The Best of the Bureau/The_Best_of_the_Bureau_Bureau_Development_Inc._1992.iso/dp/0002/00025.txt

Text File | 1992-08-07 | 24KB | 366 lines

$Unique_ID{bob00025}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Julius Caesar
Chapter X: Caesar Imperator}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Abbott, Jacob}
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$Subject{caesar
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rome
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$Date{1900}
$Log{}
Title:       Julius Caesar
Author:      Abbott, Jacob
Date:        1900

Chapter X: Caesar Imperator

     Although Pompey himself had been killed, and the army under his immediate
command entirely annihilated, Caesar did not find that the empire was yet
completely submissive to his sway.  As the tidings of his conquests spread
over the vast and distant regions which were under the Roman rule - although
the story itself of his exploits might have been exaggerated - the impression
produced by his power lost something of its strength, as men generally have
little dread of remote danger.  While he was in Egypt, there were three great
concentrations of power formed against him in other quarters of the globe: in
Asia Minor, in Africa, and in Spain.  In putting down these three great and
formidable arrays of opposition, Caesar made an exhibition to the world of
that astonishing promptness and celerity of military action on which his fame
as a general so much depends.  He went first to Asia Minor, and fought a great
and decisive battle there, in a manner so sudden and unexpected to the forces
that opposed him that they found themselves defeated almost before they
suspected that their enemy was near.  It was in reference to this battle that
he wrote the inscription for the banner, "Veni, vidi, vici." The words may be
rendered in English, "I came, looked, and conquered," though the peculiar
force of the expression, as well as the alliteration, is lost in any attempt
to translate it.

     In the mean time, Caesar's prosperity and success had greatly
strengthened his cause at Rome.  Rome was supported in a great measure by the
contributions brought home from the provinces by the various military heroes
who were sent out to govern them; and, of course, the greater and more
successful was the conqueror, the better was he qualified for stations of
highest authority in the estimation of the inhabitants of the city.  They made
Caesar dictator even while he was away, and appointed Mark Antony his master
of horse.  This was the same Antony whom we have already mentioned as having
been connected with Cleopatra after Caesar's death.  Rome, in fact, was filled
with the fame of Caesar's exploits, and, as he crossed the Adriatic and
advanced toward the city, he found himself the object of universal admiration
and applause.

     But he could not yet be contented to establish himself quietly at Rome.
There was a large force organized against him in Africa under Cato, a stern
and indomitable man, who had long been an enemy to Caesar, and who now
considered him as a usurper and an enemy of the republic, and was determined
to resist him to the last extremity.  There was also a large force assembled
in Spain under the command of two sons of Pompey, in whose case the ordinary
political hostility of contending partisans was rendered doubly intense and
bitter by their desire to avenge their father's cruel fate.  Caesar determined
first to go to Africa, and then, after disposing of Cato's resistance, to
cross the Mediterranean into Spain.

     Before he could set out, however, on these expeditions, he was involved
in very serious difficulties for a time, on account of a great discontent
which prevailed in his army, and which ended at last in open mutiny.  The
soldiers complained that they had not received the rewards and honors which
Caesar had promised them.  Some claimed offices, others money others lands,
which, as they maintained, they had been led to expect would be conferred upon
them at the end of the campaign.  The fact undoubtedly was, that, elated with
their success, and intoxicated with the spectacle of the boundless influence
and power which their general so obviously wielded at Rome, they formed
expectations and hopes for themselves altogether too wild and unreasonable to
be realized by soldiers; for soldiers, however much they may be flattered by
their generals in going into battle, or praised in the mass in official
dispatches, are after all but slaves, and slaves, too, of the very humblest
caste and character.

     The famous tenth legion, Caesar's favorite corps, took the most active
part in fomenting these discontents, as might naturally have been expected,
since the attentions and the praises which he had bestowed upon them, though
at first they tended to awaken their ambition, and to inspire them with
redoubled ardor and courage, ended, as such favoritism always does, in making
them vain, self-important, and unreasonable.  Led on thus by the tenth legion,
the whole army mutinied.  They broke up the camp where they had been stationed
at some distance beyond the walls of Rome, and marched toward the city.
Soldiers in a mutiny, even though headed by their subaltern officers, are very
little under command; and these Roman troops, feeling released from their
usual restraints, committed various excesses on the way, terrifying the
inhabitants and spreading universal alarm.  The people of the city were thrown
into utter consternation at the approach of the vast horde, which was coming
like a terrible avalanche to descend upon them.

     The army expected some signs of resistance at the gates, which, if
offered, they were prepared to encounter and overcome.  Their plan was, after
entering the city, to seek Caesar and demand their discharge from his service.
They knew that he was under the necessity of immediately making a campaign in
Africa, and that, of course, he could not possibly, as they supposed, dispense
with them.  He would, consequently, if they asked their discharge, beg them to
remain, and, to induce them to do it, would comply with all their expectations
and desires.

     Such was their plan.  To tender, however, a resignation of an office as a
means of bringing an opposite party to terms, is always a very hazardous
experiment.  We easily overrate the estimation in which our own services are
held taking what is said to us in kindness or courtesy by friends as the sober
and deliberate judgment of the public; and thus it often happens that persons
who in such case offer to resign, are astonished to find their resignations
readily accepted.

     When Caesar's mutineers arrived at the gates, they found, instead of
opposition, only orders from Caesar, by which they were directed to leave all
their arms except their swords, and march into the city.  They obeyed.  They
were then directed to go to the Campus Martius, a vast parade ground situated
within the walls, and to await Caesar's orders there.

     Caesar met them in the Campus Martius, and demanded why they had left
their encampment without orders and come to the city.  They stated in reply,
as they had previously planned to do, that they wished to be discharged from
the public service.  To their great astonishment, Caesar seemed to consider
this request as nothing at all extraordinary, but promised, on the other hand,
very readily to grant it.  He said that they should be at once discharged, and
should receive faithfully all the rewards which had been promised them at the
close of the war for their long and arduous services. At the same time, he
expressed his deep regret that, to obtain what he was perfectly willing and
ready at any time to grant, they should have so far forgotten their duties as
Romans, and violated the discipline which should always be held absolutely
sacred by every soldier.  He particularly regretted that the tenth legion, on
which he had been long accustomed so implicitly to rely, should have taken a
part in such transactions.

     In making this address, Caesar assumed a kind and considerate, and even
respectful tone toward his men, calling them Quirites instead of soldiers - an
honorary mode of appellation, which recognized them as constituent members of
the Roman commonwealth.  The effect of the whole trans