HISTORY AND ETHNOLOGY. 37 



He required Ca3sar to disband his army and return himself to Rome, if he 

 had any claims to the consulship. 



The tribune, Curio, however, bribed by Caesar, proposed that both consuls 

 should dismiss their armies. Caesar disbanded two legions, but the senate 

 demanded the dispersal of the entire army. Curio and Antony interposed 

 objections, and, when threatened with imprisonment, fled to Ciiesar's camp, 

 at Ravenna, Csesar being considered the protector of democracy in oppo- 

 sition to the haughty Pompey. He passed the Rubicon in arms, a step which 

 no commander had ever before ventured upon, without the permission of 

 the senate. Pompey, who had made no preparation to oppose his march, 

 fled to Epirus. He had boastingly said, that he only needed to stamp with 

 his foot on the ground, and legions would be at his command. In sixty 

 days, all Italy was in the possession of Caesar, and the troops of Pompey in 

 Spain were partly vanquished by his warlike skill, and partly won over by 

 his eloquence. 



In the meantime Pompey had raised an army in Macedonia of 70,000 

 men. Returning victorious to Rome, Caesar departed immediately for 

 Greece. At first he fought with indiflerent success, but finished by 

 completely defeating Pompey at Pharsalia, 48. Pompey fled to Egypt, 

 where he was soon after murdered. 



Caesar followed the vanquished hero. He intended to reinstate Queen 

 Cleopatra, who had been banished to Syria ; but he was pressed hard by 

 Ptolemeus, until the latter was accidentally drowned. Cleopatra won him 

 by her charms ; he decided the disputes about the succession in her favor, 

 and remained a year at her court. 



At length a revolution in the Bosphorus by Pharnaces called Csesar to 

 Asia. Pharnaces being murdered, he suj^pressed the rebellion without a 

 single battle. His victory, however, over the party of Pompey in Africa 

 was not so easily won, but at last he gave them a total overthrow at Thapsus, 

 46 B.C. Scipio, Juba, king of IS'umidia, and the republican Cato of Utica, 

 destroyed themselves in despair at their defeat. 



Caesar was now chosen dictator for ten years. He ordered new colonies 

 for 80,000 citizens to be founded, and the cities of Corinth and Carthage to 

 be rebuilt, and then set out for Spain, in order to crush the rest of Pompey's 

 party. He accomplished this only with great effort, 45 B.C. 



His fifth triumphal procession followed his return home. He was hailed 

 *' Father of his Country," and created dictator and imperator for life, and 

 consul for ten years ; and, to complete his honors, the senate conferred 

 upon him the additional offices of sole censor and pontifex maximus. His 

 pei*son was declared inviolable, and thus he had unlimited authority, 

 though the people were deceived by the republican form that was still 

 retained. He was exceedingly popular, and the senate was subordinate to 

 his will. He was almost idolized. The unbounded homage disgusted even 

 himself But a true republican s^^irit was yet alive in some men. And when 

 a proposal was made that Caesar should receive the title of king in all con- 

 quered countries, Brutus and Cassius headed a conspiracy, 44 B.C. The 

 conspirators approached his golden chair in the senate, and under the pretence 



ICONOGRAPHIC ENCYCLOPEDIA. VOL. III. 14 209 



