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542 CAESAR get him out of the way, added Transalpine Gaul (France) to the charge (59). The next year he arrived in his province, where he was now to engage in a labor which would test his military talents. The Romans were asked to settle the disputes of the Gallic tribes, war- ring among each other for the ascendancy, and also to help them repulse the Suovi, who were beginning to invade and oppress the country. Cojsar defeated the German army under Ario- vistus, between Vesontio (Besancon) and the Rhine, in 58, and drove the remnant across the Rhine ; in 57 he marched against, and in that and the succeeding year fully subjugated the Belgic tribes, winning a series of remarkable victories ; in the summer of 55 he made his first expedi- tion to Britain, and the next spring undertook a partially successful invasion of the island ; in 53, his government having been extended for five years more, he suppressed a formidable insurrection among the conquered continental tribes; and on the breaking out of a second and wide-spread revolt, he finally determined on the complete and lasting subjection of the whole of Gaul, nearly all of which, including the greater part of the former allies of the Romans, was now arrayed against him. After a long succession of violent conflicts, and displays of the most brilliant generalship, he saw all the region west of the Rhine (which river he crossed twice) and north of the Pyrenees made subject to Rome, and his design accomplished. In the mean time political intrigues had been constantly agitating Rome, and now, at the close of his victorious campaigns, Pom- pey, his rival (though lately his son-in-law, having in 59 married his daughter Julia, who died in 54), procured a law recalling Caesar, who refused to obey, and was threatened with being declared the enemy of the republic. The tribunes of the people refused to confirm the decrees, when the senate, treating their veto with contempt, outlawed Cfflsar, and directed the consuls to "see to it that the republic should suffer no harm." The tribunes repair- ed to Csesar, who had now by means of their accession got the law on his side, and he im- mediately (January, 49) passed the Rubicon, a small stream separating his province from the territories of the republic, in order to march upon Rome. This act was equivalent to a declaration of war against the senate, who pre- pared for defence. Pompey acted as their commander-in-chief, but the popular feeling soon manifested itself so decidedly in favor of Cfssar, that the senatorial party fled to Greece. Caesar pursued them thither, and then for years a war raged which led Csesar into Spain, and all over Italy ; into Thessaly, where the great bat- tle of Pharsalia or Pharsalus (Aug. 9, 48) deci- ded for him against Pompey ; to Egypt, where he wept at the sight of the head of his great rival, treacherously killed there, and where he decided in favor of the Egyptian woman the dispute for the throne between the last Ptole- my and Cleopatra ; into Pontus, against Phar- First Brass Coin of Julius Ceesar. naces, son of Mithridates, where he conquered with such ease that he could announce Veni, vidi,vici; into the province of Africa, where ho defeated M. Scipio, but could not conquer Cato, who at Utica preferred death to life under the rule of a single man. The result of these victo- ries was that Caasar gained supreme power in the Roman state, and in 46 was proclaimed dic- tator for ten years, from the 1st of January, 45. With consummate statesmanship he set to work reorganizing the nation, though perpetually in- terrupted by the remains of the senatorial par- ty. The sons of Pompey rose against him in Spain, which compelled him to go thither and crush them (at Munda, 45). On his return he was hailed as imperator, and invested with sovereign powers; the appellation of pater pa- trice, "the father of his country," was voted him ; the coins were stamped with his image ; and he was allowed to wear at all times a crown of laurel on his head. This excess of subser- vience on the part of the multitude, won and deluded by his triumphs, and his kingly show and liber- ality, rekindled the jealousy of the aristocratic faction, and disgusted all the more moderate. But the gross flattery of the new senate car- ried matters to a still higher pitch of adula- tion. They ordered the statues of Ca;sar to be borne in the processions along with those of the gods ; they dedicated temples and altars to him, and appointed priests to superintend his worship. A story became current that he as- pired to the name of king and to royal power ; and though he had ostentatiously refused a crown tendered him in public by Mark An- tony, this report gained such credit that a number of young patricians availed themselves of the Roman aversion to a monarchical title as a cloak to a design for Cesar's assassination. Caius Cassius was the ostensible leader of this conspiracy, assisted by Brutus, whom Csesar had greatly benefited, but who was persuaded to sacrifice his benefactor, as his ancestor sacri- ficed his sons, to the republic. Casar was ab- sorbed in his reforms of the government, and in the endeavor to consolidate the public or- der, to which end he had projected and partly executed several vital measures. While he was thus engaged the conspirators, about 60 in all, perfected their plans. Though warned by a soothsayer, and, according to the Roman ac- count, met by the most unfavorable omens, Cissar was not to be dissuaded from his regu- lar attention to the public business, and visited the senate house as usual on the ides of March, the day of which the fortune-teller had in- structed him to beware. On his way a writ-