History of Julius Caesar | Page 9

Nicomedes's court, and entered into his service. In the mean time, Sylla
had ceased to pursue him, and ultimately granted him a pardon, but
whether before or after this time is not now to be ascertained. At all
events, Caesar became interested in the scenes and enjoyments of

Nicomedes's court, and allowed the time to pass away without forming
any plans for returning to Rome.
[Sidenote: Cilicia.] [Sidenote: Character of its inhabitants.]
On the opposite side of Asia Minor, that is, on the southern shore, there
was a wild and mountainous region called Cilicia. The great chain of
mountains called Taurus approaches here very near to the sea, and the
steep conformations of the land, which, in the interior, produce lofty
ranges and summits, and dark valleys and ravines, form, along the line
of the shore, capes and promontories, bounded by precipitous sides,
and with deep bays and harbors between them. The people of Cilicia
were accordingly half sailors, half mountaineers. They built swift
galleys, and made excursions in great force over the Mediterranean Sea
for conquest and plunder. They would capture single ships, and
sometimes even whole fleets of merchantmen. They were even strong
enough on many occasions to land and take possession of a harbor and
a town, and hold it, often, for a considerable time, against all the efforts
of the neighboring powers to dislodge them. In case, however, their
enemies became at any time too strong for them, they would retreat to
their harbors, which were so defended by the fortresses which guarded
them, and by the desperate bravery of the garrisons, that the pursuers
generally did not dare to attempt to force their way in; and if, in any
case, a town or a port was taken, the indomitable savages would
continue their retreat to the fastnesses of the mountains, where it was
utterly useless to attempt to follow them.
[Sidenote: The Cilicians wanting in poets and historians.] [Sidenote:
Robbers and pirates.]
But with all their prowess and skill as naval combatants, and their
hardihood as mountaineers, the Cilicians lacked one thing which is
very essential in every nation to an honorable military fame. They had
no poets or historians of their own, so that the story of their deeds had
to be told to posterity by their enemies. If they had been able to narrate
their own exploits, they would have figured, perhaps, upon the page of
history as a small but brave and efficient maritime power, pursuing for
many years a glorious career of conquest, and acquiring imperishable

renown by their enterprise and success. As it was, the Romans, their
enemies, described their deeds and gave them their designation. They
called them robbers and pirates; and robbers and pirates they must
forever remain.
[Sidenote: Depredations of the Cilicians.]
And it is, in fact, very likely true that the Cilician commanders did not
pursue their conquests and commit their depredations on the rights and
the property of others in quite so systematic and methodical a manner
as some other conquering states have done. They probably seized
private property a little more unceremoniously than is customary;
though all belligerent nations, even in these Christian ages of the world,
feel at liberty to seize and confiscate private property when they find it
afloat at sea, while, by a strange inconsistency, they respect it on the
land. The Cilician pirates considered themselves at war with all
mankind, and, whatever merchandise they found passing from port to
port along the shores of the Mediterranean, they considered lawful spoil.
They intercepted the corn which was going from Sicily to Rome, and
filled their own granaries with it. They got rich merchandise from the
ships of Alexandria, which brought, sometimes, gold, and gems, and
costly fabrics from the East; and they obtained, often, large sums of
money by seizing men of distinction and wealth, who were continually
passing to and fro between Italy and Greece, and holding them for a
ransom. They were particularly pleased to get possession in this way of
Roman generals and officers of state, who were going out to take the
command of armies, or who were returning from their provinces with
the wealth which they had accumulated there.
[Sidenote: Expeditions sent against them.] [Sidenote: Boldness and
courage of the Cilicians.]
Many expeditions were fitted out and many naval commanders were
commissioned to sup press and subdue these common enemies of
mankind, as the Romans called them. At one time, while a
distinguished general, named Antonius, was in pursuit of them at the
head of a fleet, a party of the pirates made a descent upon the Italian
coast, south of Rome, at Nicenum, where the ancient patrimonial

mansion of this very Antonius was situated, and took away several
members of his family as captives, and so compelled him