Julius Caesar (Suetonius)

[Close]

	Julius Caesar Author: Suetonius	Translator: Alexander Thomson
46	habitauit primo in Subura modicis aedibus , post autem pontificatum maximum in Sacra uia domo publica . munditiarum lautitiarumque studiosissimum multi prodiderunt : uillam in Nemorensi a fundamentis incohatam magnoque sumptu absolutam , quia non tota ad animum ei responderat , totam diruisse , quanquam tenuem adhuc et obaeratum ; in expeditionibus tessellata et sectilia pauimenta circumtulisse ;	He first inhabited a small house in the Suburra, but after his advancement to the pontificate, he occupied a palace belonging to the state in the Via Sacra. Many writers say that he liked his residence to be elegant, and his entertainments sumptuous; and that he entirely took down a villa near the grove of Aricia, Which he had built from the foundation and finished at a vast expense, because it did not exactly suit his taste, although he had at that time but slender means, and was in debt; and that he carried about in his expeditions tesselated and marble slabs for the floor of his tent.
47	Britanniam petisse spe margaritarum , quarum amplitudinem conferentem interdum sua manu exegisse pondus ; gemmas , toreumata , signa , tabulas operis antiqui semper animosissime comparasse ; seruitia rectiora politioraque inmenso pretio , et cuius ipsum etiam puderet , sic ut rationibus uetaret inferri ;	They likewise report that he invaded Britain in hopes of finding pearls, the size of which he would compare together, and ascertain the weight by poising them in his hand; that he would purchase, at any cost, gems, carved works, statues, and pictures, executed by the eminent masters of antiquity; and that he would give for young and handy slaves a price so extravagant, that he forbad its being entered in the diary of his expenses.
48	conuiuatum assidue per prouincias duobus tricliniis , uno quo sagati palliatiue , altero quo togati cum inlustrioribus prouinciarum discumberent . domesticam disciplinam in paruis ac maioribus rebus diligenter adeo seuereque rexit , ut pistorem alium quam sibi panem conuiuis subicientem compedibus uinxerit , libertum gratissimum ob adulteratam equitis Romani uxorem , quamuis nullo querente , capitali poena adfecerit .	We are also told, that in the provinces he constantly maintained two tables, one for the officers of the army, and the gentry of the country, and the other for Romans of the highest rank, and provincials of the highest distinction., He was so very exact in the management of his domestic affairs, both little and great, that he once threw a baker into prison, for serving him with a finer sort of bread than his guests; and put to death a freed-man, who was a particular favourite, for debauching the lady of a Roman knight, although no complaint had been made to him of the affair.
49	Pudicitiae eius famam nihil quidem praeter Nicomedis contubernium laesit , graui tamen et perenni obprobrio et ad omnium conuicia exposito . omitto Calui Licini notissimos uersus : Bithynia quicquid et pedicator Caesaris umquam habuit . praetereo actiones Dolabellae et Curionis patris , in quibus eum Dolabella ' paelicem reginae , spondam interiorem regiae lecticae ,' at Curio ' stabulum Nicomedis et Bithynicum fornicem ' dicunt . missa etiam facio edicta Bibuli , quibus proscripsit collegam suum Bithynicam reginam , eique antea regem fuisse cordi , nunc esse regnum . quo tempore , ut Marcus Brutus refert , Octauius etiam quidam ualitudine mentis liberius dicax conuentu maximo , cum Pompeium regem appellasset , ipsum reginam salutauit . sed C . Memmius etiam ad cyathum † et ui Nicomedi stetisse obicit , cum reliquis exoletis , pleno conuiuio , accubantibus nonnullis urbicis negotiatoribus , quorum refert nomina . Cicero uero non contentus in quibusdam epistulis scripsisse a satellitibus eum in cubiculum regium eductum in aureo lecto ueste purpurea decubuisse floremque aetatis a Venere orti in Bithynia contaminatum , quondam etiam in senatu defendenti ei Ny sae causam , filiae Nicomedis , beneficiaque regis in se commemoranti : ' remoue ,' inquit , ' istaec , oro te , quando notum est , et quid ille tibi et quid illi tute dederis .' Gallico denique triumpho milites eius inter cetera carmina , qualia currum prosequentes ioculariter canunt , etiam illud uulgatissimum pronuntiauerunt : Gallias Caesar subegit , Nicomedes Caesarem : ecce Caesar nunc triumphat qui subegit Gallias , Nicomedes non triumphat qui subegit Caesarem .	(Thomson has omitted this chapter.)
50	pronum et sumptuosum in libidines fuisse constans opinio est , plurimasque et illustres feminas corrupisse , in quibus Postumiam Serui Sulpici , Lolliam Auli Gabini , Tertullam Marci Crassi , etiam Cn . Pompei Muciam . nam certe Pompeio et a Curionibus patre et filio et a multis exprobratum est , quod cuius causa post tres liberos exegisset uxorem et quem gemens Aegisthum appellare consuesset , eius postea filiam potentiae cupiditate in matrimonium recepisset . sed ante alias dilexit Marci Bruti matrem Seruiliam , cui et proximo suo consulatu sexagiens sestertium margaritam mercatus est et bello ciuili super alias donationes amplissima praedia ex auctionibus hastae minimo addixit ; cum quidem plerisque uilitatem mirantibus facetissime Cicero : ' quo melius ,' inquit , ' emptum sciatis , tertia deducta '; existimabatur enim Seruilia etiam filiam suam Tertiam Caesari conciliare .	It is admitted by all that he was much addicted to women, as well as very expensive in his intrigues with them, and that he debauched many ladies of the highest quality; among whom were Posthumia, the wife of Servius Sulpicius; Lollia, the wife of Aulus Gabinius; Tertulla, the wife of Marcus Crassus; and Mucia, the wife of Cneius Pompey. For it is certain that the Curios, both father and son, and many others, made it a reproach to Pompey, "That to gratify his ambition, he married the daughter of a man, upon whose account he had divorced his wife, after having had three children by her; and whom he used, with a deep sigh, to call AEgisthus." But the mistress he most loved, was Servilia, the mother of Marcus Brutus. for whom he purchased. in his first consulship after the commencement of their intrigue, a pearl which cost him six millions of sesterces; and in the civil war, besides other presents, assigned to her, for a trifling consideration, some valuable farms when they were exposed to public auction. Many persons expressing their surprise at the lowness of the price, Cicero wittily remarked, "To let you know the real value of the purchase, between ourselves, Tertia was deducted:" for Servilia was supposed to have prostituted her daughter Tertia to Caesar.
51	ne prouincialibus quidem matrimoniis abstinuisse uel hoc disticho apparet iactato aeque a militibus per Gallicum triumphum : urbani , seruate uxores : moechum caluom adducimus . aurum in Gallia effutuisti , hic sumpsisti mutuum .	That he had intrigues likewise with married women in the provinces, appears from this distich, which was as much repeated in the Gallic triumph as the former: Watch well your wives, ye cits, we bring a blade, A bald-pate master of the wenching trade. Thy gold was spent on many a Gallic w—e; Exhausted now, thou com'st to borrow more.
52	dilexit et reginas , inter quas Eunoen Mauram Bogudis uxorem , cui maritoque eius plurima et immensa tribuit , ut Naso scripsit ; sed maxime Cleopatram , cum qua et conuiuia in primam lucem saepe protraxit et eadem naue thalamego paene Aethiopia tenus Aegyptum penetrauit , nisi exercitus sequi recusasset , quam denique accitam in urbem non nisi maximis honoribus praemiisque auctam remisit filiumque natum appellare nomine suo passus est . quem quidem nonnulli Graecorum similem quoque Caesari et forma et incessu tradiderunt . M . Antonius adgnitum etiam ab eo senatui adfirmauit , quae scire C . Matium et C . Oppium reliquosque Caesaris amicos ; quorum Gaius Oppius , quasi plane defensione ac patrocinio res egeret , librum edidit , non esse Caesaris filium , quem Cleopatra dicat . Heluius Cinna tr . pl . plerisque confessus est habuisse se scriptam paratamque legem , quam Caesar ferre iussisset cum ipse abesset , uti uxores liberorum quaerendorum causa quas et quot uellet ducere liceret . at ne cui dubium omnino sit et impudicitiae et adulteriorum flagrasse infamia , Curio pater quadam eum oratione omnium mulierum uirum et omnium uirorum mulierem appellat .	In the number of his mistresses were also some queens; such as Eunoe, a Moor, the wife of Bogudes, to whom and her husband he made, as Naso reports, many large presents. But his greatest favourite was Cleopatra, with whom he often revelled all night until the dawn of day, and would have gone with her through Egypt in dalliance, as far as Ethiopia, in her luxurious yacht, had not the army refused to follow him. He afterwards invited her to Rome, whence he sent her back loaded with honours and presents, and gave her permission to call by his name a son, who, according to the testimony of some Greek historians, resembled Caesar both in person and gait. Mark Antony declared in the senate, that Caesar had acknowledged the child as his own; and that Caius Matias, Caius Oppius, and the rest of Caesar's friends knew it to be true. On which occasion Oppius, as if it had been an imputation which he was called upon to refute, published a book to shew, "that the child which Cleopatra fathered upon Caesar, was not his." Helvius Cinna, tribune to the people, admitted to several persons the fact, that he had a bill ready drawn, which Caesar had ordered him to get enacted in his absence, allowing him, with the hope of leaving issue, to take any wife he chose, and as many of them as he pleased; and to leave no room for doubt of his infamous character for unnatural lewdness and adultery, Curio, the father, says, in one of his speeches, " He was every woman's man."
53	Vini parcissimum ne inimici quidem negauerunt . Marci Catonis est : unum ex omnibus Caesarem ad euertendam rem publicam sobrium accessisse . nam circa uictum Gaius Oppius adeo indifferentem docet , ut quondam ab hospite conditum oleum pro uiridi adpositum aspernantibus ceteris solum etiam largius appetisse scribat , ne hospitem aut neglegentiae aut rusticitatis uideretur arguere .	It is acknowledged even by his enemies, that in regard to wine he was abstemious. A remark is ascribed to Marcus Cato, "that Caesar was the only sober man amongst all those who were engaged in the design to subvert the government." In the matter of diet, Caius Oppius informs us, "that he was so indifferent, that when a person in whose house he was entertained, had served him with stale, instead of fresh, oil, and the rest of the company would not touch it, he alone ate very heartily of it, that he might not seem to tax the master of the house with rusticity or want of attention."
54	abstinentiam neque in imperiis neque in magistratibus praestitit . ut enim quidam monumentis suis testati sunt , in Hispania pro consule et a sociis pecunias accepit emendicatas in auxilium aeris alieni et Lusitanorum quaedam oppida , quanquam nec imperata detrectarent et aduenienti portas patefacerent , diripuit hostiliter . in Gallia fana templaque deum donis referta expilauit , urbes diruit saepius ob praedam quam ob delictum ; unde factum , ut auro abundaret ternisque milibus nummum in libras promercale per Italiam prouinciasque diuenderet . in primo consulatu tria milia pondo auri furatus e Capitolio tantundem inaurati aeris reposuit . societates ac regna pretio dedit , ut qui uni Ptolemaeo prope sex milia talentorum suo Pompeique nomine abstulerit . postea uero euidentissimis rapinis ac sacrilegis et onera bellorum ciuilium et triumphorum ac munerum sustinuit impendia .	But his abstinence did not extend to pecuniary advantages, either in his military commands, or civil offices; for we have the testimony of some writers, that he took money from the proconsul, who was his predecessor in Spain, and from the Roman allies in that quarter, for the discharge of his debts; and plundered at the point of the sword some towns of the Lusitanians, notwithstanding they attempted no resistance, and opened their gates to him upon his arrival before them. In Gaul, he rifled the chapels and temples of the gods, which were filled with rich offerings, and demolished cities oftener for the sake of their spoil, than for any ill they had done. By this means gold became so plentiful with him, that he exchanged it through Italy and the provinces of the empire for three thousand sesterces the pound. In his first consulship he purloined from the Capitol three thousand pounds weight of gold, and substituted for it the same quantity of gilt brass. He bartered likewise to foreign nations and princes, for gold, the titles of allies and kings; and squeezed out of Ptolemy alone near six thousand talents, in the name of himself and Pompey. He afterwards supported the expense of the civil wars, and of his triumphs and public spectacles, by the most flagrant rapine and sacrilege.
55	Eloquentia militarique re aut aequauit praestantissimorum gloriam aut excessit . post accusationem Dolabellae haud dubie principibus patronis adnumeratus est . certe Cicero ad Brutum oratores enumerans negat se uidere , cui debeat Caesar cedere , aitque eum elegantem , splendidam quoque atque etiam magnificam et generosam quodam modo rationem dicendi tenere ; et ad Cornelium Nepotem de eodem ita scripsit : ' quid ? oratorem quem huic antepones eorum , qui nihil aliud egerunt ? quis sententiis aut acutior aut crebrior ? quis uerbis aut ornatior aut elegantior ?' genus eloquentiae dum taxat adulescens adhuc Strabonis Caesaris secutus uidetur , cuius etiam ex oratione , quae inscribitur ' pro Sardis ,' ad uerbum nonnulla transtulit in diuinationem suam . pronuntiasse autem dicitur uoce acuta , ardenti motu gestuque , non sine uenustate . orationes aliquas reliquit , inter quas temere quaedam feruntur . ' pro Quinto Metello ' non immerito Augustus existimat magis ab actuaris exceptam male subsequentibus uerba dicentis , quam ab ipso editam ; nam in quibusdam exemplaribus inuenio ne inscriptam quidem ' pro Metello ,' sed ' quam scripsit Metello ,' cum ex persona Caesaris sermo sit Metellum seque aduersus communium obtrectatorum criminationes purgantis . ' apud milites ' quoque ' in Hispania ' idem Augustus uix ipsius putat , quae tamen duplex fertur : una quasi priore habita proelio , altera posteriore , quo Asinius Pollio ne tempus quidem contionandi habuisse eum dicit subita hostium incursione .	In eloquence and warlike achievements, he equalled at least, if he did not surpass, the greatest of men. After his prosecution of Dolabella, he was indisputably reckoned one of the most distinguished advocates. Cicero, in recounting to Brutus the famous orators, declares, "that he does not see that Caesar was inferior to any one of them;" and says, "that he had an elegant, splendid, noble, and magnificent vein of eloquence." And in a letter to Cornelius Nepos, he writes of him in the following terms: "What! Of all the orators, who, during the whole course of their lives, have done nothing else, which can you prefer to him ? Which of them is more pointed or terse in his periods, or employs more polished and elegant language ?" In his youth, he seems to have chosen Strabo Caesar for his model; from whose oration in behalf of the Sardinians he has transcribed some passages literally into his Divination. In his delivery he is said to have had a shrill voice, and his action was animated, but not ungraceful. He has left behind him some speeches, among which are ranked a few that are not genuine, such as that on behalf of Quintus Metellus. These Augustus supposes, with reason, to be rather the production of blundering short-hand writers, who were not able to keep pace with him in the delivery, than publications of his own. For I find in some copies that the title is not "For Metellus," but "What he wrote to Metellus:" whereas the speech is delivered in the name of Caesar, vindicating Metellus and himself from the aspersions cast upon them by their common defamers. The speech addressed "To his soldiers in Spain," Augustus considers likewise as spurious. We meet with two under this title; one made, as is pretended, in the first battle, and the other in the last; at which time, Asinius Pollio says, he had not leisure to address the soldiers, on account of the suddenness of the enemy's attack.
56	reliquit et rerum suarum commentarios Gallici ciuilisque belli Pompeiani . nam Alexandrini Africique et Hispaniensis incertus auctor est : alii Oppium putant , alii Hirtium , qui etiam Gallici belli nouissimum imperfectumque librum suppleuerit . de commentariis Caesaris Cicero in eodem Bruto sic refert : ' commentarios scripsit ualde quidem probandos : nudi sunt , recti et uenusti , omni ornatu orationis tamquam ueste detracta ; sed dum uoluit alios habere parata , unde sumerent qui uellent scribere historiam , ineptis gratum fortasse fecit , qui illa uolent calamistris inurere , sanos quidem homines a scribendo deterruit .' de isdem commentariis Hirtius ita praedicat : ' adeo probantur omnium iudicio , ut praerepta , non praebita facultas scriptoribus uideatur . cuius tamen rei maior nostra quam reliquorum est admiratio ; ceteri enim , quam bene atque emendate , nos etiam , quam facile atque celeriter eos perscripserit , scimus .' Pollio Asinius parum diligenter parumque integra ueritate compositos putat , cum Caesar pleraque et quae per alios erant gesta temere crediderit et quae per se , uel consulto uel etiam memoria lapsus perperam ediderit ; existimatque rescripturum et correcturum fuisse . reliquit et ' de analogia ' duos libros et ' Anticatones ' totidem ac praeterea poema quod inscribitur Iter . quorum librorum primos in transitu Alpium , cum ex citeriore Gallia conuentibus peractis ad exercitum rediret , sequentes sub tempus Mundensis proelii fecit ; nouissimum , dum ab urbe in Hispaniam ulteriorem quarto et uicensimo die peruenit . epistulae quoque eius ad senatum extant , quas primum uidetur ad paginas et formam memorialis libelli conuertisse , cum antea consules et duces non nisi transuersa charta scriptas mitterent . extant et ad Ciceronem , item ad familiares domesticis de rebus , in quibus , si qua occultius perferenda erant , per notas scripsit , id est sic structo litterarum ordine , ut nullum uerbum effici posset : quae si qui inuestigare et persequi uelit , quartam elementorum litteram , id est D pro A et perinde reliquas commutet . feruntur et † aituero ab adulescentulo quaedam scripta , ut ' Laudes Herculis ,' tragoedia ' Oedipus ,' item ' Dicta collectanea ': quos omnis libellos uetuit Augustus publicari in epistula , quam breuem admodum ac simplicem ad Pompeium Macrum , cui ordinandas bibliothecas delegauerat , misit .	He has likewise left Commentaries of his own actions both in the war in Gaul, and in the civil war with Pompey; for the author of the Alexandrian, African, and Spanish wars is not known with any certainty. Some think they are the productions of Oppius, and some of Hirtius; the latter of whom composed the last book, which is imperfect, of the Gallic war. Of Caesar's Commentaries, Cicero, in his Brutus, speaks thus: " He wrote his Commentaries in a manner deserving of great approbation: they are plain, precise, and elegant, without any affectation of rhetorical ornament. In having thus prepared materials for others who might be inclined to write his history, he may perhaps have encouraged some silly creatures to enter upon such a work, who will needs be dressing up his actions in all the extravagance of bombast; but he has discouraged wise men from ever attempting the subject." Hirtius delivers his opinion of these Commentaries in the following terms: "So great is the approbation with which they are universally perused, that, instead of rousing, he seems to have precluded, the efforts of any future historian. Yet, with respect to this work, we have more reason to admire him than others; for they only know how well and correctly he has written, but we know, likewise, how easily and quickly he did it." Pollio Asinius thinks that they were not drawn up with much care, or with a due regard to truth; for he insinuates that Caesar was too hasty of belief in regard to what was performed by others under his orders; and that, he has not given a very faithful account of his own acts, either by design, or through defect of memory; expressing at the same time an opinion that Caesar intended a new and more correct edition. He has left behind him likewise two books on Analogy, with the same number under the title of Anti-Cato, and a poem entitled The .Itinerary. Of these books, he composed the first two in his passage over the Alps, as he was returning to the army after making his circuit in Hither-Gaul; the second work about the time of the battle of Munda; and the last during the four-and-twenty days he employed in his journey from Rome to Farther-Spain. There are extant some letters of his to the senate, written in a manner never practised by any before him; for they are distinguished into pages in the form of a memorandum book: whereas the consuls and commanders till then, used constantly in their letters to continue the line quite across the sheet, without any folding or distinction of pages. There are extant likewise some letters from him to Cicero, and others to his friends, concerning his domestic affairs; in which, if there was occasion for secrecy, he wrote in cyphers; that is, he used the alphabet in such a manner, that not a single word could be made out. The way to decipher those epistles was to substitute the fourth for the first letter, as d for a, and so for the other letters respectively. Some things likewise pass under his name, said to have been written by him when a boy, or a very young man; as the Encomium of Hercules, a tragedy entitled Oedipus, and a collection of Apophthegms; all which Augustus forbad to be published, in a short and plain letter to Pompeius Macer, who was employed by him in the arrangement of his libraries.
57	Armorum et equitandi peritissimus , laboris ultra fidem patiens erat . in agmine nonnumquam equo , sae pius pedibus anteibat , capite detecto , seu sol seu imber esset ; longissimas uias incredibili celeritate confecit , expeditus , meritoria raeda , centena passuum milia in singulos dies ; si flumina morarentur , nando traiciens uel innixus inflatis utribus , ut persaepe nuntios de se praeuenerit .	He was perfect in the use of arms, an accomplished rider, and able to endure fatigue beyond all belief. On a march he used to go at the head of his troops, sometimes on horseback, but oftener on foot, with his head bare in all kinds of weather. He would travel post in a light carriage without baggage, at the rate of a hundred miles a day; and if he was stopped by floods in the rivers, he swam across, or floated on skins inflated with wind, so that he often anticipated intelligence of his movements.
58	in obeundis expeditionibus dubium cautior an audentior , exercitum neque per insidiosa itinera duxit umquam nisi perspeculatus locorum situs , neque in Britanniam transuexit , nisi ante per se portus et nauigationem et accessum ad insulam explorasset . at idem obsessione castrorum in Germania nuntiata per stationes hostium Gallico habitu penetrauit ad suos . a Brundisio Dyrrachium inter oppositas classes hieme transmisit cessantibusque copiis , quas subsequi iusserat , cum ad accersendas frustra saepe misisset , nouissime ipse clam noctu paruulum nauigium solus obuoluto capite conscendit , neque aut quis esset ante detexit aut gubernatorem cedere aduersae tempestati passus est quam paene obrutus fluctibus .	In his expeditions, it is difficult to say whether his caution or his daring was most conspicuous. He never marched his army by roads which were exposed to ambuscades, without having previously examined the nature of the ground by his scouts. Nor did he cross over to Britain, before he had carefully examined, in person, the navigation, the harbours, and the most convenient point of landing in the island. When intelligence was brought to him of the siege of his camp in Germany, he made his way to his troops, through the enemy's stations, in a Gaulish dress. He crossed the sea from Brundisium and Dyrrachium, in the winter, through the midst of the enemy's fleets; and the troops, under orders to join him, being slow in their movements, notwithstand, ing repeated messages to hurry them, but to no purpose, he at last went privately, and alone, aboard a small vessel in the night time, with his head muffled up; nor did he make himself known, or suffer the master to put about, although the wind blew strong against them, until they were ready to sink.
59	ne religione quidem ulla a quoquam incepto absterritus umquam uel retardatus est . cum immolanti aufugisset hostia , profectionem aduersus Scipionem et Iubam non distulit . prolapsus etiam in egressu nauis uerso ad melius omine : ' teneo te ,' inquit , ' Africa .' ad eludendas autem uaticinationes , quibus felix et inuictum in ea prouincia fataliter Scipionum nomen ferebatur , despectissimum quendam ex Corneliorum genere , cui ad opprobrium uitae Saluitoni cognomen erat , in castris secum habuit .	He was never deterred from any enterprise, nor retarded in the prosecution of it, by superstition. When a victim, which he was about to offer in sacrifice, made its escape, he did not therefore defer his expedition against Scipio and Juba. And happening to fall, upon stepping out of the ship, he gave a lucky turn to the omen, by exclaiming, "I hold thee fast, Africa." To chide the prophecies which were spread abroad, that the name of the Scipios was, by the decrees of fate, fortunate and invincible in that province, he retained in the camp a profligate wretch, of the family of the Cornelii, who, on account of his scandalous life, was surnamed Salutio.
60	Proelia non tantum destinato , sed ex occasione sumebat ac saepe ab itinere statim , interdum spurcissimis tempestatibus , cum minime quis moturum putaret ; nec nisi tempore extremo ad dimicandum cunctatior factus est , quo saepius uicisset , hoc minus experiendos casus opinans nihilque se tantum adquisiturum uictoria , quantum hostem fudit , quin castris quoque exueret : ita nullum spatium perterritis dabat . ancipiti proelio equos dimittebat et in primis suum , quo maior permanendi necessitas imponeretur auxilio fugae erepto .	He not only fought pitched battles, but made sudden attacks when an opportunity offered; often at the end of a march, and sometimes during the most violent storms, when nobody could imagine he would stir. Nor was he ever backward in fighting, until towards the end of his life. He then was of opinion, that the oftener he had been crowned with success, the less he ought to expose himself to new hazards; and that nothing he could gain by a victory would compensate for what he might lose by a miscarriage. He never defeated the enemy without driving them from their camp; and giving them no time.to rally their forces. When the issue of a battle was doubtful, he sent away all the horses, and his own first, that having no means of flight, they might be under the greater necessity of standing their ground.