Page:Plutarch's Lives (Clough, v.4, 1865).djvu/275

CAESAR. 267 had got the province of Spain, but was in great embarrass- ment with his creditors, who, as he was going off, came upon him, and were very pressing and importunate. This led him to apply himself to Crassus, who was the richest man in Rome, but wanted Caesar's youthful vigor and heat to sustain the opposition against Pompey. Crassus took upon him to satisfy those creditors who were most uneasy to him, and would not be put off any longer, and engaged himself to the amount of eight hundred and thirty talents, upon which Caesar was now at liberty to go to his province. In his journey, as he was crossing the Alps, and passing by a small village of the barbarians with but few inhabitants and those wretchedly poor, his companions asked the question among themselves by way of mockery, if there were any canvassing for offices there ; any contention which should be uppermost, or feuds of great men one against another. To which Caesar made answer seriously, " For my part, I had rather be the first man among these fellows, than the second man in Rome." It is said that another time, when free from business in Spain, after reading some part of the history of Alexan- der, he sat a great while very thoughtful, and at last burst out into tears. His friends were surprised, and asked him the reason of it. " Do you think," said he, " I have not just cause to weep, when I consider that Alexan- der at my age had conquered so many nations, and I have all this time done nothing that is memorable ? " As soon as he came into Spain he was very active, and in a few days had got together ten new cohorts of foot in addition to the twenty which were there before. With these he marched against the Calaici and Lusitani and conquered them, and advancing as far as the ocean, subdued the tribes which never before had been subject to the Ro- mans. Having managed his military affairs with good success, he was equally happy in the course of his civil