Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/568

Rh 5o0 CAESAR. paired to Cisalpine Gaul. He took up his quar- ters at Ravenna, the last town in his province hordering upon Italy, and there met C. Curio, who informed him more particularly of the state of affairs at Rome. Though war seemed inevitable, Caesar still shew- ed himself willing to enter into negotiations with the aristocracy, and accordingly sent Curio with a letter addressed to the senate, in which he ex- pressed his readiness to resign his command if Pompey would do the same, but intimated that he would continue to hold it if Pompey did not accede to his offer. Curio arrived at Rome on the first of January, b. c. 49, the day on which the new consuls L. Cornelius Lentidus and C. Claudius Marcellus entered upon their office. It was with great difficulty that the tribunes M. Antonius and Q. Cassius Longinus forced the se- nate to allow the letter to be read, but they could not prevail upon the house to take the subject of it into deliberation and come to a vote upon it. The consuls, however, brought before the house the state of the republic in general ; and after a violent de- bate the motion of Scipio, Pompey's father-in-law, was carried, " that Caesar should disband his army by a certain day, and that if he did not do it he should be regarded as an enemy of the state." Upon this motion the tribunes M. Antonius and Q. Cassius put their veto ; but their opposition was set at naught. Pompey had now made up his mind to cnish Caesar, if possible, and accordingly the more violent counsels prevailed. Antonius and Cassius were ejected from the senate-house, and on the sixth of January the senate passed the decree, which was tantamount to a declaration of martial law, that the consuls and other magistrates " should provide for the safety of the state." Antonius and Cassius considering their lives no longer safe, fled from the city in disguise to Caesar's army, and called upon him to protect the inviolable persons of the tribunes. War was now declared. The senate entrusted the whole management of it to Pompey, made a fresh distribution of the provinces, divided the whole of Italy into certain districts, the defence of each of which was to be entrusted to some dis- tinguished senator, determined that fresh levies of troops shoidd be held, and voted a sum of money firora the public treasurj-^ to Pompey. Pompey had held all along no apprehensions as to the result of a war ; he seems to have regarded it as scarcely possible that Caesar should ever seriously think of marching against him ; his great fame, he thought, would cause a multitude of troops to flock around him whenever he wished them ; and thus in his confidence of success, he had neglected all means for raising an army. In addition to this he had been deceived as to the disposition of Caesar's troops, and had been led to believe that they were ready to desert their general at the first oppor- tunity. Consequently, when the war broke out, Pompey had scarcely any troops except the two legions which he had obtained from Caesar, and on the fidelity of which he could by no means rely. So unpopular too was the senatorial party in Italy, that it was with great difficulty they could levy troops, and when levied, they took the first opportunity of passing over to Caesar. As soon as Catsar learnt the last resolution of the senate, he assembled his soldiers, infonned them of the wrongs he had sustained, and called upon them to support him. Finding them quite CAESAR. willing to follow him, he crossed the Rubicon, which separated his province from Italy, and oc- cupied Ariminum, where he met with the tri- bunes. He commenced his enterprise with only one legion, consisting of 5000 foot soldiers and 300 horse, but others had orders to follow him from Transalpine Gaul, and he was well aware of the importance of expedition, that the enemy might have no time to complete their prepara- tions. Therefore, though it was the middle of winter, he pushed on with the utmost rapidity, and such was the popularity of his cause in Italy, that city after city opened its gates to him, and his march was like a triumphal progress. Arre- tium, Pisaiirum, Fanum, Ancona, Iguvium, and Auximum, fell into his hands. These successes caused the utmost consternation at Rome ; it was reported that Caesar's cavalry was already near the gates of the city ; a general panic seized the senate, and they fled from the city even without taking with them the money from the public treasury, and did not recover their courage till they had got as far south as Capua. Caesar continued his victorious march through Picenum till he came to Corfinium, which was the first town that offered him any vigorous resistance. L. Do- mitius Ahenobarbus, who had been appointed Caesar's successor in Gaul, had thrown himself into Corfinium with a strong force ; but as Pompey did not come to his assistixnce, he was unable to maintain the place, and fell himself into Caesars hands, together with several other senators and distinguished men. Caesar, with the same cle- mency which he displayed throughout the whole of the civil war, dismissed them all uninjured, and hastened in pursuit of Pompey, who had now re- solved to abandon Italy and was accordingly has- tening on to Bnindisium, intending from thence to sail to Greece. Pompey reached Bnindisium before Caesar, but had not sailed when the latter arrived before the town. Caesar straightway laid siege to the place, but Pompey abandoned it on the 17th of March and embarked for Greece. Caesar was unable to follow Pompey for want of ships, and therefore determined to march against Afranius and Petreius, Pompey's legates in Spain^ who possessed a powerful army in that country. He accordingly marched back from Bnindisium and repaired to Rome, having thus in three months become the supreme master of the whole of Italy. After remaining in the neighbourhood of Rome for a short time, he set out for Spain, having left M. Lepidus in charge of the city and M. Antonius in command of the troops in Italy. He sent Curio to drive Cato out of Sicily, Q. Valerius to take possession of Sardinia, and C. Antonius to occupy Illyricum. Curio and Valerius obtained possession of Sicily and Sardinia without opposi- tion ; and Curio then passed over into Africa, which was in possession of the Pompeian party. Here, however, he met with strong opposition, and at length was defeated and lost his life in a battle with Juba, king of Mauritania, who supported P. Atius Varus, the Pompeian commander. C. Antonius also met with bad success in Illyri- cum, for his armj^ was defeated and he himself taken prisoner. These events, however, hap- pened at a later period in this j^ear; and these disasters were more than counterbalanced by Cae- sar's victories in the meantime in Spain. Caesar left Rome about the middle of April, and on his