Page:Cicero And The Fall Of The Roman Republic.djvu/389



CHAPTER XII.

CÆSAR'S DICTATORSHIP.

47-44 B.C.

ROM Cæsar's return to Rome at the end of September 47 B.C., we may date the commencement of his direct responsibility for the central government of the Empire. His rule lasted for thirty-two months in all, but of these eighteen were passed in Africa and Spain, and two dangerous wars had to be waged in the course of them.

In this brief period Cæsar showed great activity as a legislator. Besides a number of laws called by the name of Julius, which defined or consolidated existing arrangements with slight modifications of detail, we find many fresh projects, from the increase