Plutarch's Lives, Volume 3 (of 4)

[435] It has been remarked by Niebuhr (Lectures on the History of Rome, ii. 33) that the beginning of the Life of Cæsar is lost. He says, "Plutarch could not have passed over the ancestors, the father, and the whole family, together with the history of Cæsar's youth, &c." But the reasons for this opinion are not conclusive. The same reason would make us consider other lives imperfect, which are also deficient in such matters. Plutarch, after his fashion, gives incidental information about Cæsar's youth and his family. I conceive that he purposely avoided a formal beginning; and according to his plan of biography, he was right. Niebuhr also observes that the beginning of the Life of Cæsar in Suetonius is imperfect; "a fact well known, but it is only since the year 1812, that we know that the part which is wanting contained a dedication to the præfectus prætorio of the time, a fact which has not yet found its way into any history of Roman Literature." It is an old opinion that the Life of Cæsar in Suetonius is imperfect. The fact that the dedication alone is wanting, for so Niebuhr appears to mean, shows that the Life is not incomplete, and there is no reason for thinking that it is.

C. Julius Cæsar, the son of C. Julius Cæsar and Aurelia, was born on the twelfth of July, B.C. 100, in the sixth consulship of his uncle C. Marius. His father, who had been prætor, died suddenly at Pisa when his son was in his sixteenth year.

[436] See the Life of Pompeius, c. 9, and notes.

[437] Cæsar was first betrothed to Cossutia, the daughter of a rich Roman Eques, but he broke off the marriage contract, and married Cornelia, B.C. 83.

[438] A different story is told by Suetonius (Cæsar, c. 1), and Velleius Paterculus (ii. 43).

[439] Cornelius Phagita (Suetonius, c. 1, 74.) The words of Sulla are also reported by Suetonius (c. 1).

[440] Nicomedes III. Cæsar was sent to him by Thermus to get ships for the siege of Mitylene. Suetonius, a lover of scandal, has preserved a grievous imputation against Cæsar, which is connected with this visit to Nicomedes (Cæsar, c. 2, 49). Cæsar in a speech for the Bithynians (Gellius, v. 13) calls Nicomedes his friend. He felt the reproach keenly, and tried to clear himself (Dion Cassius, 43, c. 20). But it is easier to make such charges than to confute them.

M. Minucius Thermus, Proprætor. Cæsar served his first campaign under him at the siege and capture of Mitylene B.C. 80. Cæsar gained a civic crown. See the note in Burmaun's edition of Suetonius.

[441] This island was near Miletus. Stephan. Byzant., Φαρμακοῦσσα.

[442] See the Life of Pompeius, c. 26. Cæsar served a short time against the Cilician pirates under P. Servilius Isauricus (Sueton. Cæsar, 2) B.C. 77, or perhaps later.

[443] He was now in Bithynia according to Vell. Paterculus (ii. 42). This affair of the pirates happened according to Drumann in B.C. 76. Plutarch places it five years earlier.

[444] Plutarch should probably have called him only Molo. He was a native of Alabanda in Caria. Cicero often mentions his old master, but always by the name of Molo only. He calls the rhetorician, who was the master of Q. Mucius Scævola, consul B.C. 117. Apollonius, who was also a native of Alabanda.

[445] See c. 54.

[446] See the first chapter of the Life of Lucullus.

[447] Cn. Cornelius Dolabella, consul B.C. 81, afterwards was governor of Macedonia as proconsul, in which office he was charged with maladministration. Cicero (Brutus, c. 71, 92) mentions this trial. Drumann places it in B.C. 77. Cicero (Brutus, c. 72) gives his opinion of the eloquence of Cæsar. (Suetonius, Cæsar, 4; Vell. Paterculus, ii. 42.)

[448] His name was Caius. He was consul B.C. 63 with Cicero. The trial, which was in B.C. 76, of course related to misconduct prior to that date. The trial was not held in Greece. M. Lucullus was the brother of L. Lucullus, and was Prætor in Rome at the time of the trial.

[449] Some amplification is necessary here in order to preserve Plutarch's metaphor. He was fond of such poetical turns.

Lucretius, v. 1002.

[450] See the Life of Pompeius, c. 48.

[451] The military tribunes, it appears, were now elected by the people, or part of them at least. Comp. Liv. 43, c. 14.

[452] His aunt Julia and his wife Cornelia died during his quæstorship, probably B.C. 68.

[453] The Roman word is Imagines. There is a curious passage about the Roman Imagines in Polybius (vi. 53, ed. Bekker)—"Viginti clarissimarum familiarum imagines antelatæ sunt." Tacit. Annal. iii. 76.

[454] The origin of this custom with respect to women is told by Livius (5. c. 50). It was introduced after the capture of the city by the Gauls, as a reward to the women for contributing to the ransom demanded by the enemy.

[455] Antistius Vetus (Vell. Paterculus, ii. 18) was Prætor of the division of Iberia which was called Bætica. His son C. Antistius Veius was Quæstor B.C. 61 under Cæsar in Iberia.

[456] She was a daughter of Q. Pompeius Rufus, the son-in-law of Sulla, who lost his life B.C. 88, during the consulship of his father. See the Life of Sulla, c. 6 notes. The daughter who is here mentioned was Julia, Cæsar's only child.

[457] This was the road from Rome to Capua, which was begun by the Censor Appius Claudius Cæcus B.C. 312, and afterwards continued to Brundisium. It commenced at Rome and ran in nearly a direct line to Terracina across the Pomptine marshes.

The appointment as commissioner (curator) for repairing and making roads was an office of honour, and one that gave a man the opportunity of gaining popular favour.

[458] Cæsar was Curule Ædile B.C. 65.

[459] Q. Metellus Pius, Consul B.C. 80. Cæsar's competitors were P. Servilius Isauricus, consul B.C. 79, under whom Cæsar had fought against the pirates, and Q. Lutatius Catulus, consul B.C. 78, the son of the Catulus whom Marius put to death. Cæsar was already a Pontifex, but the acquisition of the post of Pontifex Maximus, which places him at the head of religion, was an object of ambition to him in his present position. The office was for life, it brought him an official residence in the Via Sacra, and increased political influence.

[460] The conspiracy of Catiline happened B.C. 63, when Cicero was consul. See the Life of Cicero, c. 10, &c. Sallustius (Catilina, c. 51, &c.) has given the speeches of Cæsar and Cato in the debate upon the fate of the conspirators who had been seized. If we have not the words of Cæsar, there is no reason for supposing that we have not the substance of his speech. Whatever might be Cæsar's object, his proposal was consistent with law and a fair trial. The execution of the conspirators was a violent and illegal measure.

[461] This circumstance is mentioned by Sallustius (Catilina, 49), apparently as having happened when Cæsar was leaving the Senate, after one of the debates previous to that on which it was determined to put the conspirators to death. Sallustius mentions Catulus and C. Piso as the instigators. He also observes that they had tried to prevail on Cicero to criminate Cæsar by false testimony. (See Drumann, Tullii, § 40, p. 531.)

[462] C. Scribonius Curio, consul B.C. 76, father of the Curio mentioned in the Life of Pompeius, c. 58, who was a tribune B.C. 50.

[463] Cicero wrote his book on his Consulship B.C. 60, in which year Cæsar was elected consul, and it was published at that time. Cæsar was then rising in power, and Cicero was humbled. It would be as well for him to say nothing on this matter which Plutarch alludes to (Ad Attic. ii. 1).

Cicero wrote first a prose work on his consulship in Greek (Ad Attic. i. 19), and also a poem in three books in Latin hexameters (Ad Attic. ii. 3).

[464] Attic drachmæ, as usual with Plutarch, when he omits the denomination of the money. In his Life of Cato (c. 26) Plutarch estimates the sum at 1250 talents. This impolitic measure of Cato tended to increase an evil that had long been growing in Rome, the existence of a large body of poor who looked to the public treasury for part of their maintenance. (See the note on the Life of Caius Gracchus, c. 5.)

[465] Cæsar was Prætor B.C. 62. He was Prætor designatus in December B.C. 63, when he delivered his speech on the punishment of Catiline's associates.

[466] Some notice of this man is contained in the Life of Lucullus, c. 34, 38, and the Life of Cicero, c. 29. The affair of the Bona Dea, which made a great noise in Rome, is told very fully in Cicero's letters to Atticus (i. 12, &c.), which were written at the time.

The feast of the Bona Dea was celebrated on the first of May, in the house of the Consul or of the Prætor Urbanus. There is some further information about it in Plutarch's Romanæ Quæstiones (ed. Wyttenbach, vol. ii.). According to Cicero (De Haruspicum Responsis, c. 17), the real name of the goddess was unknown to the men; and Dacier considers it much to the credit of the Roman ladies that they kept the secret so well. For this ingenious remark I am indebted to Kaltwasser's citation of Dacier; I have not had curiosity enough to look at Dacier's notes.

[467] The divorce of Pompeia is mentioned by Cicero (Ad Attic. i. 13).

[468] Clodius was tried B.C. 61, and acquitted by a corrupt jury (judices). (See Cicero, Ad Attic. i. 16.) Kaltwasser appears to me to have mistaken this passage. The judices voted by ballot, which had been the practice in Rome in such trials since the passing of the Lex Cassia B.C. 137. Drumanu remarks (Geschichte Roms, Claudii, p. 214, note) that Plutarch has confounded the various parts of the procedure at the trial; and it may be so. See the Life of Cicero, c. 29. There is a dispute as to the meaning of the term Judicia Populi, to which kind of Judicia the Lex Cassia applied. (Orelli, Onomasticon, Index Legum, p. 279.)

[469] Cæsar was Prætor (B.C. 60) of Hispania Ulterior or Bætica, which included Lusitania.

[470] A similar story is told by Suetonius (Cæsar, 7) and Dion Cassius (37. c. 52), but they assign it to the time of Cæsar's quæstorship in Spain.

[471] The Calaici, or Callaici, or Gallæci, occupied that part of the Spanish peninsula which extended from the Douro north and north-west to the Atlantic. (Strabo, p. 152.) The name still exists in the modern term Gallica. D. Junius Brutus, consul B.C. 138, and the grandfather of one of Cæsar's murderers, triumphed over the Callaici and Lusitani, and obtained the name Callaicus. The transactions of Cæsar in Lusitania are recorded by Dion Cassius (37. c. 52).

[472] Many of the creditors were probably Romans. (Velleius Pat. ii 43, and the Life of Lucullus, c. 7.)

[473] Cæsar was consul B.C. 59.

[474] The measure was for the distribution of Public land (Dion Cassius, 38. c. 1, &c. &c.) and it was an Agrarian Law. The law comprehended also the land about Capua (Campanus ager). Twenty thousand Roman citizens were settled on the allotted lands (Vell. Pater, ii. 44; Appianus, Civil Wars, ii. 10). Cicero, who was writing to Atticus at the time, mentions this division of the lands as an impolitic measure. It left the Romans without any source of public income in Italy except the Vicesimæ (Ad Attic. ii. 16, 18).

The Romans, who were fond of jokes and pasquinades against those who were in power, used to call the consulship of Cæsar, the consulship of Caius Cæsar and Julius Cæsar, in allusion to the inactivity of Bibulus, who could not resist his bolder colleague's measures. (Dion Cassius, 38. c. 8.)

[475] The marriage with Pompeius took place in Cæsar's consulship. Life of Crassus, c. 16.

This Servilius Cæpio appears to be Q. Servilius Cæpio, the brother of Servilia, the mother of M. Junius Brutus, one of Cæsar's assassins. Servilius Cæpio adopted Brutus, who is accordingly sometimes called Q. Cæpio Brutus. (Cicero, Ad Divers. vii. 21; Ad Attic. ii. 24.) Piso was L. Calpurnius Piso, who with Aulus Gabinius was consul B.C. 58.

[476] Q. Considius Gallus. He is mentioned by Cicero several times in honourable terms (Ad Attic. ii. 24).

[477] Cicero went into exile B.C. 58. See the Life of Cicero, c. 30.

Dion Cassius (38. c. 17) states that Cæsar was outside of the city with his army, ready to march to his province, at the time when Clodius proposed the bill of penalties against him. Cicero says the same (Pro Sestio, c. 18). Cæsar, according to Dion, was not in favour of the penalties contained in the bill; but he probably did not exert himself to save Cicero. Pompeius, who had presided at the comitia in which Clodius was adrogated into a Plebeian family, in order to qualify him to be a tribune, treated Cicero with neglect (Life of Pompeius, c. 46). Cæsar owed Cicero nothing. Pompeius owed him much. And Cicero deserved his punishment.

[478] Cæsar's Gallic campaign began B.C. 58.

He carried on the war actively for eight years, till the close of B.C. 51. But he was still proconsul of Gallia in the year B.C. 50. Plutarch has not attempted a regular narrative of Cæsar's campaigns, which would have been foreign to his purpose (see the Life of Alexander, c. 1); nor can it be attempted in these notes. The great commander has left in his Commentary on the Gallic War an imperishable record of his subjugation of Gaul.

[479] Plutarch here, after his fashion, throws in a few anecdotes without any regard to the chronological order.

[480] Massalia, an ancient Greek settlement, now Marseilles, was called Massilia by the Romans. The siege of Massalia is told by Cæsar (Civil War, ii. 1, &c.). It took place after Pompeius had fled from Brundisium.

[481] The story of Scæva is told by Cæsar (Civil War, iii. 53). The missiles were arrows. As to the exact number of arrows that the brave centurion Scæva received in his shield, see the note in Oudendorp's Cæsar. Scæva was promoted to the first class of centurions (Suetonius. Cæsar, 68).

[482] Cordoba or Cordova in Hispania Bætica. Cæsar must therefore have been subject to these attacks during his quæstorship, or at least his prætorship in Spain.

Of Cæsar's endurance and activity, Suetonius also (Cæsar, 57) has preserved several notices.

[483] Kaltwasser translates this: "He travelled with such speed that he did not require more than eight days to reach the Rhone after leaving Rome;" as if this was his habit. But Kaltwasser is mistaken.

[484] See the Life of Pompeius, c. 10.

In the time of Gellius (xvii. 9) there was extant a collection of Cæsar's letters to C. Oppius and Cornelius Balbus, written in a kind of cipher. (See Suetonius, Cæsar, 56.) Two letters of Cæsar to Oppius and Balbus are extant in the collection of Cicero's letters (Ad Atticum, ix. 8, 16), both expressed with admirable brevity and clearness. One of them also shows his good sense and his humanity.

[485] The story is also told by Suetonius (Cæsar, 54). Instead of using plain oil, Leo thought he should please his guests by mixing it with a fragrant oil (conditum oleum pro viridi). He was an ill-bred fellow for his pains; but a well-bred man would affect not to notice his blunder.

[486] This campaign belongs to B.C. 58. The Helvetii occupied the country between the Rhine, the Jura, the Rhone, and the Rhætian Alps. The history of the campaign is given by Cæsar (Gallic War, i. 2-29; Dion Cassius, 38, c. 31). The Arar is the Saone, which joins the Rhone at Lyons.

[487] This German chief had been acknowledged as king and ally (rex et amicus) during Cæsar's consulship, B.C. 59. What territory the Romans considered as belonging to his kingdom does not appear. The campaign with Ariovistus and the circumstances which preceded it are told by Cæsar (Gallic War, i. 31, &c.).

The speech of Cæsar in which he rated the men for their cowardice is reported by himself (Gallic War, i. 40). The pursuit of the Germans was continued for five miles according to the MSS. of Cæsar; but some editors in place of 'five' have put 'fifty.' Plutarch's 400 stadia are equal to 50 Roman miles.

[488] Cæsar (Gallic War, i. 54). The army wintered in the country between the Jura, the Rhone and Saone, and the Rhine; which was the country of the Sequani. Cæsar says that he went into Citerior Gallia, that is, North Italy, 'ad conventus agendos,' to make his circuits for the administration of justice and other civil business. He may be excused for not saying anything of his political intrigues.

[489] The rising of the Belgæ is the subject of Cæsar's Second Book. This campaign was in B.C. 57. It was not a rebellion of the Belgæ, for they had not been conquered, but they feared that the Romans would attack them after completing the subjugation of the Galli. The Belgæ were defeated on the Axona, the Aisne, a branch of the Seine (Gallic War, ii. 9-11). There is no mention in Cæsar of lakes and rivers being filled with dead bodies.

[490] The Nervii considered themselves of German origin. They occupied Hainault in Belgium, and the modern cities of Cambray and Tournay in France were within their limits. The Nervii were on the Sabis, the Sambre. Cæsar (ii. 25) speaks of seizing a shield and restoring the battle. Plutarch has taken from Cæsar (c. 29) the amount of the enemy's loss. See Dion Cassius (39. c. 1, &c.)

[491] "Ob easque res ex litteris Cæsaris dies xv subplicatio decreta est, quod ante id tempus accidit nulli." (Cæsar, Gallic War, ii. 35.)

[492] See the Life of Crassus, c. 14; Life of Pompeius, c. 51. The meeting at Luca was at the end of B.C. 56, and Plutarch has omitted the campaign of that year, which is contained in Cæsar's Third Book of the Gallic War.

[493] Csasar (iv. 1) names them Usipetes and Tenetheri. The events in this chapter belong to B.C. 55, when Cn. Pompeius Magnus and M. Licinius Crassus were consuls for the second time.

[494] Cæsar, iv. c. 12. Plutarch here calls the Commentaries ἐφημερίδες, which means a Diary or Day-book. The proper Greek word would be ὑπομνήματα. Kaltwasser accordingly concludes that Plutarah appears to have confounded the Ephemerides and the Commentarii, or at least to have used the word ἐφημερίδες improperly instead of ὑπομνήματα. There is no proof that Cæsar kept a diary. That kind of labour is suited to men of a different stamp from him. Plutarch means the Commentarii. It is true that Servius (Ad Æneid. xi. 743) speaks of a diary (Ephemeris) of Cæsar, which records his being once captured by the Gauls. But see the note of Davis on this passage (Cæsar, ed. Oudendorp, ii. 999). Suetonius, who enumerates Cæsar's writings (Cæsar, 55, 56), mentions no Ephemeris. There were abundant sources for anecdotes about Cæsar. The Roman himself wrote as an historian: he was not a diary keeper.

[495] Tanusius Geminus wrote a history which is mentioned by Suetonius (Cæsar, 9). Cato's opinion on this occasion was merely dictated by party hostility and personal hatred. His proposal was unjust and absurd. Cæsar had good reason for writing his Anticato.

[496] Or Sigambri, a German tribe on the east bank of the Lower Rhine. They bordered on the Ubii, and were north of them. The name probably remains in the Sieg, a small stream which enters the Rhine on the east bank, nearly opposite to Bonn.

[497] Cæsar describes the construction of this bridge (iv. 17) without giving any particulars as to the place where it was made. The situation can only be inferred from a careful examination of the previous part of his history, and it has been subject of much discussion, in which opinions are greatly divided. The narratives of Dion Cassius (39. c. 48) and Florus (iii. 10) give some assistance towards the solution of the question. Professor Müller, in an excellent article in the 'Jahrbücher des Vereins von Alterthumsfreunden im Rheinlande' (vii. 1845), has proved that the bridge must have been built near Coblenz. Cæsar defeated the Germans in the angle between the Moselle and the Rhine. He must have crossed the Moselle in order to find a convenient place for his bridge, which he would find near Neuwied. The bridge abutted on the east bank on the territory of the Ubii, who were his friends. The narrative of Cæsar, when carefully examined, admits of no other construction than that which Müller has put upon it; and if there were any doubt, it is removed by Cæsar himself in another passage (Gallic War, vi. 9) where he speaks of his second bridge, which gave him a passage from the territory of the Treviri into that of the Ubii, and he adds that the site of the second bridge was near that of the first.

In the Gallic War (iv. 15) Cæsar speaks of the junction (ad confluentem Mosæ et Rheni) of the Mosa and the Rhine, where Müller assumes that he means the Moselle, as he undoubtedly does. Either the reading Mosa is wrong, or, what is not improbable, both the Moselle and the Maas had the same name, Mosa. Mosella or Mosula is merely the diminution of Mosa. At this confluence of the Moselle and Rhine the town of Coblenz was afterwards built, which retains the ancient name. Cæsar indicates which Mosa he means clearly enough by the words 'ad confluentem.' There was no 'confluens' of the Great Mosa and the Rhenus.

[498] The first expedition of Cæsar to Britain was in the autumn of B.C. 55, and is described in his fourth book of the Gallic War, c. 20, &c. He landed on the coast of Kent, either at Deal or between Sandgate and Hythe. His second expedition was in the following year B.C. 54, which is described in the fifth book, c. 8 &c. He crossed the Thamesis (Thames) in face of the forces of Cassivelaunus, whose territories were bounded on the south by the Thames.

There has been some discussion on the place where Cæsar crossed the Thames. Camden (p. 882, ed. Gibson) fixes the place at Cowey Stakes near Oatlands on the Thames, opposite to the place where the Wey joins the Thames. Bede, who wrote at the beginning of the eighth century, speaks of stakes in the bed of the river at that place, which so far corresponds to Cæsar's description, who says that the enemy had protected the ford with stakes on the banks and across the bed of the river. Certain stakes still exist there, which are the subject of a paper in the Archæologia, 1735, by Mr. Samuel Gale. The stakes are as hard as ebony; and it is evident from the exterior grain that the stakes were the entire bodies of young oak trees. Cæsar places the ford eighty miles from the coast of Kent where he landed, which distance agrees very well with the position of Oatlands, as Camden remarks.

Cassivelaunus had been appointed Commander-in-chief of all the British forces. This is the king whom Plutarch means. He agreed to pay an annual tribute to the Romans (Gallic War, v. 22), and gave them hostages. Compare Cicero, Ad Attic. iv. 17.

Cæsar wrote two letters to Cicero while he was in Britain. He wrote one letter on the 1st of September, which Cicero received on the 28th of September (Ad Quintum Fratrem, iii. 1). Cicero here alludes to Cæsar's sorrow for his daughter's death, of which Cæsar had not received intelligence when he wrote to Cicero; but Cicero knew that the news had gone to him. On the 24th of October, Cicero received another letter written from the British coast from Cæsar, and one from his brother Quintus who was with Cæsar. This letter was written on the 26th of September. Cæsar states (Gallic War, v. 23) that it was near the time of the equinox when he was leaving Britain.

[499] See the Life of Crassus, c. 16, and the Life of Pompeius, c. 53.

[500] L. Aurunculeius Cotta and Q. Titurius Sabinus were sent into the country of the Eburones, the chief part of which was between the Maas and the Rhine, in the parallels of Namur and Liege. This king, who is called Abriorix, is named Ambiorix by Cæsar (Gallic War, 24, &c.) The Gauls, after an unsuccessful attempt on the camp, persuaded the Romans to leave it under a promise that they should have a safe passage through the country of the Eburones. Ambiorix made them believe that there was going to be a general rising of the Gauls, and that their best plan was to make their way to the camp of Q. Cicero or Labienus. When they had left their camp, the Gauls fell upon them in a convenient spot and massacred most of them.

[501] Quintus Cicero was encamped in the country of the Nervii in Hainault. The attack on his camp is described by Cæsar (Gallic War, v. 39, &c.) Cæsar says, when he is speaking of his own camp (v. 50), 'Jubet ... ex omnibus partibus castra altiore vallo muniri portasque obstrui, &c.... cum simulatione terroris;' of which Plutarch has given the meaning.

[502] Kaltwasser remarks that Plutarch passes over the events in Cæsar's Sixth Book of the Gallic War, as containing matters of less importance for his purpose.

[503] Cæsar (vii. 4) calls him Vercingetorix. He was of the nation of the Arverni, whom Plutarch (as his text stands) calls Arvenni in c. 25, and Aruveni in c. 26. The Arverni were on the Upper Loire in Auvergne. The Carnunteni, whom Cæsar calls Carnutes, were partly in the middle basin of the same river. Orleans (Genapum) and Chartres (Autricum) were their headquarters.

[504] ταῖς αὐταῖς ὁδοῖς in the MSS., which gives no sense. I have adopted Reiske's alteration αὐταῖς ταῖς ὁδοῖς. Cæsar (vii. 8) describes his march over the Cevenna, the Cevennes, in winter. He had to cut his road through snow six feet deep. The enemy, who considered the Cevennes as good a protection as a wall, were surprised by his sudden appearance.

[505] So Plutarch writes it. It is Ædui in Cæsar's text, or Hædui. The Ædui, one of the most powerful of the Gallic tribes, were situated between the Upper Loire and the Saone, and possessed the chief part of Burgundy. The Saone separated them from the Sequani on the east.

[506] The Lingones were on the Vosges, which contain the sources of the Marne and the Moselle. The Saone separated them from the Sequani on the south-east. The account of this campaign is unintelligible in Plutarch. It is contained in Cæsar's Seventh Book.

[507] A small matter in itself; but if true, a trait in Cæsar's character. Schaefer has the following note: "Aliter facturus erat Cyrneus, omnino inferior ille Romano." The Corsican is Napoleon. Cæsar was the magnanimous man, whom Aristotle describes (Eth. Nicom. iv. 7); Napoleon was not.

[508] Alise, or rather the summit of Mont Auxois, west of Dijon in Burgundy, represents the Alesia of Cæsar. A stream flowed along each of two sides of the city. Alesia belonged to the Mandubii, who were dependants of the Ædui. The siege and capture of Alesia, B.C. 52, are told by Cæsar (Gallic War, vii. 68, &c.)

The assembling of the Gallic nations was a last great effort to throw off the yoke.

Dion Cassius (40. c. 41) says Vercingetorix was put in chains. Seven years after he appeared in Cæsar's triumph, after which he was put to death.

Cæsar passed the winter of B.C. 51 at Nemetocenna, Arras, in Belgium. The final pacification of Gaul is mentioned (viii. 48). Cæsar left Gaul for North Italy in the early part of B.C. 50, and having visited all the cities in his province on the Italian side of the Alps, he again returned to Nemetocenna in Belgium, and after finally settling affairs in those parts, he returned to North Italy, where he learned that the two legions, which had been taken from him for the Parthian war, had been given by the consul C. Marcellus to Pompeius, and were kept in Italy.

In nine years Cæsar completed the subjugation of all that part of Gaul which is bounded by the Saltus Pyrenæus, the Alps and the Cevennes, the Rhine and the Rhone; and it was reduced to the form of a province. (Suetonius, Cæsar, c. 25.) With the capture of Alesia the Seventh book of the Gallic War ends. The Eighth book is not by Cæsar.

[509] As to the disturbances at Rome mentioned in this chapter, see the Life of Pompeius, c. 54, &c., notes.

[510] Life of Pompeius, c. 52.

[511] M. Claudius Marcellus, consul B.C. 51, with S. Sulpicius Rufus.

[512] Novum Comum or Novocomum; north of the Padus, had been settled as a Colonia Latina by Cæsar. (Appianus, Civil Wars, ii. 26.)

The government of the colonia was formed on a Roman model: there was a body of Decuriones or Senators.

[513] See the Life of Pompeius, c. 58; Appianus, Civil Wars, ii, 26; Dion Cassius, 40. c. 59.

[514] L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, whom Cæsar took in Corfinium, c. 34.

[515] See the Life of Pompeius, c. 52.

[516] Cæsar (Civil War, i. 1) mentions this letter; but it was read in the Senate after great opposition. The consuls of the year B.C. 49 were L. Cornelius Lentulus and C. Claudius Marcellus.

Cæsar, in the first few chapters of the Civil War, has clearly stated all the matters that are referred to in c. 30 and 31. The "letters" mentioned in c. 31 as coming before Curio and Antonius left Rome, are not mentioned by Cæsar. Plutarch might have confounded this with another matter. (Civil War, i. 3.)

[517] Cæsar was at Ravenna when the tribunes fled from Rome, and he first saw them at Ariminum, Rimini, which was not within the limits of Cæsar's province. (Civil War, i. 6; Dion Cassius, 41. c. 3.)

[518] Q. Hortensius Hortalus, a son of the orator Hortensius. He was an unprincipled fellow.

[519] Cæsar says nothing of the passage of the Rubico, but his silence does not disprove the truth of the story as told by Plutarch. The passage of the Rubico was a common topic (locus communis) for rhetoricians. Lucanus (Pharsalia, i. 213) has embellished it:—

This small stream does not appear to be identified with certainty. Some writers make it the Fiumicino.

Ariminum was not in Cæsar's province, and Plutarch must have known that, as appears from his narrative. Kaltwasser thinks that he may mean that it was originally a Gallic town, which was true.