C iE S A R. 



thtir affent, till at length it was pafled by tlie people, and 

 the fenatora vveit conlhaiiied to fanition it by ttieir alTcnt ; 

 infomucli tliat it was jocoftrly faid, that, iiillead of dating 

 any traiifaftion of this year in the uf'jal mode, dnrii g the 

 confiddiip of Csfar and Bibuliis, it would be more proper 

 to infert " the confiillhip of Cxfar and Jnlius." Tliis vic- 

 tory over the fenate and Bibulus made Cxfar abfoiute in 

 Rome ; and having fecured both the people and knights, 

 he governed with an uncontro\ilablc fway. 



As Cicero exclaimed againll the trinmvirate, and thus 

 provoked the vtfentment of this body, they refolved upon 

 his ruin, and with this view they promoted Clodius to the 

 tribunefliip, which proved eventually the caufe of his ba- 

 nifhment. The marriage of Casfar's daughter Julia witii 

 Fompey, fcrved to ftrengthcn the connexion between thefe 

 two great men ; and by marrying Calpurnia, daughter of 

 Li. Calpurnius Pifo, the conful of the preceding year, he 

 attached him to his caufe. 



He alfo contrived by his influence on the fenate and peo- 

 ple, together with the alTillance of Pompey and Craii'u?, 

 to procure the government of Tranfalpine and Cifalpine 

 Gaul, contrary to all law, for five years, with the command 

 of four legions. 



Having thus eftablilhed his intereft at Rome, Cajfar 

 found it neceffary, in the year B. C. 58, to haften to Gaul, 

 the province which was the fcene of thofe mihtary exploits, 

 by which he acquired a degree of reputation and influence, 

 that ferved in the progrefs of his career to fubjugate his 

 country. The Helvetians, having abandoned their coun- 

 try, and burnt their towns and houfes, were preparing to 

 enter Gaul by way of Geneva. Caefar, therefore, by forced 

 marches, reached the banks of the Rhone in eight days, and 

 having refufed the Helvetians the hberty they folicited of 

 pafling through the country of the Allobroges, prepared, 

 by procuring frefh fupplies of troops from Italy, to defend 

 himfelf againft the effefts of their refentnient. According- 

 ly, whilll they were embaralTed in pafiing the Arar, (now 

 Saone), he fell upon them and totally defeated them. Upon 

 their again rallying near Bibradle, the capital of the jEdui, 

 and purfuing him in his retreat, a bloody battle enfued, 

 which terminated, notwithftanding the valour and obfti- 

 nacy of the Helvetians, in their total overthrow ; fo that 

 they were obliged, after the lofs of their baggage and many 

 prifoners, to fupplicate his clemency ; and to acquiefce in 

 the obligation which he impoftd upon them, of laying 

 down their arms, giving hollages, and returning to their 

 own country. This vidlory was fo complete, tiiat Cafar 

 received congratulations from all parts of the country, and 

 the jEdui, in particular, implored his proteftion againll 

 Arioviftus, king of the Germans, whom he drove back 

 from the frontiers of Gaul to his own territories. Having 

 fucceeded in this entcrprife, he put his troops into winter- 

 quarters, and croffing the Alps, returned into Cifalpine 

 Gaul, in order to concert meafures for the operations of 

 the next year. In the mean while all the nations of Bel- 

 gium confederated againll the Roman republic, and furnilh- 

 ed ample employment for his military exertions in the courfo 

 of the fecond year of his government. Tlie fame of his 

 exploits in diffolving tlieir confederacy, and fubduing them 

 feparately, extended beyond the Rhine, and induced feve- 

 ral remote nations to fend ambaffadors to him, with offers 

 of fubmilfion. Having difpatched his troops into winter- 

 quarters, he repafled the Alps, and fpenl the winter in In- 

 fubria. By thefe conquells, Caefar eflaced the remembrance 

 of Pompey's viftorics in the Eaft, and by the prodigious 

 fums, which he acquired in Gaul, chiefly by plundering 

 the temples gf their treafures; he incrcaftd the number of 



his friends in Icaly. The fignal fncceffes of this bloody 

 campaign were honoured at Rome with a fupplical'ro, or re- 

 ligious thankfgiving of the unprecedented interval of fi fteen 

 days; and Poinpuy bcc.:me jealous of a rrnownth.tfi.em- 

 ed likely to eclipfe liis own. In the third year ot liis ad- 

 minillraiion in Gaul, Cxfar, whilll he was in Ill;rirum, a 

 part of his province, received information that the W-jieti, 

 tlie ancient inhabitants of Vagnes, in Brilaimy, together 

 with fome other neighbouring nations, were UN.king prepa- 

 rations for war; upon which he fittid cut a fleet, tntrulted 

 the command of it to Brutus, who engaged tiiat of the ene- 

 my, and gained a complete viiilory. The Ventti fubmrtted ; 

 but Ctcfar put their chief men to death, and fold the rcll 

 for flavcs. Craffus alfo, his lieutenant, reduced the whole 

 of Aquitaine. 



After fome other fuccefsful expeditions, Csefar rcpaflfed 

 the Alps, according to liis iifual cullom, and refided for 

 fomemontiis in Cilalpine Gaul, whence he dirt tied the oper- 

 ations of his party at Rome, and excited Clodius to commit 

 atrocious afts of violence. He likewife concurred with 

 Pompey and Craflfus, who afpircd to the confulate, and 

 ordered) his agents to fi)are no expence in purchafing the 

 fuffrages of the tribes, fo that tl>'-fe two chiefs were una- 

 nimoufly chofcn. In the year B. C. 55, Ca'far renewed 

 his military expioits in Gaul ; and having driven back fome ' 

 German tribes, which had eroded the Rhine with a defign 

 of fettling in Belgium ; and having paffed the Rhine, laid 

 wallc the country of the Sicambri, and fpread a general 

 alarm through the parts adjacent, he returned into Gaul, 

 refolving to pafs over into Britain, and to punifli its inha- 

 bitants for furnifhing the Gauls with continual fupphes 

 againil the Roman.s. Accordingly he fitted out a fleet, 

 crofTed the channel, and difperfed the natives wh.o op- 

 pofed his landing. This expedition, however, though the 

 fenate decreed him a fupphcation of twenty days in honour 

 of it, was merely preparatory to that of the following year, 

 in which he collctted 800 vcfTeis, and embarked with 5 le- 

 gions, and 2000 horfe, which landed without oppohtion on 

 the Kentifli coall, at the place of his former defcent. His 

 progrels was for fome time interrupted by a Itorm which 

 damaged his fleet, and required his drawing his fortes to- 

 wards the fea-coail. But having repaired his (hattered fhips, 

 and properly fecnred tliem, he put his troops again in 

 motion, and advanced, notwithftanding the oppofition with 

 which he had to encounter, as far as Cowey, near Walton, 

 where he crofled ..the Tliames, although the enemy occu- 

 pied the oppofite bank, and had driven fliarp flakes in the 

 only part of the river that was fordable. The Britons fled, 

 in conilernation ; and Caflivelaunus, finding all his eflTortS- 

 of refinance ineffeftual, fubmitted to Cxfar, who conde- 

 fcended to give him peace ; after having exafted a great 

 number of hollages, and inipofcd a certain tribute to be an- 

 nually paid to the Roman people. Having thus fettled the 

 affairs of Britain, he marched back to the fea-fide, where 

 he embarked his troops and hollages, and arrived in fafety. 

 at the continent. On his return to Gaul, he found the 

 country grievoufly diftrcfl'td by a famine, whicli obliged' 

 him to difperfe his troops into different quarters for their 

 more commodious fubfillence. The natives took tliis oc- 

 cafion of attacking them in their winter flations ; but Cx-. 

 far by his Angular aftivity quelled the infurre£lion, and' 

 after the moll difficult and glorious campaign of any he had: 

 made in Gaul, parted the winter in this country. 



The death of Julia during Cxfar's expedition into Britairj 

 diffolved the alliance that had fubfilled between him and 

 Pompey, and hallened the revolution which was now ap- 

 proaching. Pompey, however, was not thoroughly ap-- 



priledi 



