The Best of the Bureau/The_Best_of_the_Bureau_Bureau_Development_Inc._1992.iso/dp/0002/00024.txt

Text File | 1992-08-07 | 22KB | 328 lines

$Unique_ID{bob00024}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Julius Caesar
Chapter IX: Caesar In Egypt}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Abbott, Jacob}
$Affiliation{}
$Subject{caesar
cleopatra
alexandria
egypt
world
caesar's
pompey's
ptolemy
upon
called}
$Date{1900}
$Log{}
Title:       Julius Caesar
Author:      Abbott, Jacob
Date:        1900

Chapter IX: Caesar In Egypt

     Caesar surveyed the field of battle after the victory of Pharsalia, not
with the feelings of exultation which might have been expected in a victorious
general, but with compassion and sorrow for the fallen soldiers whose dead
bodies covered the ground.  After gazing upon the scene sadly and in silence
for a time, he said, "They would have it so," and thus dismissed from his mind
all sense of his own responsibility for the consequences which had ensued.

     He treated the immense body of prisoners which had fallen into his hands
with great clemency, partly from the natural impulses of his disposition,
which were always generous and noble, and partly from policy, that he might
conciliate them all, officers and soldiers, to acquiescence in his future
rule.  He then sent back a large portion of his force to Italy, and, taking a
body of cavalry from the rest, in order that he might advance with the utmost
possible rapidity, he set off through Thessaly and Macedon in pursuit of his
fugitive foe.

     He had no naval force at his command, and he accordingly kept upon the
land.  Besides, he wished, by moving through the country at the head of an
armed force, to make a demonstration which should put down any attempt that
might be made in any quarter to rally or concentrate a force in Pompey's
favor.  He crossed the Hellespont, and moved down the coast of Asia Minor.
There was a great temple consecrated to Diana at Ephesus, which, for its
wealth and magnificence, was then the wonder of the world.  The authorities
who had it in their charge, not aware of Caesar's approach, had concluded to
withdraw the treasures from the temple and loan them to Pompey, to be repaid
when he should have regained his power.  An assembly was accordingly convened
to witness the delivery of the treasures, and take note of their value, which
ceremony was to be performed with great formality and parade, when they
learned that Caesar had crossed the Hellespont and was drawing near.  The
whole proceeding was thus arrested, and the treasures were retained.

     Caesar passed rapidly on through Asia Minor, examining and comparing, as
he advanced, the vague rumors which were continually coming in in respect to
Pompey's movements.  He learned at length that he had gone to Cyprus; he
presumed that his destination was Egypt, and he immediately resolved to
provide himself with a fleet, and follow him thither by sea.  As time passed
on, and the news of Pompey's defeat and flight, and of Caesar's triumphant
pursuit of him, became generally extended and confirmed, the various powers
ruling in all that region of the world abandoned one after another the
hopeless cause, and began to adhere to Caesar.  They offered him such
resources and aid as he might desire.  He did not, however, stop to organize a
large fleet or to collect an army.  He depended, like Napoleon, in all the
great movements of his life, not on grandeur of preparation, but on celerity
of action.  He organized at Rhodes a small but very efficient fleet of ten
galleys, and, embarking his best troops in them, he made sail for the coasts
of Egypt.  Pompey had landed at Pelusium, on the eastern frontier, having
heard that the young king and his court were there to meet and resist
Cleopatra's invasion.  Caesar, however, with the characteristic boldness and
energy of his character, proceeded directly to Alexandria, the capital.

     Egypt was, in those days, an ally of the Romans, as the phrase was; that
is, the country, though it preserved its independent organization and its
forms of royalty, was still united to the Roman people by an intimate league,
so as to form an integral part of the great empire Caesar, consequently, in
appearing there with an armed force, would naturally be received as a friend.
He found only the garrison which Ptolemy's government had left in charge of
the city.  At first the officers of this garrison gave him an outwardly
friendly reception, but they soon began to take offense at the air of
authority and command which he assumed, and which seemed to them to indicate a
spirit of encroachment on the sovereignty of their own king.

     Feelings of deeply-seated alienation and animosity sometimes find their
outward expression in contests about things intrinsically of very little
importance.  It was so in this case.  The Roman consuls were accustomed to use
a certain badge of authority called the fasces.  It consisted of a bundle of
rods, bound around the handle of an ax.  Whenever a consul appeared in public,
he was preceded by two officers called lictors, each of whom carried the
fasces as a symbol of the power which was vested in the distinguished
personage who followed them.

     The Egyptian officers and the people of the city quarreled with Caesar on
account of his moving about among them in his imperial state, accompanied by a
life guard, and preceded by the lictors.  Contests occurred between his troops
and those of the garrison, and many disturbances were created in the streets
of the city.  Although no serious collision took place, Caesar thought it
prudent to strengthen his force, and he sent back to Europe for additional
legions to come to Egypt and join him.

     The tidings of Pompey's death came to Caesar at Alexandria, and with them
the head of the murdered man, which was sent by the government of Ptolemy,
they supposing that it would be an acceptable gift to Caesar. Instead of being
pleased with it, Caesar turned from the shocking spectacle in horror.  Pompey
had been, for many years now gone by, Caesar's colleague and friend.  He had
been his son-in-law, and thus had sustained to him a very near and endearing
relation.  In the contest which had at last unfortunately arisen, Pompey had
done no wrong either to Caesar or to the government at Rome.  He was the
injured party, so far as there was a right and a wrong to such a quarrel.  And
now, after being hunted through half the world by his triumphant enemy, he had
been treacherously murdered by men pretending to receive him as a friend.  The
natural sense of justice, which formed originally so strong a trait in
Caesar's character, was not yet wholly extinguished.  He could not but feel
some remorse at the thoughts of the long course of violence and wrong which he
had pursued against his old champion and friend, and which had led at last to
so dreadful an end.  Instead of being pleased with the horrid trophy which the
Egyptians sent him, he mourned the death of his great rival with sincere and
unaffected grief, and was filled with indignation against his murderers.

     Pompey had a signet ring upon his finger at the time of his
assassination, which was taken off by the Egyptian officers and carried away
to Ptolemy, together with the other articles of value which had been found
upon his person Ptolemy sent this seal to Caesar to complete the proof that
its possessor was no more.  Caesar received this memorial with eager though
mournful pleasure, and he preserved it with great care.  And in many ways,
during all the remainder of his life, he manifested every outward indication
of cherishing the highest respect for Pompey's memory.  There stands to the
present day, among the ruins of Alexandria, a beautiful column, about one
hundred feet high, which has been known in all modern times as Pompey's
Pillar.  It is formed of stone, and is in three parts.  One stone forms the
pedestal, another the shaft, and a third the capital.  The beauty of this
column, the perfection of its workmanship, which still continues in excellent
preservation, and its antiquity, so great that all distinct record of its
origin is lost, have combined to make it for many ages the wonder and