Book 16

arg. The following is contained in the fifty-first book of Dio's Roman History. 1. How Caesar, victorious at Actium, ordered the present state of affairs. 2. Concerning Antony and Cleopatra and what they did after the defeat. 3. How Antony, defeated in Egypt, took his own life. 4. How Caesar subdued Egypt. 5. How Caesar came to Rome and celebrated his triumphs. 6. How the Julian senate-house was dedicated. 7. How Moesia was taken. Length of time: the remainder of the third consulship of Caesar and of Marcus Valerius Corvinus Messalla, together with two further years, in which the magistrates here counted held office: Caesar (4th), Marcus Licinius Crassus, son of Marcus, consuls; Caesar (5th), Sextus Apuleius, son of Sextus, consuls.

1.1. Such was the sea-battle they fought on the second of September. I have not mentioned the date without reason (for it is not my custom to do so), but because it was then for the first time that Caesar held the whole power alone,

1.2. so that the reckoning of the years of his monarchy is dated precisely from that very day. And in commemoration of it he dedicated to Apollo of Actium a trireme and a quadrireme, and the rest of the vessels in order up to one of ten banks of oars, taken from the captured ships; he built a larger temple, and instituted a quinquennial contest, sacred, with athletic and musical competitions and horse-racing (so they name the games that carry the privilege of public maintenance), naming it the Actia.

1.3. He also founded a city on the site of his camp, gathering some of the neighbouring peoples together and removing others to it, and gave it the name Nicopolis. The very ground on which he had pitched his tent he faced with square stones and adorned with the captured beaks of ships, setting up there an open-air shrine of Apollo.

1.4. These things took place later. At the time he sent off a part of his fleet in pursuit of Antony and Cleopatra; and those ships did pursue them, but when the fugitives proved beyond catching, they turned back. With the rest of the fleet he took the enemy's entrenched camp, none opposing him because of their small numbers, and afterwards he overtook the remaining army on its way to Macedonia and brought it over without a battle.

1.5. By now others too had made their escape, and among the leading men some of the Romans fled to Antony, while the rest, the allies who had fought with him, made for home. Yet these men no longer warred against Caesar, but quietly both they and all the peoples that had previously sided with Rome came to terms,

2.1. some at once, some only afterwards. Caesar dealt with the cities by exacting money and by stripping them of whatever authority they still held over their own citizens in their assemblies; from the princes and kings he took away the territories they had received from Antony — all of them save Amyntas

2.2. and Archelaus. He deposed from their principalities Philopator the son of Tarcondimotus, and Lycomedes who reigned over a part of Cappadocian Pontus, and Alexander the brother of Iamblichus; and this last, because he had received that office as the reward of his accusation of his brother, he led in his triumph

2.3. and then put to death. The kingdom of Lycomedes he gave to a certain Medeius, because Medeius had detached the Mysians of Asia from Antony before the sea-fight and had made war, in their company, upon those who held with Antony. The people of Cydonia and of Lampe he set free, because they had given him some assistance; and to the people of Lampe he restored

2.4. their city, which had been laid in ruins, settling them in it again. Of the senators and knights and other prominent men who had taken any part with Antony, many he punished with fines, many also he put to death, and some he spared. Among these last Sossius became conspicuous (for though he had often fought against Caesar and had now fled and gone into hiding, and was found only after some time, nevertheless he was preserved),

2.5. as was also a certain Marcus Scaurus; for though he was a brother of Sextus by the same mother and had been ordered to be put to death, he was afterwards released for the sake of his mother Mucia. Among those who were punished the Aquilii Flori and a man named Curio gained most notoriety, the latter because he was the son of that Curio who had once rendered much

2.6. service to the elder Caesar; and the Flori, because, when Caesar had ordered that of the two of them the one upon whom the lot fell should be slain, both perished. They were father and son; and when the son, before the lot was cast, of his own accord gave himself up to the executioner, the father was overcome with grief and slew himself over the body.

3.1. Thus these men met their end. The throng of Antony's soldiers was enrolled in Caesar's camps; and afterwards he sent home to Italy, without giving anything to anyone, the citizens of both armies who were past the age for service,

3.2. while the rest he dispersed. For since they had become formidable in Sicily after the victory, he feared that they might raise a tumult again, and therefore made haste, before any disturbance could be set on foot, to drive some entirely out of arms and to scatter

3.3. the mass of the others. The freedmen, whom he still regarded with suspicion even then, he relieved of the fourth instalment which they still owed of the sums imposed upon them; and these no longer bore him any grudge that they had been deprived of anything, but rejoiced

3.4. as though they had received whatever they had not been required to contribute. Those still in regular service, held in check partly by their officers and most of all by the hope of Egyptian wealth, made no disturbance; but the men who had shared in the victory and been discharged from the campaign were vexed at having won no reward, and before long began to mutiny.

3.5. And indeed Caesar, suspecting them and fearing that they might despise Maecenas (to whom Rome and the rest of Italy were at that time entrusted) because he was but a knight, sent Agrippa to Italy as though on some other business. And he gave both Agrippa and Maecenas such full authority in all matters that they might even read beforehand the letters he wrote to the senate and to others, and might alter whatever they wished in them.

3.6. For this purpose they received a ring from him, that they might be able to seal the letters. For he had had made a double seal, which he chiefly used at that time, engraved with a sphinx alike on each. Later he engraved his own likeness, and with that he sealed everything,

3.7. and the emperors after him used it too, except Galba; for he employed an ancestral seal which had upon it a dog peering out from the prow of a ship. To these men and to his other intimate friends, whenever he had need to communicate something secret, he used to write the next letter of the alphabet in place of the proper one in each word.

4.1. Caesar, supposing that there would be no further danger from the soldiers, set in order the affairs of Greece, was initiated into the mysteries of the Two Goddesses, and crossing over to Asia settled affairs there as well,

4.2. at the same time keeping watch upon Antony; for he had as yet learned nothing certain as to where Antony had escaped, and was making ready to set out against him should he ascertain anything. But when the soldiers in the meantime broke into open disorder, since he was far separated from them, he feared they might do some mischief if they got hold of a leader,

4.3. and therefore he charged others with the search for Antony, while he himself hastened to Italy in the middle of the winter in which he held his fourth consulship with Marcus Crassus. For Crassus, although he had served the cause of Sextus and of Antony, was now his colleague in the consulship without even having held the praetorship. On coming to Brundisium he advanced no

4.4. further. For when the senate, learning of his approach, all went out thither to meet him — save the tribunes and two praetors who by decree remained behind — and the knights, the greater part of the people, and others besides, some on embassies and some of their own accord, came together in great numbers,

4.5. no further disturbance was raised by anyone, in view of his arrival and of the eagerness of the multitude. For those men too, some from fear, some from hope, and some by summons, came to Brundisium; and of them Caesar gave money to the rest, but to those who had campaigned with him throughout

4.6. he assigned land besides. For he removed from their homes the communities in Italy that had favoured Antony, and bestowed their cities and lands upon his soldiers; to most of the dispossessed he gave in exchange the right to settle at Dyrrhachium, Philippi, and elsewhere, and to the rest he distributed money in place of their land, paying part

4.7. and promising the rest. For though he had gained much from his victory, he was spending far more. And on this account he posted up in the market a notice of his own possessions and those of his companions, so that whoever wished might buy or take any of them in exchange.

4.8. But nothing was sold and nothing taken in exchange; for who would have dared to do either? Yet having thus obtained a decent pretext for delaying his promise, he afterwards discharged it from the Egyptian spoils.

5.1. When he had arranged these and the other pressing matters — granting to certain men immunity and leave to live in Italy (for it had been forbidden them) and excusing the people who had been left in Rome for not coming out to him — he set out again for Greece on the thirtieth day after his arrival,

5.2. and hauling his ships across the Isthmus of the Peloponnese, to escape the storm, he made his way back to Asia so swiftly that Antony and Cleopatra learned of both his departure

5.3. and his return at the same time. For when they had fled from the sea-battle, they came together as far as the Peloponnese; and from there, having sent away some of their companions whom they suspected (and many also withdrew against their will), Cleopatra hastened to Egypt, lest the people, learning beforehand of their disaster,

5.4. should rise in revolt; and, to make her approach safe, she wreathed her prows as though victorious and had songs of triumph sung to the flute. But once she was in safety she put to death many of the leading men, who had always been ill-disposed toward her and were now elated at her misfortune,

5.5. and gathered great wealth from their estates and from other sources, sacred and profane alike, sparing not even the most inviolable of temples; she fitted out forces and looked about for alliances, and killing the Armenian king she sent his head to the Mede, in the hope that he would aid them for this favour.

5.6. Antony sailed to Libya, to Pinarius Scarpus and to the army which had been previously assembled there under him for the guarding of Egypt. But when Scarpus declared that he would not receive him, and moreover slew the men sent ahead by him, and put to death some of the soldiers under his own command who were angered at this, Antony too thereupon withdrew to Alexandria, having accomplished nothing.

6.1. And while they were making the other preparations for a war they expected to be swift, they enrolled their sons among the youths of military age — Cleopatra, Caesarion, and Antony, Antyllus, the son he had by Fulvia — in order that the Egyptians might be the more zealous, feeling that they now had a man for their king, and that the rest might hold out, having these as their protectors should any peril

6.2. befall them. And to the lads this very thing proved the cause of their ruin; for Caesar spared neither of them, since they were now men and bore some show of leadership. They, then, were making ready as if to wage war in Egypt both by sea and by land,

6.3. and for this purpose were summoning the neighbouring nations and the kings who were friendly to them; yet none the less they were preparing, should anything press hard upon them, to sail to Spain and rouse it to revolt, above all by the abundance of their money, or to transfer themselves to the Red Sea.

6.4. And in order that, while taking the longest time to deliberate on these matters, they might conceal them, or might somehow deceive Caesar or even assassinate him, they sent some men to bring him words about peace and money to those about him.

6.5. And in the meantime Cleopatra also, without Antony's knowledge, sent Caesar a golden sceptre, a golden crown, and the royal throne, as though offering him through these the sovereignty, in order that, even if

6.6. he hated Antony, he might yet pity her. He took the gifts, regarding them as an omen, but made no answer to Antony; to Cleopatra he replied openly with threats, among them that if she would lay down her arms and renounce her royal power, he would consider what should be done with her; but secretly that if she would put Antony to death, he would grant her both immunity and her kingdom unimpaired.

7.1. While this was going on, the Arabians, persuaded by Quintus Didius, the governor of Syria, burned the ships that had been built in the Arabian Gulf for the voyage to the Red Sea; and the peoples

7.2. and all the princes refused their aid. And it occurs to me to marvel that many others, though they had received much at their hands, deserted them, whereas those reared in the most dishonourable of conditions for gladiatorial combat showed toward them the greatest zeal

7.3. and fought most bravely. For these men, who were being trained at Cyzicus for the triumphal games which they hoped to hold in honour of Caesar, the moment they learned what had happened, set out

7.4. for Egypt to bring them aid. They did much harm to Amyntas in Galatia and to the sons of Tarcondimotus in Cilicia, men who had been their close friends but had now gone over to the present masters of the situation, and much also to Didius when he tried to bar their passage.

7.5. Yet they were unable to break through into Egypt; but when they had been hemmed in on every side, even so they would accept no terms, though Didius made them many promises, but sent for Antony, intending to wage war the better with him in Syria;

7.6. and then, when he neither came himself nor sent them any message, supposing that he had perished, they reluctantly came to terms, on condition that they should never fight as gladiators, and received from Didius leave to dwell in Daphne, the suburb of Antioch, until these matters should be made known to Caesar.

7.7. And afterwards they were tricked by Messalla and sent off, one here, one there, on the pretext that they were to be enrolled in the legions, and were destroyed by some convenient

8.1. device. Antony and Cleopatra, when they heard from their envoys the message sent them by Caesar, sent again — she promising to give him much money, and he reminding Caesar of their friendship and kinship, and besides making his defence concerning his intimacy with the Egyptian woman, reckoning up all the love-affairs and all the wild pranks

8.2. they had once shared together. And finally he surrendered to Caesar Publius Turullius, a senator and one of the assassins of Caesar, who was at the time on friendly terms with him, and engaged to take his own life, if by this Cleopatra might be saved.

8.3. Caesar put Turullius to death (and it happened that he had cut timber for a fleet from the grove of Asclepius in Cos, so that he was thought to have given satisfaction to the god as well, since he was condemned there); but to Antony he made no reply even then.

8.4. So Antony sent a third embassy, and dispatched to him his son Antyllus with much gold. Caesar took the money but sent the youth back empty, giving no answer. To Cleopatra, however, as the first and second time, so the third time also, he both threatened and made promises.

8.5. Yet, fearing that they might in despair of obtaining pardon from him hold out, and either prevail by their own efforts, or set out for Spain and Gaul, or destroy

8.6. the money, which he heard was very great in amount (for Cleopatra had gathered it all into the tomb she was building in the palace, and threatened to burn it all together with herself if she failed of even the least of her hopes), he sent his own freedman Thyrsus to say many kindly things to her,

8.7. and in particular that he happened to be in love with her, in the hope that by this means — she who claimed to be loved by all men — she might make away with Antony and keep both herself and the money unharmed. And so it turned out.

9.1. Before this came to pass, Antony, learning that Cornelius Gallus had taken over Scarpus's army and with it had suddenly seized Paraetonium, did not, indeed, set out for Syria, though he had wished to do so at the summons of the gladiators,

9.2. but marched against Gallus, hoping above all to win over the soldiers without a fight (for they had some goodwill toward him from their service together), and if not, to subdue them by force, since he was bringing a large fleet and infantry.

9.3. Yet he was not even able to address them, though he came up to the wall and shouted aloud; for Gallus ordered the trumpeters to sound together and allowed no one to hear anything. Moreover he came to grief in a sudden sally, and after that he failed with his ships as well.

9.4. For Gallus, having stretched certain chains under water by night across the mouth of the harbour, kept no visible guard over it, but quite fearlessly allowed Antony's men to sail in with contempt; but once they were within, he hauled up the chains by machines, and surrounding their ships on every side at once — from the land, from the houses, and from the sea —

9.5. he burned some and sank others. Meanwhile Caesar took Pelusium, nominally by force but in fact betrayed by Cleopatra. For she, when no one came to their aid and she perceived that Caesar was irresistible, and above all when she heard the words sent her through Thyrsus, believed that she was truly loved — first because she wished it, and then because she had likewise enslaved both his father and

9.6. Antony. And from this she expected to obtain not only immunity and the kingdom of the Egyptians, but the dominion of the Romans as well; and so she at once surrendered Pelusium to him, and afterwards, when he was advancing upon the city, she secretly prevented the Alexandrians from sallying out against him, though to outward appearance and so far as shouting went she strongly urged them to do so.

10.1. Antony, then, returning from Paraetonium at the news about Pelusium, met Caesar before Alexandria; and falling upon him while he was wearied with the march, he defeated him

10.2. with his cavalry. Taking courage from this, and because he had shot into Caesar's camp papers promising the soldiers fifteen hundred drachmas apiece, he engaged with the infantry as well

10.3. and was defeated; for Caesar himself of his own accord read the papers aloud to his soldiers, denouncing Antony and setting them, on the one hand, in the way of shame at the treachery and, on the other, of zeal on his own behalf, so that on this account too they were eager both from indignation at the attempt and from a desire to show that they would not play false.

10.4. Antony, when he had thus been worsted beyond his expectation, turned to his fleet and made ready as if to fight at sea, or in any case to sail to Spain. But Cleopatra, seeing this, caused the ships to desert,

10.5. and herself suddenly dashed into the tomb, ostensibly because she feared Caesar and wished in some way to anticipate her own destruction, but in reality to invite Antony to come in thither. For he suspected that he was being betrayed, yet did not believe it, by reason of his love, but rather, one may say, pitied her

10.6. more than himself. And this Cleopatra well knew, and hoped that, if he learned she was dead, he would not survive but would die at once. And for this reason she ran into the tomb with one eunuch and two handmaids, and sent him word from there

10.7. that she was dead. And he, on hearing this, did not delay, but desired to die after her. First he begged one of those present to kill him; but when that man drew his sword and slew himself, Antony wished to emulate him and wounded himself, and fell upon his face and gave to those present the appearance of being dead.

10.8. A tumult arising at this, Cleopatra perceived it and looked out over the top of the tomb; for its doors, once shut, could not be opened again by reason of a certain mechanism, but the upper part toward the roof was not yet entirely

10.9. finished. So when some saw her peering out from there, they raised a cry, so that Antony too heard it; and he, learning that she was alive, rose up as though he could live, but, much blood flowing from him, despaired of safety and besought those present to carry him to the tomb and to draw him up by the ropes that hung there for the hoisting of the stones. And there, in the bosom of Cleopatra,

11.1. he breathed his last. She took some courage toward Caesar, and at once disclosed to him what had happened; yet she did not altogether believe she would suffer no harm. So she kept herself within, in order that, if she could be saved by no other means, she might at least, through fear for the money, purchase both immunity and her kingdom.

11.2. So even then, in the midst of so great a calamity, she was mindful of her sovereignty, and chose rather to die with the name and dignity of a queen than to live as a private person. To be sure, she had fire ready for the money, and she had also asps and other reptiles to use upon herself, having first tried them on human beings to learn in what manner each of them kills.

11.3. Caesar desired both to become master of the treasure and to take her alive and lead her in his triumph; yet he was unwilling himself to give her any pledge and so appear to have been a deceiver, that he might treat her as a captive and one subdued, in a manner, against her will.

11.4. And on this account he sent to her the knight Gaius Proculeius and the freedman Epaphroditus, charging them what they were to say and do. And so they, falling in with Cleopatra and conversing with her in moderate terms, then suddenly seized

11.5. her before any agreement was reached. Thereupon, having put out of her reach all the means by which she could die, they allowed her for some days to remain where she was, embalming the body of Antony; then they brought her to the palace, taking from her none of her usual retinue or attendance, in order that she might hope all the more for what she desired and might do herself no harm.

11.6. Indeed, when she wished both to be seen by Caesar and to speak with him, she succeeded; and that she might be the more deceived, he promised to come to her himself.

12.1. So she prepared a splendid chamber and a costly couch, and moreover arrayed herself in studied negligence (for she looked marvellously becoming even in the garb of mourning), and seated herself upon the couch, having set beside her many likenesses of his father of every kind, and having taken into her bosom all the letters that had been sent her by him.

12.2. And after this, when Caesar came in, she sprang up gracefully and said: 'Hail, my lord; for to you a god has granted this, but from me he has taken it away. Yet you see, I think, with your own eyes your father such as he often came to me, and you hear how he honoured me in other ways and made me queen of the Egyptians.

12.3. But that you may learn something even from him concerning me, take and read the letters which he wrote me with his own hand.' Even as she spoke, she read aloud many tender words of his. And now she would weep and kiss the letters, now she would fall before his likenesses and do them reverence.

12.4. She turned her eyes toward Caesar, and lamented in tuneful fashion, and uttered some caressing word, now saying, 'Where now, Caesar, are these letters of yours?' now, 'But in this man too you live for me,' then again, 'Would that I had died before you,' and once more, 'But having him I have you.'

12.5. Such was the variety she employed both of words and of poses, looking sweetly at him and prattling. So Caesar understood both that she was acting a part and that she was making advances to him, yet pretended not to; but fixing his eyes upon the ground, he said only this: 'Take courage, woman, and be of good cheer; for you shall suffer no

12.6. harm.' She, then, being deeply grieved that he neither looked upon her nor said anything either about her kingdom or in the way of love, fell at his knees and burst into tears, saying: 'To live, Caesar, I neither wish nor am able; but this favour I ask of you, for the memory of your father, that, since fate gave me to Antony after him,

12.7. I may die with him. Would that I had perished at once, then, after Caesar; but since it was decreed that I should suffer this also, send me to Antony, and grudge me not burial with him, that, as I die because of him, so I may dwell with him also in Hades.'

13.1. Such things she said, hoping to be pitied; but Caesar made no answer to them, and, fearing that she might make away with herself, again exhorted her to take courage, and neither took from her her attendance and kept her under care,

13.2. that she might give splendour to his triumph. And she, suspecting this and deeming it harsher than ten thousand deaths, truly longed to die, and made many appeals to Caesar that she might perish in some way, and contrived many things

13.3. herself. And when she accomplished nothing, she feigned to have changed her mind, as though she had great hope both in him and in Livia, and said that she would willingly sail to Rome, and made ready certain treasured ornaments as gifts, in the hope that by this she might get herself believed not to mean to die, and so be less

13.4. closely guarded and might destroy herself. And so it came to pass. For when the others, and Epaphroditus, to whom she had been entrusted, believing that she truly meant this, relaxed their strict watch, she made ready to die as painlessly as possible. And having given to Epaphroditus himself a tablet, sealed, in which she begged Caesar to order that she be buried with Antony, in order that on the pretext of conveying it he, as though engaged on some other business, might be out of her way,

13.5. she set to her work. For having put on her most beautiful raiment, and arranged herself most becomingly, and taken up all the royal apparel, she died.

14.1. No one knows for certain in what manner she perished; for only slight pricks were found upon her arm. Some say that she applied to herself an asp brought in to her in a water-jar, or even among some flowers;

14.2. others, that she had smeared a pin, with which she dressed her hair, with a poison of such power that it did the body no other harm, but, if it touched even the least drop of blood, destroyed it most swiftly and painlessly; and that she had worn it before in her hair, as was her wont, and now, having pricked her arm beforehand, plunged it into the blood.

14.3. Thus, or very nearly thus, she perished, together with her two handmaids; for the eunuch, the moment she was seized, had given himself of his own accord to the reptiles, and being bitten by them had leaped into a coffin made ready for him. Caesar, on hearing of her death, was amazed, and viewed her body, and applied to it both drugs and Psylli,

14.4. in case she might revive. These Psylli are men (for there is no woman a Psylla), and they have the power to suck out at once, before anyone dies, every poison of every reptile, and themselves to take no harm from being bitten by any of them.

14.5. They are bred of one another, and test their offspring either by casting them at once among serpents, or by laying the serpents upon their swaddling-clothes; for the serpents do the child no harm, and are stupefied by its clothing.

14.6. Such is the nature of these men. But Caesar, being unable in any way to bring Cleopatra back to life, both marvelled at her and pitied her, while he himself was strongly grieved, feeling robbed of all the glory of his victory.

15.1. Antony, then, and Cleopatra, who had been the cause of many ills both to the Egyptians and to the Romans, thus made war and thus ended their lives; they were embalmed in the same fashion and buried in the same tomb. Such was the nature of their souls and such the fortune of their lives:

15.2. he was second to none in understanding what was needful, yet did many foolish things; he was distinguished for courage in some matters, and through cowardice failed in many; he was endowed in equal measure with greatness of soul and with servility; he both plundered the property of others and squandered his own; he pitied many without reason and

15.3. punished more unjustly. And so, having become from weakest most powerful and from poorest most wealthy, he had no profit of either, but, hoping to hold the dominion of the Romans alone, he took his own life.

15.4. Cleopatra, insatiable of love and insatiable of money, employing much ambitious craving for glory and much rash arrogance, gained the kingdom of the Egyptians by her love, and, hoping to gain that of the Romans through it, failed of this and lost the other besides; she mastered two of the greatest Romans of her day, and because of the third she made away with herself.

15.5. Such, then, were these two, and thus they ended. Of their children, Antyllus, although he was betrothed to Caesar's daughter and had taken refuge in the shrine of his father which Cleopatra had built, was at once slain; and Caesarion, fleeing into Ethiopia, was overtaken

15.6. on the way and slain. Cleopatra was given in marriage to Juba the son of Juba; for to this man, who had been reared in Italy and had served with him, Caesar gave both her and his ancestral kingdom, and bestowed upon them both Alexander and Ptolemy.

15.7. To the nieces, the daughters of Antony whom Octavia had taken up and reared, he assigned money from their father's estate. And he ordered that to Iullus, the son of Antony and Fulvia, the freedmen should at once give all that they were bound by law to leave to him at their death.

16.1. Of the others who up to that time had taken Antony's part, some he punished, some he released, either on his own account or for the sake of his friends. And since there were found with him many children of princes and kings, reared some as hostages, some out of insolence, of these he sent some home, married some to one another, and kept others

16.2. with him. Of these I shall pass over the rest, and mention only two by name: Iotape he willingly restored to the Mede, who had taken refuge with him after his defeat; but to Artaxes he would not send his brothers, though he asked for them, because Artaxes had put to death the Romans left behind in Armenia.

16.3. Such was his treatment of the rest. Of the Egyptians and Alexandrians he spared all, so as to destroy none — the true reason being that he did not think it right to do anything irreparable to so numerous a people, who would prove most useful to the Romans in many ways;

16.4. yet he put forward as a pretext the god Sarapis, and Alexander their founder, and thirdly the philosopher Areius, his fellow-citizen, whose company and counsel he enjoyed. And the speech by which he granted them pardon he delivered in Greek, that they might understand him.

16.5. And after this he viewed the body of Alexander, and even touched it, whereby, they say, a piece of the nose was broken off. But the bodies of the Ptolemies, though the Alexandrians were eager to show them to him, he would not look upon, saying, 'It was a king I wished to see, not corpses.' And for this same reason he would not meet Apis either, declaring that he was wont to worship gods, not cattle.

17.1. After this he made Egypt tributary and entrusted it to Cornelius Gallus. For in view of the populousness both of the cities and of the country, and the readiness and fickleness of the people's tempers, and the corn-supply and the wealth, he did not venture to entrust it to any senator, nor even to allow any senator to reside there, unless he himself

17.2. expressly granted leave to some particular man. Nor, on the other hand, did he permit the Egyptians to be members of the senate at Rome. To the rest he gave each their several constitutions, but the Alexandrians he ordered to conduct their government without senators; so great a propensity

17.3. to revolution did he charge against them. And after they had thus been ordered at that time, the rest of these arrangements are even now strictly preserved, but they have senators both in Alexandria, beginning under the emperor Severus, and at Rome, having first been enrolled in the senate under his son Antoninus.

17.4. Thus was Egypt enslaved; for all those of the Egyptians who held out for a time were subdued, as indeed the divine power most plainly foreshowed to them. For it rained, not water (where it had never even drizzled before), but blood; and these fell from the clouds at the same time, and arms appeared.

17.5. Sounds of drums and cymbals were heard elsewhere, and the cries of men and of trumpets; and a serpent of monstrous size, suddenly appearing to them, hissed beyond all telling. In the meantime comets too were seen, and phantoms of the dead appeared; the statues looked grim, and Apis bellowed a sound of lamentation and wept.

17.6. Thus did these things come to pass. Much money was found in the royal treasury (for Cleopatra had taken nearly all the offerings, even from the holiest temples, and so swelled the Romans' spoils without any pollution of their own), and much also was gathered from each of those who were charged

17.7. with anything. And apart from these, all the rest, who could be charged with no individual offence, were required to pay two-thirds of their property. And from this all the soldiers received what was owing them, and those who were then with Caesar received two hundred and fifty drachmas besides, that

17.8. they might not plunder the city. To those who had previously lent anything all was repaid, and to the senators and knights who had shared in the war very large sums were given; and on the whole the empire of the Romans was enriched and their temples adorned.

18.1. Caesar, then, when he had done what has been related, and had founded a city there also on the site of the battle, giving it the same name and the same games as the former one, and had cleared out some of the canals and dug others anew, and had settled the rest of what was fitting, came through Syria into the province of Asia, and there passed the winter, ordering the affairs both of the subject peoples severally and

18.2. of the Parthians at the same time. For when they were in revolt and a certain Tiridates had risen against Phraates, formerly, while Antony's cause was still standing and resisting even after the sea-battle, so far was Caesar from joining either party when they sought his alliance that he made no answer save that he would deliberate — the pretext being that he was occupied with Egypt, but in fact that they might wear themselves out

18.3. fighting one another in the meantime. But now, since Antony was dead, and of those two Tiridates, being defeated, had fled to Syria, while Phraates, being victorious, sent envoys, Caesar dealt with these in friendly fashion, and, while he did not promise to aid Tiridates, he permitted him to live in Syria; and receiving from Phraates, as a mark of favour, one of his sons, he brought him to Rome and held him as a hostage.

19.1. Meanwhile, and indeed still earlier, the Romans at home had voted many honours to Caesar in view of the victory in the sea-battle. They granted him a triumph, as over Cleopatra, and a triumphal arch both at Brundisium and another in the Roman Forum;

19.2. they decreed that the foundation of the Julian shrine should be adorned with the beaks of the captured ships, and that a quinquennial festival should be held in his honour; that on his birthday and on the day of the announcement of the victory there should be a holy day; and that, when he entered the city, the Vestal Virgins, the senate, and the people with their wives and children should go out to meet him.

19.3. As for the prayers, the images, the right of precedence, and other things of the sort, it is superfluous to relate them now. So at the first they voted these things to him, and of Antony's honours some they pulled down and some they erased; they reckoned the day on which he had been born accursed, and forbade the surname Marcus

19.4. to belong to any of his kindred. But when they learned that he too was dead (and this was announced while the younger Cicero, son of Cicero, was consul for part of the year), some took this as no chance occurrence, inasmuch as his father had been put to death above all by

19.5. Antony; and they voted Caesar besides both crowns and many holy days, and gave him leave to celebrate yet another triumph, as over the Egyptians. For Antony and the other Romans defeated with him they would not name, then or before, as though it were fitting

19.6. to celebrate over them. They voted that the day on which Alexandria was taken should be deemed auspicious and be reckoned for future years as the beginning of their numbering; that Caesar should hold the power of the tribunes for life, and should bring aid to those who appealed to him both within the pomerium and outside it for a distance of one eighth of a stade — a thing which had been permitted to none

19.7. of the tribunes; that he should judge appeals, and that a vote of his should be cast in all the courts as it were the vote of Athena; that the priests and priestesses, in their prayers on behalf of the people and the senate, should pray for him likewise; and that at the banquets, not only the public ones but the private ones too, all should pour libations to him — so they ordered.

20.1. These things, then, were decreed at that time; and in his fifth consulship, with Sextus Apuleius, on the very first of January they confirmed by oaths all that he had done; and when the dispatches concerning the Parthians arrived, they decreed that he should be inscribed in the hymns equally with the gods,

20.2. and that a tribe should be named the Julian after him, and that he should wear the triumphal crown at all the festivals, and that the senators who had shared in his victory should accompany him in the procession in purple-bordered robes,

20.3. and that the day on which he should enter the city should be honoured with public sacrifices and ever kept holy; and they further appointed that he should choose priests even beyond the regular number, as many as he should at any time wish — a thing which, handed down from him, was increased to an indefinite extent, so that I need no longer be precise about the number

20.4. of them. Caesar accepted the rest, save a few, but he begged outright that the going forth of all in the city to meet him should not take place. Yet most of all, above all that was decreed him, he was overjoyed that they shut the gates of Janus, as though all their wars had wholly ceased, and performed the augury of Salus;

20.5. for at that time it had lapsed, for the reasons I have given. For there were still in arms both the Treveri, who had brought in the Celts, and the Cantabri and Vaccaei and Astures; and the latter were subdued by Statilius Taurus, the former by Nonius Gallus. And there were many other disturbances, severally; but since nothing great resulted from them, neither did the people then consider themselves at war, nor have I anything notable to write about them.

20.6. Caesar meanwhile transacted his other business, and gave leave for sacred precincts to be set up to Rome and to his father Caesar — naming him the hero Julius — at Ephesus and at Nicaea; for these cities had then been given the foremost rank in Asia and in Bithynia.

20.7. And these precincts he commanded the Romans dwelling among them to honour; but to the aliens, whom he called by the name of Greeks, he permitted to consecrate precincts to himself — to the Asians at Pergamum and to the Bithynians at Nicomedia. And this, beginning then, was done under other emperors as well, not only among the Greek peoples but also among the others, as many as obey the Romans.

20.8. For in the capital itself and in the rest of Italy no one, however worthy of note, has dared to do this; yet there too, to those who have ruled uprightly, when they have departed this life, other honours equal to those of the gods are given, and indeed shrines are made.

20.9. These things took place during the winter; and the people of Pergamum received the right to hold the contest called sacred

21.1. in honour of his temple. In the summer Caesar crossed over to Greece and to Italy, and when he entered the city the others sacrificed, as has been said, and so did the consul Valerius Potitus; for Caesar himself held the consulship this whole year, as also the two former ones, and Potitus succeeded

21.2. Sextus. He, then, in his public capacity offered sacrifice of oxen on behalf of the people and the senate at Caesar's arrival — a thing which had never before been done for anyone else. After this Caesar both praised and honoured his lieutenants, as was the custom,

21.3. and distinguished Agrippa with various honours and with a dark-blue banner in token of his naval victory, and gave gifts to the soldiers; and to the people he distributed a hundred drachmas apiece, first to the adult men, and then to the children also, for the sake of his nephew Marcellus.

21.4. And for these things, and because he would not accept from the cities of Italy the gold appropriate to crowns, and because he both repaid all that he himself owed to anyone and did not exact what others owed, as has been said, the Romans forgot all their hardships and viewed his triumphs with pleasure, as though all the conquered had been foreigners;

21.5. for so great was the abundance of money that flowed alike throughout the whole city that property rose in price, and loans, which had gladly been at a drachma's interest before, then fell to a third of that. He celebrated on the first day the triumph over the Pannonians and Dalmatians, over Iapydia and their neighbours, and over certain Celts and Gauls.

21.6. For Gaius Carrinas had subdued the Morini and certain others who had risen with them, and had repulsed the Suebi, who had crossed the Rhine to make war; and for these things he too celebrated a triumph, though his father had been put to death by Sulla, and he himself had once been prevented, along with others in like case, from holding office. Caesar too celebrated a triumph, since the credit of the victory belonged to his office as commander-in-chief.

21.7. On the first day, then, these things were celebrated; on the second, the naval victory at Actium; and on the third, the subjugation of Egypt. Now the other processions were splendid by reason of the spoils from Egypt (for so much was gathered as to suffice for all of them), but the Egyptian one was the most costly

21.8. and most worthy of admiration. Among other things, Cleopatra herself was carried in effigy upon a couch in the likeness of death, so that in a manner she too, with the other captives and with her children Alexander, also called Helios, and Cleopatra, also called Selene, was seen

21.9. in the procession. After this Caesar, having ridden in over them all, performed the rest according to custom, but allowed his colleague and the other magistrates, contrary to established usage, to follow him along with the other senators who had shared in the victory; for it had been the custom for some to lead and others to follow.

22.1. When he had completed these things, he dedicated the Athenaeum, called the Chalcidicum, and the Julian senate-house, which had been built in honour of his father. In it he set up the statue of Victory which is there even now, signifying, as it seems,

22.2. that it was from her that he had won his power. It had belonged to the people of Tarentum, and being brought thence to Rome it was set up in the senate-house and adorned with Egyptian spoils. The same was true of the shrine of Julius which was consecrated at that time;

22.3. for much was dedicated in it, and other things were consecrated to Capitoline Jupiter and to Juno and Athena, all that had previously seemed to be dedicated there, or still lay there, being then taken down by decree as defiled. And thus Cleopatra, though defeated and captured, was glorified, in that her ornaments lie dedicated in our temples and she herself is seen in gold in the temple of Aphrodite.

22.4. At the consecration of the shrine there were contests of every kind; the boys of patrician birth rode the equestrian exercise called Troy, and men of equal rank with them contended on chargers, in pairs, and in four-horse chariots, and a certain Quintus Vitellius, a senator, fought as a gladiator.

22.5. Wild beasts and tame, in great numbers, and a rhinoceros and a hippopotamus, then seen for the first time in Rome, were slaughtered. Now what the hippopotamus is like has been described by many and seen by far more; but the rhinoceros in other respects somewhat resembles an elephant, but has a horn upon the very nose, whence

22.6. it has been so named. These, then, were brought in, and the Dacians and Suebi fought in masses against one another. These last are Celts, the former a kind of Scythians; and the one race dwell beyond the Rhine, to speak exactly (for many others also lay claim to the name of Suebi), while the others dwell on both sides of the Ister,

22.7. but those of them who dwell on this side of it and near the Triballian country belong to the district of Moesia and are called Moesians, except among the natives themselves, while those beyond are called Dacians, being either certain Getae or else Thracians of that Dacian stock which once dwelt in the Rhodope.

22.8. These Dacians, then, had sent an embassy to Caesar before this time, but when they obtained none of their requests they inclined to Antony; yet they gave him no great help, falling into faction among themselves, and some of them, being thereupon captured, were afterward matched against the Suebi.

22.9. The whole spectacle lasted, as was natural, for many days, nor was it interrupted, though Caesar fell ill, but even in his absence it was carried out by others. And on these days the senators were feasted, each in turn for a single day, before the doors of their own houses; I do not know whence they were led to this, for it has not been handed down.

23.1. These things, then, were thus done at that time; but while Caesar was still in his fourth consulship, Statilius Taurus both built at his own charges a stone theatre for hunts in the Campus Martius and dedicated it with a gladiatorial combat, and for this he received the privilege of having one praetor each year chosen by the people.

23.2. About this same time in which these things were happening, Marcus Crassus, having been sent to Macedonia and to Greece, made war upon the Dacians and the Bastarnae. Of the former, who they are and why they were made enemies,

23.3. has been told; the Bastarnae are accounted strictly Scythians, and at that time, having crossed the Ister, they subdued Moesia which lay opposite them, and after that the Triballi who were their neighbours, and the Dardani who dwelt in their country. So long as they did this, they had no quarrel with the Romans;

23.4. but when they crossed the Haemus and overran the part of Thrace belonging to the Denthelatae, who were in alliance with the Romans, then Crassus, partly to defend Sitas the king of the Denthelatae, who was blind, but most of all from fear for Macedonia, advanced against them, and by his mere approach struck them with such terror that he drove them without a battle out of

23.5. the country. Thereupon, pursuing them as they withdrew homeward, he won over the district called Segetica and invaded the land of the Moesians, ravaged their country, and advancing against a strong fortress came to grief with his advance guard (for the Moesians, thinking these were alone, made a sally), but coming to their aid with all the rest of his army he both drove the enemy back and

24.1. by besieging the place took it. While he was doing this, the Bastarnae stayed their flight and halted at the river Cedrus, watching what should come to pass. And when, having conquered the Moesians, he set out against them too, they sent envoys forbidding him to pursue them, on the ground that they had done the Romans no

24.2. wrong. Crassus detained these men, as though he would give his answer on the morrow, and treated them in friendly fashion and made them drunk, so as to learn all their plans; for the whole Scythian race fills itself insatiably with wine, and is quickly overcome

24.3. by it. Crassus meanwhile, advancing by night into a wood and stationing scouts before it, rested his army; and after this, when the Bastarnae, supposing those scouts to be alone, charged upon them and pursued them as they withdrew into the thicket, he destroyed many there and many also

24.4. as they fled; for they were hampered by their wagons, which were behind them, and moreover came to grief because they wished to save their wives and children. Their king Deldo Crassus himself slew; and he would have dedicated his spoils to Jupiter Feretrius as spolia opima, had he been commander-in-chief in his own right.

24.5. These things, then, were so accomplished, and of the rest some, fleeing into a grove, were burned about it, others, leaping into a fort, were taken. Others fell into the Ister, others were scattered over the country and destroyed.

24.6. Some, however, even so were left, and seized a strong position; and for some days Crassus besieged them in vain, then, with the help of Roles, king of some of the Getae, he took them.

24.7. And Roles, coming to Caesar, was on this account accounted his friend and ally, and the captives were distributed among the soldiers.

25.1. Having done these things, Crassus turned against the Moesians, and partly by persuading some, partly by frightening, and partly by force, he subdued all of them save a very few, though with toil and danger.

25.2. And at that time (for it was winter) he withdrew into friendly territory, suffering much from the cold and far more from the Thracians, through whose land he passed as through that of friends; whence he formed the resolve to be content with what he had accomplished. For sacrifices and a triumph were voted not only to Caesar but to him; yet he did not, as some say, receive the title of imperator,

25.3. but Caesar alone assumed it. But when the Bastarnae, distressed at their misfortunes and learning that he would not again march against them, turned once more against the Denthelatae and against Sitas, as having been most of all the author of their woes, then, reluctantly, he set forth, and advancing in haste fell upon them unexpectedly, and, overcoming them, granted such terms as he pleased.

25.4. And once he had again laid hold of arms, he desired to take vengeance on the Thracians who had harassed him on his return from Moesia; for at that time they were reported to be both fortifying places and eager for war. Of these the Maedi and Serdi he overcame in battle, cutting off the hands of his captives — not without toil, yet he subdued them; and the rest, save the land of the

25.5. Odrysae, he overran. The Odrysae he spared, because they are devoted to Dionysus and at that time came to meet him without their arms; and he gave them also the country in which they honour the god, taking it from the Bessi who held it.

26.1. While he was thus engaged, Roles, having gone to war with Dapyx, who was also a king of some of the Getae, summoned him. And he, coming to his aid, dashed the enemy's cavalry against their infantry, and so striking these too with terror, made no further battle, but wrought great slaughter of both as they fled.

26.2. And after this, cutting off Dapyx, who had fled to a stronghold, he besieged him; and in the siege one of the men, hailing him from the wall in Greek, came to a parley and arranged a betrayal. The barbarians, being thus taken, turned upon one another, and Dapyx perished, and many others besides. His brother, however, Crassus took alive, and not only did him no harm but even released him.

26.3. Having done these things, he marched against the cave called Keiris; for this, being at once the largest and the most secure — so much so that the Titans, after their defeat at the hands of the gods, are said in legend to have taken refuge in it together — the natives had occupied in great numbers, bringing into it both their most precious things and all their

26.4. herds. So Crassus, having searched out all its mouths, which were winding and hard to explore, and walled them up, thereupon reduced these men too by famine. And when this had gone well with him, he did not refrain even from the rest of the Getae, although they had nothing to do with Dapyx,

26.5. but went against Genucla, the strongest fortress of the realm of Zyraxes, because he heard that the standards which the Bastarnae had taken from Gaius Antonius near the city of the Istrians were there. Assailing it both by land and by way of the Ister (for it was built beside the water), in no long time, though with much toil, and although Zyraxes

26.6. was not present, he took it. For Zyraxes, the moment he learned of Crassus's approach, had set off to the Scythians with his money to seek alliance, and did not return in time. These things he did among the Getae; and of the Moesians, those of the subdued peoples who had revolted he recovered through

27.1. others, but against the Artacii and certain others who had never been captured nor were willing to come over to him, and who on this account were exceedingly proud and were instilling into the rest both anger and a spirit of revolt, he himself marched, and won them over, partly by force — they having done no little harm — and partly through the fear of those who were being captured.

27.2. These things took place over a period of time; and I write the rest as it has been handed down, and the very names. For of old the Moesians and Getae occupied all the land between the Haemus and the Ister; but as time went on some of them changed to other

27.3. names, and afterwards under the name of Moesia was comprised all the land which the Savus, falling into the Ister, bounds off from Pannonia above Dalmatia and above Macedonia and Thrace. And among them are many other peoples, and those once called the Triballi, and the Dardani, who are even now so named.