http://www.gutenberg.org/files/27114/27114-h/27114-h.html#toc85
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Julius Caesar paused on the banks of the Rubicon
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n the year B.C. 49, Cæsar's proconsular imperium was to terminate one year after the close of the Gallic war. He wished to be re-elected consul, and also secure his triumph. But he could not, according to law, have the triumph without disbanding the army, and without an army he would not be safe at Rome, with so many enemies. Neither could he be elected consul, according to the forms, while he enjoyed his imperium, for it had long been the custom that no one could sue for the consulship at the head of an army. He, therefore, could neither be consul nor enjoy a triumph, legitimately, without disbanding his army. Moreover, the party of Pompey, being then in the ascendant at Rome, demanded that Cæsar should lay down his imperium. The tribunes, in the interests of Cæsar, opposed the decree of the Senate; the reigning consuls threatened the tribunes, and they fled to Cæsar's camp in Cisalpine Gaul. It should, however, be mentioned, that when the consul Marcellus, an enemy of Cæsar, proposed in the Senate that he should lay down his command, Curio, the tribune, whose debts Cæsar had paid, moved that Pompey should do the same; which he refused to do, since the election of Cæsar to the consulship would place the whole power of the republic in his hands. Cæsar made a last effort to avoid the inevitable war, by proposing to the Senate to lay down his command, if Pompey would also; but Pompey prevaricated, and the compromise came to nothing. Both generals distrusted each other, and both were disloyal to the State. The Senate then appointed a successor to Cæsar in Gaul, ordered a general levy of troops throughout Italy, and voted money and men to Pompey. Cæsar had already crossed the Rubicon, which was high treason, before his last proposal to compromise, and he was on his way to Rome. No one resisted him, for the people had but little interest in the success of either party. Pompey, exaggerating his popularity, thought he had only to stamp the ground, and an army would appear, and when he discovered that his rival was advancing on the Flaminican way, [pg 537]fled hastily from Rome with most of the senators, and went to Brundusium. Cæsar did not at once seize the capital, but followed Pompey, and so vigorously attacked him, that he quit the town and crossed over to Illyricum. Cæsar had no troops to pursue him, and therefore retraced his steps, and entered Rome, after an absence of ten years, at the head of a victorious army, undisputed master of Italy.
But Pompey still controlled his proconsular province of Spain, where seven legions were under his lieutenants, and Africa also was occupied by his party. Cæsar, after arranging the affairs of Italy, marched through Gaul into Spain to fight the generals of Pompey. That campaign was ended in forty days, and he became master of Spain. While in Spain he was elected to his second consulship, and also made dictator. He returned to Rome as rapidly as he had marched into Spain, and enacted some wholesome laws, among others that by which the inhabitants of Cisalpine Gaul, the northern part of Italy, obtained citizenship. After settling the general affairs of Italy, he laid down the dictatorship, and went, to Brundusium, and collected his forces from various parts for a decisive conflict with Pompey, who had remained, meanwhile, in Macedonia, organizing his army. He collected nine legions, with auxiliary forces, while his fleet commanded the sea. He also secured vast magazines of corn in Thessaly, Asia, Egypt, Crete, and Cyrene.
Cæsar was able to cross the sea with scarcely more than fifteen thousand men, on account of the insufficiency of his fleet, and he was thrown upon a hostile shore, cut off from supplies, and in presence of a vastly superior force. But his troops were veterans, and his cause was strengthened by the capture of Apollonia. He then advanced north to seize Dyrhachiuim, where Pompey's stores were deposited, but Pompey reached the town before him, and both armies encamped on the banks of the river Apsus, the one on the left and the other on the right bank. There Cæsar was joined by the remainder of his troops, brought over with [pg 538]great difficulty from Brundusium by Marcus Antonius, his most able lieutenant and devoted friend. Pompey was also re-enforced by two legions from Syria, led by his father-in-law, Scipio. Both parties abstained from attacking each other while these re-enforcements were being brought forward, and Cæsar even made a last effort at compromise, while the troops on each side exchanged mutual courtesies.
Pompey avoided a pitched battle, and intrenched himself on a hill near Dyrhachium. Cæsar surrounded him with lines of circumvallation. Pompey broke through them, and compelled Cæsar to retire, with considerable loss. He retreated to Thessaly, followed by Pompey, who, had he known how to pursue his advantage, might, after this last success—the last he ever had—have defeated Cæsar. He had wisely avoided a pitched battle until his troops should become inured to service, or until he should wear out his adversary; but now, puffed up with victory and self-confidence, and unduly influenced by his officers, he concluded to risk a battle. Cæsar was encamped on the plain of Pharsalia, and Pompey on a hill about four miles distant. The steep bank of the river Enipeus covered the right of Pompey's line and the left of Cæsar's. The infantry of the former numbered forty-five thousand; that of the latter, twenty-two thousand, but they were veterans. Pompey was also superior in cavalry, having seven thousand, while Cæsar had only one thousand. With these, which formed the strength of Pompey's force, he proposed to outflank the right of Cæsar, extended on the plain. To guard against this movement, Cæsar withdrew six cohorts from his third line, and formed them into a fourth in the rear of his cavalry on the right. The battle commenced by a furious assault on the lines of Pompey by Cæsar's veterans, who were received with courage. Meanwhile Pompey's cavalry swept away that of Cæsar, and was advancing to attack the rear, when they received, unexpectedly, the charge of the cohorts which Cæsar had posted there, The cavalry broke, and fled to the mountains. The six cohorts then turned upon the slingers [pg 539]and archers, who had covered the attack of the cavalry, defeated them, and fell upon the rear of Pompey's left. Cæsar then brought up his third line, and decided the battle. Pompey had fled when he saw the defeat of his cavalry. His camp was taken and sacked, and his troops, so confident of victory, were scattered, surrounded, and taken prisoners. Cæsar, with his usual clemency, spared their lives, nor had he any object to destroy them. Among those who surrendered after this decisive battle was Junius Brutus, who was not only pardoned, but admitted to the closest friendship
After reducing Numidia to a Roman province, Cæsar returned to Italy with immense treasures, and was everywhere received with unexampled honors. At Rome he celebrated a fourfold triumph—for victories in Gaul, Egypt, Africa, and the East—and the Senate decreed that his image in ivory should be carried in procession with those of the gods. His bronze statue was set upon a globe in the capitol, as the emblem of universal sovereignty. All the extravagant enthusiasm which marked the French people for the victories of Napoleon, and all the servility which unbounded power everywhere commands, were bestowed upon the greatest conqueror the ancient world ever saw. A thanksgiving was decreed for forty days; the number of the lictors was doubled; he was made dictator for ten years, with the command of all the armies of the State, [pg 542]and the presidency of the public festivals. He also was made censor for three years, by which he regulated the Senate according to his sovereign will. His triumphs were followed by profuse largesses to the soldiers and people, and he also instituted magnificent games under an awning of silk, at the close of which theForum Julium was dedicated.
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