ing into the hands of the republican faction. Varus and Labienus had escaped from Africa, and joined the standard under which Scapula marshalled the disaffected legions in Spain. Cnæus Pompeius had also issued from his retreat in the Balearic Isles, and as soon as he appeared in their camp every chief of the oligarchy waived his own pretensions to the command in deference to the man who represented the fame and fortunes of their late leader. Yet Scapula had the confidence of the soldiers, Labienus was an officer of tried ability and reputation, and Varus had at least held the highest military commands, while Cnæus himself was personally unknown to the legions in Spain, and his only achievement in war had been a dashing naval exploit. So cowed by its repeated reverses was the spirit of the old Roman party, which had revived for a moment in Africa with vain exultation at finding itself relieved from the ascendency of its own military champion. Cnæus, on his part, seems to have regarded the renewed contest in the light of a private quarrel. His warcry was not Rome, Liberty, or The Senate, but Pietas, Filial duty. The disaffection among Cæsar's soldiers had spread; a large body of them had enrolled themselves under their new leaders; their numbers had been augmented by provincial enlistments; even slaves had been drafted into the ranks ;' while the cities and states of the peninsula lent their aid more or less openly to the cause. It was not in the remoter parts of the province, or among the half-subdued native principalities, but in the centre of Roman influence and civilization, in Corduba itself, that the standard of the adventurers was unfurled. Cæsar had completed the ceremonies of his quadruple triumph, and was deeply engaged in the arduous task of legislation for the new system of government which he had undertaken to raise, when he found it necessary to postpone every other occupation to meeting his enemies Cæsar's final campaign in Spain, decided by the victory March 17, of Munda, A. U. 709. 151 feet respectively above the level of the Tiber. Bunsen, Beschreibung Roms, i. 31. 1 Appian, B. C. ii. 104. 2 Appian, B. C. ii. 103. once more in arms. So uncertain and tedious was the navigation of those days, that he may have chosen the land route across the Alps and Pyrenees, for the sake of reaching his destination with greater speed.' The details of the campaign into which he immediately plunged are given, but very obscurely, in the last of the series of contemporary memoirs which have hitherto been our guides throughout the military history of the period. In point of composition it betrays less literary accomplishment than any of its kindred works. The rude soldier who seems to have been its author, had no hesitation in recording in their undisguised enormity the cruelties which disgraced the conduct of both parties. Cæsar's character for humanity suffers more in this than in any other contemporary narrative of his actions. The campaign was, indeed, a series of butcheries on either side, but Cnæus was, perhaps, the most savagely ferocious of all the captains of the civil wars. The scenes of the last act of Roman liberty were laid in the valley of the Guadalquivir and the defiles of the Sierra Blanca. After a variety of desultory movements, of which we obtain from the narrative only an indistinct notion, we find the rival armies at last drawn up in hostile array on the field of Munda. Cæsar was this time superior in numbers, and especially in cavalry; but the enemy was well posted, and fought well: never, it is said, was the great conqueror brought so near to defeat and destruction. He exhibited, as on other critical occasions, all the personal courage of a private soldier, snatching a shield from one of the legion 4 1 Appian (1. c.) says that Cæsar arrived in Spain from Rome in twentyseven days accompanied by a part of his army; Suetonius (Jul. 56.) that he reached the Further Province in twenty-four. Strabo seems to rely on the same authorities as Appian (iii. 4.). From Rome to Corduba or Obulco, is more than a thousand miles, a distance which it is utterly impossible for an army to accomplish in the longest of these periods. The author of the Commentary on the Spanish War is contented with the expression "celeri festinatione," and Dion prudently follows him. 2 Comp. a letter of C. Cassius to Cicero (ad Div. xv. 19.). 3 Munda, the modern Monda, between Ronda and Malaga. 4 Auct. Bell. Hispan. 30. aries, and rushing within ten paces of the enemy's line, where he was exposed to the aim of two hundred piles and javelins. The officers were the first to dash forward to protect him with their bodies; and the soldiers, at the very height of their dismay, were recalled to themselves by this splendid example. When the battle was at last gained, Cæsar is said to have remarked, that he had often fought for victory, but never before for his life.1 Destruction of the republican leaders, and death of Cnæ us. Thirty thousand men were left on this decisive field, and among them Varus, Labienus, and many others of the remnant of the Roman nobility. Cnæus escaped from the scene of his disaster, and gained the coast with a few adherents. He had taken refuge on board a vessel, and was in the act of putting to sea, when having accidentally entangled his foot in a rope, an over-zealous attendant, in attempting to extricate him, wounded his ancle with the blow of a hatchet. He was now compelled to land again for the sake of obtaining surgical assistance: his retreat was discovered by his pursuers, and he was forced to quit it and betake himself to the forests. Wearied and desperate he threw himself at the foot of a tree, where he was speedily overtaken, and killed after a miserable struggle." His head, with those of his colleagues in arms, was presented to the conqueror; and the complete defeat and ruin of the adventurers was thus publicly notified. Of all the leaders of the senatorial party, Sextus Pompeius was now the only survivor. He had made his escape from maintains himthe field of Munda, and had sought an asylum in the wildest districts of the Hither Province. He had nothing to hope from the clemency of the conqueror, who had shown unusual bitterness against his family by the confiscation of Sextus alone self in arms. 1 Appian, B. C. ii. 104. The battle was fought on the 17th of March a. u. 709: "Ipsis Liberalibus fusi fugatique sunt Pompeiani." Auct. B. H. 31. Ovid. Fast. iii. 713.: "Tertia post Idus lux est celeberrima Baccho;" i. e. the third day inclusive; the Ides was the 15th Kal. Farnes. xvi. Kal. Apr. Liber. Libero in Ca.... Cæsar Hi[spaniam] Orell. Inscr. ii. p. 387. 2 Appian, B. C. ii. 105.; Dion, xliii. 40.; Auct. B. Hisp. 39. their patrimonial estates, and was now preparing to celebrate his triumph over them as foreigners and enemies of the state." Thus driven to despair, he infused new spirit into the predatory habits of the tribes among whom he had taken refuge, and continued to defy the power of the provincial authorities. Cæsar occupied himself for some months in reconstituting the government of Spain, taking precautions for the entire subjugation of the party which had shown such vitality in that quarter. The battle of Munda was fought on the seventeenth of March, but the dictator was not at liberty to return to Italy till September, after an absence of ten months. in Syria. The hostile attitude of the last of the Pompeii in Spain was not the only exception to the tranquillity which prevailed Disturbances generally throughout the empire. In Gaul the Bellovaci had risen in arms; but this movement was expeditiously repressed by Decimus Brutus, the proconsul of the newly conquered province. In the extreme East, however, the republican party still continued to make head, under the leadership of Cæcilius Bassus. Their champion was an obscure knight, and their forces were insignificant, consisting principally of two legions which Bassus had seduced from their allegiance to Sextus Cæsar, the commander to whose care Syria had been entrusted by his kinsman.* But the proximity of the Parthians, ever on the watch for an opportunity to wound the sides of their great rivals, rendered any movement in this quarter formidable. Sextus Cæsar was murdered by his soldiers, and Bassus took possession of the city of Apamea, which, with the assistance of the national enemies, he continued to hold against the petty attempts which were made to dislodge him. The dictator kept his eye upon him, and already meditated his destruction: but for the present he was content to leave his temerity unpunished, while he applied himself to the consolidation of his power by bold and comprehensive legislation at home. 1 Appian, l. c.; Cic. ad Att. xii. 37.; Dion, xlv. 10.; Strabo, iii. Liv. l. c.; Dion, xlvii. 26.; Strabo, xvi. 2.; Auct. B. Alex. 78. CHAPTER XX. CÆSAR'S LEGISLATION: HIS SUMPTUARY LAWS: INCREASE OF THE NUMBER OF THE SENATE LIMITATION OF THE TERM OF PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS: EXTENSION OF THE FRANCHISE: DISTRIBUTION OF LANDS TO THE VETERANS: MEASURES FOR MULTIPLYING THE FREE POPULATION OF ITALY: ASSIGNMENT OF THE JUDICIA TO THE SENATORS AND KNIGHTS, TO THE EXCLUSION OF THE ÆRARIAN TRIBUNES: REPRESSION OF CRIMES OF VIOLENCE, AND ABOLITION OF THE CLUBS.-CÆSAR CONTEMPLATES THE ESTABLISHMENT OF AN UNIFORM SYSTEM OF ADMINISTRATION: HE PROPOSES TO COMPILE A CODE OF LAWS, AND TO EXECUTE A COMPLETE MAP OF THE EMPIRE.-CESAR'S PATRONAGE OF LITERATURE: HIS REFORM OF THE CALENDAR: HIS REFORMS ARE VIEWED WITH JEALOUSY BY THE NOBLES: HE IS ACCUSED OF PRIDE AND ARROGANCE. -THE DEMEANOUR OF CLEOPATRA TENDS TO MAKE HIM UNPOPULAR; AT THE SAME TIME HE IS FLATTERED AND HIS CLEMENCY EXTOLLED.-HE DISBANDS HIS SOLDIERS, AND RELIES ON THE FAVOUR OF THE CITIZENS. WE of the spirit of tion, A. U. 709. B. C. 45. E have now followed the career of Julius Cæsar to the point at which his supremacy is finally established, and the proud defiance of a licentious oligarchy has General view subsided into the murmur of a broken and pro- Cæsar's legislascribed faction. We have seen him commence his political existence with the assertion of the popular claims identified with the hero of his own house. He urged them with a fearless vehemence, in which it is impossible to mistake the sincerity of his devotion. The first steps of every popular champion are bold and decided. At the outset he has a distinct object before him; he knows what his grievances are, if not their true remedies. He may delude himself as he proceeds with the fancy that he is reconstructing, but there is no deception about the fact that he is pulling down. His days and years are marked by the successive |