JULIUS OESAE. 165 



neither intemperate nor unreasonable. His period of go- 

 vernment in Spain was successful in arms, able in adminis- 

 tration. But this was his sole independent command before 

 the G-allic war ; and when we compare his early course with 

 the wide career and large renown of his rival, yet find them 

 equally associated in the Triumvirate, we see that Kome had 

 already learnt to know the loftier character and higher 

 resources of Caesar, and that this position was one which 

 could not safely be denied to him. 



In his fifth chapter, as an introduction to the Gallic cam- 

 paigns of Caesar, Mr. Merivale gives an able and lucid history 

 of the great Celtic race, which in its different branches and 

 at successive times came into urgent collision with Rome ; 

 once putting her very existence at stake, and often inflicting 

 panic by the conjunction of these northern hordes with the 

 Italian states hostile to the Republic. The last great alarm 

 from this people had been the irruption of the Cimbri, in 

 transient connection with certain Teutonic tribes, into Italy 

 and Southern Gaul; a gigantic armed migration, which 

 swept away more than one Roman army, and required the 

 strenuous arm of Marius to arrest it. Bloody victories, 

 ending in massacres, satisfied the dignity and restored the 

 safety of Rome. It was reserved for the greater nephew of 

 Marius to complete the work on the soil of Gaul itself, and 

 by the conquests of successive campaigns to bring the whole 

 of this warlike country in subjection to the Roman power ; 

 a splendid achievement, and, from the causes just mentioned, 

 duly estimated at Rome. The formidable king of Pontus, a 

 worthy rival in arms to Sylla and Pompey, had disturbed 

 only the distant possessions of the Republic. The Gauls 

 once reached the Capitol, and still stood at the mountain 

 gates of Italy, menacing her provinces, and requiring the 

 constant watchfulness of her legions. 



These Gallic campaigns of Caesar, extended through his 



