Julius Caesar (Suetonius)

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	Julius Caesar Author: Suetonius	Translator: Alexander Thomson
1	Annum agens sextum decimum patrem amisit ; sequentibusque consulibus flamen Dialis destinatus dimissa Cossutia , quae familia equestri sed admodum diues praetextato desponsata fuerat , Corneliam Cinnae quater consulis filiam duxit uxorem , ex qua illi mox Iulia nata est ; neque ut repudiaret compelli a dictatore Sulla ullo modo potuit . quare et sacerdotio et uxoris dote et gentilicis hereditatibus multatus diuersarum partium habebatur , ut etiam discedere e medio et quamquam morbo quartanae adgrauante prope per singulas noctes commutare latebras cogeretur seque ab inquisitoribus pecunia redimeret , donec per uirgines Vestales perque Mamercum Aemilium et Aurelium Cottam propinquos et adfines suos ueniam impetrauit . satis constat Sullam , cum deprecantibus amicissimis et ornatissimis uiris aliquamdiu denegasset atque illi pertinaciter contenderent , expugnatum tandem proclamasse siue diuinitus siue aliqua coniectura : uincerent ac sibi haberent , dum modo scirent eum , quem incolumem tanto opere cuperent , quandoque optimatium partibus , quas secum simul defendissent , exitio futurum ; nam Caesari multos Marios inesse .	JULIUS CAESAR, the divine, lost his father when he was in the sixteenth year of his age; and the year following, being nominated to the office of high-priest of Jupiter, he repudiated Cossutia, who was very wealthy, although her family belonged only to the equestrian order, and to whom he had been contracted when he was a mere boy. He then married Cornelia, the daughter of Cinna, who was four times consul; and had by her, shortly afterwards, a daughter named Julia. Resisting all the efforts of the dictator Sylla to induce him to divorce Cornelia, he suffered the penalty of being stripped of his sacerdotal office, his wife's dowry, and his own patrimonial estates; and, being identified with the adverse faction, was compelled to withdraw from Rome. After changing his place of concealment nearly every night, although he was suffering from a quartan ague, and having effected his release by bribing the officers who had tracked his footsteps, he at length obtained a pardon through the intercession of the vestal virgins, and of Mamercus AEmilius and Aurelius Cotta, his near relatives. We are assured that when Sylla, having withstood for a while the entreaties of his own best friends, persons of distinguished rank, at last yielded to their importunity, he exclaimed-either by a divine impulse, or from a shrewd conjecture: "Your suit is granted, and you may take him among you; but know," he added, " that this man, for whose safety you are so extremely anxious, will, some day or other, be the ruin of the party of the nobles, in defence of which you are leagued with me; for in this one Caesar, you will find many a Marius."
2	Stipendia prima in Asia fecit Marci Thermi praetoris contubernio ; a quo ad accersendam classem in Bithyniam missus desedit apud Nicomeden , non sine rumore prostratae regi pudicitiae ; quem rumorem auxit intra paucos rursus dies repetita Bithynia per causam exigendae pecuniae , quae deberetur cuidam libertino clienti suo . reliqua militia secundiore fama fuit et a Thermo in expugnatione Mytilenarum corona ciuica donatus est .	His first campaign was served in Asia, on the staff of the praetor, M. Thermus; and being dispatched into Bithynia, to bring thence a fleet, he loitered so long at the court of Nicomedes, as to give occasion to reports of lewd proceedings between him and that prince; which received additional credit from his hasty return to Bithynia, under the pretext of recovering a debt due to a freedman, his client. The rest of his service was more favourable to his reputation; and when Mitylene was taken by storm, he was presented by Thermus with the civic crown.
3	meruit et sub Seruilio Isaurico in Cilicia , sed breui tempore . nam Sullae morte comperta , simul spe nouae dissensionis , quae per Marcum Lepidum mouebatur , Romam propere redit . et Lepidi quidem societate , quamquam magnis condicionibus inuitaretur , abstinuit , cum ingenio eius diffisus tum occasione , quam minorem opinione offenderat .	He served also in Cilicia, under Servilius Isauricus, but only for a short time; as upon receiving intelligence of Sylla's death, he returned with all speed to Rome, in expectation of what might follow from a fresh agitation set on foot by Marcus Lepidus. Distrusting, however, the abilities of this leader, and finding the times less favourable for the execution of this project than he had at first imagined, he abandoned all thoughts of joining Lepidus, although he received the most tempting offers.
4	ceterum composita seditione ciuili Cornelium Dolabellam consularem et triumphalem repetundarum postulauit ; absolutoque Rhodum secedere statuit , et ad declinandam inuidiam et ut per otium ac requiem Apollonio Moloni clarissimo tunc dicendi magistro operam daret . huc dum hibernis iam mensibus traicit , circa Pharmacussam insulam a praedonibus captus est mansitque apud eos non sine summa indignatione prope quadraginta dies cum uno medico et cubicularis duobus . nam comites seruosque ceteros initio statim ad expediendas pecunias , quibus redimeretur , dimiserat . numeratis deinde quinquaginta talentis expositus in litore non distulit quin e uestigio classe deducta persequeretur abeuntis ac redactos in potestatem supplicio , quod saepe illis minatus inter iocum fuerat , adficeret . uastante regiones proximas Mithridate , ne desidere in discrimine sociorum uideretur , ab Rhodo , quo pertenderat , transiit in Asiam auxiliisque contractis et praefecto regis prouincia expulso nutantis ac dubias ciuitates retinuit in fide .	Soon after this civil discord was composed, he preferred a charge of extortion against Cornelius Dolabella, a man of consular dignity, who had obtained the honour of a triumph. On the acquittal of the accused, he resolved to retire to Rhodes, with the view not only of avoiding the public odium which he had incurred, but of prosecuting his studies with leisure and tranquillity, under Apollonius, the son of Molon, at that time the most celebrated master of rhetoric. While on his voyage thither, in the winter season, he was taken by pirates near the island of Pharmacusa, and detained by them, burning with indignation, for nearly forty days; his only attendants being a physician and two chamberlains. For he had instantly dispatched his other servants and the friends who accompanied him, to raise money for his ransom. Fifty talents having been paid down, he was landed on the coast, when, having collected some ships, he lost no time in putting to sea in pursuit of the pirates, and having captured them, inflicted upon them the punishment with which he had often threatened them in jest. At that time Mithridates was ravaging the neighbouring districts, and on Caesar's arrival at Rhodes, that he might not appear to lie idle while danger threatened the allies of Rome, he passed over into Asia, and having collected some auxiliary forces, and driven the king's governor out of the province, retained in their allegiance the cities which were wavering and ready to revolt.
5	Tribunatu militum , qui primus Romam reuerso per suffragia populi honor optigit , actores restituendae tribuniciae potestatis , cuius uim Sulla deminuerat , enixissime iuuit . L . etiam Cinnae uxoris fratri , et qui cum eo ciuili discordia Lepidum secuti post necem consulis ad Sertorium confugerant , reditum in ciuitatem rogatione Plotia confecit habuitque et ipse super ea re contionem .	Having been elected military tribune, the first honour he received from the suffrages of the people after his return to Rome, he zealously assisted those who took measures for restoring the tribunitian authority, which had been greatly diminished during the usurpation of Sylla. He likewise, by an act, which Plotius at his suggestion propounded to the people, obtained the recall of Lucius Cinna, his wife's brother, and others with him, who having been the adherents of Lepidus in the civil disturbances, had after that consul's death fled to Sertorius; which law he supported by a speech.
6	Quaestor Iuliam amitam uxoremque Corneliam defunctas laudauit e more pro rostris . et in amitae quidem laudatione de eius ac patris sui utraque origine sic refert : Amitae meae Iuliae maternum genus ab regibus ortum , paternum cum diis inmortalibus coniunctum est . nam ab Anco Marcio sunt Marcii Reges , quo nomine fuit mater ; a Venere Iulii , cuius gentis familia est nostra . est ergo in genere et sanctitas regum , qui plurimum inter homines pollent , et caerimonia deorum , quorum ipsi in potestate sunt reges . In Corneliae autem locum Pompeiam duxit Quinti Pompei filiam , L . Sullae neptem ; cum qua deinde diuortium fecit adulteratam opinatus a Publio Clodio , quem inter publicas caerimonias penetrasse ad eam muliebri ueste tam constans fama erat , ut senatus quaestionem de pollutis sacris decreuerit .	During his quaestorship he pronounced funeral orations from the rostra, according to custom, in praise of his aunt Julia, and his wife Cornelia. In the panegyric on his aunt, he gives the following account of her own and his father's genealogy, on both sides: "My aunt Julia derived her descent, by the mother, from a race of kings, and by her father, from the Immortal Gods. For the Marcii Reges, her mother's family, deduce their pedigree from Ancus Marcius, and the Julii, her father's, from Venus; of which stock we are a branch. We therefore unite in our descent the sacred majesty of kings, the chiefest among men, and the divine majesty of Gods, to whom kings themselves are subject." To supply the place of Cornelia, he married Pompeia, the daughter of Quintus Pompeius, and grand-daughter of Lucius Sylla; but he afterwards divorced her, upon suspicion of her having been debauched by Publius Clodius. For so current was the report, that Clodius had found access to her disguised as a woman, during the celebration of a religious solemnity, that the senate instituted an inquiry respecting the profanation of the sacred rites.
7	Quaestori ulterior Hispania obuenit ; ubi cum mandatu praetoris iure dicundo conuentus circumiret Gadisque uenisset , animaduersa apud Herculis templum Magni Alexandri imagine ingemuit et quasi pertaesus ignauiam suam , quod nihil dum a se memorabile actum esset in aetate , qua iam Alexander orbem terrarum subegisset , missionem continuo efflagitauit ad captandas quam primum maiorum rerum occasiones in urbe . etiam confusum eum somnio proximae noctis — nam uisus erat per quietem stuprum matri intulisse — coiectores ad amplissimam spem incitauerunt arbitrium terrarum orbis portendi interpretantes , quando mater , quam subiectam sibi uidisset , non alia esset quam terra , quae omnium parens haberetur .	Farther-Spain fell to his lot as quaestor; when there, as he was going the circuit of the province, by commission from the praetor, for the administration of justice, and had reached Gades, seeing a statue of Alexander the Great in the temple of Hercules, he sighed deeply, as if weary of his sluggish life, for having performed no memorable actions at an ages at which Alexander had already conquered the world. He, therefore, immediately sued for his discharge, with the view of embracing the first opportunity, which might present itself in The City, of entering upon a more exalted career. In the stillness of the night following, he dreamt that he lay with his own mother; but his confusion was relieved, and his hopes were raised to the highest pitch, by the interpreters of his dream, who expounded it as an omen that he should possess universal empire; for that the mother who in his sleep he had found submissive to his embraces, was no other than the earth, the common parent of all mankind.
8	decedens ergo ante tempus colonias Latinas de petenda ciuitate agitantes adiit , et ad audendum aliquid concitasset , nisi consules conscriptas in Ciliciam legiones paulisper ob id ipsum retinuissent .	Quitting therefore the province before the expiration of the usual term, he betook himself to the Latin colonies, which were then eagerly agitating the design of obtaining the freedom of Rome; and he would have stirred them up to some bold attempt, had not the consuls, to prevent any commotion, detained for some time the legions which had been raised for service in Cilicia. But this did not deter him from making, soon afterwards, a still greater effort within the precincts of the city itself.
9	Nec eo setius maiora mox in urbe molitus est : siquidem ante paucos dies quam aedilitatem iniret , uenit in suspicionem conspirasse cum Marco Crasso consulari , item Publio Sulla et L . Autronio post designationem consulatus ambitus condemnatis , ut principio anni senatum adorirentur , et trucidatis quos placitum esset , dictaturam Crassus inuaderet , ipse ab eo magister equitum diceretur constitutaque ad arbitrium re publica Sullae et Autronio consulatus restitueretur . meminerunt huius coniurationis Tanusius Geminus in historia , Marcus Bibulus in edictis , C . Curio pater in orationibus . de hac significare uidetur et Cicero in quadam ad Axium epistula referens Caesarem in consulatu confirmasse regnum , de quo aedilis cogitarat . Tanusius adicit Crassum paenitentia uel metu diem caedi destinatum non obisse et idcirco ne Caesarem quidem signum , quod ab eo dari conuenerat , dedisse ; conuenisse autem Curio ait , ut togam de umero deiceret . idem Curio sed et M . Actorius Naso auctores sunt conspirasse eum etiam cum Gnaeo Pisone adulescente , cui ob suspicionem urbanae coniurationis prouincia Hispania ultro extra ordinem data sit ; pactumque ut simul foris ille , ipse Romae ad res nouas consurgerent , per † Ambranos et Transpadanos ; destitutum utriusque consilium morte Pisonis .	For, only a few days before he entered upon the edileship, he incurred a suspicion of having engaged in a conspiracy with Marcus Crassus, a man of consular rank; to whom were joined Publius Sylla and Lucius Autronius, who, after they had been chosen consuls, were convicted of bribery. The plan of the conspirators was to fall upon the senate at the opening of the new year, and murder as many of them as should be thought necessary; upon which, Crassus was to assume the office of dictator, and appoint Caesar his master of the horse. When the commonwealth had been thus ordered according to their pleasure, the consulship was to have been restored to Sylla and Autronius. Mention is made of this plot by Tanusius Geminus in his history, by Marcus Bibulus in his edicts, and by Curio, the father, in his orations. Cicero likewise seems to hint at this in a letter to Axius, where he says, that Caesar had in his consulship secured to himself that arbitrary power to which he had aspired when he was edile. Tanusius adds, that Crassus, from remorse or fear, did not appear upon the day appointed for the massacre of the senate; for which reason Caesar omitted to give the signal, which, according to the plan concerted between them, he was to have made. The agreement, Curio says, was that he should shake off the toga from his shoulder. We have the authority of the same Curio, and of M. Actorius Naso, for his having been likewise concerned in another conspiracy with young Cneius Piso; to whom, upon a suspicion of some mischief being meditated in the city, the province of Spain was decreed out of the regular course. It is said to have been agreed between them, that Piso should head a revolt in the provinces, whilst the other should attempt to stir up an insurrection at Rome, using as their instruments the Lambrani, and the tribes beyond the Po. But the execution of this design was frustrated in both quarters by the death of Piso.
10	Aedilis praeter comitium ac forum basilicasque etiam Capitolium ornauit porticibus ad tempus extructis , in quibus abundante rerum copia pars apparatus exponeretur . uenationes autem ludosque et cum collega et separatim edidit , quo factum est , ut communium quoque inpensarum solus gratiam caperet nec dissimularet collega eius Marcus Bibulus , euenisse sibi quod Polluci : ut enim geminis fratribus aedes in foro constituta tantum Castoris uocaretur , ita suam Caesarisque munificentiam unius Caesaris dici . adiecit insuper Caesar etiam gladiatorium munus , sed aliquanto paucioribus quam destinauerat paribus ; nam cum multiplici undique familia conparata inimicos exterruisset , cautum est de numero gladiatorum , quo ne maiorem cuiquam habere Romae liceret .	In his edileship, he not only embellished the Comitium, and the rest of the Forum, with the adjoining halls, but adorned the Capitol also, with temporary piazzas, constructed for the purpose of displaying some part of the superabundant collections he had made for the amusement of the people. He entertained them with the hunting of wild beasts, and with games, both alone and in conjunction with his colleague. On this account, he obtained the whole credit of the expense to which they had jointly contributed; insomuch that his colleague, Marcus Bibulus, could not forbear remarking, that he was served in the manner of Pollux. For as the temple erected in the Forum to the two brothers, went by the name of Castor alone, so his and Caesar's joint munificence was imputed to the latter only. To the other public spectacles exhibited to the people, Caesar added a fight of gladiators, but with fewer pairs of combatants than he had intended. For he had collected from all parts so great a company of them, that his enemies became alarmed; and a decree was made, restricting the number of gladiators which any one was allowed to retain at Rome.
11	Conciliato populi fauore temptauit per partem tribunorum , ut sibi Aegyptus prouincia plebi scito daretur , nanctus extraordinarii imperii occasionem , quod Alexandrini regem suum socium atque amicum a senatu appellatum expulerant resque uulgo inprobabatur . nec obtinuit aduersante optimatium factione : quorum auctoritatem ut quibus posset modis in uicem deminueret , tropaea Gai Mari de Iugurtha deque Cimbris atque Teutonis olim a Sulla disiecta restituit atque in exercenda de sicaris quaestione eos quoque sicariorum numero habuit , qui proscriptione ob relata ciuium Romanorum capita pecunias ex aerario acceperant , quamquam exceptos Cornelis legibus .	Having thus conciliated popular favour, he endeavoured, through his interest with some of the tribunes, to get Egypt assigned to him as a province, by an act of the people. The pretext alleged for the creation of this extraordinary government, was, that the Alexandrians had violently expelled their king, whom the senate had complimented with the title of an ally and friend of the Roman people. This was generally resented; but, notwithstanding, there was so much opposition from the faction of the nobles, that he could not carry his point. In order, therefore, to diminish their influence by every means in his power, he restored the trophies erected in honor of Caius Marius, on account of his victories over Jugurtha, the Cimbri, and the Teutoni, which had been demolished by Sylla; and when sitting in judgment upon murderers, he treated those as assassins, who, in the late proscription, had received money from the treasury, for bringing in the heads of Roman citizens, although they were expressly excepted in the Cornelian laws.
12	subornauit etiam qui Gaio Rabirio perduellionis diem diceret , quo praecipuo adiutore aliquot ante annos Luci Saturnini seditiosum tribunatum senatus coercuerat , ac sorte iudex in reum ductus tam cupide condemnauit , ut ad populum prouocanti nihil aeque ac iudicis acerbitas profuerit .	He likewise suborned some one to prefer an impeachment for treason against Caius Rabirius, by whose especial assistance the senate had, a few years before, put down Lucius Saturninus, the seditious tribune; and being drawn by lot a judge on the trial, he condemned him with so much animosity, that upon his appealing to the people, no circumstance availed him so much as the extraordinary bitterness of his judge.
13	deposita prouinciae spe pontificatum maximum petit non sine profusissima largitione ; in qua reputans magnitudinem aeris alieni , cum mane ad comitia descenderet , praedixisse matri osculanti fertur domum se nisi pontificem non reuersurum . atque ita potentissimos duos competitores multumque et aetate et dignitate antecedentes superauit , ut plura ipse in eorum tribubus suffragia quam uterque in omnibus tulerit .	Having renounced all hope of obtaining Egypt for his province, he stood candidate for the office of chief pontiff, to secure which, he had recourse to the most profuse bribery. Calculating, on this occasion, the enormous amount of the debts he had contracted, he is reported to have said to his mother, when she kissed him at his going out in the morning to the assembly of the people, "I will never return home unless I am elected pontiff." In effect, he left so far behind him two most powerful competitors, who were much his superiors both in age and rank, that he had more votes in their own tribes, than they both had in all the tribes together.
14	Praetor creatus , detecta coniuratione Catilinae senatuque uniuerso in socios facinoris ultimam statuente poenam , solus municipatim diuidendos custodiendosque publicatis bonis censuit . quin et tantum metum iniecit asperiora suadentibus , identidem ostentans quanta eos in posterum a plebe Romana maneret inuidia , ut Decimum Silanum consulem designatum non piguerit sententiam suam , quia mutare turpe erat , interpretatione lenire , uelut grauius atque ipse sensisset exceptam . obtinuisset adeo transductis iam ad se pluribus et in his Cicerone consulis fratre , nisi labantem ordinem confirmasset M . Catonis oratio . ac ne sic quidem impedire rem destitit , quoad manus equitum Romanorum , quae armata praesidii causa circumstabat , inmoderatius perseueranti necem comminata est , etiam strictos gladios usque eo intentans , ut sedentem una proximi deseruerint , uix pauci complexu togaque obiecta protexerint . tunc plane deterritus non modo cessit , sed et in reliquum anni tempus curia abstinuit .	After he was chosen praetor, the conspiracy of Catiline was discovered; and while every other member of the senate voted for inflicting capital punishment on the accomplices in that crime, he alone proposed that the delinquents should be distributed for safe custody among the towns of Italy, their property being confiscated. He even struck such terror into those who were advocates of severity, by representing to them what universal odium would be attached to their memories by the Roman people, that Decius Silanus, consul-elect, did not hesitate to qualify his proposal, it not being very honourable to change it, by a lenient interpretation: as if it had been understood in a harsher sense than he intended, and Caesar would certainly have carried his point, having brought over to his side a great number of the senators, among whom was Cicero, the consul's brother, had not a speech by Marcus Cato infused new vigour into the resolutions of the senate. He persisted, however, in obstructing the measure, until a body of the Roman knights, who stood under arms as a guard, threatened him with instant death, if he continued his determined opposition. They even thrust at him with their drawn swords, so that those who sat next him moved away; and a few friends, with no small difficulty, protected him, by throwing their arms round him, and covering him with their togas. At last, deterred by this violence, he not only gave way, but absented himself from the senate-house during the remainder of that year.
15	Primo praeturae die Quintum Catulum de refectione Capitoli ad disquisitionem populi uocauit rogatione promulgata , qua curationem eam in alium transferebat ; uerum impar optimatium conspirationi , quos relicto statim nouorum consulum officio frequentes obstinatosque ad resistendum concucurrisse cernebat , hanc quidem actionem deposuit .	Upon the first day of his praetorship, he summoned Quintus Catulus to render an account to the people respecting the repairs to the Capitol; proposing a decree for transferring the office of curator to another person. But being unable to withstand the strong opposition made by the aristocratical party, whom he perceived quitting, in great numbers, their attendance upon the new consuls, and fully resolved to resist his proposal, he dropped the design.