Book 2

Contents. The following is contained in the thirty-seventh book of Dio's Roman History: 1. How Pompey made war upon the Iberians in Asia. 2. How Pompey annexed Pontus to Bithynia. 3. How Pompey brought Syria and Phoenicia under his sway. 4. How Mithridates died. 5. Concerning the Jews. 6. How Pompey, having settled affairs in Asia, returned to Rome. 7. Concerning Cicero and Catiline and the things done by them. 8. Concerning Caesar and Pompey and Crassus and their conspiracy. The span of time is six years, in which the magistrates here numbered held office: Lucius Aurelius Cotta, son of Marcus, and Lucius Manlius Torquatus, son of Lucius, consuls; Lucius Julius Caesar, son of Lucius, and Gaius Marcius Figulus, son of Gaius, consuls; Marcus Tullius Cicero, son of Marcus, and Gaius Antonius, son of Marcus, consuls; Decimus Junius Silanus, son of Marcus, and Lucius Licinius Murena, son of Lucius, consuls; Marcus Pupius Piso, son of Marcus, and Marcus Valerius Messalla Niger, son of Marcus, consuls; Lucius Afranius, son of Aulus, and Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer, son of Quintus, consuls.

1.1. At that time, then, Pompey did these things; but in the following year, when Lucius Cotta and Lucius Torquatus were consuls, he made war both upon the Albanians and upon the Iberians. And he was forced to come into conflict with the latter first, and contrary to

1.2. his intention; for Artoces their king (and they dwell on both sides of the Cyrnus, on the one bordering on the Albanians, on the other on the Armenians), fearing that he too would turn against him, sent envoys ostensibly for friendship, but was making ready to fall upon him while he was confident and therefore off his guard.

1.3. Pompey, then, learning this also beforehand, invaded his country before the king had sufficiently prepared and before he had seized in advance the pass, which was most difficult, and he advanced to the city called Acropolis

1.4. before Artoces even perceived that he was present. This city lay at the very narrows, where on the one side . . . the Caucasus extends, and where it had been fortified for the guarding of the passes. Artoces, then, struck with dismay, had no opportunity to draw up his forces, but crossing the river burned the bridge;

1.5. and those in the fortress, at his flight, and being at the same time defeated in battle, gave way. Pompey, then, having gained the passages, set a garrison over them, and starting from there subdued all the country within the river.

2.1. When he was about to cross the Cyrnus also, Artoces sent to him asking for peace, and promising of his own accord to furnish him with a bridge and provisions.

2.2. And he did both, as though intending to come to terms; but in fear, when he saw Pompey across, he fled to the Pelorus, which likewise flows in his realm; for the river which he might have prevented Pompey from crossing, this he himself drew on as he

2.3. fled. Pompey, then, seeing this, pursued him and overtaking him conquered him; for at a run, and before his archers could use their own art, he came to close quarters with them and in the shortest

2.4. time routed them. When this had happened, Artoces, crossing the Pelorus and burning that bridge as well, fled; but of the rest, some died in hand-to-hand fighting, and others while crossing

2.5. the river on foot. Many also, scattered through the woods, held out for some days, shooting down from the trees, which were very lofty; but afterward they too were destroyed when the trees were cut down. And so Artoces once more sent a herald to Pompey and dispatched

2.6. gifts; and Pompey accepted these, in the hope of thus making a treaty, that the king might not proceed any further, but did not agree to grant peace unless Artoces should first send him his children as hostages;

2.7. so for a time the matter was held in suspense, until the Romans, the Pelorus having somehow become fordable in the summer, crossed it without difficulty, especially as no one hindered them. And so Artoces sent him his children, and after this was reconciled.

3.1. After this Pompey, learning that the Phasis was not far off, and thinking that he would go down by it to Colchis and thence proceed against Mithridates to the Bosporus, advanced

3.2. as he had planned, and passed through the Colchians and the peoples bordering on them, partly by persuasion and partly by intimidation. But perceiving there that the journey by land lay through many unknown and warlike peoples, and that the voyage by sea was the more difficult by reason both of the harbourless

3.3. coast and of those who dwelt along it, he bade the fleet blockade Mithridates, both to watch that he should not sail off anywhere and to cut off the importation of his provisions; while he himself set out against the Albanians, not by the shortest route — that he might catch them too off their guard, relying on the treaty — but turning back into

3.4. Armenia. And he crossed the Cyrnus on foot, where it had become passable in the summer, ordering the cavalry to pass over along the line of the current, then the baggage-animals next, and after these the foot-soldiers, that the horses might break the force of the stream with their bodies, and that, if anything should be swept away from the baggage even so, it might fall against those who were following on the further side and not be carried down beyond them;

3.5. and proceeding thence toward the Cambyses, he suffered no harm from the enemy, but by reason of the heat, and therefore also of thirst, he and his whole army were grievously distressed, although they accomplished the greater part of the road by night; for their guides,

3.6. being from among the captives, did not lead them by the most suitable way. Nor indeed did the river prove of use to them when they needed it; for the water, being very cold and drunk in great draughts by them, harmed many. So when even here no opposition appeared, they advanced to the Abas, carrying only water; for the rest they took from the natives, who gave it willingly, and on this account they did them no harm.

4.1. When they had already crossed the river, it was reported that Oroeses was approaching. Pompey, then, wishing to draw him into battle before he learned the number of the Romans, lest, on perceiving it,

4.2. he should withdraw, placed his cavalry in front, having told them beforehand what they should do, and kept the rest behind them, bent down upon their knees and covered over with their shields, motionless, so that Oroeses did not learn

4.3. that they were present until he was at close quarters. Thereupon he, despising the cavalry as though they were alone, engaged them, and when after a short time they turned in flight on purpose, pursued at full speed; and the foot-soldiers, rising up suddenly and parting asunder, both afforded their own men a safe flight through the midst of them, and receiving the enemy, who used their pursuit recklessly, encircled great numbers of them.

4.4. And these cut down those within, and the cavalry, some passing round to the right, others to the left of them, fell upon the rear of those outside the encirclement. And there both sides slew many, and others who fled into the woods they burned, crying out, in reference to the attack they had then made, "Hurrah for the Saturnalia!"

5.1. Having done this and overrun the country, Pompey granted peace to the Albanians, and made a truce also with certain others of those who dwell along the Caucasus as far as the Caspian Sea — into which the mountain, beginning from the Pontus, ends — when they sent

5.2. heralds to him. Phraates, meanwhile, sent to him, wishing to renew their compact; for when he saw Pompey thus carrying all before him, and his lieutenants subduing in addition the rest of Armenia and the Pontus in that region, and Gabinius advancing even beyond the Euphrates as far as the Tigris, he became afraid of them and desired to confirm the agreement; yet he

5.3. accomplished nothing. For Pompey, with an eye both to the present circumstances and to the hopes arising from them, despised him, and among other things spoke to the envoys with great arrogance, and demanded back the country of Corduene, about which Phraates was at variance with

5.4. Tigranes. And when they made no answer, inasmuch as they had received no instructions concerning it, he wrote something to Phraates, but did not wait for any reply to be sent back; instead he straightway dispatched Afranius into the country, and having occupied it without a battle

5.5. gave it to Tigranes. And Afranius, journeying through Mesopotamia into Syria contrary to the agreements made with the Parthian, lost his way, and was greatly distressed both by the winter and by the scarcity of food; and they would have perished, had not the people of Carrhae, who were colonists of the Macedonians and dwelt somewhere thereabouts, received and escorted them.

6.1. These things, then, Pompey did against Phraates from the power that was then his, showing most plainly to those who wish to gain advantage that all things depend upon arms, and that he who prevails by them becomes the necessary lawgiver of whatever he wishes; and besides he insulted him in respect of his title, by which Phraates exulted both before all other men and before the Romans themselves, and which they too had always used

6.2. toward him. For though he was called King of Kings, Pompey cut off the words "of Kings" and wrote to him as merely "King" — and this although he himself had given even that title, contrary to custom, to Tigranes the captive, when he conducted his triumph over him

6.3. in Rome. Phraates, then, although he feared and courted Pompey, was indignant at this, as though he had been deprived of his kingship, and sending envoys both charged him with all the wrongs he had suffered, and forbade him to cross the Euphrates.

6.4. And when Pompey gave no moderate answer, Phraates straightway made an expedition against Tigranes, together with his son, to whom he had given his daughter, in the spring in which Lucius Caesar and Gaius Figulus were consuls; and being defeated in battle, he afterward prevailed in turn.

6.5. And when Tigranes called upon Pompey, who was in Syria, Phraates again sent envoys to him, and brought many charges against Tigranes, and made many insinuations against the Romans as well, so that Pompey was both ashamed and dismayed.

7.1. Accordingly he neither aided Tigranes nor took any further hostile action against Phraates, making as his pretext that neither had that campaign been assigned to him and that Mithridates was still under arms. He declared himself content with what had been accomplished, and was unwilling . . . that, by reaching after more, he might stumble over those gains, even as Lucullus

7.2. had done. For such was the philosophy he professed, and he then said that to grasp for advantage was a dreadful thing and that to covet what belonged to others was unjust — at the very time when he could no longer make use of them. For fearing the forces of the Parthian, and dreading the instability of affairs, he neither took up the war, though many urged it, and made light of the

7.3. complaints of the barbarian, gainsaying nothing, but declaring that his difference with Tigranes was over certain boundaries, concerning which he would appoint three men to give judgment between them. And these he sent; and they, as though in very truth appointed arbitrators, settled all the mutual complaints — Tigranes being angry because he had not obtained

7.4. aid, and Phraates wishing the Armenian to survive, in order that he might one day use him, if he should need him, as an ally against the Romans. For both knew well that whichever of them should prevail over the other would forward the affairs of the Romans and would himself become easier for them to subdue.

7.5. They, then, for these reasons were reconciled; but Pompey wintered that year too at Aspis, and brought over the rest of those still resisting, and took the fortress Symphorium, when Stratonice betrayed it to him. This woman, being a wife of Mithridates, and bearing him a grudge because she had been left behind, sent out the garrison on the pretext of procuring food and received the Romans, although her son was with . . .

8.1. . . . was praised for this alone in his aedileship, but because he celebrated both the Roman and the Megalesian games most lavishly, and besides exhibited gladiatorial contests in honour of his father with the utmost magnificence. For of the expenditures upon these, some he made in common with his colleague Marcus Bibulus,

8.2. and some privately; and to such a degree did he surpass in this that he even appropriated the credit for the joint shows and seemed to have spent everything himself. Bibulus, then, jesting at his own expense, said that he had suffered the same fate as Pollux; for, the temple being common to him and his brother Castor, it bore the name of Castor alone.

9.1. At these things, then, the Romans rejoiced; but the portents greatly disturbed them. For on the Capitol many statues were melted by thunderbolts, and other images, and that of Jupiter set upon a column, and a figure of the she-wolf together

9.2. with Remus and Romulus fell, and the letters of the columns on which the laws were inscribed were confounded and became dim. So they made expiatory offerings for the rest, obeying the soothsayers, and voted that a larger statue of Jupiter be set up, looking toward the east and toward the Forum, in order that the conspiracies by which they were troubled might be brought to light.

9.3. These things happened in that year; and the censors, falling into a quarrel concerning those who dwell beyond the Eridanus (for to the one it seemed good to admit them to the citizenship, but to the other it did not), accomplished nothing of their other business either,

9.4. but resigned their office. And on this account their successors too in the following year did nothing, the tribunes hindering them in the matter of the senatorial roll, through fear

9.5. that they themselves might be cast out of the senate. And meanwhile all who were sojourning in Rome, except those who dwell in what is now Italy, were expelled on the motion of a certain Gaius Papius, a tribune, since they had become too numerous and did not seem fit to dwell with them.

10.1. In the following year, when Figulus and Lucius Caesar were consuls, a few things, but worthy of mention as illustrating the unaccountable turns of human

10.2. affairs, came to pass. For the man who had slain Lucretius by command of Sulla, and another who had murdered many of those proscribed by him, were both accused for the killings and punished, Julius Caesar above all having brought this about.

10.3. So do the changes of affairs often render those who were once very powerful most weak. This, then, fell out beyond the expectation of the many, as did the fact that Catiline, having been charged with these same offences (for he too had killed many of like sort), was acquitted. And indeed from this he became far

10.4. worse, and on this account also perished. For when Marcus Cicero, with Gaius Antonius, was consul — at the time when Mithridates no longer did the Romans any harm, but had even destroyed himself — Catiline undertook to overturn the constitution, and gathering the allies for that purpose, cast them into fear of no small war. Each of these matters came about as follows.

11.1. Mithridates himself did not yield to his misfortunes, but, giving more weight to his will than to his power, conceived the plan — especially since Pompey was tarrying in Syria — of going to the Ister through the Scythians, and thence of invading

11.2. Italy; for being by nature given to great undertakings, and having experienced many disasters and many successes as well, he thought nothing either beyond his daring or beyond his hope. And if he should fail, he wished rather to perish along with his kingdom, his spirit unimpaired, than, deprived of it, to live in lowliness and dishonour.

11.3. He himself, then, was strong in this resolve; for in proportion as he wasted away in bodily weakness, by so much did he gird himself with strength of mind, so that he even repaired the infirmity of the one with the reckonings of the other;

11.4. but the rest who were with him, as the affairs of the Romans ever grew stronger and those of Mithridates weaker (for among other things an earthquake, the greatest of all that ever befell them, destroyed many of his cities), began to change their minds, and the soldiery was in commotion, and certain men, seizing some of his children, brought them to Pompey.

12.1. At these things, then, he detected and punished some, and others he forestalled in anger on mere suspicion; and he was no longer trustful toward anyone, but, suspecting one of his remaining children, put him to death. A certain son of his, Pharnaces, seeing this, and fearing him at the same time, and expecting to receive the kingdom from the Romans (for he was now a man),

12.2. plotted against him. But being detected (for many openly and many secretly busied themselves with all that was done by him), he would at once, if the bodyguards had had even the slightest goodwill toward the old king, have been brought to justice; but as it was, although Mithridates had become most skilled in all that pertains to royalty, he did not perceive that neither arms nor multitudes of subjects avail anyone anything without their affection — nay, that the more numerous they are, if a man does not also have them loyal, the more dangerous

12.3. they become to him. At any rate Pharnaces, with both those whom he had previously prepared and those sent by his father to arrest him (for he most easily won them over), hastened straight against his father himself. And the old king, learning this (he was in Panticapaeum), sent some soldiers ahead against his son, as though he himself would follow them;

12.4. and these Pharnaces in a short time won over, since they too did not love Mithridates, and took the city, which was willing, and slew his father, who had fled into the palace.

13.1. For Mithridates attempted to make away with himself, and having first dispatched his wives and remaining children by poison, drank off the rest; yet he was unable to perish either by it or by the sword

13.2. by his own hand. For the poison, though deadly, did not consume him, since he had fortified himself by a great daily use of antidotes; and the blow of the sword was blunted both through the weakness of his hand by reason of his age and of those about him, and through his having taken poison of whatever kind.

13.3. So when he was neither destroyed by his own act and seemed to be lingering beyond the fitting time, those whom he had sent against his son fell upon him, and hastened his destruction with their swords and spears.

13.4. Mithridates, then, having ever enjoyed a most varied and very great fortune, had not even his life's end a simple one; for he desired to die when he did not wish it, and though eager to kill himself was unable, but partly by poison and partly by the sword was at once both his own slayer

14.1. and slain by his enemies. And Pharnaces, having embalmed his body, sent it to Pompey as proof of what had been done, and surrendered himself and his kingdom. And Pompey did no outrage to Mithridates, but ordered him to be buried in the ancestral tombs; for, thinking that his enmity had been quenched together with his life, he

14.2. no longer cherished any vain anger against the corpse; but the kingdom of the Bosporus he bestowed upon Pharnaces as the wage of his murder, and enrolled him among the friends and allies.

14.3. So when Mithridates had perished and all his dominion save a little had been overthrown (for certain garrisons holding fortresses outside the Bosporus did not even then at once submit — not because they had any thought of resisting, but because they feared lest certain persons, having plundered the money which they were guarding, should fix the blame on them, and on this account they waited, wishing to display everything

15.1. to Pompey himself) — so, then, when affairs there had been settled and Phraates was keeping quiet, and Syria and Phoenicia had been brought to order, Pompey turned against Aretas. This man was king of the Arabians who are now subject to the Romans as far as the Red Sea, and had previously done much harm to Syria, and on this account, defeated in battle by the Romans who were defending it, was nevertheless even then still

15.2. at war. Against him, then, Pompey marched, and reduced without effort those bordering on him and gave them over to a garrison. And thence he set out against Palestinian Syria, on the ground that its people had injured Phoenicia. They were ruled by Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, brothers, who happened to be at variance over the priesthood of their own god, whoever he is (for so they named their kingship), and were

15.3. setting the cities at strife. Pompey, then, won over Hyrcanus, who had no force worthy of mention, without a battle at once; but Aristobulus, having shut up in a certain stronghold, he compelled to come to terms, and when he would deliver up neither the money nor the fortress, he put him in bonds. After this he more easily brought over the rest, but in besieging Jerusalem

16.1. he had trouble. For the rest of the city, since those who favoured Hyrcanus admitted him, he took without difficulty, but the temple itself, which the others had seized beforehand, he captured not without toil;

16.2. for it was on high ground and was fortified with a wall of its own. And if they had defended themselves equally on all days, he would not have subdued it; but as it was, leaving off on the days called the days of Saturn, and doing nothing at all on them, they gave the Romans, in this interval, the opportunity to

16.3. batter the wall. For the Romans, learning of this scruple of theirs, did nothing in earnest at other times, but on those days, whenever they came round in their turn, made their most vigorous

16.4. assaults. And thus they were captured on the day of Saturn, without even defending themselves, and all the money was plundered. The kingdom was given to Hyrcanus, and Aristobulus was carried off.

16.5. These things, then, happened at that time in Palestine; for so has the whole nation, which extends from Phoenicia to Egypt along the inner sea, been called from of old. They have also another, an acquired, name; for the country

17.1. is named Judaea, and they themselves Jews. Whence this appellation began to belong to them I do not know, but it is applied also to all other men who, though of another race, emulate their customs. And this kind exists even among the Romans, often curtailed, but increased to the greatest extent, so that it has even prevailed to win the right of frank observance of its

17.2. usage. They are distinguished from the rest of mankind in well-nigh all the particulars of their way of life, and especially in that they honour none of the other gods, but reverence with all earnestness one particular god. They never had any image even in Jerusalem itself, but holding him to be unspeakable and invisible they worship him beyond all

17.3. men. And they built for him a temple very great and beautiful, save that it was open to the sky and roofless, and they consecrated the day called the day of Saturn, on which they do many things most peculiar to themselves, and lay their hand to no serious work.

17.4. Now concerning him — who he is, and whence he was thus honoured, and how they have come to be in awe of him — much has been said by many, and nothing of it belongs to this

18.1. history. But the dedication of the days to the seven stars called planets was established by the Egyptians, and is now found among all men, though it began, comparatively speaking, not long ago; the ancient Greeks, at any rate,

18.2. were in no way acquainted with it, so far as I know. But since it now prevails greatly both among all other peoples and among the Romans themselves, and has already become for them in a manner ancestral, I wish to discourse a little concerning it — how and in what manner it has been so arranged. I have heard two explanations, not difficult to understand, but involving a certain

18.3. theory. For if one apply to these stars, by which the whole order of heaven is divided, the harmony called the interval of the fourth (which is believed to hold together the very essence of music), according to the order in which each of them revolves, and beginning from the outermost orbit, that assigned to Saturn,

18.4. then, passing over the two next, name the lord of the fourth, and after it again passing over two others come to the seventh, and in this same way, returning over them and circling round their presiding gods, assign them in order to the days, he will find them all in some musical fashion

19.1. suited to the arrangement of heaven. This, then, is said to be one explanation; and the other is this. If one begin to count the hours of the day and the night from the first, and give that to Saturn, the next to Jupiter, the third to Mars, the fourth to the Sun, the fifth to Venus, the sixth to Mercury, and

19.2. the seventh to the Moon, according to the order of the circles in which the Egyptians reckon them, and do this again, and so go round all the twenty-four hours, he will find the first hour of the following day coming round to the Sun.

19.3. And doing this also with respect to those twenty-four hours according to the same plan as before, you will assign the first hour of the third day to the Moon; and if you proceed thus through the rest, each day will receive its own appropriate god.

20.1. These things, then, are so handed down. But Pompey, when he had accomplished these matters, came again to Pontus, and after taking over the fortresses passed into Asia and thence to Greece and

20.2. Italy. Many battles, indeed, he had won, and many princes and kings he had either subdued in war or won over by agreement, and eight cities he had founded, and he had marked out for the Romans many lands and revenues, and he established and ordered most of the peoples then theirs on the Asiatic mainland with their own laws and constitutions, so that even to this day they

20.3. use the ordinances appointed by him. But these things, great though they were and accomplished by none of the earlier Romans, one might ascribe to fortune and to those who served with him in the campaigns; whereas that which was most especially the work of Pompey himself and is worthy of admiration above all, this

20.4. I will now relate. For though he had the greatest power both on sea and on land, and had provided himself with the greatest wealth from the captives, and was on familiar terms with many princes and kings, and had won by his benefactions the goodwill of well-nigh all the peoples over whom he had ruled,

20.5. and though he might through them have seized Italy and made the whole dominion of the Romans his own — most of them receiving him willingly, and if any did resist, agreeing in any case through weakness — he was not willing to

20.6. do this, but straightway, as soon as he had crossed over to Brundisium, he disbanded all his forces of his own accord, without either the senate or the people having voted anything concerning them, taking no thought even of using them for his triumph. For since he knew that the deeds of Marius and of Sulla were held in hatred by men, he was unwilling to afford them any fear, even for a few days, that they would suffer something of the same sort.

21.1. Accordingly he gained no additional title, although he might have taken many from his achievements. For the triumph — I mean that reckoned the greater — although it was not lawful, by the most ancient usage, for it to be celebrated by anyone apart from those who had shared in the victory,

21.2. yet, since it was voted, he accepted. And it he conducted once for all his wars, but he sent many trophies, beautifully adorned, for each of his exploits, even the smallest, and over all one great trophy, sumptuously adorned and bearing an inscription that it was for the inhabited world.

21.3. Yet he assumed no surname besides, but was content with that of Magnus alone, which he had acquired even before those exploits. Nor did he secure for himself any other excessive honour, or make use of those voted to him in his absence except

21.4. once. These were that he should wear the laurel at all the festivals continually, and should put on, at all of them, the official robe, and at the equestrian contests the triumphal robe. These were granted to him, with Caesar especially co-operating, and against the judgment of Marcus Cato.

22.1. Now concerning Caesar — who he was, and that he courted the multitude, and that he in other respects worked to pull down Pompey, while pretending to support whatever was likely both to gratify the crowd and to strengthen himself — it has been told before; but this Cato was of the family of the Porcii and emulated the famous Cato, save in so far as he had more of a Greek

22.2. education than he. He practised diligently the interests of the multitude, and admired no single man, but loved the commonwealth exceedingly; and everything that was by nature above the rest he hated through suspicion of tyranny, while everything democratic he loved through pity of its weakness.

22.3. And he became a lover of the people as no other, and exercised frank speech on behalf of justice even at the cost of danger. And all this, moreover, he did neither for power nor for glory nor for any honour, but solely for the sake of a free and untyrannized

22.4. life. Being, then, such a man, he came forward at that time into public life for the first time, and opposed the measures voted — although he had no enmity toward Pompey, but because they were outside the ancestral usage.

23.1. To Pompey, then, in his absence they granted these things, but on his arrival nothing — assuredly they would have added others, had he wished it; for to certain others who had attained to less power than he they often allotted many extravagant honours. And that even those former grants they made

23.2. against their will is plain. Pompey, then, knowing well that all such things as are bestowed by the many in despotic regimes upon those who have any power, carry with them suspicion — even if men vote them most willingly — that they are given by force through the contrivance of those in power, and bring no glory to those who receive them, as being conferred not by willing givers but by men constrained, and not from goodwill but from flattery, did not permit any motion of the kind to be brought

23.3. forward by anyone at all. And he said that this was far better than to decline what had been voted; for in the latter case there would be both hatred on account of the despotic power whereby he was recognized, and pride and insolence in not accepting what was given, forsooth, by his betters — or at all events by his equals; whereas in the former there would belong to him the democratic spirit, both in name and in deed, not from display but

23.4. from truth. For though he had received well-nigh all his offices and commands outside the ancestral usage, yet such other things, from which, neither helping nor being helped, he was likely to gain only envy and hatred — and that from the very men who gave them — he would not accept.

24.1. And these things came about in course of time; but at that time the Romans had a respite from wars for the remainder of the year, so that they even performed the augury called that of Health, which had been intermitted for a very long while. This is a kind of divination, having the nature of an inquiry whether the god permits them to ask health for the people — as though it were not lawful even to ask it before this had been conceded.

24.2. And it used to be performed each year on a day on which no army went forth to war, nor arrayed itself against any, nor fought. And on this account, amid the continual dangers, and especially the civil ones, it was not performed; for it was, apart from that, exceedingly difficult for them to keep strictly a day clear of all such things,

24.3. and besides most absurd, that men who in their factions inflicted unspeakable evils willingly upon one another, and were bound, whether they were defeated or conquered, to suffer harm, should then ask salvation of the divine power.

25.1. At any rate even then the augury could somehow be performed, yet it did not turn out clean. For some birds out of their proper haunts flew over, and on this account they took the omen anew. And other unfavourable signs

25.2. befell them; for many thunderbolts fell in a clear sky, and the earth was violently shaken, and phantoms of men appeared in many places, and torches darted upward into the sky from the west, so that anyone, even a private person, could foreknow the things signified by them.

25.3. For the tribunes, taking to themselves Antonius the consul, who was most like them in character, the one began to bring forward to office the children of those who had been driven out by Sulla, and another granted to Publius Paetus and to Cornelius Sulla, who had been convicted along with him, the right both to sit in the senate and to hold

25.4. office. Another proposed cancellations of debts, another that allotments of land be made both in Italy and in the subject territory. And these measures, anticipated by Cicero and by the others of like mind with him, were

26.1. stopped before any deed should result from them. But Titus Labienus, by indicting Gaius Rabirius for the murder of Saturninus, caused them the greatest disturbance. For Saturninus had died some six and thirty years before, and the consuls of that time had been charged by the senate with the conduct of the war against him, so that the senate was being deprived of validity, by that court, in respect

26.2. of its decrees. And from this the whole order of the constitution was thrown into confusion. For Rabirius did not even acknowledge the murder, but denied it; while the tribunes were eager to destroy utterly the strength and dignity of the senate, and to prepare for themselves licence to do all that they

26.3. wished. For by the calling to account both of what had seemed good to the senate and of what had been done so many years before, impunity was given to those who attempted anything of the kind, and the punishments thereof were curtailed. The senate, then, thought it dreadful in any case that a man who was a senator, neither doing any wrong and already advanced into old age, should perish; but it was far more indignant that the very semblance of the constitution was being assailed and that affairs were being

27.1. entrusted to the basest men. So there were tumultuous canvassings and rivalries on both sides concerning the court — the one party demanding that it should not be convened, the other that it should sit; and when the latter prevailed through Caesar and certain others, they came to terms again concerning the judgment.

27.2. For this same man, sitting in judgment together with Lucius Caesar (for it was not simply, but on a charge of high treason, as it is called, that Rabirius was tried), condemned him, although they had been appointed not by the people according to the ancestral usage, but by the praetor himself,

27.3. which was not lawful. And Rabirius appealed, and would certainly have been condemned even before the people, had not Metellus Celer, who was an augur and praetor, hindered it; for since they would not otherwise yield to him, nor took heed that the trial had been held contrary to usage, he ran up to the Janiculum before they had voted anything at all, and hauled down the military standard, so that it was no longer permitted them to come to a decision.

28.1. This matter of the standard is something of the following kind. In ancient times, when many enemies dwelt near the city, fearing lest, while they were holding assembly by centuries, certain persons might seize the Janiculum and attack the city, they ordained that not all should vote at once, but that some, always under arms, should

28.2. guard that place by relays. And so long as the assembly continued, they kept watch over it; but when it was about to be dissolved, the standard was hauled down and the guards departed; for it was not permitted, while that place was unguarded, that any further business be transacted.

28.3. And this used to be done only in the assemblies gathered by centuries, both because they were held outside the wall, and because all who bore arms were obliged to come together to them; and even now it is done for the sake of religious observance.

28.4. So at that time the assembly was dissolved when the standard had been hauled down, and Rabirius was saved; for it was permitted to Labienus to bring suit again, but he did

29.1. not do it. As for Catiline, he perished thus and for these reasons. It seemed good to the senate, when he both then sought the consulship and contrived every possible means to be elected, to add, at Cicero's strong instigation, a penalty of ten years' exile to the penalties laid down for bribery.

29.2. Catiline, then, thinking — as was indeed the truth — that this had been decreed on his own account, attempted, having got ready a band, to murder Cicero and certain others of the foremost men at the very elections, so that he might at once be elected

29.3. consul; but he was unable. For Cicero, learning the plot beforehand, both disclosed it to the senate and made a long accusation against him; and when he did not persuade them to vote any of the things he demanded (for he was suspected of having reported things not credible and of lying against the men out of his own enmity), he was afraid, especially as he had further exasperated

29.4. Catiline, and did not dare to go into the assembly simply, as was his wont, but brought with him his friends, prepared to defend him if any danger should arise, and put on a breastplate, for the sake both of his own safety and of throwing odium upon them, beneath his clothing, but letting it show

29.5. on purpose. And from this, and because in any case a report arose that he was being plotted against, both the people were terribly indignant and those who had conspired with Catiline, in fear of him, kept quiet.

30.1. And thus other consuls were chosen, and Catiline no longer secretly, nor against Cicero and those with him alone, but against the whole

30.2. commonwealth, organized his plot. For from Rome itself he gathered the basest men, ever desirous of new things, and from the allies as many as possible, by promising them cancellations of debts and redistributions of land, and other things by which he was most likely to

30.3. allure them. And the foremost and most powerful among them (there were, among others, Antonius the consul) he led on even to the necessity of unhallowed oaths; for having sacrificed a child, and made the oaths over its entrails, he then ate of them together with

30.4. the others. There worked with him most of all, in Rome, the consul and Publius Lentulus, who after his consulship had been cast out of the senate (for he was praetor in order to regain his senatorial rank), and at Faesulae, where his partisans were

30.5. gathering, a certain Gaius Manlius, most experienced in matters of war (for he had served with the centurions of Sulla) and most extravagant; at all events, having squandered evilly all that he then acquired, although it was very much, he desired other deeds of the same sort.

31.1. While they were preparing these things, there was disclosed to Cicero first what was being done in the city, by means of certain letters which did not reveal the writer, but were given to Crassus and certain others of the men of power; and upon these a decree was ratified, that there was a disturbance and that there should be an inquiry into the

31.2. authors of it; and secondly the things from Etruria, and they voted in addition to the consuls the guarding of the city and of all its affairs, as was their custom; for to this decree too was appended that they should take thought

31.3. that no loss befall the commonwealth. When this had been done and a guard had been established in many places, the affairs in the city were no longer disturbed, so that Cicero was even charged with calumny; but the reports from the Etruscans confirmed the accusation and prepared for Catiline an indictment for violence.

32.1. And he at first accepted it very readily, as though from a good conscience, and made show of preparing for the trial, and offered to Cicero himself to keep him under watch, that he might not, forsooth, escape

32.2. anywhere. But when Cicero would not accept the custody of him, he voluntarily took up his abode with Metellus the praetor, that he might least of all be suspected of attempting anything new, until he should gain some strength even from the

32.3. fellow-conspirators on the spot. But when nothing went forward for him (for Antonius in fear was holding aloof, and Lentulus was by no means active), he gave them notice to gather by night at a certain house, and unbeknown to Metellus came to them and rebuked them both for their want of daring

32.4. and for their softness. And thereupon, going through all that they would suffer if detected and all that they would gain if successful, he so emboldened and incited them that two of them undertook to enter Cicero's house at daybreak

33.1. and there to murder him. But when this too was disclosed beforehand (for Cicero, being very powerful, and having through his advocacies attached to himself many and intimidated others, had many to report such things to him), the senate voted that Catiline should withdraw.

33.2. And he gladly departed on this pretext, and going to Faesulae took up the war openly, and assuming the name and the apparel of the consuls mustered those previously gathered by Manlius, and meanwhile won over certain others as well, first from the free,

33.3. and afterward from the slaves. Whereupon the Romans both condemned him for violence and sent Antonius to the war, ignorant, no doubt, of his share in the conspiracy, and themselves changed their dress. And on this account

33.4. Cicero too remained where he was; for he had drawn the lot to govern Macedonia, but neither went out to it (for he gave it up to his colleague on account of his zeal for the law-courts) nor to neighbouring Gaul, which he took in exchange, by reason of the present circumstances, but he himself kept the city under guard, and sent Metellus into Gaul, that Catiline might not seize it for himself.

34.1. And his remaining proved most opportune for the Romans. For when Lentulus was preparing to set fires and to work slaughters, together with the rest of the conspirators and with the Allobroges, whom, being present on an embassy, he

34.2. persuaded to join in his designs . . . and Cicero, arresting those sent against the city, brought them with the letters into the senate-house, and granting them full impunity thus exposed the whole conspiracy. And thereupon Lentulus, compelled by the senate to lay down his praetorship, was placed under guard with the rest of those arrested, and the others

34.3. were sought out. And these things pleased the people likewise, and especially since, while Cicero was making a speech concerning them, the statue of Jupiter was set up on the Capitol at the very moment of the assembly and was dedicated, according to the suggestion of the soothsayers, looking toward the east and

34.4. toward the Forum. For since they had declared that some conspiracy would be brought to light by the setting up of the statue, and its dedication coincided with the detection of the men, they magnified the divine power and held those who had incurred the charge in greater anger.

35.1. Now a report went about that Crassus too was among them, and one of those arrested even gave information of this, yet not many believed it; for some did not even think it right at all to suspect any such thing of him,

35.2. and others supposed it had been fabricated by the guilty, in order that through this they might obtain some aid from him, who was very powerful. And if to some it did seem credible, yet they by no means deemed it right to destroy a man among their foremost and to throw the city into greater confusion.

35.3. So this charge utterly fell through. But while many both slaves and free men were preparing, some from fear, others from pity of Lentulus and the rest, to snatch them all away that they might not die, Cicero, learning this beforehand, occupied both the Capitol and the Forum with a guard by night, and at dawn, receiving a good

35.4. hope from the divine power — because, when sacred rites had been performed in his house by the Vestal Virgins on behalf of the people, the fire rose to an unusual height contrary to nature — he bade the people swear obedience to the praetors for the levy, if there should be any need of soldiers, while he himself meanwhile gathered the senate, and having confounded and terrified them, persuaded them to condemn the men arrested to death.

36.1. For they were of two minds, and within a little acquitted them. For Caesar, when all before him had voted that they should die, gave it as his opinion that they should be bound and placed in various cities, deprived of their

36.2. property, on condition that there be never again any motion concerning their pardon, and that, if any should escape, the city from which he fled should be reckoned in the position of an enemy; and this all who declared their opinion after that, down to Cato, voted, so that some even of the

36.3. earlier speakers changed their minds. But when Cato himself both condemned them to death and made all the rest of one mind with him, then at last they were punished by the prevailing vote, and over them both a sacrifice and a holy festival were decreed, which had never before happened on any such occasion; and the others who had been denounced were sought out, and certain men suspected even of having intended to conspire

36.4. with them were brought to account. And the rest the consuls dealt with, but Aulus Fulvius, a man and a senator, his own father put to death — not, as some think, being the only one who did this in private station; for many others too, not consuls only but private men as well, slew their own children.

37.1. At that time, then, this happened; and the appointments of the priests, Labienus proposing it and Caesar supporting it, the multitude transferred back to the people, contrary to the law of Sulla, renewing the law of Domitius. For Caesar, when Metellus Pius died, desired his priesthood, although he was young and had not yet been praetor,

37.2. and, placing his hope of it in the multitude, both because of other things and because he had pleaded with Labienus against Rabirius and had not voted that Lentulus should die, accomplished this, and was appointed pontifex maximus of the pontiffs, although many others laid claim to the honour and Catulus most of all.

37.3. For he was most ready to court and flatter everyone, even ordinary men, and shrank from no word or deed to attain what he was eager for; nor did he care for his immediate humiliation in view of the strength to come from it afterward, but courted, as though his betters, those over whom he undertook to be first.

38.1. For these reasons, then, the many were well-disposed toward Caesar; but Cicero, holding him in anger because of the death of the citizens, both hated him in other respects and at last, when on the last day of his office he wished to make a defence and to recount all that he had done in his

38.2. consulship (for he was very glad, not only to be praised by others, but even to extol himself), they silenced him and did not permit him to utter anything beyond the oath, using as their champion Metellus Nepos, who was tribune — except in so far as, contending against them, he added in his oath that he had saved the city.

39.1. And he, from this too, was much the more hated; while Catiline perished at the very beginning of the year in which Junius Silanus and Lucius Licinius were consuls. For up to that time, although he had no small force, he kept watching for Lentulus's affairs and delayed, hoping that, if Cicero and those with him were first slain, he would easily

39.2. accomplish the rest besides; but when he learned that Lentulus had perished and perceived that on this account many of those with him were going over, and that Antonius and Metellus Celer, encamped near Faesulae, would by no means permit him to advance anywhere, he was forced to hazard all, and (for they were encamped apart) turned against Antonius, although he surpassed Metellus in rank

39.3. and was surrounded with a larger force. The reason was that he had hope that Antonius, in virtue of their conspiracy, would purposely play him false. Antonius, then, suspecting this, and being no longer well-disposed toward him, inasmuch as Catiline was now weak (for the many make their enmities and friendships with a view to men's power and to their own

39.4. interests), and fearing besides lest, seeing them fight eagerly against him, he might reproach him with something and bring forth some of the secrets, himself pretended to be sick, and entrusted the

40.1. battle to Marcus Petreius. He, then, engaging them, cut down Catiline and three thousand others, who fought most eagerly, not without bloodshed; for not one of them fled, and all fell at their posts, so that even the victors themselves much lamented the common loss, that men so brave and so many — even if justly — yet citizens and

40.2. allies, they had destroyed. Antonius, then, sent Catiline's head to the city, in order that men, believing him dead, might no longer be afraid, and was hailed imperator for the victory, although the number of the slain was less than that prescribed by custom. A sacrifice of oxen was voted, and the people changed their dress as though delivered from all their dangers.

41.1. Nevertheless the allies who had shared in Catiline's enterprise and still survived did not keep quiet, but were troubled through fear of punishment. And these, dispersed in a manner here and there, the praetors sent out against them severally caught beforehand

41.2. and punished; while others of those who escaped notice, on the information of Lucius Vettius, a man of equestrian rank, who had shared in the conspiracy but at that time on a grant of impunity was disclosing them, were brought to account on conviction — until, having denounced certain persons and inscribed their names on a tablet, he afterward wished to add

41.3. many others as well. For the senators, suspecting that he was doing nothing sound, no longer gave him the tablet, lest he should erase some, but bade him say from memory how many he claimed to have left out. And so, abashed and afraid, he no longer denounced

41.4. many. But since even so there was confusion in the city and among the allies through ignorance of those named — some being troubled idly about themselves, and others suspecting others wrongly — it seemed good to the senate that their names be published. And thereupon both the innocent were set at ease and trials were held for the guilty. And of them some were condemned in person, others by default.

42.1. Catiline, then, did these things and was thus brought down, and gained, beyond the worth of his deeds, a name commensurate with the fame of Cicero and with the speeches delivered against him; but Cicero was within a little brought to trial at once for the slaying of Lentulus and the others who had been

42.2. imprisoned. This charge, in word, was laid against him, but in deed it was being framed against the senate; for, on the ground that it was not permitted them, without the people, to condemn any citizen to death, there was much outcry in the crowd, especially through

42.3. Metellus Nepos. Yet he was not then condemned at all; for the senate having granted impunity to all who had administered the affairs of that time, and having moreover proclaimed beforehand that, if anyone should again dare to call any of them to account, he should be reckoned in the position of a foe and an enemy, Nepos was afraid and stirred nothing further.

43.1. In this matter, then, the senate prevailed, and in that other, that, when Nepos proposed that Pompey be summoned with his army (for he was still in Asia) — in word on the ground that present affairs might be set in order, but in hope that through him, since he favoured the cause of the multitude, he might prevail in his disturbances — they hindered it from being ratified.

43.2. For at first Cato and Quintus Minucius, who were tribunes, opposed the proposals, and both restrained the clerk who was reading the motion and, when Nepos took the tablet in order to read it himself, snatched it from him, and when even so he attempted to say something from

43.3. memory, stopped his mouth. And when from this a fight arose, both these men and certain others coming to the aid of each side with clubs and stones, and even with swords, the senators came together that same day into the senate-house, and changed their robes, and entrusted to the consuls the guarding of the city, that no loss befall it.

43.4. Nepos, then, in fear at this too, straightway withdrew from the midst, and after this, having posted up some indictment against the senate, set out for Pompey, although it was not permitted him to be away even a single night from the city.

44.1. When this had happened, not even Caesar (for he was praetor) made any further disturbance. For he was working both that the name of Catulus should be removed from the temple of Capitoline Jupiter (since he was bringing him to account for theft and demanding a reckoning of the money spent), and that the rest

44.2. should be entrusted to Pompey to complete. For there were certain parts, as in so great and such a work, half-finished — or at least he pretended that there were, in order that Pompey might take the credit of its completion and inscribe his own name in turn. Yet he was not willing so to gratify him as to endure that any such honour be voted to himself on this account as had been decreed for Nepos. For neither was it for Pompey's sake that he did these things, but that he himself, even through

44.3. these, might win the multitude to himself; although all so feared Pompey (for it was not yet clear that he would disband his armies) that, when Pompey sent ahead Marcus Piso, his lieutenant, to seek the consulship, they postponed the elections, that he might be present at them, and on his presence declared him elected with one accord. For Pompey recommended him not only to his friends but to his enemies as well.

45.1. Meanwhile Caesar, when Publius Clodius dishonoured his wife in his own house and during the performance of the rites which the Vestal Virgins, at the houses of the consuls and praetors, perform from ancestral custom unseen by all the male sex, brought no charge against Clodius (for he knew well that he would not be convicted, owing to his

45.2. faction), but divorced his wife, saying that he did not otherwise believe what was reported, yet that he could no longer dwell with her, because she had been suspected of adultery from the first; for a chaste woman ought not only to do no wrong, but not even to come into shameful suspicion.

45.3. At that time, then, these things happened, and the stone bridge which leads to the little island in the Tiber

46.1. was built, called the Fabrician. And in the following year, in the consulship of Piso and of Marcus Messalla, the men of power, who otherwise hated Clodius, and at the same time were averting from themselves his pollution, since the pontiffs had decided that the rites must be performed afresh, as having been on his account celebrated impiously,

46.2. gave him over to a court; and he was accused both of the adultery (although Caesar kept silent), and of the disturbance about Nisibis, and besides of having intercourse with his sister, yet he was acquitted, although the judges had both asked for and obtained a guard from the senate, that they might suffer no harm at his hands.

46.3. Whereat Catulus, jesting, said that they had asked for the guard not that they might safely condemn Clodius, but that they might preserve for themselves the money they had taken in bribes. And he, who most conspicuously of all men had ever set the public good above everything, died not long

46.4. afterward; and in that year the censors enrolled in the senatorial order all who had held office, even beyond the proper number, and the people, who up to that time had watched the gladiatorial combats without interruption, rose up in the midst of the spectacle and went to lunch. And this, beginning from then, is done even now, whenever the one who holds the power presides over the games.

47.1. In the city, then, these things were done thus; but when the Allobroges were ravaging Gaul about Narbo, Gaius Pomptinus, the governor of it, sent his lieutenants against the enemy, while he himself, established in a suitable place, watched what was happening, that he might, as occasion served, both give them counsel for whatever was useful and

47.2. aid them. And Manlius Lentinus, marching against the city of Valentia, so terrified them that the greater part fled and the rest sent an embassy concerning peace. And meanwhile, those in the fields coming to the rescue and falling upon him suddenly, he was driven back from the wall, but ravaged the country without fear,

47.3. until Catugnatus, the general of their whole nation, and certain others of those dwelling along the Isara, came to their aid. For at that time he did not dare to prevent them from crossing, by reason of the multitude of their boats, lest they band together on seeing him drawn up against them,

47.4. but, the country beyond the river being immediately wooded, he set ambushes in it, and seizing those who continually crossed, destroyed them. And following up some who fled, he fell in with Catugnatus himself; and he would have perished utterly, with his whole force, had not a violent storm, suddenly arising, restrained the barbarians from the

48.1. pursuit. And he, after this, when Catugnatus had set off somewhere far away, again overran the country and took the stronghold by which he had met disaster. And Lucius Marius and Servius Galba crossed the Rhone, and after ravaging the territory of the Allobroges, at last came to

48.2. the city of Solonium, and seized a strong position above it, and conquered in battle those who resisted them, and set fire to part of the town, which was somewhat of wood, yet did not take it; for Catugnatus came up and prevented them. Pomptinus, then, learning this, marched against it with his whole army, and having besieged them subdued them, all save Catugnatus.

49.1. And he, from this, the more easily subdued the rest besides; but Pompey came to Italy at this time, and brought about the appointment of Lucius Afranius and Metellus Celer as consuls, hoping through them

49.2. to accomplish, in vain, all that he wished. For he wished, among other things and most of all, that some land be given to those who had served with him and that all his acts be ratified; but he failed of these at that time. For the men of power, displeased with him even before, hindered them from being voted;

49.3. and of the consuls themselves, Afranius (for he knew better how to dance than to manage any business) was of no help to him in anything, while Metellus, in anger because Pompey had divorced his sister, although he had children by her, opposed him in absolutely

49.4. everything. And Lucius Lucullus, whom once in Gaul Pompey, on meeting him, had treated arrogantly, pressed him hard, and bade him go through privately and one by one the things he had done, and not ask the confirmation of all of them at once.

49.5. For he said it was, apart from anything else, just that not everything simply that Pompey had done, even things of which none of them knew the nature, should be ratified as though performed by some master; and since Pompey had abolished some of his own acts, he claimed that an examination of each should be made in the senate, that they might ratify whichever of them

50.1. pleased them. And Cato and Metellus and the others who wished the same as they strongly supported him. At any rate, when the tribune who proposed to allot the land to those who had served with Pompey added to his motion that certain allotments be given to all the citizens as well, in order that they might both the more easily vote this very thing and confirm Pompey's acts, Metellus, opposing it at every point, pressed his opposition so far that he was even cast into prison by the tribune, and wished to

50.2. assemble the senate there. And when that tribune (Lucius Flavius was his name) placed the tribune's bench in the very entrance and, sitting upon it, became an obstacle so that no one could enter, and ordered the wall of the prison to be cut through that the senate might come in by it, and made ready to pass the night there on the

50.3. spot, Pompey, learning this, and being at once ashamed and afraid lest the people too be indignant, ordered Flavius to desist. He said, indeed, that Metellus had asked this, but he was not believed; for that man's spirit was

50.4. plain to all. At any rate, when the other tribunes wished to release Metellus, he would not allow it. Nor again did he yield when Flavius threatened that he would not permit him to go out even to the province he had been allotted, unless he should consent to let him carry his law; but Metellus remained, very gladly, in the city.

50.5. Pompey, then, since he accomplished nothing because of Metellus and the others, said that he was envied by them and would show this to the multitude; but fearing lest, failing of that too, he should incur greater shame, he abandoned his demand.

50.6. And he, having thus learned that he had in truth no power, but only the name and the envy of his former might, while in deed he reaped no profit from them, repented that he had disbanded his armies before-hand

51.1. and had delivered himself over to his enemies. Clodius, meanwhile, desired, on account of the men of power, by reason of his trial, to be tribune, and put forward certain of the tribunes to propose that a share in the office be given to the patricians as well; but when he did not persuade them, he abjured his nobility and went over to the privileges of the multitude, entering into their very

51.2. assembly. And he at once sought the tribunate, but was not appointed, Metellus opposing him; for Clodius was of his kin, and Metellus was not pleased with what he was doing. And the pretext he made was that the transfer of Clodius to the plebs had not been carried out according to the ancestral usage; for it was permitted that this be done only at the passing of the curiate law.

51.3. These things, then, were done thus; and since the customs-dues grievously oppressed both the city and the rest of Italy, the law abolishing them found favour with all, but the senators, displeased with the praetor who had introduced it (for it was Metellus Nepos), wished both to erase his name from the law and to inscribe another instead.

51.4. And this was not done, yet it became plain to all that they did not gladly receive benefits even from base men. And at this same time Faustus, the son of Sulla, gave a gladiatorial contest in honour of his father, and feasted the people splendidly, and furnished them with baths and oil free of charge.

52.1. In the city, then, these things were happening; but Caesar governed Lusitania after his praetorship, and though he might have purged away the brigandage, which was ever present among them, without any great toil, and lived in quiet, he was unwilling; for desiring glory, and emulating Pompey and the others who had once been very powerful before him,

52.2. he had no small ambitions, but hoped that, if he should accomplish something then, he would at once be chosen consul and would display extraordinary deeds — both for other reasons and because at Gades, when he was quaestor, he dreamed that he had intercourse with his mother, and learned from the soothsayers that he would be in great power. Wherefore also, seeing there an image of Alexander set up in the temple of Hercules, he groaned, and lamented that he had as yet done no great deed.

52.3. From these motives, then, though it was open to him to be at peace, as I said, he turned toward Mount Herminius and bade its inhabitants remove to the plains — on the pretext that they should not, starting from their fastnesses, practise brigandage, but in deed knowing well that they would never do it, and that from this he would gain some pretext for

52.4. war. And so it came about. He drew on, then, these men, who took up arms; and since certain of their neighbours, fearing that he would set upon them too, had conveyed their children and wives and other most precious possessions across the Durius, he seized their cities while they were thus engaged, and after this came to grips with the others as well.

52.5. And when they put forward their herds, that the Romans, scattering to seize the cattle, might fall upon them, he let the

53.1. four-footed beasts go and, receiving the men, conquered them. And meanwhile, learning that the inhabitants of Herminius had revolted and intended to ambush him as he returned, he withdrew for the time by another way, but afterward marched against them, and prevailing pursued them as they fled toward the

53.2. ocean. And when, abandoning the mainland, they crossed over to a certain island, he himself (for he was not well provided with boats) remained on the spot, but having put together rafts sent across part of his army by means of them, and lost many; for the commander of them, putting in at a certain spit of land near the island, and disembarking them as though they were to cross on foot, was then himself driven off by the ebb-tide and put to sea, and abandoned

53.3. them, and of them the rest, defending themselves nobly, fell, but Publius Scaevius alone, being left and deprived of his shield and grievously wounded, leaped into the water

53.4. and swam across. At that time, then, these things happened; but afterward Caesar, sending for boats from Gades, crossed over to the island with his whole army, and without effort reduced the men, who were in evil case from lack of food. And thence, sailing along to Brigantium, a city of Callaecia, he both terrified them by the noise of his approach (for they had never before seen a fleet) and subdued them.

54.1. Having done these things, and thinking that he had gained from them a sufficient stepping-stone to the consulship, he set out in haste to the elections, before his successor arrived, and claimed the right, even before sending in his triumph (since it could not be celebrated in advance),

54.2. to ask for it. But failing of this, Cato above all opposing him, he let those matters go; for he hoped, when chosen consul, to perform far more and greater deeds and to celebrate triumphs. For in addition to what has been said, on which he ever plumed himself greatly, a horse had been born to him with cleft hoofs on its forefeet, which carried him proudly, but would receive no other

54.3. rider. So that from this too, expecting no small thing, he willingly let the triumph go, and entering the city and announcing his candidacy, so courted the rest, and Pompey and Crassus, that, although they were even then at enmity with one another and had their followings, and opposed each other in everything in which either perceived the other to be eager, he won them both over, and was declared by all of them with one accord

54.4. elected. And indeed this gives the greatest proof of his sagacity, that he both recognized the occasion and the measure of his courting of them, and so ordered it as to attach to himself both at once, though they were working against each other.

55.1. And not even this sufficed him, but he reconciled the men themselves — not that he wished them to be brought together, but because he saw that they were most powerful, and knew well that without the aid of both of them, or even of one of them, he would have no great strength, and that, if he should make either one of them his partner, he would on this account have the other as an adversary and would be thwarted more by him than he

55.2. would accomplish with the help of the one who joined him. For, on the one hand, it seemed to him that all men more eagerly work against their enemies than co-operate with their friends — not on that account only, that anger and hatred make men's efforts keener than any friendship, but also because the one who acts on his own behalf and the other who acts on another's have not a like joy when they succeed nor a like grief when they fail;

55.3. and, on the other, that it is readier to hand to hinder men and prevent their taking any increase than to wish to advance them to greatness — both for other reasons and especially because he who does not permit another to be exalted gratifies the rest, and himself at the same time, whereas he who exalts another makes himself burdensome to them both.

56.1. For these reasons, then, Caesar at that time both courted them and afterward reconciled them to each other. For he thought that he would never have any power apart from them, and that he would never at any time give offence to either of them; nor again was he afraid lest, if they came to agreement, they should become stronger than himself; for he knew very well that he would prevail over the rest at once through their friendship, and over them themselves not long after through each other.

56.2. And so it turned out. For Pompey and Crassus, as though for reasons of their own, no sooner began than they ended their quarrel with one another, and took him into the partnership of

56.3. affairs. Pompey, on the one hand, being himself not so strong as he had hoped, and seeing Crassus in power and Caesar rising, both feared lest he be utterly cast down by them, and hoped, if he shared with them in present affairs, to recover through them his former authority;

56.4. Crassus, on the other, thinking himself worthy to be above all both by reason of his birth and of his wealth, and since he fell far short of Pompey and thought that Caesar would be raised to greatness, wished to set them in opposition to each other, so that neither of them should overtop the other — expecting that they would be rivals of equal strength, and that he himself meanwhile would both reap the friendship of each and be honoured above both.

56.5. For he followed strictly neither the policy of the multitude nor that of the senate, but did everything for the sake of his own personal power, and on this account both courted both of them alike and avoided enmity with either, taking part with each in turn in such matters as were agreeable to them, just so far as he was likely to gain the credit of all that was pleasing to either, and to have no share in the more disagreeable things.

57.1. Thus, then, and for these reasons, the three made their compact of friendship, and confirming it by oaths managed public affairs through themselves, and thereafter both gave to and received from one another whatever they had set their hearts upon and whatever suited them to do as the

57.2. occasion required. And when they had come to agreement, their factions too came to terms, and these likewise did with impunity whatever they wished, using them as their leaders in everything, so that the element of moderation was left small in Cato, and in any other who wished

57.3. to seem to think as he did. For purely and without any private greed none of those then engaged in public affairs save Cato acted; but some, ashamed at what was being done, and others desiring to emulate him, laid hold in a manner of affairs and displayed some show of like conduct, yet were not enduring in it, inasmuch as they set out from study and not from inborn virtue.

58.1. To this point, then, those men brought the affairs of the Romans at that time, having concealed their conspiracy as long as possible. For they did all that had been resolved among them, but feigned and put forward the very opposite, that they might still escape notice as long as possible, until they should have made sufficient preparation.

58.2. Yet the divine power was not ignorant of what was done by them, but to those who were able to understand any such things revealed at once, even then, all that would afterward come of them; for a storm so great suddenly seized both the

58.3. whole city and all the country that very many trees were uprooted, and many houses were shattered, and the boats moored in the Tiber both at the city and at its mouth were sunk, and the wooden

58.4. bridge was destroyed, and even a theatre built of planks for some festival was overthrown, and amid all this a great multitude of men perished. These things, then, were shown beforehand as a kind of image of what would befall them both on land and on the water.