menu_book Chapter 10

Chapters 27-28 of History of Rome from the Earliest Times down to 476 A.D. by Robert F. Pennell. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Tony Richeson. Chapter 27 Caesar Cicero Vires The Caesars were a family belonging to the Julian gens, which claimed descent from Elis, the son of Aeneas. Eight generations of Caesars had held prominent places in the commonwealth.

They had been consuls, praetors, censors, adelis, and were aristocrats of the modern wing. The direct ancestry of Gaius Julius Caesar can be traced no further back than his grandfather. This gentleman of the same name as the great Caesar married Marcia, who claimed descent from Ancus Marcius, the fourth king of Rome. They had three children, Gaius Julius, the father of the dictator Sextus Julius,

and Julia, who became the wife of Marius. Gaius Julius held no higher office than Praetor. He was married to Aurelia, a stately woman of simple and severe tastes. Their son Gaius was born on July the 12th, 100. During Senna's consulship in 86, Caesar's first mentioned as a youth, tall, slight, handsome, with dark, piercing eyes, sallow complexion, and features refined and intellectual. The bloody scenes attending the proscription of his uncle, Marius, to whose party

his father belonged, must have made a deep impression upon him. One of his most intimate companions was Cicero, who was six years his senior. Marius had seen in his nephew the materials which make great men, and determined to help him to promotion. He made him, when scarcely fifteen, a priest of Jupiter, Fleming d'Alice, which sacred office carried with it a handsome income. Shortly after the death of his father in 84, Caesar married Cornelia, the daughter of Sina.

By this marriage, he was connected more closely with the popular party whose champion he remained. When Sulla returned to Rome from his eastern campaign, Caesar was but 18. In the wholesale murders that followed, his party was ruined, his nearest friends dispersed or killed. He himself was yet free from proscription, for Sulla wished to win such a promising young man to his own side. He made proposals that Caesar divorce his wife and marry one whom he might select.

Caesar refused. Force was then tried. His priesthood was taken from him, and his wife's dowry. His estate was confiscated, and when this had no effect, he was himself declared an outlaw, and a price was set on his head. Influential friends, however, interceded in his behalf, and the dictator was finally persuaded to pardon him, but with reluctance and with the remark that in Caesar

was the making of many Amarius. The youth then left Italy and joined the army of Asia. Here Caesar served his apprenticeship as a soldier. He joined the forces of the praetor Thermos, who had been sin against the pirates that were making their headquarters in Lesbos. The Praetor, finding his troops insufficient to accomplish his work, sent Caesar to Necomedes, a Roman ally and the king of Bithynia, to obtain additional forces. He was successful in his mission and,

upon his return to Lesbos, distinguished himself for his bravery in the attack upon Mytilene, and was awarded the Oak Wreath, a coveted honor for saving the life of a fellow soldier. Caesar's next scene in Cilicia, serving under Servilius in a campaign against the pirates, who were marauding along the coast of that country. While here, he was informed of Sulla's death and at once left the army and returned home in 77. The next year, he began his struggle

with the nobility by prosecuting for extortion Dolabella, a former governor of Macedonia. Dolabella was a favorite of the senate, and his cause was theirs. The best talent was engaged to defend him, and Caesar lost the case. Feeling his deficiency as an orator, Caesar went to Rhodes and studied rhetoric under the famous Apollonius. He had recovered his property and priesthood and could well afford the time. While on his way, he was captured by pirates and not released until a ransom of some fifty thousand dollars was raised and paid.

Upon arriving at Miletus, he at once got together some vessels, returned to the island where he had been in captivity, seized the crew of pirates, took them to Pergamos, and had them tried, convicted, and crucified. He then resumed his journey to Rhodes, where he remained two years in the pursuit of his studies. Then the report of the uprisal of Methodetes reached him, and he at once crossed over to the mainland, collected a body of volunteers, and saved Caria to Rome. Having finished his studies, Caesar returned to Rome and lived quietly for a time with his wife

and mother, watching the course of events. While Caesar was thus preparing himself for the great struggle in which he was destined to take the leading part, Cicero, the companion of his youth, was beginning to attract attention at Rome. Marcus Tullius Cicero, 106-43, was a townsman of Marius. He belonged to the equities and received a good education under the best Greek teachers. As he ripened into manhood, he chose in politics the party opposed to Caesar,

and for a profession he selected the bar, hoping to gain fame as a speaker before the Senate and finally to become one of its members. He took part in the Social War of 89, but during the troubled times that followed he remained quietly engaged in literary pursuits. His first public oration in 80, the defense of Roscius, who was falsely accused of murdering his father, was a great success and guaranteed for him a brilliant future. Cicero improved the next few years by study and travel in Asia and Greece.

Shortly after his return in 75, he was elected Quaestor and thus became a member of the Senate. His year of office he spent in Sicily in the performance of his duties. There he obtained an insight into the corrupt extortions of the Roman governors. Five years later, he conducted his famous case against Veres. Veres had been a follower of Sulla, and during the proscriptions had amassed some property.

Afterwards, he held official positions in Greece and Asia, where he became notorious for his greediness and cruelty. With the money thus acquired, he had bought his election to the praetorship, became senator, and was sent by his colleagues to govern Sicily. His government there may have been no worse than that of many other proconsuls in the different provinces, but we have a fuller

account of it owing to the prosecution of Cicero, whose speeches against Vires are preserved. Vires was governor of Sicily for three years. In his official position, he was judge of all civil and criminal cases. Every suit brought before him he gave to the party that could pay him best. Property was confiscated on false charges and work of art of great value were stolen. By such a course, Veris collected, it is said, property to the value of four million dollars.

Two-thirds of this he expected to spend in silencing accusations. The rest he hoped to enjoy in peace, but Cicero's eloquence forced him to abandon his defense and retire into exile. It was about this time that Caesar finished his rhetorical studies abroad and returned home. He was elected military tribune as a reward for what he had accomplished in Caria.

Two years later in 68, he was elected quaestor, thereby acquiring a seat in the Senate. At this time, his Aunt Julia died, and as one of her nearest relatives, he delivered the funeral oration. Caesar was now beginning to know Pompey and saw that their interests were common. The latter, although but six years older, was already a great man and a distinguished soldier. Cornelius, Caesar's wife, died, and he married for a second wife, Pompeia, the cousin of Pompey.

When sent as quest to farther Spain in 67, he completed the work begun by Pompey and settled the finances of the troubled country, a task which he found the easier as he was known to belong to the popular party of which Marius and Centurius had been leaders. Chapter 28 Troubles at Rome, Conspiracy of Catiline. While Pompey was absent in the east, matters at Rome were daily becoming worse and shaping themselves for the speedy overthrow of the republic. There were many who

had suffered under Sulla and who were anxious to regain what they had lost, and there were many who, enriched by the dictator, had squandered their ill-gotten wealth, and now only waited a leader to renew the assault upon the state. The Senate was jealous of the power of the people, and the people distrusted the Senate. Among the patricians who were aspiring to the consulship was Lucius Sergius Catalina, a villain steeped in every crime, but adroit, bold, and withal captivating.

In 68, he had been praetor, the next year governor in Africa, where, by his extortions, he had obtained enough money, as he hoped, to purchase his election to the consulship. on his return home he was impeached for his misgovernment but acquitted through cicero's defense and the careful selection of a jury he then came forward as candidate for the consulship of the next year in sixty three there were two other candidates antonius the uncle of mark anthony and cicero himself anthony was sure of an election so the struggle was really between cathiline and cicero the latter was elected owing to the popularity he had acquired by his prosecution of verres and his defense of the manilian law thus cicero reached the goal for which he had been so long striving

Caesar was rising at the same time. The year previous, in 65, he had been curul adeli, had built a row of costly columns in front of the capital, and erected a temple to the Diascuri castan pollux. But what made him especially pleasing to the populace was his lavish display at the public games and exhibitions. Caesar was now looked upon as a prominent democratic leader. In 63, the office of Pontifex Maximus, the head of the state religion, became vacant by the death of its occupant, Metellus Pius. Caesar became a candidate for the office and was elected receiving more votes than both

the rival candidates combined. He also received further evidence of the popular favor by being chosen praetor for the next year in 62. Cicero's consulship would have closed without adding anything to his fame had it not been for Catiline. The latter's failure to be elected caused him to enter into a plot to seize and burn the city. He had many followers, men of noble families, among whom were the former consul Lentulus, who had been recently expelled from the Senate by

the census, and Scythigus, a bankrupt spendthrift, who was anxious to regain a fortune by change in government. There were veterans of Sulla, starving peasants who had been dispossessed of their farms and outlaws of every description. The conspirators were divided into two parties, those outside the city headed by Marcus Manlius, whose headquarters were at Faisali, where was gathered an army of trained soldiers and those inside of the city, headed by Catiline. Here

secret meetings were held, the purpose of which was to excite an uprising, kill the magistrates, seize the government, and then unite with the army in Echerea. Cicero was informed of these meetings by spies, and just before the plans for the uprising were matured, he disclosed them to the senate. Catiline fled from Rome, but his accomplices, of whom Lentulus and Cetagus, were the most prominent, were arrested in the city. A serious difficulty now arose as to the

disposition of the prisoners. Lentulus was at that time praetor, and the persons of public offices were sacred. The Sempronian law of Gracchus forbade the executing of any Roman citizen without giving him a right of appeal to the assembly. Too many were implicated in the conspiracy for this to be safe. In the debate in the Senate, the principal speakers were Caesar, Cato, and Cicero. Cato and Cicero advocated immediate death, Caesar imprisonment for life.

The motives of the men are so characteristic that they form a complete key to their several public careers. Cicero, vain and selfish, weak in counsel, and distrustful of the temper of the people and of his own ability to rule their factions, feared that they would become dangerous enemies to himself. Cato, desiring the reformation of the state, would make an example and warning for the future. The one, forgetful of the state, was overcome by personal fears. The other,

unmindful of self, would have purity at any cost. Caesar, on the other hand, wished everything done in strict accordance with the laws. As a bold and wise statesman, he urged that nothing was more impolitic than lawless violence on the part of the rulers. Cicero was the timid magistrate, Cato the injudicious reformer, but Caesar, with his keener knowledge and stronger hand, was the safer guide. A sentence of death was voted, and Cicero, with unseemly haste,

caused the conspirators to be strangled that same night, December 5th, 63. The suppression of the conspiracy in the city was followed by the defeat of the army in Etchuria. Thither, Cetheline had fled, and there he fell fighting with desperate courage at the head of his motley force of soldiers near Pistoria. The name of father of his country was given to Cicero for the vigilance shown in this affair. The execution of Lentillus and Cetigus resulted as Caesar had

expected. It was a lawless act on the part of the council and the senate, and it was felt that by it the Constitution was still more endangered. The people demanded that Pompey return. In him, they thought to have a deliverer from internal strifes. Cicero was wrapped up in his own conceit, imagining himself a second Romulus. On the last day of the year, 63, as was the custom of the returning councils, he arose in the forum to deliver a speech, reviewing the acts of his

year of consulship. Methodist Nepos, a tribune, forbade his speaking on the ground that one who had put to death Roman citizens without a hearing did not deserve to be heard. Amid the uproar, Cicero could only shout that he had saved his country. Metellus threatened to impeach him, and excitement in the city was at fever heat. The tribune moved before the assembly that Pompey be recalled. The senate feared his coming. Caesar, who was now praetor, judge,

favored it, and earnestly seconded the proposal of Metellus. Cato, who was also Tribune, ordered Metellus to stop speaking and snatched his manuscript from his hand. The aristocrats drew their swords and broke up the meeting. Constitutional law was trampled underfoot on all sides. The Senate was riding rough shot over all opponents. Metellus and Caesar were declared deposed from their offices. The people, however, believed in Caesar. He was followed to his home

by crowds who begged him to be their leader and make an example of the lawbreakers in the Senate. but Caesar refused. He would have nothing to do with lawlessness. He let his opponents play that role and awaited the results. The Senate soon saw its mistake and requested him to resume his official duties. The next year, 61, Caesar was sent to farther Spain as proprietor. He had already left a favorable impression there as quaestor. Portions of the country were still unsubdued.

Many of the mountain passes were held by robbers, whose depredations caused much trouble. He completed the subjugation of the peninsula, put down the brigands, reorganized the government, and sent large sums of money to the treasury at Rome. His administration was thorough and complete, and a just reward for it would, he hoped, be the consulship. Meanwhile, Pompey had returned from the east. He landed at Brondisium in December 62 and proceeded with a large band of captured

princes and immense treasures to Rome, which he entered in triumph amidst the greatest enthusiasm. By special vote of the Senate, he was permitted to wear his triumphal robe in that body whenever he pleased. Caesar returned from Spain in 60, with wealth and military fame. Though feared and detested by the Senate, he was the favorite of the people and could depend upon their support. Pompey had the army behind him.

he received Caesar with pleasure, for he had been a friend in all his career. Caesar felt that with the people and the army through Pompey on his side, he only needed the capitalists to make his success sure. Crassus was counted as the richest man at Rome. He was won over. these three then formed what is known as the first triumvirate a union of shrewdness renown and riches by which caesar expected to rise to great power pompey to retain his power and crassus to gain greater wealth end of chapter twenty eight