Julius Caesar (Suetonius)

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	Julius Caesar Author: Suetonius	Translator: Alexander Thomson
31	Cum ergo sublatam tribunorum intercessionem ipsosque urbe cessisse nuntiatum esset , praemissis confestim clam cohortibus , ne qua suspicio moueretur , et spectaculo publico per dissimulationem interfuit et formam , qua ludum gladiatorium erat aedificaturus , considerauit et ex consuetudine conuiuio se frequenti dedit . dein post solis occasum mulis e proximo pistrino ad uehiculum iunctis occultissimum iter modico comitatu ingressus est ; et cum luminibus extinctis decessisset uia , diu errabundus tandem ad lucem duce reperto per angustissimos tramites pedibus euasit . consecutusque cohortis ad Rubiconem flumen , qui prouinciae eius finis erat , paulum constitit , ac reputans quantum moliretur , conuersus ad proximos : ' etiam nunc ,' inquit , ' regredi possumus ; quod si ponticulum transierimus , omnia armis agenda erunt .'	When intelligence, therefore, was received, that the interposition of the tribunes in his favour had been utterly rejected, and that they themselves had fled from the city, he immediately sent forward some cohorts, but privately, to prevent any suspicion of his design; and, to keep up appearances, attended at a public spectacle, examined the model of a fencing-school which he proposed to build, and, as usual, sat down to table with a numerous party of his friends. But after sun-set, mules being put to his carriage from a neighbouring mill, he set forward on his journey with all possible privacy, and a small retinue. The lights going out, he lost his way, and wandered a long time, until at length, by the help of a guide, whom he found towards day-break, he proceeded on foot through some narrow paths, and again reached the road. Coming up with his troops on the banks of the Rubicon, which was the boundary of his province, he halted for a while, and, revolving in his mind the importance of the step he was on the point of taking, he turned to those about him, and said: "We may still retreat: but if we pass this little bridge, nothing is left for us but to fight it out in arms."
32	cunctanti ostentum tale factum est . quidam eximia magnitudine et forma in proximo sedens repente apparuit harundine canens ; ad quem audiendum cum praeter pastores plurimi etiam ex stationibus milites concurrissent interque eos et aeneatores , rapta ab uno tuba prosiliuit ad flumen et ingenti spiritu classicum exorsus pertendit ad alteram ripam . tunc Caesar : ' eatur ,' inquit , ' quo deorum ostenta et inimicorum iniquitas uocat . iacta alea est ,' inquit .	While he was thus hesitating, the following incident occurred. A person remarkable for his noble mien and graceful aspect, appeared close at hand, sitting and playing upon a pipe. When, not only the shepherds, but a number of soldiers also flocked from their posts to listen to him, and some trumpeters among them, he snatched a trumpet from one of them, ran to the river with it, and sounding the advance with a piercing blast, crossed to the other side. Upon this, Caesar exclaimed, " Let us go where the omens of the Gods and the iniquity of our enemies call us. The die is now cast."
33	atque ita traiecto exercitu , adhibitis tribunis plebis , qui pulsi superuenerant , pro contione fidem militum flens ac ueste a pectore discissa inuocauit . existimatur etiam equestres census pollicitus singulis ; quod accidit opinione falsa . nam cum in adloquendo adhortandoque saepius digitum laeuae manus ostentans adfirmaret se ad satis faciendum omnibus , per quos dignitatem suam defensurus esset , anulum quoque aequo animo detracturum sibi , extrema contio , cui facilius erat uidere contionantem quam audire , pro dicto accepit , quod uisu suspicabatur ; promissumque ius anulorum cum milibus quadringenis fama distulit .	Accordingly, having marched his army over the river, he shewed them the tribunes of the people, who, upon their being driven from the city, had come to meet him; and, in the presence of that assembly, called upon the troops to pledge him their fidelity, with tears in his eyes, and his garment rent from his bosom. It has been supposed, that upon this occasion he promised to every soldier a knight's estate; but that opinion is founded on a mistake. For when, in his harangue to them, he frequently held out a finger of his left hand, and declared, that to recompense those who should support him in the defence of his honor, he would willingly part even with his ring; the soldiers at a distance, who could more easily see than hear him while he spoke, formed their conception of what he said, by the eye, not by the ear; and accordingly gave out, that he had promised to each of them the privilege of wearing the gold ring, and an estate of four hundred thousand sesterces.
34	Ordo et summa rerum , quas deinceps gessit , sic se habent . Picenum Vmbriam Etruriam occupauit et Lucio Domitio , qui per tumultum successor ei nominatus Corfinium praesidio tenebat , in dicionem redacto atque dimisso secundum Superum mare Brundisium tetendit , quo consules Pompeiusque confugerant quam primum transfretaturi . hos frustra per omnis moras exitu prohibere conatus Romam iter conuertit appellatisque de re publica patribus ualidissimas Pompei copias , quae sub tribus legatis M . Petreio et L . Afranio et M . Varrone in Hispania erant , inuasit , professus ante inter suos , ire se ad exercitum sine duce et inde reuersurum ad ducem sine exercitu . et quanquam obsidione Massiliae , quae sibi in itinere portas clauserat , summaque frumentariae rei penuria retardante breui tamen omnia subegit .	Of his subsequent proceedings I shall give a cursory detail, in the order in which they occurred. He took possession of Picenum, Umbria, and Etruria; and having obliged Lucius Domitius, who had been tumultuously nominated his successor, and held Corsinium with a garrison, to surrender, and dismissed him, he marched along the coast of the Upper Sea, to Brundusium, to which place the consuls and Pompey were fled with the intention of crossing the sea as soon as possible. After vain attempts, by all the obstacles he could oppose, to prevent their leaving the harbour, he turned his steps towards Rome, where he appealed to the senate on the present state of public affairs; and then set out for Spain, in which province Pompey had a numerous army, under the command of three lieutenants, Marcus Petreius, Lucius Afranius, and Marcus Varro; declaring amongst his friends, before he set forward, "That he was going against an army without a general, and should return thence against ra general without an army." Though his progress was retarded both by the siege of Marseilles, which shut her agates against him, and a very great scarcity of corn, yet in a short time he bore down all before him.
35	hinc urbe repetita in Macedoniam transgressus Pompeium , per quattuor paene menses maximis obsessum operibus , ad extremum Pharsalico proelio fudit et fugientem Alexandriam persecutus , ut occisum deprehendit , cum Ptolemaeo rege , a quo sibi quoque insidias tendi uidebat , bellum sane difficillimum gessit , neque loco neque tempore aequo , sed hieme anni et intra moenia copiosissimi ac sollertissimi hostis , inops ipse omnium rerum atque inparatus . regnum Aegypti uictor Cleopatrae fratrique eius minori permisit , ueritus prouinciam facere , ne quandoque uiolentiorem praesidem nacta nouarum rerum materia esset . ab Alexandria in Syriam et inde Pontum transiit urgentibus de Pharnace nuntiis , quem Mithridatis Magni filium ac tunc occasione temporum bellantem iamque multiplici successu praeferocem , intra quintum quam adfuerat diem , quattuor quibus in conspectum uenit horis , una profligauit acie ; crebro commemorans Pompei felicitatem , cui praecipua militiae laus de tam inbelli genere hostium contigisset . dehinc Scipionem ac Iubam reliquias partium in Africa refouentis deuicit , Pompei liberos in Hispania .	Thence he returned to Rome, and crossing the sea to Macedonia, blocked up Pompey during almost four months, within a line of ramparts of prodigious extent; and at last defeated him in the battle of Pharsalia. Pursuing him in his flight to Alexandria, where he was tinformed of his murder, he presently found himself also engaged, under all the disadvantages of time and place, in a very dangerous war, with king Ptolemy, who, he saw, had treacherous designs upon his life. It was winter, and he, within the walls of a well-provided and subtle enemy, was destitute of every thing, and wholly unprepared for such a conflict. He succeeded, however, in his enterprise, and put the kingdom of Egypt into the hands of Cleopatra and her younger brother; being afraid to make it a province, lest, under an aspiring prefect, it might become the centre of revolt. From Alexandria he went into Syria, and thence to Pontus, induced by intelligence which he had received respecting Pharnaces. This prince, who was son of the great Mithridates, had seized the opportunity which the distraction of the times offered for making war upon his neighbours, and his insolence and fierceness had grown with his success. Caesar, however, within five days after entering his country, and four hours after coming in sight of him, overthrew him in one decisive battle. Upon which, he frequently remarked to those about him the good fortune of Pompey, who had obtained his military reputation, chiefly, by victory over so feeble an enemy. He afterwards defeated Scipio and Juba, who were rallying the remains of the party in Africa, and Pompey's sons in Spain.
36	omnibus ciuilibus bellis nullam cladem nisi per legatos suos passus est , quorum C . Curio in Africa periit , C . Antonius in Illyrico in aduersariorum deuenit potestatem , P . Dolabella classem in eodem Illyrico , Cn . Domitius Caluinus in Ponto exercitum amiserunt . ipse prosperrime semper ac ne ancipiti quidem umquam fortuna praeterquam bis dimicauit : semel ad Dyrrachium , ubi pulsus non instante Pompeio negauit eum uincere scire , iterum in Hispania ultimo proelio , cum desperatis rebus etiam de consciscenda nece cogitauit .	During the whole course of the civil war, he never once suffered any defeat, except in the case of his lieutenants; of whom Caius Curio fell in Africa, Caius Antonius was made prisoner in Illyricum, Publius Dolabella lost a fleet in the same Illyricum, and Cneius Domitius Calvinus, an army in Pontus. In every encounter with the enemy where he himself commanded, he came off with complete success; nor was the issue ever doubtful, except on two occasions: once at Dyrrachium, when, being obliged to give ground, and Pompey not pursuing his advantage, he said that "Pompey knew not how to conquer;" the other instance occurred in his last battle in Spain, when, despairing of the event, he even had thoughts of killing himself.
37	Confectis bellis quinquiens triumphauit , post deuictum Scipionem quater eodem mense , sed interiectis diebus , et rursus semel post superatos Pompei liberos . primum et excellentissimum triumphum egit Gallicum , sequentem Alexandrinum , deinde Ponticum , huic proximum Africanum , nouissimum Hispaniensem , diuerso quemque apparatu et instrumento . Gallici triumphi die Velabrum praeteruehens paene curru excussus est axe diffracto ascenditque Capitolium ad lumina quadraginta elephantis dextra sinistraque lychnuchos gestantibus . Pontico triumpho inter pompae fercula trium uerborum praetulit titulum veni · vidi · vici non acta belli significantem sicut ceteris , sed celeriter confecti notam .	For the victories obtained in the several wars, he triumphed five different times; after the defeat of Scipio four times in one month, each triumph succeeding the former by an interval of a few days; and once again after the conquest of Pompey's sons. His first and most glorious triumph was for the victories he gained in Gaul; the next for that of Alexandria, the third for the reduction of Pontus, the fourth for his African victory, and the last for that in Spain; and they all differed from each other in their varied pomp and pageantry. On the day of the Gallic triumph, as he was proceeding along the street called Velabrum, after narrowly escaping a fall from his chariot by the breaking of an axle-tree, he as cended the Capitol by torch-light, forty elephants carrying torches on his right and left. Amongst the pageantry of the Pontic triumph, a tablet with this inscription was carried before him: I CAME, I SAW, I CONQUERED; not signifying, as other mottos on the like occasion, what was done, so much as the dispatch with which it was done.
38	ueteranis legionibus praedae nomine in pedites singulos super bina sestertia , quae initio ciuilis tumultus numerauerat , uicena quaterna milia nummum dedit . adsignauit et agros , sed non continuos , ne quis possessorum expelleretur . populo praeter frumenti denos modios ac totidem olei libras trecenos quoque nummos , quos pollicitus olim erat , uiritim diuisit et hoc amplius centenos pro mora . annuam etiam habitationem Romae usque ad bina milia nummum , in Italia non ultra quingenos sestertios remisit . adiecit epulum ac uiscerationem et post Hispaniensem uictoriam duo prandia ; nam cum prius parce neque pro liberalitate sua praebitum iudicaret , quinto post die aliud largissimum praebuit .	To every foot soldier in his veteran legions, besides the two thousand sesterces paid him in the beginning of the civil war, he gave twenty thousand more, in the shape of prize-money. He likewise allotted them lands, but not in contiguity, that the former owners might not be entirely dispossessed. To the people of Rome, besides ten modii of corn, and as many pounds of oil, he gave three hundred sesterces a man, which he had formerly promised them, and a hundred more to each for the delay in fulfilling his engagement. He likewise remitted a year's rent due to the treasury, for such houses in Rome as did not pay above two thousand sesterces a year; and through the rest of Italy, for all such as did not exceed in yearly rent five hundred sesterces. To all this he added a public entertainment, and a distribution of meat, and, after his Spanish victory, two public dinners. For, considering the first he had given as too sparing, and unsuited to his profuse liberality, he, five days afterwards, added another, which was most plentiful.
39	edidit spectacula uarii generis : munus gladiatorium , ludos etiam regionatim urbe tota et quidem per omnium linguarum histriones , item circenses athletas naumachiam . munere in foro depugnauit Furius Leptinus stirpe praetoria et Q . Calpenus senator quondam actorque causarum . pyrricham saltauerunt Asiae Bithyniaeque principum liberi . ludis Decimus Laberius eques Romanus mimum suum egit donatusque quingentis sestertiis et anulo aureo sessum in quattuordecim e scaena per orchestram transiit . circensibus spatio circi ab utraque parte producto et in gyrum euripo addito quadrigas bigasque et equos desultorios agitauerunt nobilissimi iuuenes . Troiam lusit turma duplex maiorum minorumque puerorum . uenationes editae per dies quinque ac nouissime pugna diuisa in duas acies , quingenis peditibus , elephantis uicenis , tricenis equitibus hinc et inde commissis . nam quo laxius dimicaretur , sublatae metae inque earum locum bina castra exaduersum constituta erant . athletae stadio ad tempus extructo regione Marti campi certauerunt per triduum . nauali proelio in minore Codeta defosso lacu biremes ac triremes quadriremesque Tyriae et Aegyptiae classis magno pugnatorum numero conflixerunt . ad quae omnia spectacula tantum undique confluxit hominum , ut plerique aduenae aut inter uicos aut inter uias tabernaculis positis manerent , ac saepe prae turba elisi exanimatique sint plurimi et in his duo senatores .	The spectacles he exhibited to the people were of various kinds; namely. a combat of gladiators, and stage-plays in the several wards of the city, and in different languages; likewise Circensian games, wrestlers, and the representation of a sea-fight. In the conflict of gladiators presented in the Forum, Furius Leptinus, a man of praetorian family, entered the lists as a combatant, as did also Quintus Calpenus, formerly a senator, and a pleader of causes. The Pyrrhic dance was performed by some youths, who were sons to persons ol the first distinction in Asia and Bithynia. In the plays, Decimus Laberius, who had been a Roman knight, acted in his own piece; and being presented on the spot with five hundred thousand sesterces, and a gold ring, he went from the stage, through the orchestra, and resumed his place in the seats allotted for the equestrian order. In the Circensian games, the circus being enlarged at each end, and a canal sunk round it, several of the young nobility drove chariots, drawn, some by four, and others by two horses, and likewise rode races on single horses. The Trojan game was acted by two distinct companies of boys, one differing from the other in age and rank. The hunting of wild beasts was presented for five days successively; and on the last day a battle was fought by five hundred foot, twenty elephants, and thirty horse on each side. To afford room for this engagement, the goals were removed, and in their space two camps were pitched, directly opposite to each other. Wrestlers likewise performed for three days successively, in a stadium provided for the purpose in the Campus Martius. A lake having, been dug in the little Codeta, ships of the Tyrian and Egyptian fleets, containing two, three, and four banks of oars, with a number of men on board, afforded an animated representation of a sea-fight. To these various diversions there flocked such crowds of spectators from all parts, that most of the strangers were obliged to lodge in tents erected in the streets, or along the roads near the city. Several in the throng were squeezed to death, amongst whom were two senators.
40	Conuersus hinc ad ordinandum rei publicae statum fastos correxit iam pridem uitio pontificum per intercalandi licentiam adeo turbatos , ut neque messium feriae aestate neque uindemiarum autumno conpeterent ; annumque ad cursum solis accommodauit , ut trecentorum sexaginta quinque dierum esset et intercalario mense sublato unus dies quarto quoque anno intercalaretur . quo autem magis in posterum ex Kalendis Ianuariis nouis temporum ratio congrueret , inter Nouembrem ac Decembrem mensem interiecit duos alios ; fuitque is annus , quo haec constituebantur , quindecim mensium cum intercalario , qui ex consuetudine in eum annum inciderat .	Turning afterwards his attention to the regulation of the commonwealth, he corrected the calendar, which had for some time become extremely confused, through the unwarrantable liberty which the pontiffs had taken in the article of intercalation. To such a height had this abuse proceeded, that neither the festivals designed for the harvest fell in summer, nor those for the vintage in autumn. He accommodated the year to the course of the sun, ordaining that in future it should consist of three hundred and sixty-five days without any intercalary month; and that every fourth year an intercalary day should be inserted. That the year might thenceforth commence regularly with the calends, or first of January, he inserted two months between November and December; so that the year in which this regulation was made consisted of fifteen months, including the month of intercalation. which, according to the division of time then in use, happened that year.
41	senatum suppleuit , patricios adlegit , praetorum aedilium quaestorum , minorum etiam magistratuum numerum ampliauit ; nudatos opere censorio aut sententia iudicum de ambitu condemnatos restituit . comitia cum populo partitus est , ut exceptis consulatus conpetitoribus de cetero numero candidatorum pro parte dimidia quos populus uellet pronuntiarentur , pro parte altera quos ipse dedisset . et edebat per libellos circum tribum missos scriptura breui : ' Caesar dictator illi tribui . commendo uobis illum et illum , ut uestro suffragio suam dignitatem teneant .' admisit ad honores et proscriptorum liberos . iudicia ad duo genera iudicum redegit , equestris ordinis ac senatorii ; tribunos aerarios , quod erat tertium , sustulit . Recensum populi nec more nec loco solito , sed uicatim per dominos insularum egit atque ex uiginti trecentisque milibus accipientium frumentum e publico ad centum quinquaginta retraxit ; ac ne qui noui coetus recensionis causa moueri quandoque possent , instituit , quotannis in demortuorum locum ex iis , qui recensi non essent , subsortitio a praetore fieret .	He filled up the vacancies in the senate, by advancing several plebeians to the rank of patricians, and also increased the number of praetors, aediles, quaestors, and inferior magistrates; restoring, at the same time, such as had been degraded by the censors, or convicted of bribery at elections. The choice of magistrates he so divided with the people, that, excepting only the candidates for the consulship, they nominated one half of them, and he the other. The method which he practised in those cases was, to recommend such persons as he had pitched upon, by bills dispersed through the several tribes to this effect: "Caesar the dictator to such a tribe (naming it). I recommend to you (naming likewise the persons), that by the favour of your votes they may attain to the honours for which they sue." He likewise admitted to offices the sons of those who had been proscribed. The trial of causes he restricted to two orders of judges, the equestrian and senatorial; excluding the tribunes of the treasury who had before made a third class. The revised census of the people he ordered to be taken neither in the usual manner or place, but street by street, by the principal inhabitants of the several quarters of the city; and he reduced the number of those who received corn at the public cost, from three hundred and twenty, to a hundred and fifty, thousand. To prevent any tumults on account of the census, he ordered that the praetor should every year fill up by lot the vacancies occasioned by death, from those who were not enrolled for the receipt of corn.
42	octoginta autem ciuium milibus in transmarinas colonias distributis , ut exhaustae quoque urbis frequentia suppeteret , sanxit , ne quis ciuis maior annis uiginti minorue † decem , qui sacramento non teneretur , plus triennio continuo Italia abesset , neu qui senatoris filius nisi contubernalis aut comes magistratus peregre proficisceretur ; neue ii , qui pecuariam facerent , minus tertia parte puberum ingenuorum inter pastores haberent . omnisque medicinam Romae professos et liberalium artium doctores , quo libentius et ipsi urbem incolerent et ceteri adpeterent , ciuitate donauit . de pecuniis mutuis disiecta nouarum tabularum expectatione , quae crebro mouebatur , decreuit tandem , ut debitores creditoribus satis facerent per aestimationem possessionum , quanti quasque ante ciuile bellum comparassent , deducto summae aeris alieni , si quid usurae nomine numeratum aut perscriptum fuisset ; qua condicione quarta pars fere crediti deperibat . cuncta collegia praeter antiquitus constituta distraxit . poenas facinorum auxit ; et cum locupletes eo facilius scelere se obligarent , quod integris patrimoniis exulabant , parricidas , ut Cicero scribit , bonis omnibus , reliquos dimidia parte multauit .	Eighty thousand citizens having been distributed into foreign colonies, he enacted, in order to stop the drain on the population, that no freeman of the city above twenty, and under forty, years of age, who was not in the military service, should absent himself from Italy for more than three years at a time; that no senator's son should go abroad, unless in the retinue of some high officer; and as to those whose pursuit was tending flocks and herds, that no less than a third of the number of their shepherds free-born should be youths. He likewise made all those who practised physic in Rome, and all teachers of the liberal arts, free of the city, in order to fix them in it, and induce others to settle there. With respect to debts, he disappointed the expectation which was generally entertained, that they would be totally cancelled; and ordered that the debtors should satisfy their creditors, according to the valuation of their estates, at the rate at which they were purchased before the commencement of the civil war; deducting from the debt what had been paid for interest either in money or by bonds; by virtue of which provision about a fourth part of the debt was lost. He dissolved all the guilds, except such as were of ancient foundation. Crimes were punished with greater severity; and the rich being more easily induced to commit them because they were only liable to banishment, without the forfeiture of their property, he stripped murderers, as Cicero observes, of their whole estates, and other offenders of one half.
43	ius laboriosissime ac seuerissime dixit . repetundarum conuictos etiam ordine senatorio mouit . diremit nuptias praetorii uiri , qui digressam a marito post biduum statim duxerat , quamuis sine probri suspicione . peregrinarum mercium portoria instituit . lecticarum usum , item conchyliatae uestis et margaritarum nisi certis personis et aetatibus perque certos dies ademit . legem praecipue sumptuariam exercuit dispositis circa macellum custodibus , qui obsonia contra uetitum retinerent deportarentque ad se , submissis nonnumquam lictoribus atque militibus , qui , si qua custodes fefellissent , iam adposita e triclinio auferrent .	He was extremely assiduous and strict in the administration of justice. He expelled from the senate such members as were convicted of bribery; and he dissolved the marriage of a man of praetorian rank, who had married a lady two days after her divorce from a former husband, although there was no suspicion that they had been guilty of any illicit connection. He imposed duties on the importation of foreign goods. The use of litters for travelling, purple robes, and jewels, he permitted only to persons of a certain age and station, and on particular days. He enforced a rigid execution of the sumptuary laws; placing officers about the markets, to seize upon all meats exposed to sale contrary to the rules, and bring them to him; sometimes sending his lictors and soldiers to carry away such victuals as had escaped the notice of the officers, even when they were upon the table.
44	Nam de ornanda instruendaque urbe , item de tuendo ampliandoque imperio plura ac maiora in dies destinabat : in primis Martis templum , quantum nusquam esset , extruere repleto et conplanato lacu , in quo naumachiae spectaculum ediderat , theatrumque summae magnitudinis Tarpeio monti accubans ; ius ciuile ad certum modum redigere atque ex immensa diffusaque legum copia optima quaeque et necessaria in paucissimos conferre libros ; bibliothecas Graecas Latinasque quas maximas posset publicare data Marco Varroni cura comparandarum ac digerendarum ; siccare Pomptinas paludes ; emittere Fucinum lacum ; uiam munire a mari Supero per Appennini dorsum ad Tiberim usque ; perfodere Isthmum ; Dacos , qui se in Pontum et Thraciam effuderant , coercere ; mox Parthis inferre bellum per Armeniam minorem nec nisi ante expertos adgredi proelio . Talia agentem atque meditantem mors praeuenit . de qua prius quam dicam , ea quae ad formam et habitum et cultum et mores , nec minus quae ad ciuilia et bellica eius studia pertineant , non alienum erit summatim exponere .	His thoughts were now fully employed from day to day on a variety of great projects for the embellishment and improvement of the city, as well as for guarding and extending the bounds of the empire. In the first place, he meditated the construction of a temple to Mars, which should exceed in grandeur every thing of that kind in the world. For this purpose, he intended to fill up the lake on which he had entertained the people with the spectacle of a sea-fight. He also projected a most spacious theatre adjacent to the Tarpeian mount; and also proposed to reduce the civil law to a reasonable compass, and out of that immense and undigested mass of statutes to extract the best and most necessary parts into a few books; to make as large a collection as possible of works in the Greek and Latin languages, for the public use; the province of providing and putting them in proper order being assigned to Marcus Varro. He intended likewise to drain the Pomptine marshes, to cut a channel for the discharge of the waters of the lake Fucinus, to form a road from the Upper Sea through the ridge of the Appenine to the Tiber; to make a cut through the isthmus of Corinth, to reduce the Dacians, who had over-run Pontus and Thrace, within their proper limits, and then to make war upon the Parthians, through the Lesser Armenia, but not to risk a general engagement with them, until he had made some trial of their prowess in war. But in the midst of all his undertakings and projects, he was carried off by death; before I speak of which, it may not be improper to give an account of his person, dress, and manners, together with what relates to his pursuits, both civil and military.
45	Fuisse traditur excelsa statura , colore candido , teretibus membris , ore paulo pleniore , nigris uegetisque oculis , ualitudine prospera , nisi quod tempore extremo repente animo linqui atque etiam per somnum exterreri solebat . comitiali quoque morbo bis inter res agendas correptus est . circa corporis curam morosior , ut non solum tonderetur diligenter ac raderetur , sed uelleretur etiam , ut quidam exprobrauerunt , caluitii uero deformitatem iniquissime ferret saepe obtrectatorum iocis obnoxiam expertus . ideoque et deficientem capillum reuocare a uertice adsueuerat et ex omnibus decretis sibi a senatu populoque honoribus non aliud aut recepit aut usurpauit libentius quam ius laureae coronae perpetuo gestandae . Etiam cultu notabilem ferunt : usum enim lato clauo ad manus fimbriato nec umquam aliter quam ut super eum cingeretur , et quidem fluxiore cinctura ; unde emanasse Sullae dictum optimates saepius admonentis , ut male praecinctum puerum cauerent .	It is said that he was tall, of a fair complexion, round limbed, rather full faced, with eyes black and piercing; and that he enjoyed excellent health, except towards the close of his life, when he was subject to sudden fainting-fits, and disturbance in his sleep. He was likewise twice seized with the falling sickness while engaged in active service. He was so nice in the care of his person, that he not only kept the hair of his head closely cut and had his face smoothly shaved, but even caused the hair on other parts of the body to be plucked out by the roots, a practice for which some persons rallied him. His baldness gave him much uneasiness, having often found himself on that account exposed to the jibes of his enemies. He therefore used to bring forward the hair from the crown of his head; and of all the honours conferred upon him by the senate and people, there was none which he either accepted or used with greater pleasure, than the right of wearing constantly a laurel crown. It is said that he was particular in his dress. For he used the Latus Clavus with fringes about the wrists, and always had it girded about him, but rather loosely. This circumstance gave origin to the expression of Sylla, who often advised the nobles to beware of "the ill-girt boy."