Page:A Short History of the World.djvu/205

 The Growth of the Roman Empire 185 turcrs they feared and desired to control were the legions. Over the heads of the senate Crassus and Pompey and Ctesar divided the rule of the Empire between them (The First Triumvirate). When presently Crassus was killed at distant Carrhas by the Parthians, Pompey and Csesar fell out. Pompey took up the republican side, and laws were passed to bring Ca'sar to trial for his breaches of law and his disobedience to the decrees of the senate. It was illegal for a general to bring his troops out of the boundary of his command, and the boundary between Ca:sar's command and Italy was the Rubicon. In 49 B.C. he crossed the Rubicon, saying " The die is cast " and marched upon Pompey and Rome. It had been the custom in Rome in the past, in periods of military extremity, to elect a " dictator " with jDractically unlimited powers to rule through the crisis. After his overthrow of Pompey, Csesar was made dictator first for ten years and then (in 45 B.C.) for life. In effect he was made monarch of the empire for life. There was i ^l^^ ./J/_ A a^^L^^ 'J^^ THE COLUMN OF TRAJAN AT ROME Representiag his conquests in Dacia and elsewhere