Dio's Rome Volume II Part 16

[-41-] "First of all, this man was praetor in Spain, and finding it secretly hostile did not allow the inhabitants under the protection of the name of peace to develop into foes, nor chose to spend the period of his governors.h.i.+p in quiet rather than to effect what was for the advantage of the nation; hence, since they would not agree to alter their sentiments, he brought them to their senses without their consent, and in doing so so far surpa.s.sed the men who had previously won glory against them as keeping a thing is more difficult than acquiring it, and reducing men to a condition where they can never again become rebellious is more profitable than rendering them subject in the first place, while their power is still undiminished. That is the reason that you voted him a triumph for this and gave him at once the office of consul. As a result of your decree it became most plainly evident that he had waged that war not for his own desires or glory, but was preparing for the future. The celebration of the triumph he waived on account of pressing business, and after thanking you for the honor he was satisfied with merely that to secure his glory, and entered upon the consuls.h.i.+p. [-42-]

Now all his administrative acts in this city during the discharge of that office would be verily countless to name. And as soon as he had left it and been sent to conduct war against the Gauls, notice how many and how great were his achievements there. So far from causing grievances to the allies he even went to their a.s.sistance, because he was not suspicious at all of them and further saw that they were wronged. But his foes, both those dwelling near the friendly tribes, and all the rest that inhabited Gaul he subjugated, acquiring at one time vast stretches of territory and at another unnumbered cities of which we knew not even the names before. All this, moreover, he accomplished so quickly, though he had received neither a competent force nor sufficient money from you, that before any of you knew that he was at war he had conquered; and he settled affairs on such a firm basis and [113] ..., that as a result Celtica and Britain felt his footstep. And now is that Gaul enslaved which sent against us the Ambrones and the Cimbri, and is entirely cultivated like Italy itself. s.h.i.+ps traverse not only the Rhone or the Arar, but the Mosa, the Liger, the very Rhine, and the very ocean. Places of which we had not even heard the t.i.tles to lead us to think that they existed were likewise subdued for us: the formerly unknown he made accessible, the formerly unexplored navigable by his greatness of purpose and greatness of accomplishment. [-43-] And had not certain persons out of envy formed a faction against him, or rather us, and forced him to return here before the proper time, he would certainly have subdued Britain entire together with the remaining islands surrounding it and all of Celtica to the Arctic Ocean, so that we should have had as borders not land or people for the future, but air and the outer sea. For these reasons you also, seeing the greatness of his mind and his deeds and good fortune, a.s.signed him the right to hold office a very long time,--a privilege which, from the hour that we became a democracy has belonged to no other man,--I mean holding the leaders.h.i.+p during eight whole years in succession. This shows that you thought him to be really winning all those conquests for you and never entertained the suspicion that he would strengthen himself to your hurt.

"No, you desired that he should spend in those regions as long a time as possible. He was prevented, however, by those who regarded the government as no longer a public but their own private possession, from subjugating the remaining countries, and you were kept from becoming lords of them all; these men, making an ill use of the opportunity given them by his being occupied, ventured upon many impious projects, so that you came to require his aid. [-44-] Therefore abandoning the victories within his grasp he quickly brought you a.s.sistance, freed all Italy from the dangers in which it had become involved, and furthermore won back Spain which had been estranged. Then he saw Pompey, who had abandoned his fatherland and was setting up a kingdom of his own in Macedonia, transferring thither all your possessions, equipping your subjects against you, and using against you money of your own. So at first he wished to persuade Pompey somehow to stop and change his course and receive the greatest pledges that he should again attain a fair and equal position with him; and he sent to him both privately and publicly.

When, however, he found himself unable in any way to effect this, but Pompey burst all restraints, even the relations.h.i.+p that had existed between himself and Caesar, and chose to fight against you, then at last he was compelled to begin a civil war. And what need is there of telling how daringly he sailed against him in spite of the winter, or how boldly he a.s.sailed him, though Pompey held all the strong positions there, or how bravely he vanquished him though much inferior in number of soldiers? If a man wished to examine each feature in detail, he might show the renowned Pompey to have been a child, so completely was he outgeneraled at every point.

[-45-] "But this I will omit, for Caesar himself likewise never took any pride in it, but he accepted it as a dispensation of destiny, repugnant to him personally. When Heaven had most justly decided the issue of the battle, what man of those then captured for the first time did he put to death? Whom, rather, did he not honor, not alone senators or knights or citizens in general, but also allies and subjects? No one of them either died a violent death, or was made defendant in court, no individual, no king, no tribe, no city. On the contrary, some arrayed themselves on his side, and others at least obtained immunity with honor, so that then all lamented the men that had been lost. Such exceeding humanity did he show, that he praised those who had cooperated with Pompey and allowed them to keep everything the latter had given them, but hated Pharnaces and Orodes, because though friends of the vanquished they had not a.s.sisted him. It was chiefly for this reason that he not long after waged war on Pharnaces, and was preparing to conduct a campaign against Orodes. He certainly [would have spared] even [Pompey himself if] he had captured him alive.[114] A proof of this is that he did not pursue him at once, but allowed him to flee at his leisure. Also he was grieved to hear of Pompey's death and did not praise his murderers, but put them to death for it soon after, and even destroyed besides Ptolemy himself, though a child, because he had allowed his benefactor to perish.

[-46-] "How after this he brought Egypt to terms and how much money he conveyed to you from there it would be superfluous to relate. And when he made his campaign against Pharnaces, who already held considerable of Pontus and Armenia, he was on the same day reported to the rebel as approaching him, was seen confronting him, engaged in conflict with him, and conquered him.

"This better than anything else established the truth of the a.s.sertion that he had not become weaker in Alexandria and had not delayed there out of voluptuousness. For how could he have won that victory so easily without employing a great store of insight and great force? When now Pharnaces had fled he was preparing to conduct a campaign at once against the Parthian, but as certain quarrels were taking place there he withdrew rather unwillingly, but settled this dispute, too, so that no one would believe there had been a disturbance. Not a soul was killed or exiled or even dishonored in any way as a result of that trouble, not because many might not justly have been punished, but because he thought it right while destroying enemies unsparingly to preserve citizens, even if they were poor stuff. Therefore by his bravery he overcame foreigners in war, but out of his humanity kept unharmed the seditious citizens, although many of them by their acts had often shown themselves unworthy of this favor. This same policy he followed again both in Africa and in Spain, releasing all who had not before been captured and been made recipients of his mercy. To grant their lives invariably to such as frequently plotted against him he deemed folly, not humanity. On the other hand, he thought it quite the duty of a manly man to pardon opponents on the occasion of their first errors and not to keep an inexorable anger, yes, and to a.s.sign honors to them, but if they clung to their original course, to get rid of them. Yet why did I say this?

Many of them also he preserved by allowing all his a.s.sociates and those who had helped him conquer to save, one each, the life of a captive.

[-47-] "Moreover, that he did all this from inherent excellence and not from pretence or to gather any advantage, as others in large numbers have displayed humaneness, the greatest evidence is that everywhere and under all circ.u.mstances he showed himself the same: anger did not brutalize him nor good fortune corrupt him; power did not alter, nor authority change him. Yet it is very difficult when tested in so many enterprises of such a scope and following one another in quick succession at a time when one has been successful in some, is still engaged in conducting others, and only suspects the existence of others, to prove equally efficient on all occasions and to refrain from wis.h.i.+ng to do anything harsh or frightful, if not out of vengeance for the past, at least as a measure of safeguard for the future. This, then, is enough to prove his excellence. He was so truly a scion of G.o.ds that he understood but one thing, to save those that could be saved. But if you want more evidence, it lies in this, that he took care to have those who warred against him chastised by no other hands than his own, and that he won back those who in former times had slipped away. He had amnesty granted to all who had been followers of Lepidus and Sertorius, and next arranged that safety should be afforded all the survivors among those proscribed by Sulla; somewhat later he brought them home from exile and bestowed honors and offices upon the children of all who had been slain by that tyrant. Greatest of all, he burned absolutely every one of the letters containing secret information that was found in the tent of either Pompey or Scipio, not reading or noticing any portion of them, in order that no one else might derive from them the power to play the rogue. That this was not only what he said, but what he did, his acts show clearly. No one as a result of those letters was even frightened, let alone suffering any great calamity. And no one knows those who escaped this danger except the men themselves. This is most astonis.h.i.+ng and has nothing to surpa.s.s it, that they were spared before being accused, and saved before encountering danger, and that not even he who saved their lives learned who it was he pitied.

[-48-] "For these and all his other acts of lawmaking and reconstruction, great in themselves, but likely to be deemed small in comparison with those others into which one cannot enter minutely, you loved him as a father and cherished him as a benefactor, you glorified him with such honors as you bestowed on no one else and desired him to be continual head of the city and of the whole domain. You did not dispute at all about t.i.tles, but applied them all to him as being still less than his merits, with the purpose that whatever was lacking in each one of them of what was considered a proper expression of the most complete honor and authority might be made up by what the rest contributed. Therefore, as regards the G.o.ds he was appointed high priest, as regards us consul, as regards the soldiers imperator, and as regards the enemy dictator. But why do I enumerate these details, when in one phrase you called him father of his country,--not to mention the rest of his t.i.tles?

[-49-] "Yet this father, this high priest, this inviolable being, hero, G.o.d, is dead, alas, dead not by the violence of some disease, nor exhausted by old age, nor wounded abroad somewhere in some war, nor s.n.a.t.c.hed away irresistibly by some supernatural force: but plotted against here within the walls--the man that safely led an army into Britain; ambushed in this city--the man who had increased its circuit; struck down in the senate-house--the man that had reared another such edifice at his own charge; unarmed the brave warrior; defenceless the promoter of peace; the judge beside the court of justice; the governor beside the seat of government; at the hands of the citizens--he whom none of the enemy had been able to kill even when he fell into the sea; at the hands of his comrades--he who had often taken pity on them.

Where, Caesar, was your humaneness, where your inviolability, where the laws? You enacted many laws to prevent any one's being killed by personal foes, yet see how mercilessly your friends killed you, and now slain you lie before us in that Forum through which you often crowned led triumphal marches, wounded unto death you have been cast down upon that rostra from which you often addressed the people. Woe for the blood-bespattered locks of gray, alas for the rent robe, which you a.s.sumed, it seems, only to the end that you might be slain in it!"

[-50-] At this deliverance of Antony's the throng was at first excited, then enraged, and finally so inflamed with pa.s.sion that they sought his murderers and reproached the senators besides, because the former had killed and the latter had beheld without protest the death of a man in whose behalf they had voted to offer yearly prayers, by whose Health and Fortune they took oaths, and whom they had made sacrosanct equally with the tribunes. Then, seizing his body, some wished to convey it to the room in which he had been slaughtered, and others to the Capitol and to burn it there: but being prevented by the soldiers, who feared that the theatres and temples would be burned to the ground at the same time, they placed it upon a pyre there in the Forum, just as they were. Even under these circ.u.mstances many of the surrounding buildings would have been destroyed, had not the soldiers presented an obstacle, and some of the bolder spirits the consuls forced over the cliffs of the Capitol.

For all that the remainder did not cease their disturbance, but rushed to the houses of the murderers, and during the excitement they killed without reason Helvius Cinna, a tribune, and some others; this man had not only not plotted against Caesar, but was one of his most devoted friends. Their error was due to the fact that Cornelius Cinna the praetor had a share in the attack. [-51-] After this the consuls forbade any one outside the ranks of soldiers to carry arms. They accordingly refrained from a.s.sa.s.sinations, but set up a kind of altar on the site of the pyre--his bones the freedmen had previously taken up and deposited in the ancestral tomb--and undertook to sacrifice upon it and offer victims to Caesar, as to a G.o.d. This the consuls overturned and punished some who showed displeasure at the act, also publis.h.i.+ng a law that no one should ever again be dictator. In fact they invoked curses and proclaimed death as the penalty upon any man who should propose or support such a measure, and furthermore they fined the present malcontents directly. In making this provision for the future they seemed to a.s.sume that the shamefulness of the deeds consisted in the names, whereas these occurrences really arose from the supremacy of arms and the character of each individual, and degraded the t.i.tles of authority in whatever capacity exercised. For the time being they despatched immediately to the colonies such as held allotments of land previously a.s.signed by Caesar; this was from fear that they might cause some disturbance. Of Caesar's slayers they sent out some, who had obtained governors.h.i.+ps, to the provinces, and the rest to various different places on one pretext or another: and these persons were honored by many persons as benefactors.

[-52-] In this way Caesar disappeared from the scene. Inasmuch as he had been slain in Pompey's edifice and near his statue which at that time stood there, he seemed in a way to have afforded his rival his revenge; and this idea gained ground from the fact that tremendous thunder and a furious rain occurred. In the midst of that excitement there also took place the following incident, not unworthy of mention. One Gaius Casca, a tribune, seeing that Cinna had perished as a result of his name being similar to the praetor's, and fearing that he too might be killed, because Publius Servilius Casca was one of the tribunes and also one of the a.s.sa.s.sins, issued a book which showed that they had in common only one and the same name and pointed out their difference of disposition.

Neither of them suffered any harm (for Servilius was strongly guarded) and Gaius won some consideration, so that he is remembered by this act.

[-53-] These were the proceedings, at that time, of the consuls and the rest. Dolabella was invested with his office by Antony, who feared that he might cause a sedition, although he was at first not disposed to take such action, on the ground that Dolabella had not yet the right to it.

When, however, the excitement subsided, and Antony himself was charged with investigating the acts of Caesar's administration and carrying out all the latter's behests, he no longer kept within bounds. As soon as he had got hold of the dead man's doc.u.ments, he made many erasures, and many subst.i.tutions,--inserting laws as well as other matter. Moreover, he deprived some of money and offices, which in turn he gave to others, pretending that in so doing he was carrying out Caesar's directions. Next he made many seizures on the spot, and collected large sums of money from individuals, peoples and kings, selling to some land, to others liberty, to others citizens.h.i.+ps, to others exemption from taxes. This was done in spite of the fact that the senate at first had voted that no tablet should be set up on account of any contract that Caesar had made (all such transactions were inscribed on bronze tablets), and later, when Antony persisted, declaring that many urgent matters had been provided for by his chief, it had ordered that all the foremost citizens should join in pa.s.sing upon them. He, however, paid no attention to this, and had an utter contempt for Octavius, who as a stripling and inexperienced in business had declined the inheritance because it was troublesome and hard to manage: and Antony himself, a.s.suming to be the heir not only of the property but also of the supremacy of Caesar, managed everything. One of his acts was to restore some exiles. And since Lepidus had great power and caused him considerable fear, he gave his daughter in marriage to this leader's son and made arrangements to have the latter appointed high priest, so as to prevent any meddling with enterprises which he had on foot. In order to carry out this plan with greater ease, he diverted the choice of high priest from the people back to the priests, and in company with the latter he consecrated him, performing few or none of the accustomed rites, though he might have secured the priesthood for himself.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: As far as chapter 20 this argument of Leunclavius will be found to follow a different division of Book Thirty-six from that adopted by Melber and employed in the present translation.]

[Footnote 2: His death occurred early in the year.]

[Footnote 3: This man's name is given as s.e.xtilius by Plutarch (Life of Lucullus, chapter 25) and Appian (Mithridatic Wars, chapter 84).]

[Footnote 4: Cobet's (Greek: _metepepempto_) in place of Vat. A (Greek: _metepempeto_).]

[Footnote 5: "Valerians" was a name given to the Twentieth Legion. (See Livy VI, 9.)]

[Footnote 6: _Q. Marcius Rex._]

[Footnote 7: The subject must be Quintus Caecilius Metellus. This is the point at which the Medicean ma.n.u.script (see Introduction) now begins, and between what goes before and what follows there is an obvious gap of some kind. A few details touching upon the close of the Cretan war may be found in Xiphilinus (p. 1, 12-20), as follows:

"And [Metellus] subjugated the entire island, albeit he was hindered and restrained by Pompey the Great, who was now lord of the whole sea and of the mainland for a three days' march from the coast; for Pompey a.s.serted that the islands also belonged to him. Nevertheless, in spite of Pompey's opposition, Metellus put an end to the Cretan war, conducted a triumph in memory thereof, and was given the t.i.tle of Creticus."

It should be noted in pa.s.sing that J. Hilberg (Zeitschrift f. oest.

Gymn., 1889, p. 213) thinks that the proper place for the chapter numbered 16 is after 17, instead of before it.]

[Footnote 8: A leaf is here torn out of the first quaternion of the Medicean MS. An idea of the matter omitted may be gained by comparing Xiphilinus (p. 5):--"Catulus, one of the foremost men, had said to the populace: 'If he fail after being sent out on this errand (as not infrequently happens in many contests, especially on the sea) whom else will you find in place of him for still more pressing business?' Thereat the entire throng as if by previous agreement lifted their voices and exclaimed: 'You!' Thus Pompey secured command of the sea and of the islands and of the mainland for four hundred etades inland from the sea."]

[Footnote 9: Some half dozen words are wanting at this point in the MS.

Those most easily supplied afford the translation here given.]

[Footnote 10: I.e., "City of Victory."]

[Footnote 11: Harmastica (==arx dei Armazi) is meant.]

[Footnote 12: The words [Greek: tou Kurnou pararreontos, enthen de], required to fill a gap in the sense, supplied by Bekker on the basis of a previous suggestion by Reiske.]

[Footnote 13: The words [Greek: ho de Pompeios] at the opening of chapter 6 were supplied by Bekker.]

[Footnote 14: Properly called Sinoria.]

[Footnote 15: A gap exists in the Medicean MS. because the first leaf in the third quaternion is lacking. The omission may be partly filled out from Xiphilinus (p. 7):

"He returned from Armenia and arbitrated disputes besides conducting other business for kings and potentates who came to him. He confirmed some in possession of their kingdoms, added to the princ.i.p.alities of others, and curtailed and humbled the excessive powers of a few. Hollow Syria and Phoenicia which had lately ridden themselves of their rulers and had been made the prey of the Arabians and Tigranes were united.

Antiochus had dared to ask them back, but he did not secure them.

Instead, they were combined into one province and received laws so that their government was carried on in the Roman fas.h.i.+on."

As to the words at the end of chapter 7, "although her child was with,"

an inkling of their significance may be had from Appian, Mithridates, chapter 107. Stratonice had betrayed to Pompey a treasurehouse on the sole condition that if he should capture Xiphares, a favorite son of hers, he should spare him. This disloyalty to Mithridates enraged the latter, who gained possession of the youth and slew him, while the mother beheld the deed of revenge from a distance.]

[Footnote 16: L. _Annius Bellienus_.]

[Footnote 17: L. _Luscius_.]

[Footnote 18: Or "and these were" (according to the MS. reading selected).]

[Footnote 19: Xiphilinus adds: "after approaching and offering him this."]

[Footnote 20: I.e., Jehovah.]

[Footnote 21: Sol and Luna: or the sun and moon. The words appear in the text without any article and may be personified.]

[Footnote 22: Dio attempts in chapters 18 and 19 to explain why the days of the week are a.s.sociated with the names of the planets. It should be borne in mind that the order of the planets with reference to their distance from the earth (counting from farthest to nearest) is as follows: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon. The custom of naming the days may then have arisen, he says, (1) by regarding the G.o.ds as originally presiding over separate _days_ a.s.signed by the principle of the tetrachord (I.e., skipping two stars in your count each time as you go over the list) so that you get this order: the day of Saturn, of the Sun, of the Moon, of Mars, of Mercury, of Jupiter, of Venus (Sat.u.r.day to Friday, inclusive); or (2) by regarding the G.o.ds as properly G.o.ds of the _hours_, which are a.s.signed in order, beginning with Saturn, as in the list above,--and allowing it to be understood that that G.o.d who is found by this system to preside over the _first hour_ shall also give his name to the day in question.]

[Footnote 23: See Book Thirty-six, chapter 43.]

[Footnote 24: After "join him" there is a gap in the MS. The words necessary to complete this sentence and to begin the next were supplied by Reiske.]

[Footnote 25: Cobet (Mnemosyne N.S., X, p. 195) thinks that there is here a reminiscence of Cicero, _Ad Attic.u.m_, I, 16, 5.]

[Footnote 26: Or _Solo_ (according to the Epitome of the one hundred and third Book of Livy).]

[Footnote 27: Supplying [Greek: to misein] (as v. Herwerden, Boissevain).]

[Footnote 28: The following sentence: "For these reasons, then, he had both united them and won them over" is probably an explanatory insertion, made by some copyist. (So Bekker.)]