CAESAR 



1042 



CAESAR 



was born of a patrician family, but early 

 showed that his sympathies were strongly in 

 favor of democracy. This does not mean that 

 he believed in government "of the people, by 

 the people and 

 for the people"; 

 the time in which 

 he lived made 

 that impossible; 

 but he did hold 

 firmly to the 

 principle of ex- 

 tending Roman 

 citizen rights to 

 the provincial 

 subjects and to 

 the overthrow of 

 aristocratic privi- 

 lege. 

 His marriage at 



the age of seven- 



.,, n This was the noblest Ro- 



teen with Corne- man of them all. 



lia, daughter of 



the democratic The drawing is from a 

 leader Cinna, bust in the Brltish Museum - 

 strengthened his sympathies, and because 

 he refused to divorce her at the command 

 of the aristocrat, Sulla, he was forced to flee 

 from Rome and give up all his property. On 

 Sulla's death he returned to Rome, and though 

 he left again to study eloquence at Rhodes he 

 was from that time increasingly interested in 

 public affairs, always taking the part of the 

 people. His marriage with Pompeia, a young 

 woman of high social connections who became 

 his second wife in 67 B. c., combined with his 

 personal talents to win him popularity in 

 Rome, and his attempts to confer citizenship 

 on the Latins beyond the Po secured him the 

 sympathies of the Italians. He was elected 

 to various offices, and in all of them won added 

 favor by lavish expenditures and splendid pub- 

 lic games. 



Connection with Pompey. Though the con- 

 spiracy of Catiline brought discredit on all 

 the popular party, including Caesar, his polit- 

 ical prospects were not really injured. After 

 a year spent as propraetor (governor) in Spain 

 he returned to Rome and formed a coalition 

 with Crassus, a man of enormous wealth and 

 great political ambition, and with Gnaeus Pom- 

 pey, who had returned from Asia Minor two 

 years before as the great military leader of 

 the day and the idol of the people. Thus 

 was formed the first triumvirate (which see) 

 not as an organized form of government, but 



simply as a union to promote the interests of its 

 three members. Through the support which 

 he thus gained, Caesar was elected consul for 

 59 B. c., and received the command of the prov- 

 ince of Gaul for a term of five years, later 

 extended to ten years. 



Gallic Campaigns. It was almost an acci- 

 dent that Caesar became a soldier; he was 

 by nature and training a politician rather than 

 a general. But when, in 58 B. c., he went as 

 proconsul to Gaul, it soon became evident that 

 he was a military genius of high order. Hi- 

 courage knew no bounds, and his generalship 

 was so great that in all his nine years in 

 Gaul he only twice lost a battle at which he 

 was present in person. He was adored by his 

 soldiers as perhaps no other man has ever 

 been. In his nine campaigns he reduced the 

 whole province to subjection, and at one time 

 bridged the Rhine that he might pursue the 

 invading Germans whom he had driven back. 

 His campaigns against the Helvetii, the Belgae 

 and the Germans won him immense popularity 

 at Rome, where public thanksgivings were de- 

 creed in his honor. Twice during his years in 

 Gaul, in 55 and in 54 B. c., he invaded Britain, 

 but his victories there were little more than 

 nominal, as he left no troops to hold the 

 island. 



Civil War. Meanwhile, not everyone at 

 Rome was rejoicing over Caesar's victories; 

 Pompey was becoming ever more jealous and 

 inclining more and more to the aristocratic, or 

 senatorial, party. In 49 B. c. he procured the 

 passage of a decree ordering the disbanding of 

 Caesar's army, but the victorious commander 

 was not prepared to submit, and with his 

 legions crossed the Rubicon the little stream 

 which separated his provinces of Gaul from 

 Italy. This was virtually a declaration of 

 war, from which there was no turning back; 

 and to this day when an act is based on a 

 momentous decision, it is said the person has 

 "crossed the Rubicon." Little bloodshed was 

 necessary in Caesar's advance upon Rome, for 

 the people everywhere welcomed him, and 

 Pompey, with the Senate and nobles, fled to 

 Greece. 



Having made himself in less than three 

 months master of all Italy, Caesar hastened to 

 Spain to overthrow Pompey's legates there. 

 On his return from this expedition he was 

 appointed dictator, an office which he held but 

 eleven days. In January he followed Pompey 

 into Greece and defeated him on the plains of 

 Pharsalia, August 9, 48 B. c. When the news of 



