Page:Roman Constitutional History, 753-44 B.C..djvu/265

 CHAPTER VI.

THE CIVIL WAR AND THE END OF THE REPUBLIC, 52-48 B.C

I. The Rupture between Pompeius and Caesar.

Position of Caesar. — When affairs at Rome had been regulated, public attention was directed more and more to the general political situation, which had been entirely changed since the conference at Luca.

Caesar had fairly completed the subjugation of Gaul, and had twice crossed the Rhine and the English Channel. But he had also met with reverses. In 54 he lost several thousand men (15 cohortes) through an insurrection in north-eastern Gaul. This movement for independence he apparently suppressed the next year. The following winter (53-52) he spent as usual in cisalpine Gaul. He endeavored to maintain and extend his influence in the capital by money and other means, and he watched the course of events and the movements of Pompeius. He hastened to Gaul probably after the election of Pompeius, and was now engaged in a very critical struggle against a widespread Gallic rebellion under Vercingetorix. Events in the East had also greatly affected his position in general.

Death of Crassus and End of the Triumvirate. — Crassus, who was spurred on by greed and ambition, had gone to Syria to wage war against the Parthians. He crossed the Euphrates in 53, was defeated some distance from Carrhae, and was afterward surprised at Sinnaca, where he perished. More than thirty thousand Roman legionaries were