400 



ROMAN EMPIRE. 



Roman 

 Empire. 



> ^ 



B. C. 53. 



Success of 



C'eeear. 



Flight of 

 Pompey. 

 B. C. 50. 



Caesar ad- 

 vances to 

 Rome. 



Caesar takes 

 money from 

 the public 

 treasury. 



head, and sent it to the king Orodes. In consequence 

 of this event Caesar and Pompey were left the sole ar- 

 biters of the fate of Rome. 



When Caesar had succeeded in subjugating Gaul, it 

 was resolved by the senate that both he and Pompey 

 should disband their armies ; but the designs of Caesar 

 having become more obvious to his countrymen, a de- 

 cree of the senate was passed, ordering the consuls, the 

 proconsul Pompey, the praetors, and all who had been 

 consuls, to provide by every means in their power for 

 the public safety. When this decree for a civil war 

 was passed, the consuls Marcellus and Lentulus pre- 

 sented Pompey with a sword, requiring him to defend 

 the republic, and to command their armies. Lucius 

 Domitius was appointed to succeed Caesar, and the most 

 active preparations were made by the senate for de- 

 fending their country. Caesar, however, determined 

 to commence hostilities. With one of his legions he 

 surprised and made himself master of Ariminium ; and 

 he sent immediate orders to the powerful army which 

 he had left in Gaul to join him without delay. 



Alarmed at the unexpected activity of Caesar, Pom- 

 pey retired to Capua. In the mean time Caesar was 

 busy raising fresh troops ; and his own army, and that 

 which he placed under Mark Antony, took possession 

 of several towns in Italy. Corsinium having been re- 

 duced, Pompey retreated from Capua to Brundusium, 

 which was immediately invested by Caesar ; but before 

 he had completed his contrivance for shutting up 

 the harbour, the fleet had carried the two consuls 

 and thirty cohorts to Dyrrachium. Pompey having 

 thus the means of escape in his power, masked his de- 

 signs, by walling up the gates, digging ditches in the 

 streets, and making every preparation for withstanding 

 a siege. He placed his light infantry on the walls, and 

 commanding the citizens to keep within doors, he 

 embarked all his troops in the space of three days, and 

 giving a signal for the light troops to follow, they re- 

 paired in haste to the ships. No sooner did Caesar 

 observe that the walls were unguarded, than he ordered 

 them to be scaled ; but before his troops could reach 

 the harbour he found Pompey 's fleet in full sail, with 

 the exception of two ships which had run aground in 

 the hurry of quitting the harbour. 



Being thus left in the peaceful possession of all Italy, 

 Caesar advanced to Rome, where he conducted himself 

 with that moderation and humanity which he thought 

 most likely to gain his object. Quartering his troops in 

 the neighbouring municipia, he took up his own re- 

 sidence in the suburbs, where, through his friends Mark 

 Antony and Cassius, he requested the senate to receive 

 a justification of his conduct. At the conclusion of the 

 speech which he made on this occasion, he proposed to 

 offer terms of accommodation to Pompey ; and he even 

 requested some of the conscript fathers to carry pacific 

 terms to the consuls. Having thus ingratiated himself 

 even with those who were not of his party, he ap- 

 plied for money from the public treasury. On the au- 

 thority of a law, Metellus, one of the tribunes, opposed 

 this demand; but Caesar, disregarding his opposition, 

 went to the temple of Saturn, where the public money 

 was kept, broke open the doors, and took from it the 

 enormous sum of 300,000 pounds weight of gold. 



With such a liberal supply, Caesar raised troops 

 over all Italy, and sent governors into the different 

 provinces : to Mark Antony he gave the command of 

 the armies in Italy j to his brother C. AntoniuSj the 



government of Illyricum ; and to Licinius Crassus, Roman 

 that of Cisalpine Gaul. He gave the charge of the Empire, 

 capital to ^milius Lepidus, and he set over his fleets N -*^V^*-' 

 P. Cornelius Dolabella, and the younger Hortensius. 

 As Pompey had placed governors over the same pro- 

 vinces, the flames of a civil war raged in almost every 

 part of the world. 



After settling his affairs at Rome, Caesar hastened Caxar iet 

 to Spain ; but when he arrived in Transalpine Gaul, he out fc r 

 found that Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus had arrived at s P ain - 

 Marseilles with a squadron of seven galleys, and had taken 

 possession of the city in the name of Pompey. He there- 

 fore built twelve galleys at Aries, and invested Mar- 

 seilles with those legions which he left under the care 

 of C. Trebonius. He likewise sent forward Q. Fabius 

 with three legions, to take possession of the Pyrenees, 

 and immediately followed him with the rest of his 

 army. Having learned on his arrival that Africanus 

 and Petreius had posted, on a hill near Lerida, their 

 combined forces, consisting of 5 legions, 20 native 

 cohorts, and 5000 horse, Caesar encamped in a plain 

 between the Segro and Cinca, and attempted to seize a 

 small eminence between the enemy's camp and Lerida, 

 from which^ they derived their provisions. After a 

 severe conflict, which continued five hours, Africanus 

 maintained his position. The failure of Caesar in the He is ex- 

 first action, was followed by calamities of the most posed to 

 distressing kind. From the swelling of the rivers and g re t U- 

 continued rains, the two rivers, between which Caesar mities > 

 had encamped, swelled to such a degree that they 

 broke down all his bridges, and inundated the neigh- 

 bouring country. By this accident he could no longer 

 receive supplies from the cities that had declared for 

 him ; and though he attempted to rebuild his bridges, 

 yet the force of the current would not permit it, and 

 his army was on the eve of perishing with want. 



The adherents of Pompey in Rome began to show 

 their opinions when the intelligence of Caesar's dis- 

 tresses reached the capitol. Even Cicero, whom Ca?- 

 sar himself had requested to remain neutral, set off for 

 Dyrrachium, where Pompey received him in the most 

 friendly manner. 



The distress of Caesar, however, was only temporary. 

 The resources of his great mind increased with his ca- 

 lamities, and when he found it in vain to erect his 

 bridges, he built a number of boats with singular ex- 

 pedition ; and while Africanus was attempting to in- 

 tercept the succours sent him from Gaul, he conveyed 

 his boats during the night on carriages to a distance of 

 twenty-two miles, when a large detachment passed the 

 Segro, and pitching their camp on the opposite bank, 

 erected a bridge in two days, and, saving the sup- 

 plies from Gaul, relieved the necessities of the army. 

 Thus preserved from the horrors of famine, Caesar b ^ defeat! 

 pursued the armies of Africanus and Petreius, and with- hi * enem ' es * 

 out coming to a general engagement, he forced them 

 to lay down their arms, and thus possessed himself of 

 all southern Spain. Varro, who commanded in farther 

 Spain, followed the example of Africanus, and left 

 Caesar in the quiet possession of the whole king- 

 dom. 



Leaving Cassius with the legions as governor of 

 Spain, Caesar returned to Rome by the way of Mar- Casar re- 

 seilles, which he found on the eve of surrendering to turns to 

 Trebonius. Upon his arrival in Rome, M. -(Emilius Kome, and 

 Lepidus, one of the praetors, in opposition to the ** created 

 wishes of the Senate, nominated Ceesar dictator, an of- dictawr- 



