[520] In Plutarch's time the system of naming the Romans was greatly confused, and he extended the confusion to earlier times. C. Asinius Pollio, who was with Cæsar at the Rubico and at the battle of Pharsalia, wrote a history of the Civil Wars. He was also a poet. (Horatius, Od. ii. 1.) His work, as we may collect from c. 46, furnished materials for anecdotes about Cæsar.

[521] This dream according to Suetonius (Cæsar, c. 7) and Dion Cassius (41. c. 24) he had at Cades (Cadiz) in Spain during his quæstorship. The time of the dream is not unimportant, if the interpretation of it was that he was destined to have the dominion of the world. Cæsar has not recorded his dream. Sulla recorded his dreams. He was superstitious and cruel. Cæsar was not cruel, and there is no proof that he was superstitious.

[522] Pompeius went to Capua, where he thought of making a stand, but he soon moved on to Brundisium. On the confusion in the city see Dion Cassius (41. c. 5-9).

[523] The author of the Eighth book of the Gallic War (c. 52) speaks of Labienus being solicited by Cæsar's enemies. Cæsar had put him over Gaul south of the Alps. In the Civil War, Book 1, he is merely mentioned as having fortified Cingulum at his own cost. Cicero (Ad Attic. vii. 7) says that he was indebted to Cæsar for his wealth. His defection is mentioned by Cicero several times, and it gave a temporary encouragement to the party of Pompeius. (Ad Attic. vi. 12, 13.) Labienus joined Pompeius and the Consuls at Teanum in Campania on the 23rd of January.

[524] Corfinium three miles from the river Aternus. Cæsar (Civil War, i. 16-23) describes the siege of Corfinium. L. Domitius Ahenobarbus was treated kindly by Cæsar. He afterwards went to Massalia and defended it against Cæsar. This most excellent citizen, as Cicero calls him, met the death he so well deserved at the battle of Pharsalia, and as Cicero says (Phillipp. ii. 29), at the hand of M. Antonius.

[525] See the Life of Pompeius, c. 62.

[526] From this it appears that the Life of Pompeius was written after the Life of Cæsar.

[527] Cæsar (Civil War, i, 32) has reported his own speech.

[528] See the Life of Pompeius, c. 62.

[529] This was the "sanctius ærarium" (Cæsar, Civil War, i. 13), which Lentulus had left open; in such alarm had he left the city. This money, which was kept in the temple of Saturn, was never touched except in cases of great emergency. Vossius remarks that to save his own character, Cæsar says that he found this treasury open. But Cæsar does not say that he found it open. He says that Lentulus left it open. There was time enough for Metellus to lock the door after Lentulus ran away. Cæsar would have been a fool not to take the money; and if he wanted it, he would of course break the door open, if he found it shut. But whether the door was open or shut was unimportant; the wrongful act, if there was any, consisted in taking the money, and he would not have been excused for taking it simply because the door was unlocked. I believe Cæsar broke it open (Cicero Ad Attic. x. 4; Dion Cassius, 41. c. 17; and the authorities quoted by Reimarus). I also believe Cæsar when he says that Lentulus left the door unlocked. The Senate had supplied Pompeius with money for the war out of the ordinary treasury. When Cæsar took Corfinium, he gave to Domitius all the money that he found there, which was to a large amount, though this was public money and had been given to Domitius by Pompeius to pay his soldiers with. (Appianus, ii. 28; Cæsar, Civil War, i. 23.) When "that man of greatest purity and integrity," as Cicero calls him, M. Terentius Varro, commanded for Pompeius in Spain (B.C. 48), he carried off the treasure from the temple of Hercules at Cadiz. That man, on whom Cicero vents every term of abuse that his fear and hatred could supply, restored the stolen money to the god. (Cæsar, Civil War, ii. 18, 21.)

[530] The Spanish campaign against Afranius is contained in the Civil War, 34, &c. The legati of Pompeius in Spain were L. Afranius, consul B.C. 60, M. Petreius, and M. Terentius Varro, better known for his learning and his numerous works than for his military talents. After the surrender of Afranius and Petreius, Cæsar marched to the south of Spain, for Varro, who was in Lusitania, was making preparations for war. Varro, after some feeble efforts, surrendered to the conqueror at Cordova. Varro was treated kindly like all the rest who fell into Cæsar's hands, and he had the opportunity of placing himself against Cæsar at Dyrrachium.

On his return from the successful close of his Spanish campaign, Massalia surrendered to Cæsar after an obstinate resistance. (Cæsar, Civil War, ii. 22.)

It was on his return to Massalia from the south of Spain that Cæsar heard of his appointment as Dictator (Civil War, ii. 21).

[531] (Cæsar, Civil War, iii. 1; Dion Cassius, 41. c. 37.) Cæsar does not speak of those who had suffered in Sulla's time; nor does Dion.

[532] Cæsar and P. Servilius Isauricus (son of the consul Isauricus, B.C. 79) were elected Consuls for B.C. 48. See the Life of Pompeius, c. 54, notes; and of Cæsar, c. 57, Dictator.

When Cæsar had left Rome, the boys formed themselves into two parties, Pompeians and Cæsarians, and had a battle without arms, in which the Cæsarians were victorious. (Dion Cassius, 41, c. 39.)

As to Cæsar's forces, see Civil War, iii. 2.

[533] Dion Cassius (41. c. 45) tells this story of the boat adventure; and (Appianus, Civil Wars, ii. 57) Cæsar was uneasy at the delay of M. Antonius and his legions, and he feared that Antonius might desert him. Cæsar says nothing of this attempt to cross the sea. He very seldom mentions his personal risks. He left this to the anecdote collectors.

[534] The river appears to be the Anas of Dion (41. c. 45) which is near Apollonia, though he does not mention the river in his account of Cæsar's attempted voyage. This is the river which Strabo calls Æas, and Hekatæus calls Aous (Strabo, p. 316).

For the events in these three chapters see the Life of Pompeius, c. 65, &c., and the references in the notes.

[535] Cæsar calls the root Chara (Civil War, iii. 48. Comp. Plinius, N.H. 19, c. 8). These facts are mentioned in Cæsar. The events in the neighbourhood of Dyrrachium and Apollonia must be studied in Cæsar, Dion Cassius, Book 41, and Appianus, Book ii.

[536] Cæsar mentions the capture of Gomphi (Civil War, iii. 80), but he says nothing of the wine. Cæsar let his men plunder Gomphi. The town had offered him all its means and prayed him for a garrison, but on hearing of his loss at Dyrrachinm the people shut their gates against him and sent to Pompeius for aid. The town was stormed on the first day that it was attacked.

[537] As Kaltwasser observes, there was no bad omen in the dream, as it is here reported. We must look to the Life of Pompeius, c. 68, for the complete dream. Perhaps something has dropped out of the text here. Dacier, as Kaltwasser says, has inserted the whole passage out of the Life of Pompeius.

[538] This is an error. The name is Q. Cornificus. See the note of Sintenis. He was a quæstor of Cæsar. Calenus is Fulvus Calenus, who had been sent by Cæsar into Achaia, and had received the submission of Delphi, Thebæ, and Orchomenus, and was then engaged in taking other cities and trying to gain over other cities. (Cæsar, Civil War, iii. 55.)

[539] See the Life of Pompeius, c. 71.

[540] I have omitted the unmeaning words ἢ διὰ θείας ἥττης τεθαμβημένος. See the note of Sintenis.

[541] These words of Cæsar are also reported by Suetonius (Cæsar, 30), on the authority of Pollio. They are: Hoc voluerunt: tantis rebus gestis C. Cæsar condemnatus essem, nisi ab exercitu auxilium petissem. These words are more emphatic with the omission of 'they brought me into such a critical position,' and Casaubon proposes to erase them in Plutarch's text, that is, to alter and improve the text.

[542] A rich town of Lydia in Asia Minor on the north side of the Mæander. This miracle at Tralles and others are enumerated by Cæsar (Civil War, iii. 105; Dion Cassius, 41. c. 61). The book of Livius, in which this affair of Patavium (Padua) was mentioned (the 111th), is lost. See the Supplement of Freinsheim, c. 72.

[543] See life of Pompeius, c. 42, notes; and Appianus (Civil Wars, ii. 88).

[544] Cæsar crossed the Hellespont, where he met with C. Cassius Longinus going with a fleet to aid Pharnakes in Pontus. Cassius surrendered and was kindly treated, in consideration of which he afterwards assisted to murder Cæsar. (Appianus, Civil Wars, ii. 88.)

[545] Of Knidus. The same who is mentioned by Cicero (Ad Attic. xiii. 7) as a friend of Cæsar, and by Strabo, p. 48, &c.

Asia is the Roman province of Asia.

[546] Cæsar (Civil War, iii. 106) speaks of his arrival on the coast of Egypt. The Egyptians were offended to see the Roman fasces carried before him.

[547] Cæsar had the head of Pompeius burnt with due honours, and he built a temple to Nemesis over the ashes. The temple was pulled down by the Jews in their rising in Egypt during the time of Trajanus. (Appianus, Civil Wars, ii. 90.)

As to the seal ring see the Life of Pompeius, c. 80, and Dion Cassias (42. c. 18).

[548] The Alexandrine war, which is confusedly told here, is recorded in a single book entitled De Bello Alexandrino and in Dion Cassius (42. c. 34-44). The origin of it is told by Cæsar at the end of the third Book of the Civil War. The history of the Alexandrine war by Appianus was in his Ægyptiaca, which is lost. Dion Cassius, a lover of scandal, mentions that Cæsar's attachment to Kleopatra was the cause of the Alexandrine war (42. c. 44). But it could not be the sole cause. Cæsar landed with the insignia of his office, as if he were entering a Roman province, and it might be reasonably suspected by the Egyptians that he had a design on the country. Instead of thanking them for ridding him of his rival, he fixed himself and his soldiers in one of the quarters of Alexandria. Cæsar went to get money (Dion, 42. c. 9). Kleopatra kept him there longer than he at first intended to stay.

[549] Ptolemæus Auletes through Cæsar's influence had been declared a friend and ally of the Romans in Cæsar's consulship B.C. 59. (Cic. Ad Attic. ii. 16.) Ptolemæus had to spend money for this: he both gave and promised. It does not appear that this money was promised to Cæsar: it is more probable that it was promised to the Roman State and Cæsar came to get it.

[550] The story of Kleopatra coming to Cæsar is also told by Dion Cassius (42. c. 34). Cæsar mentions his putting Pothinus to death (Civil War, iii. 112). Cæsar had at first only 3200 foot soldiers and 800 cavalry to oppose to the 20,000 men of Achillas, who were not bad soldiers. Besides these 20,000 men Achillas had a great number of vagabonds collected from all parts of Cilicia and Syria.

[551] Alexandria had no springs, and it was supplied from the Nile, the water of which was received into cisterns under the houses. This supply was (Bell. Alex. 5, &c.) damaged by Ganymedes the Egyptian drawing up salt water from the sea and sending it into the cisterns. Cæsar supplied himself by digging wells in the sand.

[552] As to the destruction of the library see Dion Cassius (42. c. 38) and the notes of Reimarus. The destruction is not mentioned by Cæsar or the author of the Alexandrine war. Kleopatra afterwards restored it, and the library was famed for a long time after. Lipsius (Opera iii. 1124, Vesal 1675) has collected all that is known of this and other ancient libraries.

[553] The Pharos is a small island in the bay of Alexandria, which was connected with the mainland by a mole, and so divided the harbour into two parts. The story of the battle of the Pharos is told by Dion Cassius (42. c. 40), with the particulars about Cæsar's escape. See the notes of Reimarus.

The modern city of Alexandria is chiefly built on the mole which joined the old city to the mainland. (Article Alexandria, 'Penny Cyclopædia,' by the author of this note.)

[554] The King, the elder brother of Kleopatra, was drowned in the Nile. (Dion Cassius, 42. c. 43, and the notes of Reimarus.) His body was found. (Florus, ii. 60.)

[555] Cæsar did not add Egypt to the Roman Empire. He married Kleopatra to her younger brother, who was a boy. Dion says that he still continued his commerce with Kleopatra. Cæsar was nine months in Egypt, from October 48 to July 47 of the unreformed Kalendar.

Cæsarion, a Greek form from the word Cæsar, may have been Cæsar's son, for there is no doubt that Cæsar cohabited with Kleopatra in Egypt. There is more about this Cæsarion in Suetonius, Cæsar, c. 52, where the reading is doubtful; Cæsar Octavian. c. 17. When Cæsar Octavianus took Egypt he put Cæsarion to death.

[556] He had been acknowledged by Pompeius as king of the Bosporus after the death of his father. He was now in Asia Minor, where he had taken Amisus and had castrated all the male children. Cæsar after hearing of the defeat of Domitius Calvinus, his legatus, by Pharnakos, advanced against him and routed his army. Zela is eight hours south of Amasia, the birthplace of Strabo, and about 40° 15' N. lat. Pharnakes was afterwards murdered by Asander, one of his generals. (Appianus, Civil Wars, ii. 91; Dion Cassius, 42, 46; Bell. Alexandria, c. 72.)

The modern town of Zilleh, which contains 2000 houses, stands on the site of Zela. A hill rises abruptly above the plain near the centre of the present town, and occupies a commanding position. The appearance of the place corresponds very well with Strabo's description (p. 561), in whose time it was the capital of Zelitis. (Hamilton's Asia Minor, i. 361.)

[557] This is the best MS. reading, not Amintius; the true name is probably C. Matius. He was an intimate friend of Cæsar, and he is well spoken of by Cicero. He remained faithful to the cause of Cæsar after his death, and he attached himself to Octavianus. There is a letter of Cicero to Matius, with the answer of Matius (Cicero, Ad Diversos, xi. 27, 28) written after Cæsar's death, which shows him to have been a man of honour and courage, and worthy of the name of Cæsar's friend.

This letter of Cæsar's is probably a forgery of the anecdote-makers. Davis (note to Oudendorp's Cæsar, ii. 992) has indicated the probable source of this supposed letter. (Suetonius, Cæsar, c. 37.) The battle was a smart affair of several hours, and was not won without some loss.

[558] He was named Dictator for B.C. 47 by the Senate in Rome immediately after the battle of Pharsalia: he was at Alexandria when he received this news. He appointed M. Antonius his Master of the Horse and sent him to Rome. (Dion Cassius, 42. c. 21-33.)

[559] It broke out during his dictatorship. (Suetonius, Cæsar, c. 70; Dion Cassius, 42. c. 52.) The story is told very circumstantially by Appianus (Civil Wars, ii. 92). The soldiers demanded of Cæsar release from service (missio), and he granted it to them in a single word, Mitto. The soldiers having got what they asked for were no longer soldiers, but citizens; and Cæsar in the subsequent part of the conference properly addressed them as Quirites, just as Cicero addresses the Roman people by this name in one of his orations against Rullus. The soldiers at last prevailed on him to restore them to their former condition; and he set out with them for his African war. This affair is alluded to by Tacitus. (Annal. ii. 42; Lucanus, v. 357.)

[560] P. Cornelius Dolabella, a devoted adherent of Cæsar. His turbulent tribunate is recorded by Dion Cassius (42. c. 29, &c.). He was consul with M. Antonius B.C. 44. The name Amantius occurs here again. It is Amintius in some editions of Plutarch. Kaltwasser observes that nothing is known of Amintius and Corfinius. But Corfinius should be Cornificius; and Amantius should probably be C. Matius.

[561] Cato was not in the battle of Pharsalus. After the battle Cato, Scipio, Afranius, and Labienus went to Corcyra, whence they sailed to Africa to join Juba. (Life of Cato, c. 55; Dion Cassius, 42. c. 10; Appianus, Civil Wars, ii. 95, &c.)

The history of the African War is contained in one book, and is printed in the editions with the Gallic War of Cæsar. Cæsar landed at Hadrumetum, because Utica was strongly guarded. (Dion Cassius, 42. c. 58.)

[562] Comp. the African War, c. 1.

[563] Dion Cassius (42. c. 58) calls him Salatto. Suetonius (Cæsar, c. 59) also tells the same story. The African campaign is told by Dion Cassius, 43. c. 1, &c.

[564] Scipio avoided fighting as long as he could. Thapsus was situated on a kind of peninsula, south of Hadrumetum, as Dion Cassius states. But his description is not clear. There were salt-pans near it, which were separated from the sea by a very narrow tract. Cæsar occupied this approach to Thapsus, and then formed his lines about the town in the form of a crescent. Scipio came to relieve Thapsus, and this brought on a battle. (African War, 80.) Cæsar could not stop the slaughter after the battle was won.

[565] Petreius, Cæsar's former opponent in Spain, fled with Juba to Zama, where Juba had his family and his treasures. But the people would not receive Juba into the place. On which, after rambling about for some time with Petreius, in despair they determined to fight with one another that they might die like soldiers. Juba, who was strong, easily killed Petreius, and then with the help of a slave he killed himself. (African War, 94; Dion Cassius, 43, c. 8.)

Scipio attempted to escape to Spain on ship-board. Near Hippo Regius (Bona) he was in danger of falling into the hands of P. Silius, on which he stabbed himself. Afranius and Faustus Sulla, the son of the dictator, were taken prisoners and murdered by the soldiers in Cæsar's camp.

[566] As to the death of Cato, see the Life of Cato, c. 65.

[567] The work was in two books, and was written about the time of the battle of Munda, B.C. 45. (Suetonius, c. 56; Cicero, Ad Attic, xii. 40; Dion Cassius, 43. c. 13, and the notes of Reimarus about the "Anticato.")

[568] Cæsar made the kingdom of Juba a Roman province, of which he appointed C. Sallustius, the historian, proconsul. He laid heavy impositions on the towns of Thapsus and Hadrumetum. He imposed on the people of Leptis an annual tax of 3,000,000 pounds weight of oil (pondo olei), which Plutarch translates by the Greek word litræ. On his voyage to Rome he stayed at Carales (Cagliari) in Sardinia. He reached Rome at the end of July, B.C. 46. (African War, 97, &c.)

Dion Cassius (43. c. 15, &c.) gives us a speech of Cæsar before the Senate on his return to Rome.

[569] As Kaltwasser remarks, Plutarch has omitted the triumph over Gaul. (Dion Cassius, 43. c. 19; Appianus, Civil Wars, ii. 101.) After the triumph Vercingetorix was put to death. Arsinœ, the sister of Kleopatra, appeared in the Egyptian triumph in chains.

[570] See the Life of Sulla, c. 16 notes; and Dion Cassius, 51. c. 15.

[571] Plutarch has the word τρίκλινος. The Latin form is triclinium, a couch which would accomodate three persons at table. The word is of Greek origin, and simply means a place which will allow three persons to recline upon it. As triclinia were placed in eating-rooms, such a room is sometimes called triclinium. It is sometimes incorrectly stated that triclinium means three couches, and that a dining-room had the name of triclinium because it contained three couches; which is absurd. Vitruvius describes œci(dining-rooms) square and large enough to contain four triclinia, and leave room also for the servants (vi. 10). It may be true that three couches was a common number in a room.

[572] There was no census this year, as Rualdus quoted by Kaltwasser shows. Augustus had a census made in his sixth consulship, B.C. 28; and there had then been none for twenty-four years. That of B.C. 42 was in the consulship of M. Æmilius Lepidus and Munatius Plancus. It has been remarked that Plutarch gives the exact numbers that are given in Suetonius (Cæsar, 41), when he is speaking of the number of poor citizens who received an allowance of corn from the state, which number Cæsar reduced from 320,000 to 150,000. This passage, compared with Dion Cassius (43. c. 21), seems to explain the origin of Plutarch's statement. Appianus (Civil Wars, ii. 102) also supposed that it was a census. See Clinton, Fasti, Lustra Romana, B.C. 50. (See the Life of Caius Gracchus, c. 5, notes.)

[573] Cæsar was sole consul in the year B.C. 45. He was still dictator.

[574] Munda was in Bætica, west of Malaca (Malaga). The battle was fought on the day of the Liberalia, the feast of Liber or Bacchus, the 17th of March. Pompeius, B.C. 49, left Brundisium on the Ides of March, the 15th.

The Spanish campaign is contained in a book entitled "De Bello Hispaniensi," which is printed with the "Commentaries of Cæsar:" thirty thousand men fell on the side of Pompeius, and three thousand equites (c. 31). See also Dion Cassius, 43, c. 36; and Appianus, Civil Wars, ii. 104.

[575] Cneius Pompeius, the elder of the two sons of Pompeius Magnus, was overtaken after he had for some time eluded the pursuit of the enemy. His head was carried to Hispalis (Seville) and exhibited in public. Cæsar, who was then at Gades (Cadiz), came shortly after to Hispalis, and addressed the people in a speech. Sextus Pompeius was at Corduba during the battle, and he made his escape on hearing the news of his brother's defeat.

[576] C. Didius. According to Dion, Cn. Pompeius was killed by another set of pursuers, not by Didius. The author of the Spanish War (c. 40) does not mention Didius as having carried the head of Pompeius to Hispalis. After the death of Pompeius, Didius fell in a battle with some Lusitani who had escaped from Munda.

[577] Cæsar celebrated his Spanish triumph in October, B.C. 45.

[578] Cæsar was appointed Dictator for Life, and consul for ten years, (Appianus, ii. 106.)

Dictatorship was properly only a temporary office, and created in some great emergency, or for a particular purpose. The first dictator was T. Lartius, who was appoined, B.C. 501. The original period of office was only six months (Livius, ix. 34), and many dictators abdicated, that is, voluntarily resigned the dictatorship before the end of the six months. The Dictator had that authority within the city which the consuls, when in office, only had without. During his term of office there were no consuls. Under the Dictator there was a Magister Equitum, who was sometimes appointed probably by the Dictator. The whole question of the dictatorship is one of considerable difficulty. No dictator had been appointed for one hundred and twenty years before the time when Sulla was appointed; and his dictatorship and that of Cæsar must not be considered as the genuine office. Cæsar was the last Roman who had the title of Dictator. The subject of the Dictatorship is discussed by Niebuhr, Roman History, vol. i. 552, English Transl.

[579] The honours decreed to Cæsar in the year before are mentioned by Dion Cassius (43. c. 14). Among other things a large statue of him was made which was supported on a figure of the earth (probably a sphere); and there was the inscription—"Semideus, Half-God." The further honours conferred on Cæsar in this year are recorded by Dion Cassius (43. c. 44, &c.). A statue of the Dictator was to be placed in the temple of Quirinus (Romulus), which was equivalent to calling Cæsar a second founder of Rome. Cicero (Ad Attic. xii. 45, and xiii. 28)

Jokes Atticus on the new neighbour that he was going to have: Atticus lived on the Quirinal Hill, where the temple of Quirinus stood.

The Senate also decreed that Cæsar should use the word Imperator as a title prefixed to his name—Imperator Caius Julius Cæsar. The old practice was to put it after the name, as M. Tullius Cicero Imperator. The title Imperator prefixed to the name does not occur on the medals of Cæsar. But this decree of the Senate was the origin of the term Imperator being used as a title by the Roman Emperors. (Dion Cassius, 43. c. 44.)

[580] I do not find what particular honours Cicero proposed. His correspondence with Atticus during this period shows that he was dissatisfied with the state of affairs, and very uneasy about himself, though, as far as concerned Cæsar, he had nothing to fear.

[581] Carthage was destroyed B.C. 146; and Corinth in the same year by L. Mummius. Colonies were sent to both places in B.C. 44. (Dion Cassius, 43. c. 50.) Many Romans were sent to settle in both places. (Strabo, p. 833; Pausanias, ii. 1.) The colonization of Carthage had been attempted by Caius Gracchus. (Life of C. Gracchus, c. 11, notes.)

[582] In B.C. 45 Cæsar was consul for the fourth time and without a colleague. But he laid down the office before the end of the year, and Quintus Fabius Maximus and C. Trebonius were appointed consuls; the first instance of consuls being appointed for a part of the year, which afterwards became a common practice. (Dion Cassius, 43. c. 46.) The appointment of C. Caninius is mentioned by Cicero (Ad Diversos, vii. 30), who remarks that nobody dined in that consulship, and that the consul was so vigilant that he did not sleep during his term of office: in fact he was consul for only part of a day. An inscription records the consulships of this year. (Note to Cicero in the Variorum edition.)

[583] On the intended Parthian expedition of Cæsar, see Dion Cassius, 43. c. 51.

[584] This design of Cæsar is mentioned by Dion Cassius (44. c. 5), Suetonius (Cæsar, 441), and Plinius (H.N. iv. 4).

[585] This scheme is not mentioned by any other author that I can find. Circæum, or Circeii, as the Romans called it, is the mountain promontory, now Circello or Circeo, between which and Tarracina lies the southern part of the Pomptine marshes. The intended cut must therefore run nearly in the direction of the Via Appia and to the west of it. But considerable cuttings would be required on that more elevated part of the Campagna which lies between the mountains of Alba and the nearest part of the coast. The basin of the Pomptine marshes is bounded by the offsets of the Alban mountains, the Volscian mountains, and the sea. In the central part it is only a few feet above the sea-level, and in some parts it is below it. When a violent south-west wind raises the sea on the coast between Tarracina and Circeo, the water would be driven into the basin of the Pomptine marshes instead of flowing out. There would therefore be no sufficient fall of water to keep the channel clear, even if the head of the cut, where it originated in the Tiber, were high enough; and that is doubtful. The scheme was probably a canal, which with some locks might be practicable; but if the work could be accomplished, it would probably have no commercial advantages.

[586] Pometia is the common Roman form, from which comes the name of the Pometinæ, or Pomptinæ Paludes, now the Pontine Paludi; the site of Pometia is uncertain. That Cæsar intended to accomplish the drainage of this tract is mentioned by Dion Cassius and Suetonius.

Setia (Sezza), noted for its wine, is on the Volscian hills (the Monti Lepini), and on the eastern margin of the marshes. The physical condition of this tract is described by Prony, in his "Description Hydrographique et Historique des Marais Pontins," 4to. Paris, 1822; the work is accompanied by a volume of plans and sections and a map of the district. A sketch of the physical character of this district, and of the various attempts to drain it, is also given in the 'Penny Cyclopædia,'—art. Pomptine Marshes. See also Westphal's two valuable maps of the Campagna di Roma, and his accompanying Memoir, Berlin and Stettin, 1829.

[587] Ostia, the old port of Rome, on the east bank of the Tiber near the mouth of the river. The present Ostia is somewhat farther inland, and was built in the ninth century by Pope Gregory the Fourth. There are extensive remains of the old town, but they are in a very decayed condition. "Numerous shafts of columns, which are scattered about in all directions, remains of the walls of extensive buildings, and large heaps of rubbish covered with earth and overgrown with grass, give some, though a faint, idea of the splendour, of the ancient city, which at the time of its greatest splendour, at the beginning of our era, had eighty thousand inhabitants." (Westphal, Die Römische Kampagne, p. 7.)

[588] The reformation of the Kalendar was effected in B.C. 46. Dion Cassius (43. c. 26) says that Cæsar was instructed on this subject during his residence at Alexandria in Egypt. The Egyptians had a year of 365 days from a very early date (Herodotus, ii. 4). In this year (B.C. 46) Cæsar intercalated two months of 67 days between November and December, and as this was the year in which, according to the old fashion, the intercalary month of 23 days had been inserted in February, the whole intercalation in this year was 90 days. Cæsar made the reformed year consist of 365 days, and he directed one day to be intercalated in every fourth year (quarto quoque anno) in order that the civil year, which began on the 1st of January, might agree with the solar year. The old practice of intercalating a month was of course dropped. The year B.C. 46 was a year of 445 days. By this reformation, says Dion Cassius, all error was avoided except a very small one, and he adds, that to correct the accumulations of this error, it would only be necessary to intercalate one day in 1461 years. But this is a mistake; for in 1460 years there would be an error of nearly eleven days too much. Ten days were actually dropped between the 4th and 15th of October, 1582, by Gregory XIII., with the sanction of the Council of Trent.

A curious mistake was soon made at Rome by the Pontifices who had the regulation of the Kalendar. The rule was to intercalate a day in every fourth year (quarto quoque anno). Now such expressions are ambiguous in Latin, as is shown by numerous examples. (Savigny, System des heut. Röm. Rechts, iv. 329.) The expression might mean that both the year one and the year four were to be included in the interpretation of this rule; and the Pontifices interpreted it accordingly. Thus, after intercalating in year one, they intercalated again in year four, instead of in year five. In the time of Augustus, B.C. 8. the error was corrected, and the civil year was set right by dropping the three intercalary days which came next after that year, three being the number of days in excess that had been intercalated. For the future the rule of Cæsar was correctly interpreted. Dion Cassius in expressing the rule as to intercalation uses the phrase, διὰ πέντε ἐτῶν.

The subject of Cæsar's reformation is explained in the notes to Dion Cassius (43. c. 26), ed. Reimarus, and in the article Calendar (Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities) by Professor Key.

[589] The Romans had a large collection of these writings (libri Sibyllini) which were kept in the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus under the care of particular functionaries (duumviri sacrorum). On this curious subject the reader will find sufficient information in the Penny Cyclopædia,—art. Sibyl.

[590] Dion Cassius (44. c. 8), who tells the story, says that he was seated in the vestibule of the Temple of Venus; and he mentions another excuse that Cæsar had for not rising.

[591] L. Cornelius Balbus was a native of Gades. Pompeius Magnus gave him the Roman citizenship for his services in Spain against Sertorius, which was confirmed by a lex passed B.C. 72, in the consulship of Cn. Cornelius Lentulus. Probably to show his gratitude to the consul, Balbus assumed the Roman name Cornelius. Balbus is often mentioned in Cicero's correspondence. After Cæsar's death he attached himself to Cæsar Octavianus, and he was consul B.C. 40. He left a journal of the events of his own and Cæsar's life. He also urged Hirtius (Pansa) to write the Eighth Book of the Gallic War (Preface addressed to Balbus), Suetonius, Cæsar, 81.

[592] The Lupercalia are described in the Life of Romulus, c. 21. The festival was celebrated on the 15th of February. It was apparently an old shepherd celebration; and the name of the deity Lupercus appears to be connected with the name Lupus (wolf), the nurturer of the twins Romulus and Remus. Shakspere, who has literally transferred into his play of Julius Cæsar many passages from North's Plutarch, makes Cæsar say to the consul Antonius—

Act i. Sc. 2.