon he made an assault of Hadrumetum, but was repulsed and actually driven out of his camp by main force. Then he transferred his position to another city called Ruspina, and being received by the inhabitants, established his winter quarters there and proceeded to carry on the war from that base.

§ 43.1.1 Book XLIII Such were Caesar's experiences at that time. The following year he became both dictator and consul at once, holding each of the offices for the third time, and with Lepidus as his colleague in both instances. For when he had been named dictator by Lepidus the first time, he had sent him immediately after his praetorship into Hither Spain; 2 and upon his return he had honoured him with a triumph, although Lepidus had conquered no foes nor so much as fought with any, the pretext being that he had been present at the exploits of Longinus and of Marcellus.

§ 43.1.3 Accordingly, he sent home nothing, as a matter of fact, except the money he had plundered from the allies. Caesar besides exalting Lepidus with these honours chose him later as his colleague in both the positions mentioned.

§ 43.2.1 When now they were in office, the people of Rome were disturbed by prodigies; for a wolf was seen in the city, and a pig was born resembling an elephant save its feet. In Africa, Petreius and Labienus, after waiting until Caesar had gone out to villages after grain, 2 drove his cavalry, which had not yet thoroughly recovered its strength after the sea-voyage, back upon the infantry with the aid of the Numidians; and while the latter as a result was in great confusion, they killed many of the soldiers in hand-to-hand fighting. Indeed, they would also have cut down all the others, who had crowded together on some high ground, had they not received grievous wounds themselves.

§ 43.2.3 Even so, they alarmed Caesar not a little by this deed. For considering how he had been checked by a few, and expecting, too, that Scipio and Juba would arrive directly with all their forces, as it was reported they would, he was greatly embarrassed and did not know what course to adopt. 4 For he was not yet able to carry through the war to a satisfactory conclusion; and he saw that to stay in the same place was difficult because of the lack of substance, even if the foe should leave his troops alone, and that to retire was impossible, with the enemy pressing upon him both by land and by sea. Consequently he was dispirited.

§ 43.3.1 He was still in this position when one Publius Sittius (if, indeed, we ought to say it was he, and not rather Providence) brought to him at one stroke salvation and victory. This man had been exiled from Italy, and taking with him some fellow-exiles and crossing over into Mauretania, 2 he had collected a force and served as general under Bocchus; and although he had previously received no benefit from Caesar, and was not known to him at all, in fact, he undertook to assist him in the war and help him overcome his present difficulties.

§ 43.3.3 In pursuance of this plan he did not go to the aid of Caesar himself, for he heard that he was at a distance and thought that his own assistance would prove of small value to him, since he had as yet no large body of troops, but waited, instead, until Juba set out on his expedition, 4 and then he invaded Numidia, harrying it and Gaetulia (a part of Juba's dominion) so completely that the king gave up the matter in hand and turned back in the midst of his march with most of his army; for he also sent a part of it to Scipio at the same time.

§ 43.3.5 This fact made it very clear that if Juba had also come up, Caesar could never have withstood the two. Indeed, he did not so much as venture to join issue with Scipio alone at first, because he stood in great dread of the elephants, among other things, partly on account of their fighting abilities, but still more because they kept throwing his cavalry into confusion.

§ 43.4.1 Therefore, while keeping as strict guard over the camp as he could, he sent to Italy for soldiers and elephants. He did not count on the latter, to be sure, for any considerable military achievement, but desired that the horses, by becoming accustomed to the sight and sound of them, should learn to have no further fear of those belonging to the enemy. 2 Meanwhile the Gaetulians came over to his side, and also some of their neighbours, partly on account of the Gaetulians, since they heard these had been highly honoured, and partly through remembrance of Marius, since Caesar was a relative of his.

§ 43.4.3 When this had occurred, and his reinforcements from Italy, in spite of delay and danger due to the winter and the enemy, had at length crossed over, he no longer remained quiet, but, on the contrary, hastened forward to battle, in order to overpower Scipio before Juba's arrival. 4 He moved forward against him in the direction of a city called Uzitta, where he took up his quarters on a crest overlooking both the city and the enemy's camp, having first dislodged those who were holding it. Later, when Scipio attacked him, he drove him away also from the higher ground, and by charging down after him with his cavalry did him some injury.

§ 43.4.5 So he held this position and fortified it; and he also took another hill on the other side of the city by defeating Labienus on it, after which he walled off the entire place. For Scipio, fearing his own power might be spent too soon, would no longer risk a battle with Caesar, 6 but kept sending for Juba; when the latter would not obey his summons, Scipio promised to make him a present of all the territory that the Romans had in Africa. Juba then appointed others to take charge of the operations against Sittius and in person once more set out against Caesar.

§ 43.5.1 While this was going on Caesar tried in every way to draw Scipio into conflict. Baffled in this, he made friendly overtures to the latter's soldiers, and distributed among them pamphlets, 2 in which he promised to the native that he would preserve his possessions unharmed and to the Roman that he would grant him pardon and the same prizes that he had offered to his followers. In this way he gained over a goodly number.

§ 43.5.3 Scipio in like manner undertook to circulate both pamphlets and verbal offers among his opponents, with a view to winning some to himself; but he was unable to induce them to change sides. This was not because some of them would not have chosen his cause by preference, if any offers similar to Caesar's had been made; 4 it was due rather to the fact that he did not promise them any prize, but merely urged them to liberate the Roman people and the senate. And so, inasmuch as he chose the course that was more becoming to acknowledge rather than the one that was more expedient for the situation in which he found himself, he failed to gain over any of them.

§ 43.6.1 So long, then, as Scipio alone was in his camp, matters went on thus, but when Juba also came up, the situation was changed. For they both tried to provoke their opponents to battle and harassed them when they were unwilling to contend; 2 moreover with their cavalry they inflicted serious injuries upon any of them who were scattered to a distance. But Caesar was not disposed to come to close quarters with them if he could help it. He prevented their walling him in, secured a bare subsistence for his troops, and kept sending for other forces from home.

§ 43.6.3 These reached him only after much delay and difficulty, for they had not all been together, but were collected gradually and lacked boats in which to cross in a body. When at length they did reach him and he had added them to his army, he took courage once more and leading out his forces against the foe, arrayed them in front of the intrenchments. 4 Seeing this, his opponents marshalled themselves in turn, but did not join issue with them. This continued for several days. For apart from brief cavalry skirmishes, after which they would retire, neither side risked any movement worth speaking of.

§ 43.7.1 Accordingly, when Caesar perceived that because of the nature of the land he could not force them to engage in conflict unless they chose, he set out for Thapsus, in order that he might either engage them, if they came to the help of the city, or might at least capture the place, if they left it to its fate. 2 Now Thapsus is situated on a kind of peninsula, with the sea stretching along on one side and a lake on the other; the isthmus between them is so narrow and marshy that one reaches the town by two roads, only a little way apart, running along either side of the marsh close to the shore.

§ 43.7.3 On his way toward this city Caesar, when he had got inside the narrowest point, proceeded to dig a ditch and to erect a palisade. The townspeople caused him no trouble, as they were no match for him; but Scipio and Juba undertook in their turn to wall off the neck of the isthmus, where it comes to an end at the mainland, by running palisades and ditches across from both sides.

§ 43.8.1 They were engaged in this work and were making great progress every day (for in order that they might build the walls across more quietly they had stationed the elephants along the portion not yet protected by a ditch and hence easy for the enemy to attack, while on the remaining portions all were working), 2 when Caesar suddenly attacked the men who were with Scipio, and by using slings and arrows from a distance threw the elephants into great confusion. Then as they retreated he not only followed them up, but fell upon the workers unexpectedly and routed them, too; and when they fled into their camp, he dashed in with them and captured it without a blow.

§ 43.8.3 Juba, upon seeing this, was so startled and terrified that he ventured neither to come to close quarters with any one nor even to keep the camp under guard; 4 so he fled and hastened homeward. And then, when no one received him, especially since Sittius had already overpowered all opposition, Juba, despairing of safety, fought in single combat with Petreius, who likewise had no hope of pardon, and together they died.

§ 43.9.1 Caesar, immediately after Juba's flight, captured the palisade and caused great slaughter among all who came in the way of his troops, sparing not even those who came over to his side. Next he brought the rest of the cities to terms, meeting with no opposition; 2 and taking over the Numidians, he reduced them to the status of subjects, and delivered them to Sallust, nominally to rule, but really to harry and plunder. At all events this officer took many bribes and confiscated much property, so that he was not only accused but incurred the deepest disgrace,

§ 43.9.3 inasmuch as after writing such treatises as he had, and making many bitter remarks about those who fleeced others, he did not practice what he preached. Therefore, even if he was completely exonerated by Caesar, yet in his history, as upon a tablet, the man himself has chiselled his own condemnation all too well. 4 This affair, then, turned out thus. As for these districts in Libya, the region surrounding Carthage, which we also call Africa, was called the old province, because it had long ago been subjugated, whereas the region of the Numidians was called the new province, because it had been newly captured.

§ 43.9.5 Scipio, who had fled from the battle, chanced upon a ship and set sail for Spain to go to Pompey. But he was cast ashore in Mauretania, and through fear of Sittius made away with himself.

§ 43.10.1 Cato, since many had sought refuge with him, was at first preparing to take a hand in affairs and to resist Caesar as best he might. But the people of Utica 2 had not been hostile to Caesar in the first place, and now, seeing him victorious, would not listen to Cato; and the members of the senate and the knights who were present were afraid of being arrested by them, and so meditated flight. Cato himself, therefore, decided neither to war against Caesar, being unable to do so anyhow, nor yet to go over to his side.

§ 43.10.3 This was not because of any fear, since he understood well enough that Caesar would be very eager to spare him for the sake of his reputation for humanity; but it was because he passionately loved freedom, and would not brook defeat at the hands of anybody, and regarded Caesar's pity as far more hateful than death. 4 So he called together the citizens who were present, enquired where each one of them was intending to go, sent them forth with supplies for their journey, and bade his son go to Caesar. To the youth's inquiry, “Why, then, do you also not do so?”

§ 43.10.5 he replied: “I, who have been brought up in freedom, with the right of free speech, cannot in my old age change and learn slavery instead; but for you, who were both born and brought up amid such a condition, it is proper to serve the divinity that presides over your fortunes.”

§ 43.11.1 When he had done this and had given to the people of Utica an account of his administration and returned to them the surplus funds, as well as whatever else of theirs he had, he wished to be rid of life before Caesar's arrival. 2 He did not undertake to do this by day, inasmuch as his son and others surrounding him kept him under surveillance; but when evening was come, he secretly slipped a dagger under his pillow, and asked for Plato's book on the Soul.

§ 43.11.3 This was either in the endeavour to divert those present from the suspicion that he had any such purpose in mind, in order to be observed as little as possible, or else in the desire to obtain some consolation in respect to death from the reading of it. When he had read the work through and it was now near midnight, 4 he drew forth the dagger, and smote himself upon the belly. He would have died immediately from loss of blood, had he not in falling from the low couch made a noise and roused those who were keeping guard before his door. Thereupon his son and some others who rushed in put his bowels back into his belly again, and brought medical attendance for him.

§ 43.11.5 Then they took away the dagger and locked the doors, that he might obtain sleep; for they had no idea of his perishing in any other way. But he thrust his hands into the wound and broke the stitches of it, and so expired. 6 Thus Cato, who had proved himself at once the most democratic and the strongest-minded of all the men of his time, acquired great glory even from his very death and obtained the title of Uticensis, both because he had died in Utica, as described, and because he was publicly buried by the inhabitants.

§ 43.12.1 Caesar declared that he was angry with him, because Cato had begrudged him the distinction of saving such a man, and he released his son and most of the others, as was his custom; for they came over to him of their own accord, some at once, and others later, so as to approach him after time should have blunted his anger. 2 So these were spared; but Afranius and Faustus would not come to him of their own free will, feeling sure of being put to death, but fled to Mauretania, where they were captured by Sittius. Caesar put them to death, as captives, without a trial;

§ 43.12.3 but in the case of Lucius Caesar, though the man was related to him and came as a voluntary suppliant, nevertheless, since he had fought against him throughout, he at first bade him stand trial, so that he might seem to have condemned him with some show of legality, and then, as he shrank from putting him to death by his own vote, he postponed the trial for the time being, but afterward killed him secretly.

§ 43.13.1 Indeed, even in the case of those of his own followers who did not suit him he willingly lost some at the hands of the enemy and deliberately caused others to perish in the midst of the fighting at the hands of their own comrades. 2 For, as I have said, he did not attack openly all who had injured him, but any whom he could not prosecute on a plausible charge he quietly put out of the way in some obscure fashion. And yet on this occasion he burned unread all the papers that were found in the private chests of Scipio,

§ 43.13.3 while of the men who had fought against him he spared many for their own sake, and many also for the sake of their friends. For, as I have stated, he always allowed each of his soldiers and companions to ask the life of one man. 4 In fact he would have spared Cato, too; for he had conceived such an admiration for him that when Cicero subsequently wrote an encomium of Cato he was not at all vexed, although Cicero had likewise warred against him, but merely wrote a short treatise which he entitled “Anticato.”

§ 43.14.1 Immediately after these events before he crossed into Italy Caesar got rid of the older men among his soldiers for fear that they might mutiny again. He arranged other matters in Africa 2 just as rapidly as was feasible and sailed as far as Sardinia with his whole fleet. From that point he sent the dismissed troops along with Gaius Didius into Spain against Pompey, and he himself returned to Rome, priding himself particularly upon the brilliance of his achievements, but also upon the decrees of the senate as well.

§ 43.14.3 For they had voted that sacrifices should be offered for his victory during forty days, and had granted him permission to ride, in the triumph already voted him, in a chariot drawn by white horses and to be accompanied by all the lictors who were then with him, and by as many others as he had employed in his first dictatorship, together with as many more as he had in his second. 4 Furthermore, they elected him overseer of every man's conduct (for some such name was given him, as if the title of censor were not worthy of him) for three years, and dictator for ten in succession. They moreover voted that he should sit in the senate upon the curule chair with the successive consuls, and should always state his opinion first, that he should give the signal at all the games in the Circus, and that he should have the appointment of the magistrates and whatever honours the people were previously accustomed to assign. 6 And they decreed that a chariot of his should be placed on the Capitol facing the statue of Jupiter, that his statue in bronze should be mounted upon a likeness of the inhabited world, with an inscription to the effect that he was a demigod, and that his name should be inscribed upon the Capitol in place of that of Catulus on the ground that he had completed this temple after undertaking to call Catulus to account for the building of it. 7 These are the only measures I have recorded, not because they were the only ones voted, — for a great many measures were proposed and of course passed, — but because he declined the rest, whereas he accepted these.

§ 43.15.1 When these decrees had now been passed, he entered Rome, and perceiving that the people were afraid of his power and suspicious of his proud bearing and consequently expected to suffer many terrible evils such as had taken place before, and realizing that it was on this account that they had voted him extravagant honours, through flattery and not through good-will, 2 he endeavoured to encourage them and to inspire them with hope by the following speech delivered in the senate: “Let none of you, Conscript Fathers, suppose that I shall make any harsh proclamation or do any cruel deed merely because I have conquered and am able to say whatever I please without being called to account, and to do with full liberty whatever I choose.

§ 43.15.3 It is true that Marius and Cinna and Sulla and practically all the others who ever triumphed over the factions opposed to them said and did many benevolent things in the beginning of their undertakings, 4 largely as the result of which they attracted men to their side, thus securing, if not their active support, at least their abstention from opposition; and then, after conquering and becoming masters of the ends they sought, adopted a course diametrically opposed to their former stand both in word and in deed. Let no one, however, assume that I shall act in this same way.

§ 43.15.5 For I have not associated with you in former time under a disguise, while possessing in reality some different nature, only to become emboldened in security now that that is possible; nor have I become so elated or puffed up by my great good fortune as to desire also to play the tyrant over you — both of which experiences, or at least one of them, seem to me to have come to those men whom I mentioned. 6 No, I am in nature the same sort of man as you have always found me — but why go into details and become offensive as praising myself? — and I would not think of insulting Fortune, but the more I have enjoyed her favours, the more moderately will I use her in every way.

§ 43.15.7 For I have had no other motive in striving to secure so great power and to rise to such a height that I might punish all active foes and admonish all those of the other faction, than that I might be able to play a man's part without danger and to obtain prosperity with honour.

§ 43.16.1 For in general it is neither noble nor just for a man to be convicted of doing the things which he has rebuked in those who have differed from him in opinion; nor will I ever think it proper to be likened to such men through my imitation of their deeds, and to differ merely by the reputation of my complete victory. 2 For who ought to confer more and greater benefits upon people than he who has the greatest power? Who ought to err less than he who is the strongest? Who should use the gifts of Heaven more sensibly than he who has received the greatest ones from that source? Who ought to use present blessings more uprightly than he who has the most of them and is most afraid of losing them?

§ 43.16.3 For good fortune, if joined to self-control, is enduring, and authority, if it maintains moderation, preserves all that has been acquired; and, greatest of all, and also rarest with those who gain success without virtue, these things make it possible for their possessors to be loved unfeignedly while living and to receive genuine praise when dead. 4 But the man who recklessly abuses his power on absolutely all occasions finds for himself neither genuine good-will nor certain safety, but, though accorded a false flattery in public, is secretly plotted against (?). For the whole world, including his nearest associates, both suspects and fears a ruler who is not master of his own power.

§ 43.17.1 ”These statements that I have made are no mere sophistries, but are intended to convince you that what I think and say is not for effect nor yet thoughts that have just chanced to occur to me on the spur of the moment, but rather are convictions regarding what at the outset I decided was both suitable and advantageous for me. Consequently you may not only be of good courage with reference to the present, but also hopeful as regards the future, when you reflect that, if I had really been using any pretence, I should not now be deferring my projects, but would have made them known this very day. 2 However, I was never otherwise minded in times past, as, indeed, my acts themselves prove, and now I shall be far more eager than ever with all reasonableness to be, not your master, — Jupiter forbid! — but your champion, not your tyrant, but your leader. When it comes to accomplishing everything else that must be done on your behalf, I will be both consul and dictator, but when it comes to injuring any one of you, a private citizen.

§ 43.17.3 That, in fact, is the one thing which I think should not even be mentioned. For why should I put any one of you to death, who have done me no harm, when I have destroyed none of those who were not arrayed against me, no matter how zealously in general they had joined with some of my enemies against me, and when I have taken pity on all those who withstood me but once and in many cases have spared even those who fought against me a second time? 4 Why should I bear malice toward any, seeing that I immediately burned all the documents that were found among the private papers both in Pompey's and in Scipio's tents, and that without reading or copying them? Let us, therefore, Conscript Fathers, confidently unite our interests, forgetting all past events as if they had been brought to pass by some supernatural force,

§ 43.17.5 and beginning to love each other without suspicion as if we were in some sort new citizens. In this way you will conduct yourselves toward me as toward a father, enjoying the forethought and solicitude which I shall give you and fearing nothing unpleasant, and I will take thought for you as for my children, 6 praying that only the noblest deeds may ever be accomplished by your exertions, and yet enduring perforce the limitations of human nature, exalting the good citizens by fitting honours and correcting the rest so far as that is possible.

§ 43.18.1 “And do not fear the soldiers, either, or regard them in any other light than as guardians of my empire, which is at the same time yours. That they should be supported is necessary, for many reasons, but they will be supported for your benefit, not against you; and they will be content with what is given them and will think well of the givers. 2 This is the reason why the taxes now levied are higher than usual, in order that the seditious element may be made submissive and the victorious element, by receiving sufficient support, may not become seditious. Of course I have received no private gain from these funds, seeing that I have expended for you all that I possessed, and also much that was borrowed.

§ 43.18.3 No, you can see a part of the taxes has been expended on the wars and that the rest has been kept safe for you; it will serve to adorn the city and carry on the government in general. I have, then, taken upon my own shoulders the odium of the levy, whereas you will enjoy its advantages in common, in the campaigns as well as elsewhere. 4 For we are always in need of arms, since without them it is impossible for us, who live in so great a city and hold so extensive an empire, to live in safety; and an abundance of money is a great help in this matter as well as elsewhere.

§ 43.18.5 However, let none of you suspect that I shall harass any man who is rich or establish new taxes; I shall be satisfied with the present revenues and shall be more anxious to help make some contribution to your prosperity than to wrong any one for his money.” 6 By such statements in the senate and afterward before the people Caesar relieved them to some extent of their fears, but was not able to persuade them altogether to be of good courage until he confirmed his promises by his deeds.

§ 43.19.1 After this he conducted the whole festival in a brilliant manner, as was fitting in honour of victories so many and so decisive. He celebrated triumphs for the Gauls, for Egypt, for Pharnaces, and for Juba, in four sections, on four separate days. 2 Most of it, of course, delighted the spectators, but the sight of Arsinoe of Egypt, whom he led among the captives, and the host of lictors and the symbols of triumph taken from the citizens who had fallen in Africa displeased them exceedingly.

§ 43.19.3 The lictors, on account of their numbers, appeared to them a most offensive multitude, since never before had they beheld so many at one time; and the sight of Arsinoe, a woman and one considered a queen, in chains, — a spectacle which had never yet been seen, at least in Rome, — aroused very great pity, 4 and with this as an excuse they lamented their private misfortunes. She, to be sure, was released out of consideration for her brothers; but others, including Vercingetorix, were put to death.

§ 43.20.1 The people, accordingly, were disagreeably affected by those sights that I have mentioned, and yet they considered them of very slight importance in view of the multitude of captives and the magnitude of Caesar's accomplishments. This led them to admire him extremely, as did likewise the good nature with which he bore the army's outspoken comments. For the soldiers jeered at those of their own number who had been appointed by him to the senate 2 and at all the other failings of which he was accused, and in particular jested about his love for Cleopatra and his sojourn at the court of Nicomedes, the ruler of Bithynia, inasmuch as he had once been at his court when a lad; indeed, they even declared that the Gauls had been enslaved by Caesar, but Caesar by Nicomedes.

§ 43.20.3 Finally, on top of all this, they all shouted together that if you do right, you will be punished, but if wrong, you will be king. This was meant by them to signify that if Caesar should restore self-government to the people, which they of course regarded as just, he would have to stand trial for the deeds he had committed in violation of the laws and would suffer punishment; whereas, if he should hold on to his power, which was naturally the course of an unjust person, he would continue to be sole ruler. 4 As for him, however, he was not displeased at their saying this, but was quite delighted that by such frankness toward him they showed their confidence that he would never be angry at it — except in so far as their abuse concerned his intercourse with Nicomedes. At this he was greatly vexed and manifestly pained; he attempted to defend himself, denying the affair upon oath, whereupon he incurred all the more ridicule.

§ 43.21.1 Now on the first day of the triumph a portent far from good fell to his lot: the axle of the triumphal car broke down directly opposite the temple of Fortune built by Lucullus, so that he had to complete the rest of the course in another. 2 On this occasion, too, he climbed up the stairs of the Capitol on his knees, without noticing at all either the chariot which had been dedicated to Jupiter in his honour, or the image of the inhabited world lying beneath his feet, or the inscription upon it; but later he erased from the inscription the term “demigod.”

§ 43.21.3 After the triumph he entertained the populace splendidly, giving them grain beyond the regular amount and olive oil. Also to the multitude which received doles of corn he assigned the three hundred sesterces which he had already promised and a hundred more, but to the soldiers twenty thousand in one sum. 4 Yet he was not uniformly munificent, but in most respects was very strict; for instance, since the multitude receiving doles of corn had increased enormously, not by lawful methods but in such ways as are common in times of strife, he caused the matter to be investigated and struck out half of their names at one time before the distribution.

§ 43.22.1 The first days of the triumph he passed as customary, but on the last day, after they had finished dinner, he entered his own forum wearing slippers and garlanded with all kinds of flowers; thence he proceeded homeward with practically the entire populace escorting him, while many elephants carried torches. 2 For he had himself constructed the forum called after him, and it is distinctly more beautiful than the Roman Forum; yet it had increased the reputation of the other so that that was called the Great Forum. So after completing this new forum and the temple to Venus, as the founder of his family,

§ 43.22.3 he dedicated them at this very time, and in their honour instituted many contests of all kinds. He built a kind of hunting-theatre of wood, which was called an amphitheatre from the fact that it had seats all around without any stage. In honour of this and of his daughter he exhibited combats of wild beasts and gladiators; 4 but anyone who cared to record their number would find his task a burden without being able, in all probability, to present the truth; for all such matters are regularly exaggerated in a spirit of boastfulness. I shall accordingly pass over this and other like events that took place later, except, of course, where it may seem to me quite essential to mention some particular point,

§ 43.23.1 but I will give an account of the so-called camelopard, because it was then introduced into Rome by Caesar for the first time and exhibited to all. This animal is like a camel in all respects except that its legs are not all of the same length, the hind legs being the shorter. 2 Beginning from the rump it grows gradually higher, which gives it the appearance of mounting some elevation; and towering high aloft, it supports the rest of its body on its front legs and lifts its neck in turn to an unusual height. Its skin is spotted like a leopard, and for this reason it bears the joint name of both animals.

§ 43.23.3 Such is the appearance of this beast. As for the men, he not only pitted them one against another singly in the Forum, as was customary, but he also made them fight together in companies in the Circus, horsemen against horsemen, men on foot against others on foot, and sometimes both kinds together in equal numbers. There was even a fight between men seated on elephants, forty in number. 4 Finally he produced a naval battle, not on the sea nor on a lake, but on land; for he hollowed out a certain tract on the Campus Martius and after flooding it introduced ships into it. In all the contests the captives and those condemned to death took part;

§ 43.23.5 yet some of the knights, and, not to mention others, the son of one who had been praetor fought in single combat. Indeed a senator named Fulvius Sepinus desired to contend in full armour, but was prevented; for Caesar deprecated that spectacle at any time, though he did permit the knights to contend. 6 The patrician boys went through the equestrian exercise called “ Troy ” according to ancient custom, and the young men of the same rank contended in chariots.

§ 43.24.1 He was blamed, indeed, for the great number of those slain, on the ground that he himself had not become sated with bloodshed and was further exhibiting to the populace symbols of their own miseries; but much more fault was found because he had expended countless sums on all that array. In consequence a clamour was raised against him for two reasons — first, that he had collected most of the funds unjustly, and, again, that he had squandered them for such purposes. 2 If I mention one feature of his extravagance at that time, I shall thereby give an idea of all the rest. In order that the sun might not annoy any of the spectators, he had curtains stretched over them made of silk, according to some accounts. Now this fabric is a device of barbarian luxury, and has come down from them even to us to gratify the fastidious taste of fine ladies.

§ 43.24.3 The citizens perforce held their peace at such acts, but the soldiers raised a disturbance, not because they cared about the reckless squandering of the money, but because they themselves did not receive the citizens' wealth too. In fact they did not cease their rioting until Caesar suddenly came upon them, and seizing one man with his own hands, delivered him up to punishment. 4 So this man was executed for the reason given, and two others were slain as a sort of ritual observance. The true cause I am unable to state, inasmuch as the Sibyl made no utterance and there was no other similar oracle, but at any rate they were sacrificed in the Campus Martius by the pontifices and the priest of Mars, and their heads were set up near the Regia.

§ 43.25.1 While Caesar was thus engaged he was also enacting many laws, most of which I shall omit, mentioning only those most worthy of record. The courts he entrusted to the senators and the knights alone, in order that the purest element of the population, so far as was possible, might always preside; 2 for formerly some of the common people had also joined with them in rendering decisions. The expenditures moreover, of men of means, which had grown to an enormous extent by reason of their prodigality, he not only regulated by law but also practically checked by stern measures. Moreover, since, on account of the multitude of those who had perished there was a serious falling off in population, as was shown both by the censuses (which he attended to, among other things, as if he were censor) and, indeed, by mere observation, he offered prizes for large families of children.

§ 43.25.3 Again, since it was by ruling the Gauls for many years in succession that he himself had conceived a greater desire for dominion and had increased the equipment of his force, he limited by law the term of propraetors to one year, and that of proconsuls to two consecutive years, and enacted that no one whatever should be allowed to hold any command for a longer time.

§ 43.26.1 After the passage of these laws he also established in their present fashion the days of the year, which had got somewhat out of order, since they still at that time measured their months by the moon's revolutions; he did this by adding sixty-seven days, the number necessary to bring the year out even. Some, indeed, have declared that even more were intercalated, but the truth is as I have stated it. 2 He got this improvement from his stay in Alexandria, save in so far as the people there reckon their months as of thirty days each, and afterwards add the five days to the year as a whole, whereas Caesar distributed among seven months these five along with two other days that he took away from one month.

§ 43.26.3 The one day, however, which results from the fourths he introduced into every fourth year, so as to make the annual seasons no longer differ at all except in the slightest degree; at any rate in fourteen hundred and sixty-one years there is need of only one additional intercalary day.

§ 43.27.1 All these and the other undertakings which he was planning for the common weal he accomplished not on his own authority nor by his own counsel, but communicated everything in every instance to the leaders of the senate, and sometimes even to that entire body. And to this practice most of all was due the fact that, even after he passed some rather harsh measures, he still succeeded in pleasing them. 2 For these acts, then, he received praise; but when he induced some of the tribunes to restore many of those who had been exiled after due trial, and allowed those who had been convicted of bribery in canvassing for office to live in Italy, and furthermore enrolled once more in the senate some who were unworthy of it, many murmurings of all sorts arose against him.

§ 43.27.3 But he incurred the greatest censure from all because of his passion for Cleopatra — not now the passion he had displayed in Egypt (for that was a matter of hearsay), but that which was displayed in Rome itself. For she had come to the city with her husband and settled in Caesar's own house, so that he too derived an ill repute on account of both of them. He was not at all concerned, however, about this, but actually enrolled them among the friends and allies of the Roman people.

§ 43.28 Meanwhile he was learning in detail all that Pompey was doing in Spain; but thinking him easy to vanquish, he at first despatched the fleet from Sardinia against him, and later sent on also the armies that had been enrolled, intending to conduct the whole war through others. 2 But when he ascertained that Pompey was gaining great headway and that the men he had sent were not sufficient to fight against him, he finally set out himself to join the expedition, after entrusting the city to Lepidus and a number of prefects — eight as some think, or six as is more commonly believed.

§ 43.29.1 The legions in Spain under Longinus and Marcellus had rebelled and some of the cities had revolted. When Longinus had been removed and Trebonius had become his successor, they kept quiet for a few days; 2 then, through fear of vengeance on Caesar's part, they secretly sent ambassadors to Scipio, expressing a desire to transfer their allegiance, and he sent to them Gnaeus Pompey among others. Pompey put in at the Balearic Isles and took these islands without a battle, except Ebusus, which he gained with difficulty; then, falling sick, he tarried there with his troops.

§ 43.29.3 As a result of his delay, the soldiers in Spain, who had learned that Scipio was dead and that Didius was setting sail against them, feared that they would be annihilated before Pompey could arrive, and so failed to wait for him; but putting at their head Titus Quintius Scapula and Quintus Aponius, both knights, they drove out Trebonius and led the whole Baetic nation to revolt at the same time.

§ 43.30.1 They had gone thus far when Pompey, recovering from his illness, sailed across to the mainland opposite. He immediately won over several cities without resistance, for, being vexed at the commands of their rulers and also reposing no little hope in him because of the memory of his father, they readily received him; and Carthage, which was unwilling to come to terms, he besieged. 2 The followers of Scapula, on learning of this, went there and chose him general with full powers, after which they were most devoted to him and showed the greatest zeal, regarding his successes as the successes of each one of them and his disasters as their own. Consequently their resolution was confirmed by their double purpose of obtaining the successes and avoiding the disasters.

§ 43.30.3 For Pompey, too, did what all are accustomed to do in the midst of such turbulent conditions, especially after the desertion of some of the Allobroges whom Juba had taken alive in the war against Curio and had given to him: that is, he granted to the rest every possible favour both in word and in deed. 4 Not only these men, therefore, became more zealous in his behalf, but a number of the opposing side, also, particularly all who had once served under Afranius, came over to him. Then there were those who came to him from Africa, among others his brother Sextus, and Varus, and Labienus with his fleet.

§ 43.30.5 Elated, therefore, by the multitude of his army and by its zeal, he proceeded fearlessly through the country, gaining some cities of their own accord, and others against their will, and seemed to surpass even his father in power.

§ 43.31.1 For though Caesar also had generals in Spain, namely Quintus Fabius Maximus and Quintus Pedius, yet they did not regard themselves as a match for Pompey, but remained quiet themselves and kept sending urgently for Caesar. 2 For a time matters went on thus; but when a few of the men sent in advance from Rome had reached there, and Caesar's arrival was also expected, Pompey became frightened; and thinking that he was not strong enough to gain the mastery of all Spain, he did not wait for a reverse before changing his mind, but immediately, before making trial of his adversaries, retired into Baetica.

§ 43.31.3 The sea, moreover, straightway became hostile to him, and Varus was defeated in a naval battle near Carteia by Didius; indeed, had he not escaped to the land and sunk a row of anchors upon which the foremost pursuers were wrecked as upon a reef, he would have lost his whole fleet. 4 All that region of the mainland except the city of Ulia was in alliance with Pompey; and this town, which had refused to submit to him, he proceeded to besiege.

§ 43.32.1 Meanwhile Caesar, too, with a few men suddenly came up unexpectedly, not only to Pompey's followers, but even to his own soldiers. For he had employed such speed in crossing over that he appeared to both his adherents and his opponents before they had even heard that he was in Spain at all. 2 He hoped by this very circumstance and by his mere presence to alarm Pompey and in particular to lure him from the siege; for most of his army had been left behind on the road. But Pompey, thinking that one man was not much superior to another and feeling full confidence in his own strength, was not seriously alarmed at the other's arrival, but continued to besiege the city and kept making assaults upon it just as before.

§ 43.32.3 Hence Caesar left there a few troops from among those who had arrived first and set out himself for Corduba, partly, to be sure, in the hope of taking it by betrayal, but chiefly in the expectation of drawing Pompey away from Ulia through fear for this place. 4 And so it turned out in the end. At first Pompey left a part of his army in position, and going to Corduba, strengthened it, and then, as Caesar did not resist his troops, put his brother Sextus in charge there.

§ 43.32.5 After this he failed to accomplish anything at Ulia. On the contrary, when a certain tower had fallen, and that not shaken down by his own men either, but broken down by the crowd that was making a defence from it, a few who rushed in fared badly; 6 and Caesar, approaching, lent assistance secretly by night to the citizens, and marched against Corduba himself, putting it under siege in turn. Then at last Pompey withdrew entirely from Ulia and hastened to the other town with his entire army, accomplishing the desired result. For Caesar, learning of it in time, retired, as he happened to be ill.

§ 43.32.7 Afterwards, when he had recovered and had taken charge of the additional troops who had followed on after him, he was compelled to carry on warfare even in the winter; for, being housed in miserable little huts, they were suffering distress and running short of food.

§ 43.33.1 Caesar was at that time dictator, and at length, near the close of the year, he was appointed consul, after Lepidus, who was master of the horse, had convoked the people for this purpose; for Lepidus had become master of the horse at that time also, having given himself, while still in the consulship, that additional title contrary to precedent. 2 Caesar, accordingly, being compelled, as I have said, to carry on warfare even in the winter, did not attack Corduba, which was strongly guarded, but turned his attention to Ategua, a city in which he had learned there was an abundance of grain. Although it was a strong place, he hoped by the size of his army and the sudden terror of his appearance to alarm the inhabitants and capture it. And in a short time he had cut it off by a palisade and surrounded it by a ditch.

§ 43.33.3 For Pompey, encouraged by the nature of the place and thinking that Caesar because of the winter would not besiege it very long, paid no heed and did not try at first to repel the assailants, since he was unwilling to distress his own soldiers by the cold. 4 Later, to be sure, when the town had been walled off and Caesar was encamped before it, he grew afraid and came with assistance. Falling in with pickets suddenly on a misty night, he killed a number of them; and since the inhabitants were without a general, he sent in to them Munatius Flaccus.

§ 43.34.1 For this man contrived in the following way to get inside. He went alone by night to some of the guards, as if appointed by Caesar to visit the sentries, and asked and learned the watchword; for he was not known, and inasmuch as he was alone, would never have been suspected of being anything but a friend when he acted in this manner. Then he left these men 2 and went around to the other side of the circumvallation where he met some other guards and gave them the watchword; after this he pretended that he was there to betray the city, and so went inside through the midst of the soldiers with their consent and actually under their escort.

§ 43.34.3 He could not, however, save the place. In addition to other setbacks there was one occasion when the citizens hurled fire upon the engines and ramparts of the Romans, although without doing them any damage worth mentioning, while they themselves fared ill by reason of a violent wind which just then began to blow toward them from the opposite direction; 4 for their houses were set on fire and many persons perished from the stones and missiles, not being able to see any distance ahead of them for the smoke. After this disaster, as their land was being ravaged, and portions of their wall were collapsing as the result of mines, they began to riot.

§ 43.34.5 Flaccus first made overtures to Caesar on the basis of pardon for himself and his followers; but afterwards, when he failed of this owing to his refusal to surrender his arms, the natives sent envoys and submitted to the terms imposed upon them.

§ 43.35.1 Upon the capture of this city the other tribes also no longer held back, but many of their own accord sent envoys and espoused Caesar's cause, and many received him or his lieutenants on their approach. Pompey, in consequence, being at a loss what to do, at first moved about and wandered from place to place through the country; later on he became afraid that as a result of this very course the rest of his adherents would also leave him in the lurch, and he chose to risk a decisive battle, although Heaven had beforehand indicated his defeat very clearly.

§ 43.35.3 To be sure, the drops of sweat that fell from the sacred statues, and the rumbling noises of legions, and the many creatures that were born outside their own species, and the torches darting from the east to the west, all of which signs occurred in Spain at that one time, did not make it clear to which of the two leaders they were revealing the future. 4 But the eagles of Pompey's legions shook their wings and let fall the thunderbolts which they held in their talons, in some cases of gold; thus they seemed to be hurling the threatened disaster directly at Pompey and to be flying off of their own accord to Caesar. But he made light of it, for Destiny was leading him on; thus he established himself in the city of Munda in order to give battle.

§ 43.36.1 Both leaders had in addition to their citizen and mercenary troops many of the natives and many Moors. For Bocchus had sent his sons to Pompey and Bogud in person made the campaign with Caesar. Still, the contest turned out to be like one between the Romans themselves, not between them and other nations. 2 Caesar's soldiers derived courage from their numbers and experience and above all from their leader's presence, and so were anxious to be done with the war and its attendant miseries. Pompey's men were inferior in these respects, but, becoming strong through their despair of safety, should they fail to conquer, they were full of eagerness.

§ 43.36.3 For inasmuch as the majority of them had been captured with Afranius and Varro, had been spared, and afterwards delivered to Longinus, and had revolted from him, they had no hope of safety if they were beaten, and hence were reduced to desperation, feeling that they must now win or else perish utterly. 4 So the armies came together and began the battle; for they no longer felt any compunction at killing each other, since they had been so many times opposed in arms, and hence required no urging.