Plutarch's Lives Volume III Part 32

thirty thousand men fell on the side of Pompeius, and three thousand equites (c. 31). See also Dion Ca.s.sius, 43, c. 36; and Appia.n.u.s, _Civil Wars_, ii. 104.]

[Footnote 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. Caesar, who was then at Gades (Cadiz), came shortly after to Hispalis, and addressed the people in a speech. s.e.xtus Pompeius was at Corduba during the battle, and he made his escape on hearing the news of his brother's defeat.]

[Footnote 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.]

[Footnote 577: Caesar celebrated his Spanish triumph in October, B.C.

45.]

[Footnote 578: Caesar was appointed Dictator for Life, and consul for ten years, (Appia.n.u.s, ii. 106.)

Dictators.h.i.+p 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 dictators.h.i.+p 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 dictators.h.i.+p 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 dictators.h.i.+p and that of Caesar must not be considered as the genuine office. Caesar was the last Roman who had the t.i.tle of Dictator. The subject of the Dictators.h.i.+p is discussed by Niebuhr, _Roman History_, vol. i. 552, _English Transl._]

[Footnote 579: The honours decreed to Caesar in the year before are mentioned by Dion Ca.s.sius (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-G.o.d." The further honours conferred on Caesar in this year are recorded by Dion Ca.s.sius (43. c. 44, &c.). A statue of the Dictator was to be placed in the temple of Quirinus (Romulus), which was equivalent to calling Caesar 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 Caesar should use the word Imperator as a t.i.tle prefixed to his name--Imperator Caius Julius Caesar. The old practice was to put it after the name, as M. Tullius Cicero Imperator.

The t.i.tle Imperator prefixed to the name does not occur on the medals of Caesar. But this decree of the Senate was the origin of the term Imperator being used as a t.i.tle by the Roman Emperors. (Dion Ca.s.sius, 43. c. 44.)]

[Footnote 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 Caesar, he had nothing to fear.]

[Footnote 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 Ca.s.sius, 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.)]

[Footnote 582: In B.C. 45 Caesar 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 Ca.s.sius, 43. c. 46.) The appointment of C. Caninius is mentioned by Cicero (_Ad Diversos_, vii. 30), who remarks that n.o.body dined in that consuls.h.i.+p, 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 consuls.h.i.+ps of this year. (Note to Cicero in the Variorum edition.)]

[Footnote 583: On the intended Parthian expedition of Caesar, see Dion Ca.s.sius, 43. c. 51.]

[Footnote 584: This design of Caesar is mentioned by Dion Ca.s.sius (44.

c. 5), Suetonius (_Caesar_, 441), and Plinius (_H.N._ iv. 4).]

[Footnote 585: This scheme is not mentioned by any other author that I can find. Circaeum, 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 ca.n.a.l, which with some locks might be practicable; but if the work could be accomplished, it would probably have no commercial advantages.]

[Footnote 586: Pometia is the common Roman form, from which comes the name of the Pometinae, or Pomptinae Paludes, now the Pontine Paludi; the site of Pometia is uncertain. That Caesar intended to accomplish the drainage of this tract is mentioned by Dion Ca.s.sius 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 p.r.o.ny, 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 Cyclopaedia,'--art. _Pomptine Marshes_. See also Westphal's two valuable maps of the Campagna di Roma, and his accompanying Memoir, Berlin and Stettin, 1829.]

[Footnote 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 gra.s.s, 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 Romische Kampagne_, p. 7.)]

[Footnote 588: The reformation of the Kalendar was effected in B.C.

46. Dion Ca.s.sius (43. c. 26) says that Caesar 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) Caesar intercalated two months of 67 days between November and December, and as this was the year in which, according to the old fas.h.i.+on, the intercalary month of 23 days had been inserted in February, the whole intercalation in this year was 90 days. Caesar 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 Ca.s.sius, all error was avoided except a very small one, and he adds, that to correct the acc.u.mulations 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. Rom. 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 Caesar was correctly interpreted. Dion Ca.s.sius in expressing the rule as to intercalation uses the phrase, [Greek: dia pente eton] d?? p??te ?t??.

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

[Footnote 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 Cyclopaedia,--art. _Sibyl_.]

[Footnote 590: Dion Ca.s.sius (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 Caesar had for not rising.]

[Footnote 591: L. Cornelius Balbus was a native of Gades. Pompeius Magnus gave him the Roman citizens.h.i.+p for his services in Spain against Sertorius, which was confirmed by a lex pa.s.sed B.C. 72, in the consuls.h.i.+p of Cn. Cornelius Lentulus. Probably to show his grat.i.tude to the consul, Balbus a.s.sumed the Roman name Cornelius. Balbus is often mentioned in Cicero's correspondence. After Caesar's death he attached himself to Caesar Octavia.n.u.s, and he was consul B.C. 40. He left a journal of the events of his own and Caesar's life. He also urged Hirtius (Pansa) to write the Eighth Book of the Gallic War (Preface addressed to Balbus), Suetonius, Caesar, 81.]

[Footnote 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 Caesar many pa.s.sages from North's Plutarch, makes Caesar say to the consul Antonius--

Forget not, in your speed, Antonius, To touch Calphurnia; for our elders say, The barren, touched in this holy chase, Shake off their sterile curse.

Act i. Sc. 2.]

[Footnote 593: Dion Ca.s.sius (44. c. 9) speaks of the honours conferred on Caesar and his supposed ambitious designs.]

[Footnote 594: The Latin word "brutus" means "senseless," "stupid."

The c.u.maei, the inhabitants of c.u.me in aeolis, were reckoned very stupid. Strabo (p. 622) gives two reasons why this opinion obtained; one of which was, that it was not till three hundred years after the foundation of the city that they thought of making some profit by the customs duties, though they had a port.]

[Footnote 595: Compare the Life of Brutus, c. 1, Dion Ca.s.sius (44. c.

12), and Drumann, _Geschichte Roms_, Junii, p. 2. This Brutus was not a descendant of him who expelled the last king.]

[Footnote 596: Plutarch means the office of Praetor Urba.n.u.s, the highest of the offices called praetors.h.i.+ps. There was originally only one praetor, the Praetor Urba.n.u.s. There were now sixteen. The Praetor Urba.n.u.s was the chief person engaged in the administration of justice in Rome; and hence the allusion to the "tribunal" ([Greek: bema] ?a) where the Praetor sat when he did business.]

[Footnote 597: I have translated this according to the reading of Sintenis. Compare the Life of Brutus, c. 8. Caesar was very lean. As to the writings compare Dion Ca.s.sius (44, c. 12).]

[Footnote 598: See the Life of Brutus, c. 89.]

[Footnote 599:

_Caesar_. Let me have men about me that are fat; Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o' nights: Yond' Ca.s.sius has a lean and hungry look; He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.

Shakspere, _Julius Caesar_, Act i. Sc. 2.]

[Footnote 600: The pa.s.sage was in the Historical Memoirs. See the Life of Sulla, c. 26; and the Life of Lucullus, c. 28. Notes.]

[Footnote 601: The Ides of March were the 15th, on which day Caesar was murdered.]

[Footnote 602: Compare Dion Ca.s.sius (44. c. 17). Caesar also had a dream.]

[Footnote 603: I have kept Plutarch's word, which is Greek. Suetonius (Caesar, c. 81) expresses it by the Latin word "fastigium," and also Florus (iv. 2), Cicero (_Philipp._ ii. 43), and Julius Obsequens (c.

127), who enumerates the omens mentioned by Plutarch. The pa.s.sage of Livius must have been in the 116th Book, which is lost. See the Epitome. The word here probably means a pediment. But it also signifies an ornament, such as a statue placed on the summit of a pediment.]

[Footnote 604: Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus was the son of Decimus Junius Brutus, Consul B.C. 77, and grandson of Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus, Consul B.C. 138. He was adopted by Aulus Postumius Albinus, Consul, B.C. 99, whence he took the name Albinus. He served under Caesar in Gaul, during which campaign he destroyed the fleet of the Veneti. (_Gallic War_, iii. 12, &c.) Decimus Brutus was a great favourite with Caesar, who by his will placed him in the second degree of succession; he also gave him the province of Cisalpine Gaul, which Brutus held after Caesar's death, and appointed him to be consul for B.C. 42. In the year B.C. 43, after M. Antonius had united himself with M. Lepidus, the governor of Gallia Narbonensis, and L. Munatius Plancus and Asinius Pollio had also joined M. Antonius, Decimus Brutus attempted to make his escape into Macedonia to Marcus Brutus; but he was overtaken in the Alps by the cavalry of Antonius, and put to death after abjectly praying for mercy. This was the just punishment of a treacherous friend who helped Caesar to the supreme power and then betrayed him (Vell. Paterculus, ii. 61). Like many other men, he did well enough when he was directed by others, but when he was put in command, he lost his head and threw away the opportunities that he had. There are extant several of his letters to Ciecro and letters of Cicero to him. (Dion Ca.s.sius, 43. c. 53, and the references in the notes; Drumann, _Geschichte Roms_, Junii.)]

[Footnote 605: It was usual for the Romans in their wills to subst.i.tute an heres, one or more (in the Roman sense), to take the property in case the person who was first named in the will for any reason did not take it. Caesar's first heres was his great nephew, C.

Octavius, afterwards Augustus.]

[Footnote 606: It was the general opinion that some roll or writing was put into Caesar's hands, which informed him of the conspiracy; but, as is usual in such cases, there were different statements current about the particulars of this circ.u.mstance. Compare Dion Ca.s.sius, 44.

c. 18.]

[Footnote 607: According to Dion Ca.s.sius (41. c. 52) the Senate was a.s.sembled in the curia ([Greek: synedrion] s???d????), which Pompeius had built.]