History of Julius Caesar | Page 2

was worth
possessing. There were no more conquests to be made. Caesar did,
indeed, enlarge, in some degree, the boundaries of the empire; but the

main question in his day was, who should possess the power which
preceding conquerors had acquired.
[Sidenote: The ancient Roman empire.] [Sidenote: The provinces.]
The Roman empire, as it existed in those days, must not be conceived
of by the reader as united together under one compact and consolidated
government. It was, on the other hand, a vast congeries of nations,
widely dissimilar in every respect from each other, speaking various
languages, and having various customs and laws. They were all,
however, more or less dependent upon, and connected with, the great
central power. Some of these countries were provinces, and were
governed by officers appointed and sent out by the authorities at Rome.
These governors had to collect the taxes of their provinces, and also to
preside over and direct, in many important respects, the administration
of justice. They had, accordingly, abundant opportunities to enrich
themselves while thus in office, by collecting more money than they
paid over to the government at home, and by taking bribes to favor the
rich man's cause in court. Thus the more wealthy and prosperous
provinces were objects of great competition among aspirants for office
at Rome. Leading men would get these appointments, and, after
remaining long enough in their provinces to acquire a fortune, would
come back to Rome, and expend it in intrigues and maneuvers to obtain
higher offices still.
[Sidenote: Foreign wars.] [Sidenote: The victorious general.]
Whenever there was any foreign war to be carried on with a distant
nation or tribe, there was always a great eagerness among all the
military officers of the state to be appointed to the command. They
each felt sure that they should conquer in the contest, and they could
enrich themselves still more rapidly by the spoils of victory in war,
than by extortion and bribes in the government of a province in peace.
Then, besides, a victorious general coming back to Rome always found
that his military renown added vastly to his influence and power in the
city. He was welcomed with celebrations and triumphs; the people
flocked to see him and to shout his praise. He placed his trophies of
victory in the temples, and entertained the populace with games and

shows, and with combats of gladiators or of wild beasts, which he had
brought home with him for this purpose in the train of his army. While
he was thus enjoying his triumph, his political enemies would be
thrown into the back ground and into the shade; unless, indeed, some
one of them might himself be earning the same honors in some other
field, to come back in due time, and claim his share of power and
celebrity in his turn. In this case, Rome would be sometimes distracted
and rent by the conflicts and contentions of military rivals, who had
acquired powers too vast for all the civil influences of the Republic to
regulate or control.
[Illustration: ROMAN PLEBEIANS.]
[Sidenote: Military rivals.] [Sidenote: Marius and Sylla.] [Sidenote:
The patricians and plebeians.] [Sidenote: Civil contests.] [Sidenote:
Quarrel about the command of the army.] [Sidenote: Sylla's violence.]
There had been two such rivals just before the time of Caesar, who had
filled the world with their quarrels. They were Marius and Sylla. Their
very names have been, in all ages of the world, since their day, the
symbols of rivalry and hate. They were the representatives respectively
of the two great parties into which the Roman state, like every other
community in which the population at large have any voice in
governing, always has been, and probably always will be divided, the
upper and the lower; or, as they were called in those days, the patrician
and the plebeian. Sylla was the patrician; the higher and more
aristocratic portions of the community were on his side. Marius was the
favorite of the plebeian masses. In the contests, however, which they
waged with each other, they did not trust to the mere influence of votes.
They relied much more upon the soldiers they could gather under their
respective standards and upon their power of intimidating, by means of
them, the Roman assemblies. There was a war to be waged with
Mithridates, a very powerful Asiatic monarch, which promised great
opportunities for acquiring fame and plunder. Sylla was appointed to
the command. While he was absent, however, upon some campaign in
Italy, Marius contrived to have the decision reversed, and the command
transferred to him Two officers, called tribunes, were sent to Sylla's

camp to inform him of the change. Sylla killed the officers for daring to
bring him such a message, and began immediately to march toward
Rome. In retaliation