Julius Caesar | Page 9

part of the world; presenting some with
thousands of captives, and sending to others the assistance of troops, at
whatever time and place they desired, without any authority from either
the senate or people of Rome. He likewise embellished with
magnificent public buildings the most powerful cities not only of Italy,
Gaul, and Spain, but of Greece and Asia; until all people being now
astonished, and speculating on the obvious tendency of these
proceedings, Claudius Marcellus, the consul, declaring first by
proclamation, that he intended to propose a measure of the utmost
importance to the state, made a motion in the senate that some person
should be appointed to succeed Caesar in his province, before the term
of his command was expired; because the war being brought to a
conclusion, peace was restored, and the victorious army ought to be
disbanded. He further moved, that Caesar being absent, his claims to be
a candidate at the next election of consuls should not be admitted, as
Pompey himself had afterwards abrogated that privilege by a decree of

the people. The fact was, that Pompey, in his law relating to the choice
of chief magistrates, had forgot to except Caesar, in the article in which
he declared all such as were not present incapable of being candidates
for any office; but soon afterwards, when the law was inscribed on
brass, and deposited in the treasury, he corrected his mistake. Marcellus,
not content with depriving Caesar of his provinces, and the privilege
intended him by Pompey, likewise moved the senate, that the freedom
of the city should be taken from those colonists whom, by the Vatinian
law, he had settled at New Como [55]; because it had been conferred
upon them with ambitious views, and by a stretch of the laws.
(20) XXIX. Roused by these proceedings, and thinking, as he was often
heard to say, that it would be a more difficult enterprise to reduce him,
now that he was the chief man in the state, from the first rank of
citizens to the second, than from the second to the lowest of all, Caesar
made a vigorous opposition to the measure, partly by means of the
tribunes, who interposed in his behalf, and partly through Servius
Sulpicius, the other consul. The following year likewise, when Caius
Marcellus, who succeeded his cousin Marcus in the consulship,
pursued the same course, Caesar, by means of an immense bribe,
engaged in his defence Aemilius Paulus, the other consul, and Caius
Curio, the most violent of the tribunes. But finding the opposition
obstinately bent against him, and that the consuls-elect were also of that
party, he wrote a letter to the senate, requesting that they would not
deprive him of the privilege kindly granted him by the people; or else
that the other generals should resign the command of their armies as
well as himself; fully persuaded, as it is thought, that he could more
easily collect his veteran soldiers, whenever he pleased, than Pompey
could his new-raised troops. At the same time, he made his adversaries
an offer to disband eight of his legions and give up Transalpine-Gaul,
upon condition that he might retain two legions, with the Cisalpine
province, or but one legion with Illyricum, until he should be elected
consul.
XXX. But as the senate declined to interpose in the business, and his
enemies declared that they would enter into no compromise where the
safety of the republic was at stake, he advanced into Hither-Gaul [56],

and, having gone the circuit for the administration of justice, made a
halt at Ravenna, resolved to have recourse to arms if the senate should
proceed to extremity against the tribunes of the people who had
espoused his cause. This was indeed his pretext for the civil war; but it
is supposed that there were other motives for his conduct. Cneius
Pompey used frequently to say, that he sought to throw every thing into
confusion, because he was unable, with all his private wealth, to
complete the works he had begun, and answer, at his return, the vast
expectations which he had excited in the people. Others pretend that he
was apprehensive of being (21) called to account for what he had done
in his first consulship, contrary to the auspices, laws, and the protests of
the tribunes; Marcus Cato having sometimes declared, and that, too,
with an oath, that he would prefer an impeachment against him, as soon
as he disbanded his army. A report likewise prevailed, that if he
returned as a private person, he would, like Milo, have to plead his
cause before the judges, surrounded by armed men. This conjecture is
rendered highly probable by Asinius Pollio, who informs us that Caesar,
upon viewing the vanquished and slaughtered enemy in the field of
Pharsalia,