JULIUS CLESAR. 171 



destined himself to fill. The defeat and death of Crassus in 

 his Parthian expedition changed the name of the Triumvi- 

 rate, but hardly affected the real contest for power, which 

 remained, as before, between the two great military chiefs 

 Pompey in the city, Caesar in his camp. Jealousies and 

 causes of rupture multiplied as time went on. The death 

 of Julia more deeply lamented, it would seem, by the 

 husband than the father broke asunder one bond of union 

 between them. The anarchy in Eome, fomented rather 

 than repressed by Pompey, had placed him in the condition 

 of sole Consul of the Republic ; an anomalous admixture 

 of old institutions with the aggressions and tyranny of the 

 existing time; and certain not to subsist long, when so 

 palpable a fiction in itself, and so entirely opposed to the 

 interests of his matchless rival. On the side of Caesar, the 

 spoils of Gaul were poured into the city as bribes and 

 largesses. The tribunes were gained to his cause ; supporting 

 his claim to a participation in the extraordinary powers thus 

 conceded to Pompey, and to a second consulate, while still 

 holding his province and absent from the city : demands 

 adverse alike to the letter and spirit of the constitution, and 

 sanctioned only by the breaches already made in it. The 

 claim of Caesar was refused, as he probably anticipated, under 

 the influence of the senatorial party. He passed the Rubi- 

 con, the limit of his province ; boldly, as was his wont ; but 

 deliberately, as we are told, and with full knowledge of the 

 importance of an act which has served ever since to describe 

 those steps of bold adventure from which there can be no 

 retreat. His march upon Rome and occupation of the city, 

 while the great strength of his army was yet far distant, 

 were marked by the same dauntless determination. In sixty 

 days from the passage of the fatal streamlet he was master of 

 Italy. The conduct of Pompey in evading the first struggle 

 of arms has been variously explained. Whatever the impulse 



