Chapter 58
+Lex Pompeia de iure magistratuum.+ But this did not suit Caesar's enemies. Pompeius and the Senate combined to alter the whole legal machinery for appointing provincial governors. +There was to be an interval of five years between a consuls.h.i.+p and a proconsuls.h.i.+p+, which would prevent Caesar, even if he were duly elected Consul in 49, from obtaining a fresh provincial governors.h.i.+p until five years from the end of 48. When the bill became law (as it did in 51) there would be an interval of some years before any consuls would be qualified under it for provinces: and to fill up the governors.h.i.+ps during the interval, the Senate was authorised to appoint any person of consular rank who had not as yet proceeded to a proconsuls.h.i.+p. +Thus Caesar's resignation both of his army and his province could be demanded on March 1, 49.+
+50 B.C. Caesar's overtures for peace.+ Caesar let it be known to the Senate through Curio that +he was willing to resign his army and provinces if Pompeius would simultaneously do the same+: and the Senate voted a resolution in this sense by a majority of 370 to 22. The presiding Consul, Gaius Marcellus, broke up the meeting in anger, and with the two Consuls elected for 49 (Claudius Marcellus and Lentulus Crus) requested Pompeius to put himself at the head of the two legions stationed at Capua and to call the Italian militia to arms.
+Caesar had completely attained the object of devolving the initiative of Civil War on his opponents.+ He had, while himself keeping on legal ground, compelled Pompeius to declare war, and to declare it not as the representative of the legitimate authority, but as general of a revolutionary minority of the Senate, which overawed the majority.
--_Adapted from Long, Mommsen, and Warde Fowler._
B50
CIVIL WAR, 49-45 B.C. (1)
_Caesar crosses the Rubicon, 49 B.C._
Fonte cadit modico parvisque impellitur undis Puniceus Rubicon c.u.m fervida canduit aestas, Perque imas serpit valles et Gallica certus 215 Limes ab Ausoniis disterminat arva colonis.
Tunc vires praebebat hiemps atque auxerat undas Tertia iam gravido pluvialis Cynthia cornu Et madidis Euri resolutae flatibus Alpes.
Primus in obliquum sonipes opponitur amnem 220 Excepturus aquas; molli tum cetera rumpit Turba vado faciles iam fracti fluminis undas.
Caesar, ut adversam superato gurgite ripam Attigit Hesperiae vet.i.tis et const.i.tit arvis, 'Hic' ait 'hic pacem temerataque iura relinquo; 225 Te, Fortuna, sequor; procul hinc iam foedora sunto, Credidimus fatis, utendum est iudice bello.'
Sic fatus noctis tenebris rapit agmina ductor Impiger; it torto Balearis verbere fundae Ocior et missa Parthi post terga sagitta 230 Vicinumque minax invadit Ariminum, et ignes Solis lucifero fugiebant astra relicto.
Iamque dies primos belli visura tumultus Exoritur; seu sponte deum, seu turbidus Auster Impulerat, maestam tenuerunt nubila lucem. 235
LUCAN, _Pharsalia_, i. 213-235.
+Context.+ On Lentulus Crus and Claudius Marcellus, the Consuls for 49 B.C., must rest the immediate blame of the Civil War. On Jan. 1st Caesar's tribune Curio once more presented proposals from Caesar, which startle us by their marvellous moderation (cf. Suet. _Caesar_, 29, 30), but Lentulus would not allow them to be considered. On Jan. 7th the _Senatus consultum ultimum_ was decreed, and a state of war declared.
Caesar crossed the Rubicon, the narrow brook which separated his province from Italy, to pa.s.s which at the head of an army was high treason to the State. --W. F.
[Linenotes: 214. +puniceus+ = _dark red_: +Rubicon+, as if from _ruber_.
216. +limes+, i.e. until the time of Augustus, by whom Italy was extended to the R. Varus, the boundary between Gallia Narbonensis and Italy.
218. I.e. prob. the third night after the change of moon; +gravido+
219. +Alpes+ = _mountains_, not _the_ Alps.
225. +temerata+, i.e. by Pompeius and the senatorial party.
229. +verbere+ = the _thong_, i.e. of the sling (+fundae+).
231. +Ariminum+ (Rimini), at this period the frontier town of Italy.]
+The Pa.s.sage of the Rubicon.+ 'When after nine years' absence he trod once more the soil of his native land, he trod at the same time the path of revolution. Alea iacta est.' --M.
B51
CIVIL WAR, 49-45 B.C. (2)
_Caesar defends himself before the Senate, April 49 B.C._
His rebus confectis Caesar, ut reliquum tempus a labore intermitteretur, milites in proxima municipia deducit; ipse ad urbem proficiscitur.
Coacto senatu iniurias inimicorum commemorat. Docet se nullum extraordinarium honorem appetisse, sed exspectato {5} legitimo tempore consulatus eo fuisse contentum, quod omnibus civibus pateret. Latum ab x tribunis plebis contradicentibus inimicis, Catone vero acerrime repugnante et pristina consuetudine dicendi mora dies extrahente, ut sui ratio absentis haberetur, ipso {10} consule Pompeio; qui si improba.s.set, cur ferri pa.s.sus esset? qui si improba.s.set, cur se uti populi beneficio prohibuisset? Patientiam proponit suam, c.u.m de exercitibus dimittendis ultro postulavisset; in quo iacturam dignitatis atque honoris ipse facturus {15} esset. Acerbitatem inimicorum docet, qui, quod ab altero postularent, in se recusarent atque omnia permisceri mallent, quam imperium exercitusque dimittere. Iniuriam in eripiendis legionibus praedicat, crudelitatem et insolentiam in circ.u.mscribendis {20} tribunis plebis; condiciones a se latas, expet.i.ta colloquia et denegata commemorat. Pro quibus rebus hortatur ac postulat, ut rem publicam suscipiant atque una sec.u.m administrent.
CAESAR, _de B. C._ i. 32.
+Context.+ After his pa.s.sage of the Rubicon, Caesar quickly made himself master of Italy. Town after town opened its gates to him. Corfinium (held in force by Domitius for Pompeius) surrendered, and the captured troops enlisted in his ranks. An attempt to blockade Pompeius in Brundisium was skilfully foiled. On the last day of March Caesar arrived at Rome. The Senate was legally summoned by the tribunes Antonius and Ca.s.sius, and +was invited to unite with him in carrying on the government+.
[Linenotes: 2. +municipia+, i.e. Brundisium, Tarentum, Hydruntum (Otranto).
10. +ut sui... haberetur+, i.e. allowing him to stand for the consuls.h.i.+p in his absence.
15. +iacturam dignitatis+ = sacrifice of prestige. --Long.
19. +eripiendis legionibus+, i.e. in 50 B.C. Caesar was required to send home a legion he had borrowed of Pompeius, and contribute another himself, ostensibly for the Parthian War; but the legions were detained by Pompeius in Italy, and the Parthian War was quietly dropped.]
+Caesar in Rome.+ All Caesar's acts after the crossing of the Rubicon were entirely unconst.i.tutional. But when he told the senators that he was prepared to take the government on himself, he was justified to himself by the past, and to posterity by the result. --W. F.
B52
CIVIL WAR, 49-45 B.C. (3)
_The Campaign round Lerida: the Soldiers fraternise, 49 B.C._
Dixit et ad montes tendentem praevenit hostem.
Illic exiguo paulum distantia vallo Castra locant. Postquam spatio languentia nullo Mutua conspicuos habuerunt lumina voltus, 170 Et fratres natosque sues videre, patresque; Deprensum est civile nefas. Tenuere parumper Ora metu, tantum nutu motoque salutant Ense suos; mox ut stimulis maioribus ardens Rupit amor leges, audet transcendere vallum 175 Miles, in amplexus effusas tendere palmas.
Hospitis ille ciet nomen, vocat ille propinquum, Admonet hunc studiis consors puerilibus aetas; Nec Roma.n.u.s erat, qui non agnoverat hostem. 179 Pax erat, et miles castris permixtus utrisque 196 Errabat; duro concordes caespite mensas Inst.i.tuunt et permixto libamina Baccho; Graminei luxere foci, iunctoque cubili Extrahit insomnes bellorum fabula noctes, 200 Quo primum steterint campo, qua lancea dextrum Exierit. Dum quae gesserunt fortia iactant, Et dum multa negant, quod solum fata petebant, Est miseris renovata fides, atque omne futurum Crevit amore nefas. 205
LUCAN, iv. 167-179, 196-205.
+Context.+ On leaving Rome Caesar set out for Spain to encounter the veteran army of Pompeius under his legati Afranius and Petreius. If this were crushed, he felt he would be free to take the offensive against Pompeius in the East. Round Lerida (_Ilerda_) on the R. Segres (a tributary of the Ebro) he fought the most brilliant campaign of all his military life. After severe losses and hards.h.i.+ps, Caesar outmanuvred the Pompeians, cut them off from their base on the Ebro, and forced a surrender on most generous terms.
[Linenotes: 167. +Dixit+, sc. Caesar.
+ad montes+, i.e. the rocky hills through which the retreating Pompeians had to pa.s.s before they could reach the Ebro valley.
Caesar, by a wonderful march, outstrips (+praevenit+) them and blocks the way.
169. +spatio+ (sc. _interposito_) +languentia nullo+ = _not failing_ (+languentia+) _owing to the distance_, i.e. they were so near they could not fail to recognise one another. --Haskins.
173. +metu+, i.e. of their leaders.
175. +Rupit leges+ = _burst the bonds of discipline_. --H.
178. +Admonet... aetas+ = _one is reminded of his friend by the time pa.s.sed together in boyhood's pursuits_. --H.
200. +Extrahit+ = _whiles away_.]
+Result of the Campaign.+ The whole of the western half of the Empire was now in Caesar's power, with the single exception of Ma.s.silia.
B53
CIVIL WAR, 49-45 B.C. (4)
_Siege of Ma.s.silia. A Treacherous Sortie, 49 B.C._
A.
Iam satis hoc Graiae memorandum contigit urbi Aeternumque decus, quod non impulsa nec ipso Strata metu tenuit flagrantis in omnia belli 390 Praecipitem cursum, raptisque a Caesare cunctis Vincitur una mora. Quantum est quod fata tenentur, Quodque virum toti properans imponere mundo Hos perdit fortuna, dies!
LUCAN, iii. 388-394.
+Context.+ Caesar's appeal to the leading citizens to espouse his cause was at first successful, but the arrival of Domitius (whom he had treated so generously at Corfinium) with a fleet caused the Ma.s.siliots to change their mind. Unable to remain himself, Caesar entrusted the siege to Trebonius, supported by Dec. Brutus with the fleet. He has, however, left us a detailed account of their skill and energy, and of the heroic defence of the citizens, +marred by a treacherous sortie under a truce+. He returned to receive its final submission, and left the city unharmed, as a tribute 'rather to its ancient renown than to any claim it had on himself.'
[Linenotes: 389. +non impulsa+ = _not urged by others_, i.e. by Pompeius and his adherents. But cf. Caesar, _de B. C._ i. 34.