Book 4

Contents. The following is contained in the thirty-ninth book of Dio's Roman History: 1. How Caesar made war upon the Belgae. 2. How Cicero returned from exile. 3. How Ptolemy, cast out of Egypt, came to Rome. 4. How Cato settled affairs in Cyprus. 5. How Pompey and Crassus were chosen consuls. 6. How the theatre of Pompey was dedicated. 7. How Decimus Brutus, Caesar's lieutenant, conquered the Veneti in a sea-fight. 8. How Publius Crassus, Caesar's lieutenant, made war on the Aquitani. 9. How Caesar, after warring with certain of the Celts, crossed the Rhine; and concerning the Rhine. 10. How Caesar crossed over into Britain; and concerning the island. 11. How Ptolemy was restored to Egypt by Gabinius, and how Gabinius was tried for it. The span of time is four years, in which the magistrates here numbered held office: Publius Cornelius Lentulus Spinther, son of Publius, and Quintus Caecilius Metellus Nepos, son of Quintus, consuls; Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus, son of Publius, and Lucius Marcius Philippus, son of Lucius, consuls; Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, son of Gnaeus, for the second time, and Marcus Licinius Crassus, son of Publius, for the second time, consuls; Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, son of Gnaeus, and Appius Claudius Pulcher, son of Appius, consuls.

1.1. Thus, then, were those campaigns brought to an end; but after this, when the winter had passed in which Cornelius Spinther and Metellus Nepos began their consulship, a third war arose for them. For the Belgae, dwelling along the Rhine in many and mixed

1.2. races, and reaching to the ocean over against Britain, had formerly some been at peace with the Romans and others taken no thought of them, but then, seeing Caesar prospering and fearing lest he set upon them too, they banded together, and using, except for the Remi, a common policy, both deliberated against the Romans and bound themselves by oath, putting Galba at their head.

1.3. Caesar, then, learning this from the Remi, took them under his protection, and encamping there by the river Axona, both gathered his soldiers and exercised them. Nor did he venture beforehand to come to grips with the enemy, although they were overrunning the country,

1.4. until, despising him as though he were afraid, they attempted both to seize the bridge and to cut off the grain-supply which he was bringing by it from the allies. For learning beforehand from deserters that this would be, he sent against them by night

2.1. the light-armed and the cavalry. And these, falling unexpectedly upon the barbarians, killed many, so that all on the following night withdrew to their own land, especially as the Aedui were reported to have invaded it. Caesar perceived what was happening, but did not dare at once to pursue them, through ignorance of the

2.2. country. But at dawn, taking his cavalry and bidding the infantry follow, he overtook them, and when they stood to battle (for he was thought to be with the cavalry alone), he delayed until the infantry too came up, and so, surrounding them with his whole army, both cut down the greater part and brought over the survivors by agreement. And from this he won over some of the communities without a battle and others by war.

3.1. The Nervii, then, willingly gave up the plain to him (for they were no match in battle), and retiring into the most wooded mountains, afterward, when they had charged down from there unexpectedly, on the part where Caesar himself was turned them and fled, but over the greater part of the army both got the upper hand and took the camp at the first shout.

3.2. But Caesar, perceiving this (for he had advanced somewhat in pursuit of those who had been routed), turned back, and finding them plundering within the entrenchment, surrounded and slaughtered them. Having done this, he had no further great toil in subduing the rest of the Nervii.

4.1. Meanwhile the Aduatuci, who were neighbours of theirs and had the race and the spirit of the Cimbri, set out to aid them, but when they were forestalled by the others' defeat, withdrew, and abandoning all their other places, gathered into one

4.2. strongest fortress. And against Caesar, when he assaulted it, they held out for many days, until he turned to the making of engines. For then, so long as they saw the Romans cutting timber and putting together the engines, they made a mockery of them for their inexperience of what was being done;

4.3. but when these had been finished and the men-at-arms were brought up upon them from every side at once, they were dismayed, as never having seen any such thing, and sent a herald, sending provisions to the soldiers and throwing

4.4. down certain arms from the wall. Yet when they saw the engines again stripped of men and perceived that those men had turned to merriment as at a victory, they changed their minds, and recovering courage made a sally by night to cut down the Romans as though off their guard. But falling upon the outposts (for Caesar always managed everything strictly), they were foiled. And not one of the rest, thereafter, obtained any pardon, but all were sold.

5.1. When these had been subdued, and others, some by himself and some through his lieutenants, in great numbers reduced, and winter set in, he withdrew to winter quarters. The Romans at home, learning this, marvelled that he had conquered so many peoples, of which they did not before even accurately know the names, and voted to sacrifice fifteen days on account of it, which had never before happened.

5.2. And at this same time Servius Galba, his lieutenant, so long as the season lasted and he kept his army together, subdued, some by force and some by agreement, the Veragri, who dwell along the Lake Lemannus and toward the Allobroges as far as the Alps, so as to make ready

5.3. to winter there. But when the greater part of the soldiers, some being on furlough as not far from Italy, and others having withdrawn elsewhere on their own, and the natives in this state of things

5.4. attacked him unexpectedly, he was driven by desperation, out of despair, to a desperate venture, and leaping suddenly out of the winter-camp both dismayed those who pressed upon him by the strangeness of his daring, and through them broke through to the heights. And being in safety, he afterward both warded them off and enslaved them, yet did not winter there, but removed into the country of the Allobroges.

6.1. These things happened in Gaul; but Pompey meanwhile brought it about that the recall of Cicero was voted. For the man whom he had driven out through Clodius, this same man he brought back against Clodius himself; so somehow does the human element sometimes change within a little while, and from those things by which men think they will be benefited or harmed they receive the very

6.2. opposite. There co-operated among the praetors and tribunes others and Titus Annius Milo, who indeed brought the motion before the multitude; for Spinther the consul, partly to gratify Pompey, and partly out of a private enmity warding off Clodius, by which, judging his adultery, he had condemned him, and . . .

6.3. but Clodius had on his side others of those in office and his brother Appius Claudius, who was praetor, and Nepos the consul, hating Cicero out of some private

7.1. enmity. These men, then, more than before, inasmuch as they had the consuls as leaders, and the others in the city, divided into the two parties, raised disturbances. And from this many other things were done

7.2. not in order, and at the very voting Clodius, perceiving that the multitude would be on Cicero's side, took the gladiators whom his brother had prepared beforehand for the funeral games in honour of their kinsman Marcus, and leaped into the assembly and wounded

7.3. many and killed many. So the motion was not ratified, and Clodius, being with those men as with bodyguards, was an object of fear to all in other matters too, and sought the aedileship in order that he might escape the trial for violence, if he should be elected.

7.4. For Milo had indicted him and had not brought him to trial (for neither had the quaestors, through whom the allotment of the jurors had to be made, been chosen, and Nepos forbade the praetor to admit any suit before their allotment; and the aediles, indeed, had to be appointed before the quaestors, and on this account especially the

8.1. delay arose); and Milo, fighting about this very thing, caused much disorder, and at last, having himself gathered certain gladiators and others of those who wished the same as he, came continually to grips with Clodius, and there were slaughters throughout well-nigh the whole

8.2. city. Nepos, then, in fear of his colleague and of Pompey and the other foremost men, changed his course, and so both the senate, on Spinther's motion, voted beforehand that Cicero return, and the people, both consuls bringing it in, decreed it.

8.3. For Clodius opposed them, but Milo was set against him so that he could do nothing violent, and others, and Pompey, supported the law, so that they became far the stronger.

9.1. So Cicero returned and felt gratitude to the senate and the people, the consuls granting him both the council-chamber and the assembly. And he gave up his enmity with Pompey over his exile and was reconciled, and straightway repaid the

9.2. benefaction; for, a severe famine having arisen in the city, and the whole crowd having burst into the theatre (such a theatre as they then still used for the festivals) and after this into the Capitol upon the senators sitting in council, and threatening now to slay them on the spot, now even to burn them up with the very temples,

9.3. Cicero persuaded them to appoint Pompey overseer of the grain, and on this account to give him the office of proconsul both in Italy and abroad for five years. And so Pompey, just as before over the pirates, so now over the grain, was again to rule the whole inhabited world then under the Romans.

10.1. Caesar and Crassus were otherwise vexed with Cicero, but yet showed some zeal for him, since they perceived that he would assuredly return (for Caesar, even when absent, showed him some goodwill), yet received no gratitude in return.

10.2. For Cicero, knowing that they had done this not from inclination, and thinking them most responsible for his exile, did not from the open quite play the bold man against them, inasmuch as he had recently experienced the fruits of unbridled frankness; yet he composed a certain secret book, and entitled it as containing a kind of

10.3. defence of his own counsels, and heaped into it many dreadful things both concerning them and concerning certain others, and on this account, fearing lest it come out while he lived, he sealed it up and gave it to his son, charging him neither to read nor to publish what was written until he himself should have passed away.

11.1. Cicero, then, again flourished, and recovered both his other property and the ground of his house, although it had been dedicated to Liberty, Clodius both invoking the gods and casting reproach

11.2. upon him. For attacking the passing of the curiate law, against which his transfer from the patricians to the plebs had been made, on the ground that it had not been published within the times fixed by ancestral usage, he undermined the whole tribunate of Clodius, in which the things concerning his house had also been decreed, saying that, since his transfer to the people had been illegally made, it was impossible that any of the acts done in it should be reckoned

11.3. valid; and through this he persuaded the pontiffs to give him back the ground, as being profane and unconsecrated. And so he got both that and money for the rebuilding of his house, and whatever else of his property had been damaged.

12.1. After this they were stirred up again on account of King Ptolemy. For since he had spent much money on certain of the Romans, partly from home and partly borrowed, in order to confirm his rule and be named friend and ally, and was levying it violently from the Egyptians,

12.2. and was on this account hated, and because he would not, when they bade him, demand Cyprus back from the Romans or else renounce his friendship with them, and could neither persuade them to keep quiet nor again constrain them (for he had no

12.3. foreign force), he ran away from Egypt, and coming to Rome accused them of having cast him out of his kingdom, and obtained that he should be restored by Spinther, to whom Cilicia had been

13.1. entrusted. While these things were happening, the Alexandrians, ignorant for a time that he had set out for Italy, or thinking him dead, set up his daughter Berenice in the kingdom in his place; then, learning the truth, sent a hundred men to Rome both to make defence against his charges and to bring counter-charges of all the wrongs they had suffered.

13.2. Learning this beforehand (for he was still in Rome), he laid ambush for the envoys before they arrived, sending men in various directions, and the greater part of them he destroyed on the road; and of the rest, some he killed in the city itself, and others he so terrified by these means, or corrupted with money, that they neither came before the magistrates concerning the matters for which they had been sent nor made any mention at all

14.1. of those who had perished. Yet the affair became so notorious that the senate too was terribly indignant, Marcus Favonius above all urging them on both grounds — both that many envoys sent from the allies had been violently destroyed, and that many

14.2. of the Romans had again taken bribes. And they summoned Dion, the head of the embassy (for he survived), as though to learn the truth from him; but even then Ptolemy so prevailed by his money that neither did Dion come before the senate nor was there any mention of the murder of those who had died, so long

14.3. as Ptolemy himself was present. And indeed, when Dion was afterward treacherously slain, Ptolemy paid no penalty even for that; for, among other things, Pompey had received him into his house and

14.4. strongly supported him. Of the rest of those on the spot, indeed, many were afterward accused, but few convicted; for those who had taken bribes were many, and each, out of his own fear, fought for the others.

15.1. So men did such things for money; but the divine power, by striking with a thunderbolt the statue of Jupiter set up in the Alban Mount at the very beginning of the following year, held up for a time the restoration of Ptolemy.

15.2. For consulting the Sibylline verses, they found written in them this very thing: "If the king of Egypt come needing some aid, do not refuse him friendship, yet do not aid him with any multitude; otherwise you will have both

15.3. toils and dangers." And from this, marvelling at the coincidence of the verses with what had then happened, they annulled all that had been decreed concerning him, being persuaded by Gaius Cato, a tribune. And this was thus delivered as an oracle, but was made public (for it was not permitted that any of the Sibylline verses be announced to the multitude, unless the senate so voted) through

15.4. Cato. For as soon as the sense of the verses was bruited about, as is wont to happen, he feared lest it be hushed up, and brought the priests before the crowd, and there, before the senate had transacted anything concerning them, forced them to declare the oracle aloud; for the less it seemed to them

16.1. permitted to do this, the more the multitude held to it. And so it was; and being translated into the Latin tongue it was proclaimed. But when they were afterward making their proposals, and some assigned the restoration of Ptolemy to Spinther without an army, and others bade Pompey too bring him back with two

16.2. lictors (for Ptolemy, learning the oracle, claimed to obtain this, and Aulus Plautius, as tribune, read his letter to the public assembly), the senators, fearing lest Pompey should become still greater from this too, opposed it, using the pretext of the grain.

16.3. These things happened in the consulship of Lucius Philippus and Gnaeus Marcellinus; and Ptolemy, learning of them, gave up his restoration, and going to Ephesus, took up his abode with the goddess.

17.1. In the former year another such thing, peculiar but bearing somehow on the history, was done. For though the law expressly forbade any two of the same kinship to hold the same priesthood at the same time, Spinther the consul, desiring to bring his son Cornelius Spinther into the augurs,

17.2. then, since Faustus the son of Sulla, being of the tribe of the Cornelii, had been previously enrolled, adopted him into the family of Manlius Torquatus, and so the law, remaining in its own words, was in deed annulled.

18.1. After this Clodius, as soon as he had entered upon the aedileship in the consulship of Philippus and Marcellinus (for he had been elected expressly to escape his trial), brought an indictment against Milo for his preparation of gladiators; for the very things which he himself did and

18.2. for which he was being tried, these he charged against Milo in return. And he did this not because he expected to convict Milo, inasmuch as he had strong supporters, among them Cicero and Pompey, but in order that on this pretext he might both make war on Milo

19.1. and insult those men. At any rate, besides the rest, he contrived something of the following sort: having prepared his partisans, so that, whenever he asked them in the assemblies, "Who was it that did or said any such thing?" they should cry out together, "Pompey," he asked often and suddenly, individually and one by one, all the reproachful things concerning him, whether of his body or anything else, as though not speaking

19.2. of him; and from this, with some leading off and others echoing them, as is wont to happen in such cases, and saying "Pompey," much mockery resulted, so that he, neither able to endure to keep quiet nor enduring to do anything similar to him, became exceedingly angry and was reduced to helplessness, and in word Milo was being condemned, but in deed it was Pompey who, without even defending himself, was being convicted.

19.3. For Clodius, that Pompey might be the more at a loss, would not permit the curiate law to be introduced; for before that was passed, neither could any other serious public business be transacted nor any suit be brought.

20.1. So long, then, as Milo was a screen for them in their revilings and slaughters; and when certain portents occurred in this time (for in the Alban Mount a small temple of Hera, set up on a table toward the east, was turned to the north, and a torch, starting from the south, darted across to the

20.2. north, and a wolf entered the city, and an earthquake occurred, and some of the citizens were destroyed by thunderbolts, and a noise was heard underground in the Latin territory; and the soothsayers, wishing to remedy these things, said that some divine power was angry with them, as though certain sacred or unconsecrated places

20.3. were being inhabited), then Clodius, taking up the matter against Cicero, pressed hard upon him in word, because he had built upon the ground of his house, which had been consecrated to Liberty, and once even went against it as though to tear it down again from its foundations. And he did not do

21.1. this, for Milo prevented him; but Cicero, as though he had suffered it, was angry and made accusations, and at last, taking Milo and certain tribunes, went up to the Capitol and took down the tablets which had been set up by Clodius concerning his

21.2. exile. And at that time, when Clodius came up with his brother Gaius, the praetor, they were taken from him; but after this, watching for Clodius to be away, he went up again to the Capitol, and taking them carried them home.

21.3. When this had happened, there was no longer anything unsworn for either of them, but they reviled one another and slandered them in whatever else they could, abstaining from none of the basest things,

21.4. the one denouncing the tribunate of Clodius as having been held against the laws, and the things done in it by him as void, the other the exile of Cicero as having been justly decreed, and his recall as having been illegally voted.

22.1. While they were fighting, and Clodius was getting much the worse in the strife, Marcus Cato, coming forward, made them equal; for, being vexed with Cicero, and fearing at the same time lest all that he himself had done in Cyprus be annulled, because he had been sent there by Clodius as tribune, he eagerly

22.2. assisted him. For he plumed himself greatly on those deeds and accounted it of the utmost importance that they be confirmed. For Ptolemy, who then held the island, when he perceived what had been voted and dared neither to lift up arms against the Romans nor again to endure to live deprived of his

22.3. rule, drank poison and died, and the Cyprians received Cato not unwillingly, expecting to be friends and allies of the Romans instead of

22.4. slaves; and Cato had nothing to plume himself on in these matters, but in that he managed everything else most excellently, and, having gathered slaves and much money from the royal treasures, was accused of nothing but rendered an account of all without reproach, he laid claim to manliness no less than if he had conquered in some war; for by reason of the many who take bribes, he held it rarer for a man to despise money than to prevail over the enemy.

23.1. At that time, then, Cato came to enjoy a kind of glory of triumph on account of these auspicious deeds, and the consuls made a motion in the senate that a praetorship be given him, although it did not yet belong to him by the laws. And he was not appointed (for he himself opposed it), but he gained from this even greater

23.2. renown. Clodius attempted to name the household slaves brought from Cyprus "Clodian," because he himself had sent Cato thither, but was unable, Cato opposing him. So they were called Cyprian, although some wished to call them Porcian

23.3. (for Cato prevented even this); and Clodius, bearing his opposition with anger, slandered the things administered by him and demanded the accounts of what had been done — not because he could convict him of any wrongdoing, but because by a shipwreck the records had been almost all destroyed, and he thought to have some strength in this respect.

23.4. And at that time too Caesar aided Clodius, although not present, and sent him the accusations against Cato by letter, as some say. And it was charged against Cato, among other things, that he, having himself persuaded the consuls, as they said, to propose the praetorship for him, pretended to give it up willingly, in order that he might not seem to have failed of it unwillingly.

24.1. These men, then, were fighting; and Pompey too had some delay in the distribution of the grain; for since many had been freed in hope of what would come from it, he wished to make a register of them, that they might be supplied with grain in order and arrangement;

24.2. yet this he managed somehow more easily, both by his own wisdom and from the abundance of grain, but in seeking the consulship he met with trouble and incurred blame from it.

24.3. For he was distressed both by the things done by Clodius, and most of all because he was overlooked by the others over whom he was preeminent, both for his rank and for the hopes by which, even as a private man, he had expected to be honoured above them all, and was now insulted.

24.4. But these things he sometimes even despised; for at the moment, when ill spoken of, he was displeased, but after an interval, coming to a reckoning of his own virtue and of the baseness of his opponents,

25.1. he no longer set store by them; whereas Caesar, growing in power, and the people both admiring what he had accomplished, so that they sent . . . , and elated by the hopes from it, so that they voted him much money,

25.2. grievously vexed him. For he attempted to persuade the consuls neither to read Caesar's dispatches at once, but to conceal them as long as possible, until the report of his deeds should of itself prevail, and to send some successor to him even before the proper time.

25.3. For he used so great ambition that he both grudged and sought to undo all that he himself had wrought together with Caesar, and was distressed that Caesar was both being greatly praised in other respects and was overshadowing his own deeds, and reproached the people because they held him in slight regard while they were over-zealous for Caesar.

25.4. For, among other things, he was indignant to see them remembering any of one's earlier deeds only so long as nothing else came after, and being most readily borne, toward whatever was newly established, even if it were less than the former, both by satiety of the familiar and by the pleasure of the strange, and abolishing through envy all that had earlier been in repute, while helping to magnify whatever was just appearing,

26.1. through their hopes. Vexed, then, by these things, and being able to accomplish nothing through the consuls, and seeing Caesar becoming greater than his trust in him, he did not take the matter lightly. For he held that there were two things which dissolve men's friendships, fear and envy, and that these arise only from a rivalry of glory and of strength;

26.2. for so long as men share equally in these, those friendships are strong, but when one party rises above somewhat, then the inferior, envying, hates the stronger, and the prevailing, despising, treats the weaker with insolence, and so from both — the one indignant at his inferiority, the other elated by his superiority — they come to differences and to wars out of their former

26.3. friendship. With such reckonings, then, Pompey armed himself against Caesar. And since he thought he could not easily overthrow him alone, he attached to himself the more closely Crassus, as though to do this with his help.

27.1. Coming to agreement, then, they hoped to accomplish nothing otherwise as private men, but expected that, if they were consuls and from this took the affairs into their own hands in rivalry with him, they would be a counterpoise to him and would quickly, being two against one, prevail over him.

27.2. And so, laying aside all that pretence by which they had been wont, even if any of their partisans put them forward for the office, to deny that they wished any longer to be consuls, they openly laid claim to it, although they had earlier supported certain others.

27.3. And since they announced their candidacy outside the times defined in the laws, and it was plain that the others, and the consuls themselves (for Marcellinus had some force), would not permit them to be appointed, they managed that the elections should not be held in that year, putting forward others and Gaius Cato among them, in order that, an interrex being chosen, they might both seek the office according to the laws and obtain it.

28.1. And since this was done, in word by those who had been prepared on various pretexts at various times, but in deed by those men themselves (at any rate they were openly vexed with those who opposed them), the senate was terribly indignant, so that once, while they were fighting, it

28.2. rose up. And at that time they were thus parted; but afterward, when the same things were happening, they voted to change their robes as in some calamity, although Cato, since by opposing he accomplished nothing, leaped out of the senate . . .

28.3. that nothing might be completed; for if anyone not a senator was within, no vote was given them. For other tribunes, meeting those men beforehand, prevented them from entering, and so both this decree was ratified, and it was further decreed that the senators should not attend the festival then being held.

28.4. But when Cato opposed even this, they leaped out in a body, and changing their dress returned, as though by this too to dismay him. And when even so he did not moderate, they came forth into the Forum all together, and, the multitude running together for this, reduced them to all dejection,

28.5. Marcellinus haranguing and lamenting their present state, and the rest weeping and groaning, so that no one said anything in opposition. And having done this they went straight into the senate-house, intending to vent their anger upon the

29.1. guilty; but Clodius meanwhile, leaping back again to Pompey's side, and again taking up his cause in the hope that, if he should help him accomplish any of the things then being done, he would make him very much his own, came forward to the crowd in the proper dress, having changed nothing of it in accordance with the decree, and harangued against Marcellinus and the others.

29.2. So when much indignation arose at this too on the part of the senators, he left the crowd in the midst of his speech, and rushing toward the senate was within a little destroyed; for the senate, meeting him, hindered him from entering,

29.3. and meanwhile, surrounded by knights, he would have been torn in pieces, had he not, crying out and calling upon the crowd, brought up many bringing fire, as though to burn them up along with the senate-house if they should do him any harm. And so he, having come so near to perishing,

30.1. was saved. But Pompey, not at all dismayed by these things, once leaped into the senate, opposing it as it was about to vote, and prevented that from being ratified, and when Marcellinus afterward asked him publicly whether he really desired to be consul, hoping, by his agreeing, to make him hesitate to canvass, he said that for the sake of the just men he had no need of the office, but on account of the turbulent he very much laid claim to

30.2. it. So when he openly pressed this, and Crassus, being asked the same, did not agree, yet did not deny it, but, as he was wont, went a middle way, saying that he would do everything that was for the common good, Marcellinus and many others took alarm at their preparation and their array, and no longer attended the

30.3. senate-house. And since the proper number for voting anything concerning the elections did not assemble according to the laws, no business at all could be transacted concerning them, but

30.4. the year thus passed. Yet they neither changed their dress nor went to the festivals, nor were feasted in the Capitol at the festival of Jupiter, nor came to the Alban Mount for the Latin holidays, then held a second time on account of something incorrectly done by someone, but as though enslaved, and having no power either to choose magistrates or to do any other public business, they passed the rest of the year.

31.1. And after this Pompey and Crassus were appointed consuls from an interregnum, no other of those who had announced their candidacy attending, and Lucius Domitius, who had canvassed up to the last day, having set out toward the assembly from home by night, when the slave who carried the lamp before him was slain, in fear

31.2. went no further. So, with no one opposing them in the office, and besides Publius Crassus, who was the son of Marcus and was then lieutenant to Caesar, having brought soldiers to Rome for this very purpose, they were chosen without difficulty.

32.1. Having thus received the command, they brought it about that the rest of the offices were given to those favourably disposed to them, preventing Marcus Cato from being appointed praetor; for they suspected that he would not endure what was being done, and were unwilling to add to him lawful strength for his

32.2. opposition. And the appointment of the praetors (for Cato did not think fit to do anything violent) was peaceful, but over the curule aediles there were slaughters, so that Pompey too was sprinkled with much blood.

32.3. Nevertheless they appointed these, and the others chosen by the people, to their liking (for they themselves held the elections), and attached to themselves the other aediles and the greater part of the tribunes; but two tribunes, Gaius Ateius Capito and Publius Aquilius Gallus, would not agree with them.

33.1. When, then, the offices were established, they held to what they desired. And they themselves made no proposal concerning them either in the senate or before the people, but pretended very much that they had no need of any of these things;

33.2. but Gaius Trebonius, as tribune, proposed that to the one be given Syria and the regions bordering on it, and to the other the Spains (for there too there had recently been some disturbance), to govern for five years, employing as many soldiers as they wished both of the citizens and of the allies, and making war and peace with whomsoever they wished.

33.3. When, then, many were displeased at this, and most of all Caesar's friends, because those men, having obtained what they were managing, would shut up Caesar, who would no longer hold his command for long, and on this account certain men prepared to speak against what had been written, the consuls, fearing lest they fail of what they were doing, attached them to themselves so as to prolong the command for Caesar too by three more years, as the

33.4. truth is found to be. Yet they brought nothing concerning him before the people before they had secured their own affairs. For Caesar's friends, forestalled, thus kept quiet, and of the rest the greater part, enslaved by fear, kept quiet, content if even so they

34.1. should be preserved; but Cato and Favonius opposed everything done by them, having as fellow-workers others and the two tribunes, yet, fighting few against many,

34.2. spoke their frank words in vain. And Favonius, having obtained from Trebonius but a single hour for the opposition, wasted it crying out at random about the very narrowness of the time; while Cato happened to be allowed

34.3. to speak for two hours, but, turning to accusation both of the matters in hand and of the whole settlement, as he was wont, consumed the time before saying anything at all of what lay before him — not because nothing could be said of those matters either, but in order that, while still seeming to have something to say, he might be silenced by Trebonius and might charge him too with this very thing, since he knew well that not even if he had used the whole day could he persuade them to vote any of what he wished.

34.4. Accordingly he neither ceased when at once ordered to be silent, but even, when thrust out and dragged from the assembly, returned, and at last, even when ordered to be led off to prison, would not moderate.

35.1. And that day was so wasted that the tribunes could not even begin to speak; for in all the meetings of the people in which they deliberated, the right to speak was given to the private men before those

35.2. holding office, so that none of them, as it seems, being forestalled by the opinion of the stronger, should withhold any of what he thought, but might say what seemed good to him with all

35.3. frankness. Gallus, then, fearing lest someone shut him out of the Forum on the morrow or do something more dreadful, went into the senate-house in the evening and passed the night in it, both for the safety afforded by the place and that thence at

35.4. dawn he might go forth to the multitude. And Trebonius made him pass both the night and the greater part of the day there in vain, having shut all the doors of the senate-house; while Ateius and Cato and Favonius and the others with them others shut out, having seized beforehand by night the place of the assembly.

35.5. And when Favonius and Ninnius somehow got within unobserved, and Cato and Ateius, mounting upon some of those standing round and being lifted up by them, proclaimed a sign from the gods, as though to dissolve the assembly, the attendants of the tribunes drove off both of these, and wounded the others who were with them, and even killed some.

36.1. The law being thus ratified, and the multitude already departing from the assembly, Ateius took Gallus, covered with blood (for, being forced out of the senate-house, he had been struck), and brought him before those still present, and showing him, and saying what was likely,

36.2. terribly disturbed them. The consuls, then, perceiving this, came quickly (for they were watching what was being done from somewhere near), and terrifying them, inasmuch as they had no small force, straightway gathered an assembly and voted the measures concerning Caesar, those same men attempting to oppose even those, yet unable to accomplish anything.

37.1. These things, then, they had ratified, and after this they imposed more bitter penalties on those who bribed anyone, as though they themselves had erred the less in that they had taken the office not by money but by force.

37.2. For they attempted also to curtail the expenditures in living, which had been carried to the utmost, although they themselves had gone to every extreme of luxury and softness, but were prevented by

37.3. this very thing from passing the law. For Hortensius, being among the most extravagant, persuaded them, going through the greatness of the city and praising them both for their luxury at home and for their magnificence toward others, to drop the motion, using as a fellow-advocate of his words their own

37.4. life. For, ashamed at the opposition, and besides hesitating to seem to debar others, out of some envy, from what they themselves did, they willingly let the proposal go.

38.1. And in these same days Pompey dedicated the theatre in which we even now take pride, and in it gave a spectacle both of music and of gymnastic contest, and in the hippodrome a race of horses and the slaughter of many beasts of every kind.

38.2. For five hundred lions were used up in five days, and eighteen elephants fought against men-at-arms. And of these some died at once, others not long afterward. For some were pitied by the people contrary to Pompey's intention, when, having been wounded, they ceased from the fight,

38.3. and went about raising their trunks to heaven and lamenting in such a way as to give rise to the report that they did this not by mere chance, but invoking the oaths by trusting in which they had crossed over from Libya, and calling upon the divine power for

38.4. vengeance on their behalf. For it is said that they did not embark on the ships before they had received from those who brought them a sworn assurance that they would suffer no harm. And whether this be

38.5. really so, or otherwise, I do not know; for already some have said this too, that besides understanding the language of their native land, they comprehend also the things done in the heavens, so that at the new moons, before the moon comes into the sight of men, they go to running water and there

38.6. make a kind of purification of themselves. These things, then, I have heard, and I have heard also this, that this theatre was made not by Pompey, but by a certain Demetrius, a freedman of his, out of the money he had gathered while campaigning with him. Whence Pompey most justly assigned to him the name of the work, that he might not be ill spoken of in vain, because his freedman had levied so much money as to reach to so great an expenditure.

39.1. Nevertheless in these matters Pompey gratified the people not a little, but in making the levies along with Crassus according to what had been voted them, he grieved them most. And then indeed the many repented and praised Cato and the others, so that, both on this

39.2. account and because some suit was brought, in word against their lieutenants, but in deed against themselves over what was being done, by certain tribunes, those men dared nothing violent, but changed their dress as in calamity along with the partisans from the senate.

39.3. And this they at once repented of and laid aside, taking hold of no pretext; but when the tribunes attempted to dissolve the levies and to annul the campaigns of those men,

39.4. Pompey was not indignant (for he had at once sent out his lieutenants, and himself, on the ground that he was hindered from going out — being otherwise bound to be present on account of the care of the grain — gladly remained where he was, that he might both hold the Spains through those lieutenants and manage the affairs in Rome and the rest of Italy through

39.5. himself); but Crassus, since neither of these things belonged to him, turned to the strength that comes from arms. The tribunes, then, seeing that their frankness, being unarmed, was weak to prevent anything being done, otherwise kept silent, but uttered against him many strange imprecations, as though not

39.6. calling down curses through him upon the commonwealth as well; and at one time, while he was making upon the Capitol his customary vows for the campaign, they spread abroad reports of certain signs from the gods and portents, and at another, as he set out, called down upon him many dreadful curses. Ateius indeed attempted even to throw

39.7. him into prison; but, other tribunes opposing, there was a fight and delay between them, and meanwhile Crassus went out beyond the pomerium. And he, whether by chance or from those

40.1. very curses, before long came to grief; but Caesar, in the consulship of Marcellinus and Philippus, made an expedition against the Veneti. They dwell along the ocean, and had seized certain Roman soldiers sent for grain, and after this detained the envoys who came on their behalf, in order to recover their own hostages in exchange for them.

40.2. Caesar, then, did not give these back, but sending men in various directions, some to ravage the lands of those who had revolted with them, that they might not aid one another, and others to guard the lands of those at peace, lest they too

40.3. make any disturbance, himself marched against the Veneti, and having built boats in the interior, which he heard were suitable for the ebb and flow of the ocean, brought them down by the river Liger, and wasted almost the whole

40.4. season in vain. For the cities, set upon strong positions, were inaccessible, and the ocean, washing round well-nigh all of them, made approach impossible both for the foot and for the fleet, swelling and ebbing as it did, both in the ebb

40.5. and in the surf, so that Caesar was at his wits' end, until Decimus Brutus came to him with swift ships from the sea within. For Caesar himself had no thought of accomplishing anything even with these, but the barbarians, despising the smallness and the weakness

41.1. of the vessels, were defeated. For these were fashioned of lighter build for swift sailing in the manner of our seamanship, while those of the barbarians, inasmuch as they had often, in the continual ebb and flow of the ocean, to stand upon the dry land and to hold out against its flowing up and down, far

41.2. surpassed ours both in size and in thickness. For these reasons the barbarians, as having never before experienced such a fleet, made no account either of the look of the ships or of their performance, and at once put out against them as they lay at anchor, as though to sink them in the shortest time with their poles. And they were borne along by a great and violent wind; for they had leathern sails, so as to receive

42.1. unstintingly all the force of the blast. Brutus, then, so long as the wind pressed them on, did not even dare to put out against them, by reason both of the multitude and of the size of the ships and of the force of the wind and their charge, but made ready to ward off their assaults near the land and wholly to abandon his vessels.

42.2. But when the wind suddenly fell and the wave was stilled, and the ships were no longer moved as before by the oars, but, being heavy-laden, stood in a manner where they were, then at length, taking courage, he put out against them, and falling upon them did them many dreadful injuries without fear, both sailing round and

42.3. through them, and now ramming one, now backing water, where and as much as he wished, attacking safely, many ships against one, and elsewhere equal against equal, and sometimes even fewer against more.

42.4. For where he was superior, he grappled with them, and some he sank by breaking them open, while into others he passed across from many sides and came to grips with the marines and killed many; and if in any respect he was inferior, he most easily withdrew, so that the advantage was always

43.1. with him. For the barbarians, using neither archery nor having prepared stones beforehand, as expecting to have no need of them, if anyone came to grips with them, fought back after a fashion, but those who stood a little off from them they knew not what to do with.

43.2. So they themselves were both wounded and slain, even those who could not ward off anyone, and of their vessels some were broken open by ramming, and others set on fire by being kindled beneath; others, lashed in tow as though empty

43.3. of men, were dragged off. Seeing this, the remaining marines, some killed themselves, that they might not be taken alive, and others leaped into the sea, as though to board the enemy's ships through it, or at all events not to perish at the hands of the Romans.

43.4. For in eagerness and daring they were in no way inferior to them, but, betrayed by the slowness of their vessels, were terribly distressed. For, that no wind arising again upon the ships might move them, the Romans from afar brought to bear against them poles armed with sickles, and cut their ropes and tore

43.5. their sails. And being compelled in a manner to fight on foot in boats against men fighting at sea, very many of them perished there, and all the survivors were captured; and of these Caesar slew the most notable and sold the rest.

44.1. And after this he made an expedition against the Morini and the Menapii, who were neighbours of theirs, hoping both to overawe them from what he had already accomplished and to take them easily. Yet he subdued

44.2. none; for, having no cities but living in huts, and having conveyed their most precious things to the most overgrown of the mountains, they did far more harm to the Romans who came to grips with them than they themselves suffered. For Caesar attempted to advance into the very mountains, cutting the wood, but giving it up both because of their extent and because it was near winter, he withdrew.

45.1. While he was still in the Venetian country, Quintus Titurius Sabinus was sent as lieutenant against the Venelli, whose leader was Viridovix, and at first was very much dismayed by their numbers,

45.2. so that he would have been content to save the entrenchment; but afterward, perceiving them more emboldened from this, yet not really formidable in deed — as the many of the barbarians vainly vaunt all that is terrible in their threats — he took courage. And even so he did not dare to come to grips with them openly (for he was much overborne by their

45.3. numbers), but, the place being elevated, he drew them on to assault his entrenchment recklessly; for sending toward evening one of the allies who spoke their tongue, as a deserter, he persuaded them that Caesar

45.4. had been defeated . . . And so they, believing this recklessly (for they were very full of food and drink), at once set out against the Romans, lest they escape them by flight, and — for it was needful that not even a fire-bearer of their host should be saved, as the saying is — carrying some brushwood and logs and dragging others, as though to burn

45.5. them, both assaulted the rising ground and in their haste climbed up, with no one opposing them; for Sabinus did not move until the greater part of them were within his power. Then he charged down upon them from every side at once, unexpected, and dismaying the foremost, hurled them all

45.6. down the slope, and there cut them down as they stumbled in their turning, over one another and over the logs, so that not one

45.7. of them, nor of the rest, lifted arms again. For the Galatians, being immoderately greedy in all things alike, keep no measure either in their boldness or in their fear, but from the one fall into hopeless cowardice and from the other into headlong daring.

46.1. And about these same days Publius Crassus, the son of Marcus Crassus, subdued well-nigh the whole of Aquitania; for the Aquitani too are Galatae, and dwell along Celtica and reach to the ocean by the very

46.2. Pyrenees. Against these, then, Crassus made an expedition, and conquered the Sotiates in battle and took them by siege, losing a few in a certain agreement through treachery, but strongly defending himself in this

46.3. very matter; and seeing certain others gathered and having soldiers from Iberia, men of Sertorius, and using the war with them more generalship than rashness, as though about to withdraw from the land within a short time through lack of food, he pretended to fear them, and being despised, did not even so draw them on to come to grips with him, but afterward fell upon them unexpectedly and without warning when they were off their guard.

46.4. And on the side on which he came to grips he accomplished nothing (for the barbarians, charging out, defended themselves stoutly), but, their force being there, he sent men round to the other side of their camp, and seized it, empty of men, and came upon the rear of those fighting through it. And so they all perished, and the rest, save a few, agreed to terms without a battle.

47.1. These things were done in summer; but while the Romans were wintering in friendly territory, the Tencteri and the Usipetes, Celtic peoples, partly forced out by the Suebi and partly invited by the Galatae, crossed the Rhine

47.2. and invaded the land of the Treveri. And there, finding Caesar and being afraid, they sent to him making a truce and asking for land, or at least claiming that they be permitted to take some. When they obtained nothing, they at first promised to return home of their own accord and asked for a

47.3. truce; then, seeing a few of his cavalry approaching, those of them who were of military age despised them and changed their minds, and from this, checking their march, harassed those men, who did not expect it, and elated by this

48.1. held to the war. And their elders, condemning it, came to Caesar even against their own people's will, and begged him to pardon them, turning the blame upon the few. He detained these, as though he would give them some answer

48.2. before long, and setting out against the rest, who were in their tents, came upon them at midday, suspecting nothing hostile, inasmuch as their men were with him, and leaping into the tents cut down very many of the foot, who could not even get their arms in time, but were thrown into confusion about the wagons among the women and children.

48.3. And the cavalry, who were absent at that time, and at once, when they learned what had happened, had set out toward their homes and withdrawn to the Sugambri, he sent to and demanded their surrender — not because he expected them to be given up (for those beyond the Rhine did not so fear the Romans as to heed such demands), but in order that on this

48.4. pretext he too might cross over. For he himself was eager to do dreadfully what none before him had done of the like, and expected to drive the Celts far off from Gaul, by invading their own land. So when the cavalry were not surrendered, and the Ubii, who dwelt bordering on the Sugambri and were at variance with them, invited him, he crossed the river,

48.5. having bridged it, but finding the Sugambri withdrawn into their fastnesses and the Suebi gathering as though to aid them, he withdrew within twenty days.

49.1. The Rhine rises from the Celtic Alps, a little beyond Raetia, and advancing westward, cuts off on the left Gaul and those who dwell in it, and on the right the Celts, and at last falls

49.2. into the ocean. For this is the boundary — from which indeed they came to the difference of their appellations — even down to this day reckoned so; since in very ancient times both peoples dwelling on either side of the river were called Celts.

50.1. So Caesar then first of the Romans crossed the Rhine, and afterward crossed over into Britain, in the consulship of Pompey and

50.2. Crassus. This country is distant from the Belgic mainland over against the Morini four hundred and fifty stades at the shortest, and stretches along the rest of Gaul and well-nigh the whole of Iberia, projecting into the

50.3. open sea. And to the very first both of the Greeks and of the Romans it was not even known that it existed, and to those after them it came into dispute whether it were mainland or island; and much has been written on either side by many who knew nothing, inasmuch as they had neither seen for themselves nor heard from the natives, but conjectured as each had leisure or love of

50.4. learning. But as time went on, first under Agricola the propraetor and now under the emperor Severus, it has been clearly proved to be an island.

51.1. Into this, then, Caesar at that time, since the rest of Gaul was quiet and he had won over the Morini, desired to cross. And he made the passage where it was most needful, with his infantry, yet did not land where he should; for the Britons, learning beforehand of his approach, had seized in advance all the landing-places

51.2. that were toward the mainland. So sailing round a certain projecting headland, he was carried to another spot; and there, conquering those who came to grips with him as he disembarked into the shallows, he got control of the land before the greater reinforcement came, and after this beat back even those who

51.3. attacked. And not many of the barbarians fell (for, being charioteers and horsemen, they easily escaped the Romans, whose cavalry was not yet present), but dismayed both by the reports about them from the mainland and because they had dared to cross over at all and had been able to set foot on the land, they sent to Caesar some of the Morini, who were friends of theirs, with a herald. And at that time,

52.1. when he asked for hostages, they were willing to give them; but when the Romans in this interval were distressed by a storm, both as to the fleet present and that arriving, they changed their minds, and from the open did not attack them (for the camp was strongly guarded),

52.2. but, receiving certain men sent into their country as into friendly territory to gather provisions, destroyed them all save a few (for Caesar quickly came to the aid of the rest), and after this assaulted the very entrenchment of them. And they accomplished nothing, but came off ill; yet they did not come to terms

52.3. until they had often been worsted. For Caesar otherwise had no intention of making a truce with them; but since winter was coming on, and he had not surrounded himself with sufficient force to make war in it, and the reinforcements coming had been thwarted, and the Galatae had made a disturbance during his absence, he was reconciled with them even against his will, again demanding more hostages, but receiving few.

53.1. And he sailed back to the mainland and settled the disturbances, having gained nothing from Britain either for himself or for the city except the reputation of having campaigned against them. On this he himself plumed himself greatly, and the Romans at home

53.2. were wonderfully exalted; for, seeing that what had before been unknown had become manifest, and what had before been unheard of had become accessible to them, they took the future hope from these things as though already present in deed, and exulted over all that they expected to accomplish as though they already possessed it. And on this account they voted to hold a holy festival for twenty

54.1. days; but while these things were happening, Iberia too was stirred up, on which account it was assigned to Pompey. For certain men revolted and, putting the Vaccaei at their head, were defeated in battle by Metellus Nepos, while still unprepared,

54.2. but coming upon him as he besieged Clunia they got the better, and saved that town, though elsewhere they were worsted, yet not so as to be quickly enslaved. For in numbers they far surpassed their adversaries, so that Nepos would have been content to keep quiet without danger.

55.1. At this same time also Ptolemy, although the Romans had voted against aiding him and were even then still terribly disposed toward the bribery committed by him, was brought back and recovered his kingdom.

55.2. This was done by Pompey and Gabinius; for so greatly did despotic power and abundance of money prevail even against the decrees both of the

55.3. people and of the senate, that Pompey, by writing to Gabinius, who then governed Syria, and Gabinius, by making the campaign — the one through favour, the other through bribe-taking — brought him back even against the will of the commonwealth, taking no heed either of it or

55.4. of the oracles of the Sibyl. And Gabinius was afterward tried for this, but was not convicted, on account of Pompey and of money; for so were affairs confounded among the Romans of that time, that certain of the magistrates and of the jurors, having received from him some trifles out of the many things by which he had taken bribes, both set nothing of what was fitting before it, and besides taught the rest to do mischief for money, as men able

55.5. easily to buy off their punishment. At that time, then, on this account he was acquitted; but afterward, tried on certain other charges, and because he had plundered more than ten thousand myriads from his command, he was condemned. And this most strange thing befell both him (for he was acquitted on the former charge through money, and on these others was for that very reason especially

55.6. condemned) and Pompey, that whereas before, although somewhere far away, he had through his partisans rescued Gabinius, then, being in the suburb and in a manner present at the very court, he accomplished nothing.

56.1. It came about thus. Gabinius had done much harm to Syria, so that the pirates, which even then flourished, did far less damage than he; yet, thinking all the gains thence to be very small, he at first intended and made ready to march against the Parthians and their

56.2. wealth. For when Phraates had been treacherously slain by his sons, Orodes succeeded to his kingdom, and drove out his brother Mithridates from Media, which he ruled. And Mithridates, fleeing to Gabinius, persuaded him to help bring about his

56.3. restoration. But when Ptolemy came with Pompey's letters, and promised much money both to him and to the army, partly to be given at once, partly to be given when he should be restored, he let the affairs of the Parthians go and hastened toward Egypt,

56.4. although the law forbade governors both to go abroad beyond their own borders and to take up wars on their own initiative, and the people too had forbidden, by the Sibyl, that the man be restored. But the more he was forbidden

56.5. these things, the more he sold them. Leaving, then, in Syria his son Sisenna, who was quite young, and very few soldiers with him, he gave up the command over which he had been set still more to the

56.6. pirates, and himself, coming into Palestine, both seized Aristobulus (who, having escaped from Rome, was making some disturbance) and sent him to Pompey, and laid a tribute on the Jews, and after this invaded Egypt.

57.1. The Egyptians at that time were ruled by Berenice, and she had done nothing reasonable toward . . . , although she feared the Romans, but had summoned a certain Seleucus, as being of the royal house that once flourished in Syria, and made him both her husband and partner in the kingdom and in the

57.2. war. But when he was seen to be of no account, she put him to death, and brought in on the same terms Archelaus, the son of that Archelaus who had deserted to Sulla, an active man living in Syria. For Gabinius could have stopped the danger at its beginning (for, suspecting Archelaus beforehand, he had arrested him, and was about to have no further

57.3. work from it), but fearing lest on this account he should receive less of the money agreed upon with him by Ptolemy, as having done nothing of note, and hoping to make even more money out of the ability and the reputation of Archelaus, and besides receiving from Archelaus himself much, he willingly let him go as though he had escaped.

58.1. And so he came to Pelusium with no one opposing him, and advancing from there with his army divided in two, he conquered on the same day the Egyptians who met him, and after this prevailed again both with his ships on the river and on land; for the Alexandrians are by nature most ready to be bold against everything and most rash to blurt out whatever may come into their minds,

58.2. but for war and its terrors they are most worthless, although in their factions, which are very many and very great among them, they ever proceed through slaughters and set life at naught in their immediate strife, but pursue

58.3. destruction in them as though it were one of the best or most necessary things. Gabinius, then, having conquered them, and slain many others and Archelaus, became at once master of all Egypt and gave it over to Ptolemy. And he, since he had need of much money, put to death both his daughter and the foremost and richest of the

59.1. others. Gabinius brought him back thus, but did not write home about what had been done, that he might not become to them the announcer of his own transgressions. But since it was not possible for so great a matter to be hidden, the people learned it at once, and when the Syrians also

59.2. cried out much against Gabinius, especially as they had been terribly afflicted by the pirates in his absence, and the tax-farmers, being unable through them to collect the taxes, came into much debt, they were angry and made proposals and were ready to

59.3. condemn him. For Cicero too strongly urged them on, and advised them to read the Sibylline verses again, expecting that some penalty was written in them if anything should be transgressed.

60.1. Pompey, then, and Crassus were still consuls, and the one aiding himself, the other taking both his favour and at the same time money sent him by Gabinius, openly upheld his cause, and among other things, calling Cicero an exile, voted nothing.

60.2. But when those men had laid down their office and Lucius Domitius and Appius Claudius succeeded them, many proposals were again made, and the greater part were against Gabinius;

60.3. for Domitius, being an enemy of Pompey both because of his candidacy and because he had been appointed contrary to Pompey's wish, and Claudius, although a kinsman of his, nevertheless wishing out of demagogy to gratify the many somewhat, and expecting to take a bribe from Gabinius if he should make any

60.4. disturbance, did everything against him. And this too pressed him hard, that he had not received a certain man sent ahead by Crassus as lieutenant for the succession of his command, but held it as though he had received an immortal command. It seemed good to them, then, that the Sibylline verses be read, although Pompey opposed it.

61.1. And meanwhile the Tiber, whether from excessive rains occurring somewhere up above the city, or from a violent wind from the sea checking its outflow, or rather, as was suspected, from the contrivance of some divine power, suddenly so swelled that it flooded all the level places in the city and seized many even

61.2. of the higher places. So the houses (for they were built of brick) became soaked and fell in, and all the beasts of burden perished under the flood. And of the men, those who did not escape in time to the very high places, some caught in the upper stories and some in the streets perished. For the remaining houses too, since the calamity lasted for many days, became unsound, and did harm to many,

61.3. some at once and others after this. The Romans, then, grieved at these sufferings, and expecting others more grievous, as though the divine power had been made angry with them on account of the restoration of Ptolemy, were eager to put to death Gabinius even in his absence, as though they would be less harmed if they forestalled

61.4. his destruction. And so vehemently were they minded that, although nothing of the kind was found in the Sibylline oracles, yet they voted beforehand that the senate enjoin the magistrates and the people to deal with him most bitterly and harshly.

62.1. While these things were happening, money sent ahead by Gabinius caused him to suffer nothing dreadful on those counts, not only while absent but not even when he returned. Yet he was himself so shamefully and ill disposed by his conscience that he came late to Italy and was brought into the city by night, and for very many days did not dare to appear outside

62.2. his house. The charges, then, were many, and he had not a few accusers. First of all he was tried concerning the restoration of Ptolemy, as the greatest matter. And well-nigh the whole people flocked together to the court and often wished to tear him in pieces, especially because Pompey was not present and Cicero accused him most cleverly.

62.3. Yet, though they were thus disposed, he was acquitted; for he himself, being tried on so great charges, spent vast sums of money, and the partisans of Pompey and Caesar most zealously assisted him, saying that the Sibyl had spoken of another occasion and another king, and, the chief point, that no penalty for what had been done was written in her verses.

63.1. The people, then, nearly killed the jurors, but when these escaped, watched for the rest of his charges, and at any rate caused him to be convicted on

63.2. those. For those who were allotted to judge them, both fearing the multitude and getting nothing great from Gabinius (for, as being tried on lesser charges and expecting then too to prevail, he spent little), condemned him, although Pompey was near and Cicero pleaded for him.

63.3. For Pompey, in his care of the grain, since much had been destroyed by the river, having gone abroad, set out as though to attend the former trial (for he was in Italy), but, arriving too late for it, did not withdraw from the

63.4. suburb before that too was finished. And indeed, the people having gathered outside the pomerium (for, already holding the office of proconsul, he could not enter the city), he made a long speech on behalf of Gabinius, and read certain letters sent him by Caesar on his behalf,

63.5. and besought the jurors, and not only did not hinder Cicero from accusing him any longer, but even persuaded him to plead his cause, so that from this too the charge and name of turncoat grew the more upon him. Yet he profited Gabinius nothing, but at that time he went into exile convicted, as I said, and afterward was restored by Caesar.

64.1. At this same time also the wife of Pompey died after giving birth to a little daughter; and her body, whether the friends of Pompey and of Caesar so contrived, or some wishing otherwise to gratify them, men seized, as soon as she had received the eulogies in the Forum, and buried in the Campus Martius, although Domitius opposed it and said, among other things, that it was not lawful for her to be buried in the sacred place without some decree.

65.1. And meanwhile Gaius Pomptinus celebrated his triumph over the Galatae; for up to that time, no one granting it to him, he had remained outside the

65.2. pomerium. And even then he would have failed of it, had not Servius Galba, who had campaigned with him, secretly and toward dawn, as praetor, given certain men the vote (although it was not permitted by the laws that any business be transacted before the people before the first hour). And on this account some of the tribunes, having been excluded from the assembly, at any rate caused him trouble in the procession, so that slaughters even occurred.