C iE S A R. 



prifcJ of Csrfai's dt^gns, and ilifpritchcd to iiim two le- 

 gions in order to rccrnit llie lotTts which he had fullaihcd. 

 The two next campaigns in Gaul fiiraill);:d Cxfar with ki- 

 celTant employment, and by c.impltting tlie work which 

 he had already begun, he reduced the whole country to 

 the (late of a Roman province, and cxtinguiOied every 

 fpark of its ind-pendence. The war in Gaul lalled till 

 the year B. C. 51 ; and it lias been computed that, during 

 his fevcral campaigns there, Cwfar took 800 cities or 

 towns, fubdued joo nations, and detlroycd by the fword a 

 million of men ; " titles fuflicient to place him high on the 

 lill of conquerors !" The crifis of the Roman Hate was now 

 fpeedily approaching. The power of Pompey was fupreme 

 in the Vcnate, and as CratTus was dead, and his interell was 

 altogether detached from that of Cxlar, he adopted various 

 meafures for morlitying his rival. The enemies of Cilar 

 were advanced to the chief offices of the ftate ; the legions 

 that had been fent to him were withdrawn ; and his rtqueft 

 of continuing longer in his government was rejefted. Cx'far, 

 however, poffcffcd the affedtions of the people, and to him 

 the bell troops of the ftate were zealoudy attached. With 

 8 moderation, therefore, real or affefttd, from which no 

 danger could enfue, he propoRd to difband his army, 

 if Pompey adopted the fame mcafure. F)nt PompLy, being 

 lefs feared by the conilitutinnal party than Casfar, was fup- 

 ported by it in his refufal to acquicfce in any terms of 

 accommodation. The former was continued in his go- 

 vernment of Spain, whilll the like indulgence was refuftd 

 to the latter, who, having marched with a fmgle legion 

 acrofs the Alps to Ravenna, in order to wait the event, 

 was informed that the fenate had ilTued a decree announcing 

 him an enemy of the repv.blic if he did not give up his com- 

 mand within a limited time. Three tribunes in Cosfar's 

 interell, who had proteiled againll this decree, were driven 

 with violence out of the fenate-houfe ; and had fled to 

 Caefar's camp in the difguife of /laves, where their prefence 

 inflamed the minds of the foldicrs. In the mean time the 

 fatal decree was iffued at Rome, which required the confuls, 

 the pro-conful Pompey, and the confular magiftrates, to 

 .provide for the public fafety : which, in effctt, was a de- 

 claration of war. It was in the year B. C. 50 that thefe im- 

 portant events took place, and that the civil war commenced. 

 Two powerful parties were now taking up arms ; both pre- 

 tended to have nothing in view but the defence of their 

 common laws and hberty ; whilft their chiefs aimed only 

 at eftablilhing their own power on the ruins of that liberty 

 ■which they aifefted to defend. Pompey's party had on their 

 fidethe forms of the conftitution ; he was acknowledged as the 

 general of the common-wealth, and the whole fenate, with 

 the confuls, followed his cnfigns. On the other hand, 

 Cajfar fecmed to have the more equitable caufe, and the 

 people, with their tribunes, took part with him. The 

 poet Lucan, who was of Pornpey's party, without abfo- 

 lutely deciding the queilion between thofe two rivals, feems 

 to give the advantage to Cxfar, when he fays, that Cxfar, 

 could not bear a fuperior, nor Pompey an equal. 



" Nee quenquamjam ferre potell, Caefarve priorem, 



Pompeiufve parem." Phavf. I. 125. 

 Caefar, as foon as he received the hoftile decree, confiding 

 in the attachment of his foldicrs, refolved to begin the 

 war. Accordingly he marched to the Rubicon, a fmall 

 ftream that feparated Cifalpine Gaul from Italy. On the 

 banks of this river h? for fome time paufed and deliberated ; 

 but at Imgth, crying out " the die is call," threw him- 

 fclf int 1 the dream. Having pafled this river, he became 

 the avowed foe of his country ; and therefore " this palfiige 

 of the Rubicon" has been proverbially uftd to fignify a 



defperate decifion. Having feized the neighbouring town of 

 Ariminum, he ordered his main army in Gaul to haftcn to 

 him, and augmented his forces by new recruits in Cifalpine 

 Gaul. In his march he took pulfeilion of Corfuiium, in 

 which many fenators had fought an afylum, and whilil he 

 triumphed in his conqueft, he manifefted his moderation by 

 granting them their lives and liberty. By this well-timed 

 acl of clemency he ferved his caufe alnioll as much as by 

 the power of his arms, Rome was in the utr.ioU confterna- 

 tion. The people and all the fenators were alarmed ; and de- 

 termined, as they had no fufficient force with which to 

 defend themfelves, to retire to Capua. After the reduftion 

 of Corfuiium, Pompey withdrew from Capua to Brundu- 

 fium, whither he was followed by Cxfar. From thence he 

 withdrew, whilll his purfuer was invcHing the place and 

 fliutting it up by a mole, to Dyrrachiuni: and by his flight 

 furrendered the whole of Italy to his rival. Whilll the 

 lieutenants of Ciefar were deputed to take polTcflion of 

 Sicily and Sardinia, Ca:far himfelf advanced to Rome. On 

 his appr<iach to the city, he fent a mcfTage to the fenators 

 then in Italy, requefting tlieir counfel in the capital, and 

 quartered his troops in the neighbouring municipia. To 

 the alfembled fenators he gave an account of his conduft 

 and avowed his moderation and defire of compromifing all 

 differences ; whilll the people crowded to fee the famous 

 conqueror of Gaul, and to congratulate him on his return 

 after an abfence of 10 years. With a view of providing 

 for the neceffary expences of the war, he repaired to the 

 temple of Saturn and feized the public treafure : and thus 

 fupplied with money, he raifed troops in eveiv part of 

 Italy, and fent governors into all the provinces fubjeft to 

 the republic. The war was now profeeuted with vigour. 

 Cxlar himfelf undertook the campaign in Spain, and foon 

 fubjugated the whole country; and on his return to Rome 

 the prastor Lepidus nominated him diftator by his own 

 authority. Having exercifed this dignity with moderation, 

 he changed it for that of conful. He then purfued Pompey 

 into Greece, and landed with five legions in Chaonia : but 

 the dellrudlion of the greatell part of his fleet by the 

 ilronger fquadron of Pompey, and the formidable force of 

 his antagonitt, induced him to propofe terms of accommo- 

 dation, which, though apparently reafonable, were difre- 

 garded. Anxious to effeft a junilion with that divifion of 

 the army which was commanded by Antony, he made ar> 

 attempt, the temerity of which has incurred cenfure. Dif- 

 guifed like a flave he embarked on board a iiflierman's 

 bark for the purpofe of crofling over into Italy ; the veffel, 

 however, after ftruggling with contrary winds, was obliged 

 to return, notwithftanding the earnellnefs with which 

 Cxfar urged the crew to rifqne the dangers of the voyage. 

 It was on this occafion that he is faid to have difcovered 

 himfelf to the terrified mafter, and to bid him difmifs his 

 fears, as " he carried Caefar and his fortune." This exploit 

 is related by Plutarch, and poetically defcribed by Lucan ; 

 but Cxfar himfelf takes no notice of it in his Commentaries. 

 Having received the expefled fuccours of Antony, he 

 followed Pompey to Dyrrachium, and determined to invefl 1 

 the town, together with Pompey's camp. In this fiege his I 

 troops encountered a variety of hardfhips, which, however, 

 their attachment to their leader induced them to endure with 

 heroic patience. Pompey, reduced to the want of forage, 

 and difdaining to be cooped up by his enemy in fuch a 

 nook of land, determined to break through the barrier, 

 and at length fucceeded. Cxfar, mortified by his efcape, 

 retired to Macedonia, whither Pompey followed him ; and 

 on the plains of Pharfaha the great contell between 

 thefe two commanders was decided, B.C. 48. The army 

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