1. ... When Sulla seized power, he could not, either by threats or promises, induce Caesar to divorce Cornelia, the daughter of Cinna, who at one time was the sole ruler of Rome; so Sulla confiscated Cornelia's dowry. The reason for Sulla's hatred of Caesar was the latter's relationship with Marius, for Marius the Elder was married to Julia, Caesar's aunt; from this marriage was born Marius the Younger, who was therefore Caesar's cousin. Busy at first with numerous murders and pressing matters, Sulla did not pay attention to Caesar, but he, not content with this, went public, seeking a priestly office, although he himself had barely reached adolescence. Sulla opposed this and made it so that Caesar failed. He even intended to destroy Caesar, and when he was told that it was pointless to kill such a boy, he replied: “You don’t understand anything if you don’t see that there are many Maries in this boy.” When Caesar learned of these words of Sulla, he hid for a long time, wandering in the land of the Sabines. But one day, when he fell ill and was being transferred from one house to another, he stumbled at night on a detachment of Sullan warriors who were examining this area in order to detain all those hiding. Having given two talents to the head of the detachment, Cornelius, Caesar succeeded in being released, and immediately, having reached the sea, he sailed to Bithynia, to King Nicomedes.

After spending a little time here, on his way back near the island of Pharmacussa, he was captured by pirates, who even then had a large fleet and with their innumerable ships ruled over the sea. 2. When the pirates demanded a ransom of twenty talents from him, Caesar laughed, declaring that they did not know whom they had captured, and himself offered to give them fifty talents. Then, having sent his people to various cities for money, he remained among these fierce Cilicians with only one friend and two servants; in spite of this, he behaved so arrogantly that whenever he was going to rest, he sent orders to the pirates that they should not make noise. For thirty-eight days he stayed with the pirates, behaving as if they were his bodyguards and not he their prisoner, and without the slightest fear he amused and joked with them. He wrote poems and speeches, recited them to the pirates and called those who did not express their admiration to their faces ignoramuses and barbarians, often threatening to hang them with a laugh. Those willingly listened to these free speeches, seeing in them a manifestation of complacency and playfulness. However, as soon as the ransom money from Miletus arrived and Caesar, having paid it, was released, he immediately equipped the ships and left the Milesian harbor against the pirates. He found them still anchored off the island and captured most of them. He took the captured riches as booty, and imprisoned people in Pergamon. He himself went to Yunk, the viceroy of Asia, finding that he, as praetor, should punish the captured pirates. However, Junck, looking with envy at the money seized (for there was a lot of it), declared that he would deal with the case of the captives when he had time; then Caesar, saying goodbye to him, went to Pergamum, ordered the pirates to be brought out and crucified to the last, as he often predicted to them on the island, when they considered his words a joke.

3. Meanwhile, the power of Sulla began to decline, and Caesar's friends began to call him to Rome. However, Caesar first went to Rhodes, to the school of Apollonius, the son of Molon, from whom Cicero also studied and who was famous not only for oratory, but also for his moral virtues. Caesar, as they say, was naturally endowed with the ability to eloquence in the state field and zealously exercised his talent, so that, undoubtedly, he belonged to the second place in this art; however, he refused to excel in eloquence, caring more about becoming the first through power and force of arms; being occupied with military and civil enterprises, with the help of which he subjugated the state, he did not reach the limit in oratory, which was indicated to him by nature. Later, in his work, directed against Cicero's essay on Cato,4 he himself asked not to compare this word of a warrior with the skillful speech of a gifted orator who devoted much time to perfecting his gift.

4. Upon his arrival in Rome, Caesar brought Dolabella to trial on charges of extortion in the provinces, and many of the Greek cities presented witnesses to him. Dolabella, however, was acquitted. To thank the Greeks for their zeal, Caesar undertook to conduct their case, which they began with the Praetor of Macedon Mark Lucullus against Publius Antony, accusing him of bribery. Caesar pursued the matter so vigorously that Antony complained to the tribunes of the people in Rome, referring to the fact that in Greece he was not on an equal footing with the Greeks.

In Rome itself, Caesar, thanks to his eloquent speeches in defense in the courts, achieved brilliant successes, and by his politeness and affectionate courtesy he won the love of the common people, for he was more attentive to everyone than one could expect at his age. Yes, and his dinners, feasts and a generally brilliant lifestyle contributed to the gradual growth of his influence in the state. At first, Caesar's envious people did not pay attention to this, believing that he would be forgotten immediately after his funds dried up. Only when it was too late, when this force had already grown so much that it was difficult to oppose anything, and headed straight for the overthrow of the existing order, they realized that a beginning in no matter could not be considered insignificant. That which is not nipped in the bud grows rapidly, for in its very neglect it finds the conditions for unhindered development. Cicero, it seems, was the first to consider Caesar's activity suspicious and fearful, outwardly calm, like a smooth sea, and recognized in this man a bold and decisive character, hiding under the mask of affection and gaiety. He said that in all the thoughts and manner of actions of Caesar, he sees tyrannical intentions. “But,” he added, “when I see how carefully his hair is styled and how he scratches his head with one finger, it always seems to me that this person cannot plot such a crime as the overthrow of the Roman state system.” But more on that later.

5. The first proof of the love of the people for him, Caesar received at a time when, seeking the post of military tribune at the same time as Gaius Pompilius, he was elected by a larger number of votes than the second, and even more obvious, when, after the death of his aunt Julia, his wife Marius, he not only delivered a brilliant eulogy at the forum of the deceased, but also dared to exhibit images of Marius during the funeral, which were shown for the first time since Sulla came to power, since Marius and his supporters were declared enemies of the state. Some raised their voices against this act, but the people, with shouts and loud applause, showed their approval of Caesar, who after such a long time, as it were, returned the honor of Mary from Hades to Rome.

It was customary for the Romans to hold funeral speeches at the burial of old women, but there was no such custom for young women, and Caesar was the first to do this when his wife died. And this aroused the approval of the people and attracted their sympathy for Caesar, as a man of meek and noble disposition. After the funeral of his wife, he went to Spain as a quaestor under the praetor Veter, whom he always revered and whose son later, when he himself became praetor, made a quaestor. Returning after the departure of this office, he married a third marriage6 to Pompey, having a daughter from Cornelia, whom he later married Pompey Magnus.

Spending his money lavishly, and seeming to buy, at the cost of the greatest expenditure, a short and fragile fame, in reality, acquiring the greatest goods at a cheap price, he is said to have had debts of one thousand three hundred talents before taking his first office. Appointed superintendent of the Appian Way,7 he spent a lot of his own money, then, as aedile, fielded three hundred and twenty pairs of gladiators, and eclipsed all his predecessors with magnificent expenses on theaters, ceremonies and dinners. But the people, for their part, became so disposed towards him that everyone looked for new positions and honors with which Caesar could be rewarded.

6. Rome was then divided into two camps - adherents of Sulla, who had great strength, and supporters of Marius, who were completely defeated, humiliated and eked out a miserable existence. In order to re-strengthen and lead the Marians, Caesar, when the memories of his generosity in the office of aedile were still fresh, brought to the Capitol at night and placed images made in secret of Mary and the goddesses of Victory, bearing trophies. The next morning, the sight of these shimmering gold and extremely skillfully made images, the inscriptions on which told about the victories over the Cimbri, aroused a feeling of amazement among the beholder at the courage of the person who erected them (his name, of course, did not remain unknown). Word of this soon spread, and the Romans fled to look at the images. At the same time, some shouted that Caesar was plotting tyranny, restoring the honors buried by the laws and decrees of the Senate, and that he was testing the people, wanting to know whether he, bribed by his generosity, was ready to dutifully endure his jokes and undertakings. The Marians, on the other hand, immediately appearing in multitudes, encouraged each other and filled the Capitol with applause; many of them burst into tears of joy at the sight of the image of Marius, and they exalted Caesar with the greatest praises, as the only person who is worthy of kinship with Marius. On this occasion, a meeting of the Senate was convened, and Lutatius Catulus, who then enjoyed the greatest influence among the Romans, attacked Caesar, throwing the well-known phrase: “So, Caesar encroaches on the state no longer by digging, but with siege engines.” But Caesar so skillfully spoke in his defense that the Senate was satisfied, and Caesar's supporters became even more bold and urged him not to retreat from anything in his plans, for the support of the people would ensure him primacy and victory over opponents.

7. Meanwhile the high priest Metellus died, and two famous person, who enjoyed great influence in the Senate - Servilius of Isauria and Catulus - fought with each other, seeking this position. Caesar did not retreat before them and also put forward his candidacy in the National Assembly. It seemed that all applicants enjoyed equal support, but Catulus, because of the high position that he occupied, was more afraid than others of the unclear outcome of the struggle and therefore began negotiations with Caesar, offering him a large sum of money if he gave up the rivalry. Caesar, however, replied that he would continue the fight, even if for this he had to borrow even more money. On election day, saying goodbye to his mother, who shed tears as she escorted him to the door, he said: "Today, mother, you will see your son either a high priest or an exile." In the elections, Caesar gained the upper hand and this inspired the Senate and the nobility with fear that he could captivate the people to any audacity.

Therefore, Piso and Catulus reproached Cicero for sparing Caesar, who was involved in the Catiline conspiracy. As you know, Catiline intended not only to overthrow the existing system, but also to destroy all power and make a complete revolution. He himself left the city when only insignificant evidence appeared against him, and the most important plans were still hidden, while Lentulus and Cethegus left in Rome to continue to weave a conspiracy.

It is not known whether Caesar secretly supported and expressed sympathy for these people, but in the Senate, when they were completely exposed and the consul Cicero asked each senator for his opinion on the punishment of the guilty, everyone was in favor of the death penalty, until the turn came to Caesar, who made a premeditated speech, declaring that it was unjust and not in the custom of the Romans to kill without trial people who were outstanding in their origin and dignity, unless it was caused by extreme necessity. If, until the complete victory over Catiline, they are kept in custody in Italian cities, which Cicero himself can choose, then later the senate will be able to decide in an atmosphere of peace and tranquility the question of the fate of each of them.

8. This proposal seemed so philanthropic and was so strongly and convincingly justified that not only those who spoke after Caesar joined him, but many of those who spoke earlier began to abandon their opinion and support Caesar's proposal, until the turn came to Cato and Catulus. These same began to object passionately, and Cato even expressed suspicion against Caesar in his speech and spoke out against him with all harshness. Finally, it was decided to execute the conspirators, and when Caesar left the Senate building, many runaway young men from among the guards of Cicero attacked him with drawn swords. But, as they say, Curio, covering Caesar with his toga, safely led him out, and Cicero himself, when the young men looked around, restrained them with a sign, either frightened by the people, or generally considering such a murder unjust and illegal. If all this is true, then I do not understand why Cicero does not say anything about this in his essay on his consulship. Later, he was accused of not taking advantage of the then great opportunity to get rid of Caesar, but was afraid of the people, unusually attached to Caesar. This affection was shown a few days later, when Caesar came to the senate to defend himself against the suspicions raised, and was met with a hostile uproar. Seeing that the meeting was dragging on longer than usual, the people ran screaming and surrounded the building, urgently demanding that Caesar be released.

Therefore, Cato, greatly fearing the uprising of the poor, who, pinning their hopes on Caesar, inflamed the whole people, persuaded the senate to establish monthly grain distributions for the poor. This added to the rest of the expenses of the state a new one - in the amount of seven million five hundred thousand drachmas annually, but it averted the great danger immediately threatening, since it deprived Caesar of most of his influence just at the time when he was about to take the office of praetor and, as a result, had to become even more dangerous.

9. However, the year of his praetorship passed quietly, and only in Caesar's own house did an unpleasant incident occur. There was a certain man9 from among the ancient nobility, famous for his wealth and eloquence, but in outrageousness and insolence he was not inferior to any of the famous libertines. He was in love with Pompey, Caesar's wife, and was reciprocated. But the women's rooms were strictly guarded, and the mother of Caesar Aurelius, a respectable woman, with her constant monitoring of her daughter-in-law, made the meetings of lovers difficult and dangerous.

The Romans have a goddess, whom they call the Good,10 and the Greeks, the Feminine. The Phrygians pass her off as their own, considering the wife of their king Midas, the Romans claim that this is the nymph Dryad, the wife of a Faun, according to the Greeks, she is one of the mothers of Dionysus, whose name cannot be named. Therefore, the women participating in her festival cover the tent with vines, and, in accordance with the myth, a sacred snake is placed at the feet of the goddess. No man is allowed to be present at the festival, or even to be in the house where the celebration is celebrated; only women perform sacred rites, much like the Orphic ones, they say. When the day of the feast comes, the consul or praetor in whose house he consults must leave the house with all the men, while his wife, having received the house, performs the sacred rites. The main part of them takes place at night, accompanied by games and music.

10. In that year Pompey celebrated the feast, and Clodius, who did not yet have a beard and therefore expected to remain unnoticed, appeared there disguised as a harpist and indistinguishable from a young woman. He found the doors unlocked and was safely led into the house by one of the maidservants, initiated into the mystery, who went ahead to inform Pompey. Since she did not return for a long time, Clodius could not bear to wait in one place where he had been left, and began to make his way forward along big house avoiding brightly lit places. But the servant of Aurelius ran into him and, believing that a woman was in front of her, began to invite him to take part in the games and, despite his resistance, dragged him to the others, asking who he was and where he came from. When Clodius replied that he was waiting for Abra (that was the name of that Pompeian maid), the voice betrayed him, and the maid of Aurelius rushed into the light, to the crowd, and began to shout that she had found a man. All the women were frightened by this, but Aurelius, having stopped the sacraments and covered the shrines, ordered the doors to be locked and began to go around the whole house with lamps in search of Clodius. Finally he was found hiding in the room of a maid who helped him into the house, and the women who discovered him drove him out. The women, having gone home, told their husbands about what had happened during the night.

The next day, a rumor spread throughout Rome that Clodius had committed blasphemy and was guilty not only of those offended by him, but also of the city and the gods. One of the tribunes of the people publicly accused Clodius of impiety, and the most influential senators opposed him, accusing him, along with other vile debauchery, in connection with his own sister, the wife of Lucullus. But the people resisted their efforts and took Clodius under protection, which brought him great benefit in court, for the judges were frightened and trembled before the mob. Caesar immediately divorced Pompey. However, being called to court as a witness, he declared that he did not know anything about what Clodius was accused of. This statement seemed very strange, and the accuser asked him: “But why then did you divorce your wife?” “Because,” replied Caesar, “not even a shadow of suspicion should fall on my wife.” Some say that he answered as he really thought, while others say that he did it to please the people who wanted to save Clodius. Clodius was acquitted, since the majority of the judges submitted tablets with an illegible signature during the vote,11 so as not to incur the wrath of the mob by condemnation, and dishonor among the nobles by justification.

11. After the praetorship, Caesar received the administration of the province of Spain. Since he could not come to an agreement with his creditors, who besieged him with a cry and opposed his departure, he turned to Crassus, the richest of the Romans, for help. Crassus needed the strength and energy of Caesar to fight against Pompey; so he satisfied Caesar's most insistent and inexorable creditors, and, having given a surety for the sum of eight hundred and thirty talents, gave Caesar the opportunity to go to the provinces.

It is said that when Caesar crossed the Alps and passed by a poor town with an extremely small barbarian population, his friends asked with a laugh: “Is there really competition over positions, disputes over primacy, strife among the nobility?” “As for me,” Caesar answered them with all seriousness, “I would rather be first here than second in Rome.” Another time, already in Spain, reading at his leisure something from what was written about the deeds of Alexander, Caesar plunged into thought for a long time, and then even shed a tear. When surprised friends asked him for the reason, he replied: “Does it really seem to you not enough reason for sadness that at my age Alexander already ruled over so many nations, and I still have not done anything remarkable!”

12. Immediately upon his arrival in Spain, he developed a vigorous activity. Having added ten more to his twenty cohorts within a few days, he marched with them against the Callaic and Lusitanians, whom he defeated, then reaching the Outer Sea and subjugating several tribes previously not subject to the Romans. Having achieved such success in military affairs, Caesar led civil affairs no worse: he established harmony in the cities and, above all, settled disputes between lenders and debtors. Namely, he prescribed that of the debtor's annual income, one-third should remain with him, the rest should go to lenders, until the debt was paid in this way. Having accomplished these deeds, which received universal approval, Caesar left the province, where he himself became rich and gave the opportunity to enrich himself during campaigns to his soldiers, who proclaimed him emperor.

13. Persons seeking triumph were to remain outside Rome, and those seeking a consular post were to be present in the city. Caesar, who returned just in time for the consular elections, did not know what to prefer, and therefore applied to the Senate with a request to allow him to solicit the consular post in absentia, through friends. Cato was the first to oppose this requirement, insisting on the observance of the law. When he saw that Caesar had managed to arrange many in his favor, then, in order to delay the resolution of the issue, he delivered a speech that lasted all day. Then Caesar decided to abandon the triumph and seek the post of consul.

So he arrived in Rome and immediately took a deft step, misleading everyone except Cato. He succeeded in reconciling Pompey and Crassus, the two most powerful men in Rome. By the fact that Caesar, instead of the former enmity, united them with friendship, he put the power of both at the service of himself, and under the cover of this philanthropic act, unnoticed by all, a real coup d'état. For the reason for the civil wars was not the enmity between Caesar and Pompey, as most people think, but rather their friendship, when they first united to destroy the power of the aristocracy, and then rose up against each other. Cato, who often correctly predicted the outcome of events, acquired for this at first the reputation of a quarrelsome and quarrelsome person, and later - the glory of an adviser, although reasonable, but unhappy.

14. So Caesar, supported on both sides, thanks to the friendship of Pompey and Crassus, succeeded in the elections and was honorably proclaimed consul together with Calpurnius Bibulus. As soon as he took office, out of a desire to please the mob, he introduced bills that were more befitting some impudent tribune of the people than a consul - bills that proposed the withdrawal of colonies and the distribution of lands. In the Senate, all the best citizens spoke out against this, and Caesar, who had long been looking for a reason for this, swore loudly that the callousness and arrogance of the senators forced him against his will to turn to the people for joint action. With these words, he entered the forum. Here, placing Pompey next to him on one side, and Crassus on the other, he asked whether they approved of the proposed laws. When they answered in the affirmative, Caesar asked them to help him against those who threatened to oppose these bills with sword in hand. Both promised him their support, and Pompey added that against those who raised swords he would come out not only with a sword, but also with a shield. These words upset the aristocrats, who considered this speech an extravagant, childish speech, not befitting the dignity of Pompey himself and dropping respect for the senate, but the people liked them very much.

In order to use the power of Pompey even more freely for his own purposes, Caesar gave him his daughter Julia, although she was already engaged to Servilius Caepio, to the latter he promised the daughter of Pompey, who was also not free, because she was betrothed to Faustus, the son of Sulla. A little later, Caesar himself married Calpurnia, daughter of Piso, whom he made consul the following year. This caused great indignation of Cato, who declared that there was no strength to endure these people who, by marriage unions, obtain the highest power in the state and, with the help of women, transfer troops, provinces and positions to each other.

Bibulus, Caesar's consular companion, opposed his bills with all his might; but since he achieved nothing and even with Cato risked being killed in the forum, he locked himself in his house and did not appear until the expiration of his office. Soon after his wedding, Pompey filled the forum with armed soldiers and thus helped the people to achieve the approval of laws, and to Caesar to receive both Gaul - Pre-Alpine and Trans-Alpine - together with Illyricum and four legions, for five years. Cato, who dared to speak out against this, Caesar sent to prison, hoping that he would appeal to the people's tribunes with a complaint. However, seeing that Cato, without saying a word, allows himself to be led away and that not only the best citizens are oppressed by this, but also the people, out of respect for the virtue of Cato, silently and in despondency follow him, Caesar himself secretly asked one of the people's tribunes release Cato.

Of the rest of the senators, only a very few attended the meetings of the senate with Caesar, while others, dissatisfied with the insult to their dignity, refrained from participating in business. When Considius, one of the most elderly, once said that they did not come out of fear of weapons and soldiers, Caesar asked him: “So why are you not afraid and do not stay at home?” Considius replied: “My old age frees me from fear, for the short life that remains for me does not require great caution.”

But the most shameful of all the events of that time was considered the fact that the same Clodius was elected to the consulate of Caesar by the people's tribune, who defiled both Caesar's marriage and the sacrament of the nocturnal ceremony. He was chosen for the purpose of destroying Cicero; and Caesar himself went to his province only after, with the help of Clodius, he had overthrown Cicero and had him expelled from Italy.

15. Such were the deeds he did before the Gallic Wars. As for the time when Caesar waged these wars and went on campaigns that subjugated Gaul, here he, as it were, began a different life, embarking on the path of new deeds. He proved to be not inferior to any of the greatest, most amazing commanders and military figures. For if we compare with him the Fabii, the Scipios, and the Metelli, or Sulla, Marius, both Lucullus, and even Pompey himself, who lived at the same time and shortly before him, and even Pompey himself, whose military glory was then exalted to the skies, then Caesar, with his exploits, will leave some behind because of the severity of the places in which he waged war, others because of the size of the country he conquered, still others because of the size and power of the enemy he defeated, fourth because of the savagery and deceit with which he had to face, fifth because of philanthropy and indulgence towards the captives, sixth - with gifts and generosity to his soldiers, and, finally, all - by the fact that he gave the most battles and destroyed nai more enemies. For in those less than ten years during which he waged war in Gaul, he took by storm more than eight hundred cities, subjugated three hundred tribes, fought with three million people, of whom one million destroyed in battle and captured the same number.

16. He enjoyed such love and devotion of his soldiers that even those people who did not distinguish themselves in other wars, with irresistible courage, went to any danger for the sake of Caesar's glory. An example is Acilius, who in naval battle at Massilia12 he jumped on an enemy ship and, when he was cut off with a sword right hand, held the shield in the left, and then, striking the enemies in the face with this shield, put everyone to flight and took possession of the ship.

Another example is Cassius Scaeva, who at the battle of Dyrrhachia, having lost an eye gouged out by an arrow, wounded in the shoulder and thigh by darts, and having received the blows of one hundred and thirty arrows with his shield, called out to the enemies, as if wanting to surrender; but when two of them approached him, he cut off the hand of one with a sword, put the other to flight with a blow to the face, and he himself was saved by his own, who came to the rescue.

In Britain, the forward centurions once got into marshy, water-filled places and were attacked by the enemy here. And then one, in front of Caesar, who was watching the skirmish, rushed forward and, having accomplished many feats of amazing courage, saved the centurions from the hands of the barbarians, who fled, and he himself was the last to rush into the channel, and where he swam, where he wade across to the other side, by force overcoming all obstacles and losing the shield in the process. Caesar and those standing around greeted him with cries of amazement and joy, and the warrior, in great embarrassment, with tears, rushed to Caesar's feet, asking him for forgiveness for the loss of the shield.

In Africa, Scipio captured one of Caesar's ships, on which Granius Petron, appointed by the quaestor, was sailing. The captors declared the entire crew of the ship to be their prey, while the quaestor was promised freedom. But he replied that Caesar's soldiers were used to giving mercy, but not receiving it from others, and with these words he threw himself on his own sword.

17. Caesar himself nurtured and nurtured such courage and love for glory in his soldiers, first of all, by generously distributing honors and gifts: he wanted to show that the wealth gained in campaigns was not accumulated for himself, not in order to drown himself in luxury and pleasures, but keeps them as a common property and an award for military merit, reserving only the right to distribute awards among those who have distinguished themselves. The second means of educating the troops was that he himself voluntarily rushed towards any danger and did not refuse to endure any difficulties. His love of danger was not surprising to those who knew his ambition, but everyone was amazed at how he endured hardships that seemed to exceed his physical strength, for he was weakly built, with white and delicate skin, suffered from headaches and epilepsy. , the first attack of which is said to have happened to him in Korduba. However, he did not use his sickness as an excuse for a pampered life, but, having made military service a means of healing, he tried by incessant transitions, poor food, constant exposure to the open sky and deprivation to overcome his weakness and strengthen his body. He slept for the most part on a wagon or on a stretcher, in order to use for work and hours of rest. During the day he traveled around the cities, guard detachments and fortresses, and next to him sat a slave who knew how to write after him, and behind him one warrior with a sword. He moved with such speed that for the first time he traveled from Rome to Rodan in eight days. Horse riding has been a habit for him since childhood. He knew how, pulling his hands back and folding them behind his back, put the horse at full speed. And during this campaign, he also practiced, sitting on a horse, dictating letters, occupying at the same time two or even, as Oppius claims, even more scribes. It is said that Caesar was the first to come up with the idea of ​​talking with friends about urgent matters by means of letters, when the size of the city and exceptional employment did not allow meeting in person.

As an example of his moderation in food, the following story is given. Once in Mediolanum he dined with his hospitable Valerius León, and he served asparagus seasoned not with ordinary olive oil, but with myrrh. Caesar calmly ate this dish, and addressed his friends, who expressed dissatisfaction, with a reprimand: “If you don’t like something,” he said, “it’s quite enough if you refuse to eat. But if anyone undertakes to blame this kind of ignorance, he himself is ignorant. Once he was caught on the way by bad weather and ended up in the hut of a poor man. Finding there the only room that was barely able to accommodate one person, he turned to his friends with the words: “The honorable must be given to the strongest, and the necessary to the weakest,” and invited Oppius to rest in the room, and he, along with the rest, lay down to sleep under canopy in front of the door.

18. First of Gallic Wars, which he had to lead, was with the Helvetii and Tigurins. These tribes burned twelve of their cities and four hundred villages and moved through Gaul subject to the Romans, as before the Cimbri and Teutons, to whom they seemed to be not inferior either in courage or in numbers, for there were three hundred thousand of them in all, including one hundred and ninety able to fight. thousand. The Tigurins were defeated not by Caesar himself, but by Labienus, whom he sent against them and who defeated them at the Arara River. The Helvetians attacked Caesar unexpectedly, when he was heading with an army to one of the allied cities; nevertheless, he managed to take a reliable position and here, gathering his forces, lined them up in battle order. When the horse was brought to him, Caesar said: “I will use it after the victory, when it comes to the chase. And now - forward, to the enemy! - and with these words began the offensive on foot. After a long and stubborn battle, he defeated the barbarian army, but he met the greatest difficulties in the camp, at the wagons, because not only the newly rallied warriors fought there, but also women and children, who defended with them to the last drop of blood. Everyone was cut down, and the battle ended only by midnight. To this remarkable victory, Caesar added an even more glorious deed, forcing the barbarians who survived the battle (and there were more than a hundred thousand of them) to unite and repopulate the land they had left and the cities they had sacked. He did this out of fear that the Germans would cross into the deserted regions and capture them.

19. He waged the second war already for the Gauls against the Germans, although earlier he had declared their king Ariovistus in Rome an ally of the Roman people. But the Germans were unbearable neighbors for the peoples conquered by Caesar, and it was clear that they would not be satisfied with the existing order of things, but, at the first opportunity, they would capture all of Gaul and strengthen themselves in it. When Caesar noticed that the chiefs in his army were becoming timid, especially those young men from noble families who followed him out of a desire to enrich themselves and live in luxury, he called them to a council and announced that those who were so cowardly and cowardly, can return home and not endanger themselves against their will. “But I,” he said, “will go to the barbarians with only one tenth legion, for those with whom I have to fight are no stronger than the Cimbri, and I myself do not consider myself a commander weaker than Mary.” Learning of this, the tenth legion sent delegates to him to express their gratitude, while the rest of the legions condemned their commanders and, finally, all, filled with courage and enthusiasm, followed Caesar and, after a journey of many days, set up camp two hundred stadia from the enemy. Already the very arrival of Caesar somewhat upset the daring plans of Ariovistus, for he did not expect that the Romans, who seemed unable to withstand the onslaught of the Germans, would themselves decide to attack. He marveled at Caesar's courage and at the same time saw that his own army was thrown into confusion. But the courage of the Germans was even more weakened by the prediction of the sacred women, who, observing the whirlpools in the rivers and listening to the noise of the streams, announced that the battle should not begin before the new moon. When Caesar learned of this and saw that the Germans were refraining from attacking, he decided that it was better to attack them while they were not ready to fight, than to remain inactive, allowing them to wait for a more convenient time for them. By raiding the fortifications around the hills where they made their camp, he so irritated the Germans that they left the camp in anger and joined the battle. Caesar inflicted a crushing defeat on them and, putting them to flight, drove them to the very Rhine, at a distance of four hundred stades, covering all this space with the corpses of enemies and their weapons. Ariovistus managed to cross the Rhine with a few people. The death toll is said to have reached eighty thousand.

20. After that, leaving his army in winter quarters in the land of the Sequani, Caesar himself, in order to attend to the affairs of Rome, went to Gaul, which lies along the Pada River and was part of the province assigned to him, for the Rubicon River serves as the border between Prealpine Gaul and Italy proper. . Many from Rome came to Caesar here, and he had the opportunity to increase his influence by fulfilling the requests of everyone, so that everyone left him, either getting what they wanted or hoping to get it. In this way he acted throughout the war: either he defeated his enemies with the weapons of his fellow citizens, or he took possession of the citizens themselves with the help of money seized from the enemy. Pompey didn't notice.

Meanwhile, the Belgi, the most powerful of the Gauls, who owned a third of all of Gaul, seceded from the Romans and gathered an army of many thousands. Caesar moved against them with all haste and attacked the enemies, while they devastated the lands of the tribes allied to the Romans. He overthrew the hordes of the enemy, who offered only insignificant resistance, and inflicted such a massacre that the swamps and deep rivers, littered with many corpses, became easily passable for the Romans. After that, all the peoples living on the shores of the Ocean voluntarily submitted again, but against the Nervii, the most wild and warlike of the tribes inhabiting the country of the Belgae, Caesar had to go on a campaign. The Nervii, who lived in dense thickets, hid their families and property far from the enemy, and themselves in the depths of the forest in the amount of sixty thousand people attacked Caesar just when he, busy building a rampart around the camp, did not expect an attack. The barbarians overturned the Roman cavalry and, surrounding the twelfth and seventh legions, killed all the centurions. If Caesar, breaking through the thick of the fighting, had not rushed with a shield in his hand to the barbarians, and if, at the sight of the danger threatening the commander, the tenth legion had not rushed from the heights to the enemy and crushed his ranks, at least one Roman soldier would hardly have survived. But the courage of Caesar led the Romans to fight, one might say, beyond their strength and, since the Nervii still did not take flight, they destroyed them, despite desperate resistance. Of the sixty thousand barbarians, only five hundred survived, and of the four hundred of their senators, only three.

21. When the news of this came to Rome, the senate decreed that fifteen days of festivities should be held in honor of the gods, which had not happened before with any victory. But, on the other hand, the danger itself, when so many hostile tribes rose at the same time, seemed enormous, and the love of the people for Caesar surrounded his victories with a particularly bright brilliance.

Having put things in order in Gaul, Caesar again wintered in the valley of Pada, strengthening his influence in Rome, for those who, using his help, sought positions, bribed the people with their money, and having received the position, did everything that could increase the power of Caesar. Moreover, most of the most distinguished and prominent people Pompey, Crassus, the praetor of Sardinia, Appius, and the governor of Spain, Nepos, gathered to him at Luca, so that in all there gathered one hundred and twenty lictors and more than two hundred senators. At the meeting, the following was decided: Pompey and Crassus should be elected consuls, while Caesar, in addition to extending consular powers for another five years, should also be given a certain amount of money. This last condition seemed very strange to all sane people. For it was precisely those persons who had received so much money from Caesar who proposed to the senate, or rather forced it, against its will, to give Caesar the money, as if he did not have it. Cato was not there then - he was purposely sent to Cyprus, while Favonius, who was a follower of Cato, having achieved nothing with his objections in the Senate, ran out of the doors of the curia, loudly appealing to the people. But no one listened to him: some were afraid of Pompey and Crassus, and the majority was silent out of pleasing Caesar, on whom they placed all their hopes.

22. Caesar, returning again to his troops in Gaul, found there a difficult war: two Germanic tribes - the Usipets and the Tencters - crossed the Rhine, looking for new lands. About the war with them, Caesar tells14 in his "Notes" the following. The barbarians sent ambassadors to him, but during the truce they unexpectedly attacked him on the way, and therefore their detachment of eight hundred horsemen put to flight Caesar's five thousand horsemen, taken by surprise. Then they sent envoys a second time to deceive him again, but he delayed the envoys and led an army against the Germans, believing that it was stupid to trust such treacherous and treacherous people at their word. Tanusius, it is true, reports that when the senate was pronouncing decrees on the feast and sacrifices in honor of the victory, Cato proposed that Caesar be handed over to the barbarians in order to cleanse the city of the stain of perjury,15 and to turn the curse on the one who alone was guilty of this. Of those who crossed the Rhine, four hundred thousand were cut down; the few who returned were friendly received by the Germanic Sugambri tribe.

Desiring to acquire the glory of the first man who crossed the Rhine with the army, Caesar used this as an excuse to march on the Sugambri and began the construction of a bridge over a wide stream, which, just in this place, was especially full-flowing and stormy and had such a force of current that the blows of rushing logs threatened to pull down the pillars that supported the bridge. But Caesar ordered huge and thick piles to be driven into the bottom of the river, and, as if curbing the force of the stream, within ten days he built a bridge, the appearance of which exceeded all expectations. 23 .. Then he transferred his troops to the other side, not meeting any resistance, for even the Suebi, the most powerful among the Germans, took refuge in the distant forest jungle. Therefore, he devastated the land of the enemies with fire, strengthened the courage of those who were constantly allies of the Romans, and returned to Gaul, spending eighteen days in Germany.

The campaign against the British proved the exceptional courage of Caesar. For he was the first to enter the Western Ocean and cross the Atlantic with an army, who extended Roman dominion beyond the known circle of lands, trying to take possession of an island of such incredible size that many writers say that it does not exist, and stories about it and its very name is a mere invention. Caesar twice crossed to this island from the opposite coast of Gaul, but after he had done more harm to the enemy than he had brought benefits to his troops (these poor and meager people had nothing worth capturing), he ended this war without as he wished: taking hostages from the king of the barbarians and imposing tribute on them, he left Britain.

In Gaul, a letter was waiting for him, which they did not have time to deliver to him in Britain. Friends in Rome reported the death of his daughter, Pompey's wife, who died of childbirth. Like Pompey, so she took possession of Caesar great tribulation, their friends were seized with confusion, because now the ties of kinship, which still maintained peace and harmony in a state suffering from strife, were broken: the child also soon died, outliving his mother by only a few days. The people, despite the opposition of the people's tribunes, carried the body of Julia to the Field of Mars and buried it there.

24. In order to put his greatly increased army into winter quarters, Caesar was forced to divide it into many parts, and he himself, as usual, went to Italy. But at this time a general uprising broke out again in Gaul, and the hordes of the rebels, wandering around the country, ravaged the winter quarters of the Romans and attacked even the fortified Roman camps. The largest and strongest part of the rebels, led by Ambiorig, killed the detachment of Cotta and Titurius. Then, with an army of 60,000, Ambiorix besieged the legion of Cicero16 and almost took the camp by storm, for the Romans were all wounded and held on more by their courage than by strength.

When Caesar, who was already far away, received news of this, he immediately returned and, having gathered seven thousand soldiers, hurried with them to the rescue of the besieged Cicero. The besiegers, having learned of his approach, came out to meet him, treating with contempt for a small enemy and expecting to immediately destroy him. Caesar, all the while skillfully avoiding meeting with them, reached a place where he could successfully defend himself against superior enemy forces, and here he camped. He kept his soldiers from any skirmishes with the Gauls and forced them to build a rampart and build a gate, as if revealing fear of the enemy and encouraging his arrogance. When the enemies, filled with insolence, began to attack without any order, he made a sortie, put them to flight, and destroyed many.

25. This victory put an end to numerous uprisings of the local Gauls, and Caesar himself traveled all over the place during the winter, energetically putting down the disturbances that arose. In addition, three legions from Italy arrived to replace the dead legions: two of them were provided to Caesar by Pompey from among those under his command, and the third was recruited anew in the Gallic regions along the Pad River.

But soon the first signs of the biggest and most dangerous war that had ever been fought in Gaul appeared. Its idea had long been ripening in secret and spread by the most influential people among the most warlike tribes. They had at their disposal numerous armed forces, and large sums of money collected for the war, and fortified cities, and difficult terrain. And since, due to the winter time, the rivers were covered with ice, the forests with snow, the valleys were flooded, the paths in some places disappeared under a thick veil of snow, in others they became unreliable due to swamps and overflowing waters, it seemed quite obvious that Caesar could not nothing to do with the rebels. Many tribes rose up, but the lands of the Arverns and Karnuts were the center of the uprising. The rebels elected Vercingetorix as the general commander-in-chief, whose father the Gauls had previously executed, suspecting him of striving for tyranny.

26. Vercingetorix divided his forces into many individual detachments, putting at the head of their numerous chiefs, and bowed to his side the entire region located around Arar. He hoped to raise the whole of Gaul, while in Rome itself Caesar's opponents began to unite. If he had done it a little later, when Caesar was already involved in civil war, then Italy would be in no less danger than during the invasion of the Cimbri.

But Caesar, who, like no one else, knew how to use any advantage in the war, and above all - a favorable combination of circumstances, set out with his army immediately upon receipt of the news of the uprising; the large space that he covered in a short time, the speed and swiftness of movement on the winter impassability showed the barbarians that an irresistible and invincible force was moving against them. For in those places where it seemed that even a messenger with a letter could not penetrate, even making his way for a long time, they suddenly saw Caesar himself with his whole army. Caesar went on, devastating the fields, destroying the fortifications, conquering the cities, joining the surrenderers, until the tribe of the Aedui opposed him. The Aedui had previously been proclaimed brothers of the Roman people and enjoyed special honor, and therefore now, having joined the rebels, they plunged Caesar's army into severe despondency. Caesar was forced to clear their country and went through the region of the Lingones to the Sequani, who were his allies and whose land separated the rebellious Gallic regions from Italy. During this campaign, he was attacked by enemies who surrounded him with huge hordes, and decided to give battle. After a long and bloody battle, he finally overpowered and defeated the barbarians. At first, however, he apparently suffered damage - at least the Arverns still show Caesar's sword hanging in the temple, captured in battle. He himself later, seeing this sword, smiled and, when his friends wanted to remove the sword, did not allow this to be done, considering the offering sacred.

27 Meanwhile, most of the barbarians who survived the battle fled with their king in the city of Alesia. During the siege of this city, which seemed impregnable because of the high walls and the large number of besieged, Caesar was in great danger, because the selected forces of all the Gallic tribes, united among themselves, came to Alesia in the amount of three hundred thousand people, while the number of those who were locked in the city was not less than one hundred and seventy thousand. Cramped and squeezed between two such large forces, Caesar was forced to erect two walls: one against the city, the other against the coming Gauls, for it was clear that if the enemies united, then he would be finished. The struggle at Alesia enjoys well-deserved fame, since no other war gives examples of such bold and skillful feats. But most of all, it is surprising how Caesar, having fought with a large army outside the walls of the city and defeated it, did this imperceptibly not only for the besieged, but even for those Romans who guarded the wall facing the city. The latter did not know of the victory until they heard the cries and sobs of men and women coming from Alesia, who saw how the Romans from the opposite side were carrying to their camp many shields decorated with silver and gold, shells covered in blood, many goblets and Gallic tents. So instantly, like a dream or a ghost, this innumerable force was destroyed and dispersed, and most of the barbarians died in the battle. Finally, the defenders of Alesia also surrendered - after causing a lot of trouble to both Caesar and themselves. Vercingetorix, the leader of the whole war, having put on the most beautiful weapons and richly decorated his horse, rode out of the gate. Having circled around the dais on which Caesar sat, he jumped off his horse, tore off all his armor and, sitting at the feet of Caesar, remained there until he was taken into custody to save him for the triumph.

28. Caesar had long ago decided to overthrow Pompey - just as, of course, as Pompey did. After Crassus, whom any of them, in case of victory, would have had as their opponent, died in the fight against the Parthians, Caesar, if he wanted to be the first, had no choice but to destroy the one to whom the championship already belonged, and Pompey, so as not to to allow such an outcome, he had to promptly eliminate the one whom he feared. Pompey only recently began to fear Caesar, and before that he treated him with disdain, believing that it would not be difficult to destroy the one who owes his rise to him, Pompey. Caesar, on the other hand, who from the very beginning harbored these intentions, like an athlete, retired for a long time from the field of view of his rivals. In the Gallic wars, he exercised both himself and the army, and by his exploits he so increased his fame that it equaled the glory of Pompey's victories. Now he took advantage of all the pretexts that Pompey himself gave him, and the conditions of the time, and the decline of civil life in Rome, which led to the fact that persons seeking positions sat in the square at their tables with money and shamelessly bribed the mob, and the hired people came to the Assembly to fight for the one who gave him money - to fight not with the help of voting, but with bows, slings and swords. Often the assembled dispersed only after they had desecrated the speaker's dais with corpses and stained it with blood. The state was sinking into anarchy, like a ship rushing without control, so that sane people considered it a happy outcome if, after such follies and disasters, the course of events would lead to autocracy, and not to something worse. Many have already dared to say openly that the state cannot be cured by anything but autocracy, and that this medicine must be taken from the hands of the most meek physician, by which they meant Pompey. Pompey, pretending, in words, refusing such a role, in fact, most of all sought to be proclaimed a dictator. Cato and his friends understood this and passed a proposal in the Senate to elect Pompey as the only consul, so that he, having been satisfied with such, more or less legal, autocracy, would not seek dictatorship. It was also decided to prolong his administration of the provinces, of which he had two - Spain and Africa. He controlled them with the help of legates, annually receiving a thousand talents from the state treasury for the maintenance of his troops.

29 Meanwhile, Caesar, sending intermediaries to Rome, sought the consulate and demanded the extension of his powers in the provinces. While Pompey at first remained silent, Marcellus and Lentulus, who always hated Caesar, opposed his request; to those considerations that were dictated by circumstances, they needlessly added many other things aimed at insulting and reviling Caesar. So, they demanded that the rights of citizenship be taken away from the inhabitants of Novy Kom17 in Gaul, a colony newly founded by Caesar shortly before, and one of the members of the local council, who arrived in Rome, was even whipped by the consul Marcellus, noting: “This is for you as a sign that you are not a Roman citizen, now go home and show the scars to Caesar." When, after this outrageous act of Marcellus, Caesar sent the Gallic wealth to all those who participated in the government of the state and not only freed the people's tribune Curio from large debts, but also gave the consul Paul one thousand five hundred talents, with which he decorated the forum with the famous building - the basilica, erecting her on the site of the former basilica of Fulvia, Pompey, frightened by these intrigues, already openly, both himself and through his friends, began to advocate that Caesar should be appointed a successor in the administration of the provinces. At the same time, he demanded back the legions from Caesar, which he had provided for the wars in Gaul. Caesar immediately sent these troops away, rewarding each soldier with two hundred and fifty drachmas.

Those who brought these legions to Pompey spread among the people bad rumors about Caesar, at the same time blinding Pompey himself with empty hopes: these people assured him that Caesar's army yearned for him, and if here, in a state suffering from a hidden ailment, he could hardly able to fight the envious, then there is an army at his service, ready immediately, as soon as it is in Italy, to come out on his side - such hostility Caesar brought on himself with continuous campaigns, such distrust - his desire for autocracy. Hearing such speeches, Pompey abandoned all fears, did not care about acquiring military strength, and thought of defeating Caesar with the help of speeches and bills. But Caesar did not care in the least for the decrees that Pompey passed against him. They say that one of Caesar's generals, sent by him to Rome, standing in front of the Senate building and hearing that the Senate refuses to extend Caesar's term of command, said, putting his hand on the hilt of the sword: "Well, then this will give him an extension."

30. However, Caesar's demands outwardly seemed quite fair. Namely, he proposed that he himself disband his troops if Pompey did the same, and both of them, as private individuals, expected rewards from their fellow citizens for their deeds. After all, if an army is taken away from him, and his forces are left behind and strengthened by Pompey, then, accusing one of striving for tyranny, they will make the other a tyrant. Curio, who informed the people about this proposal of Caesar, was greeted with noisy applause, they even threw wreaths at him, as the winner of the games. The tribune of the people, Anthony, soon brought Caesar's letter concerning this proposal to the People's Assembly, and read it, despite the resistance of the consuls. But in the Senate, Pompey's father-in-law Scipio proposed that Caesar be declared an enemy of the fatherland if he did not lay down his arms within a certain period. The consuls began to question who voted for Pompey to disband his troops and who for Caesar to disband his; very few voted for the first proposal, but almost all for the second. Then Antony made a proposal that both should simultaneously resign their powers, and the whole senate unanimously joined this proposal. But since Scipio strongly opposed this, and the consul Lentulus shouted that it was necessary to act against the robber with weapons, and not with decrees, the senators dispersed and put on mourning clothes about such contention.

31. After this, letters arrived from Caesar with very moderate proposals. He agreed to waive all demands if he was given Cis-Alpine Gaul and Illyricum with two legions, as long as he could compete for the second time in the consular elections. The orator Cicero, who had just arrived from Cilicia and sought to reconcile the warring, tried to soften Pompey, but he, yielding in the rest, did not agree to leave the army to Caesar. Then Cicero persuaded Caesar's friends to confine themselves to the provinces and six thousand soldiers mentioned and put an end to the enmity; Pompey agreed to this. But the consul Lentulus and his friends resisted and went so far as to kick Antony and Curio out of the senate in a shameful and dishonorable manner. Thus they gave Caesar the best remedy to kindle the anger of the soldiers - it was only necessary to point out to them that respectable men holding high government positions were forced to flee in the clothes of slaves on a hired wagon (to this, out of fear of their enemies, they resorted to secretly slip away from Rome).

32. Caesar had no more than three hundred horsemen and five thousand infantry. The rest of his warriors remained behind the Alps, and he had already sent his legates after them. But since he saw that for the beginning of the enterprise conceived by him and for the first attack, miracles of courage and a stunning blow in speed are more necessary than a large army (for it seemed to him easier to frighten the enemy with a surprise attack than to defeat him, having come with a well-armed army), then he gave the order to his commanders and centurions, armed with daggers, without any other weapons, to take Arimin18, a significant city in Gaul, avoiding, as far as possible, noise and bloodshed. He entrusted the command of the army to Hortensius, he himself spent the whole day in full view of everyone and was even present at the exercises of the gladiators. In the evening, after taking a bath, he went to the dining room and stayed there for some time with the guests. When it was already dark, he got up and politely invited the guests to wait here until he returned. To a few trusted friends, he had previously told them to follow him, but they did not go out all at once, but one by one. He himself got into a hired wagon and drove first along a different road, and then turned towards Arimin. As he approached the river called the Rubicon, which separates Cis-Alpine Gaul from Italy proper, he was seized with deep meditation at the thought of the coming moment, and he hesitated before the grandeur of his daring. Stopping the wagon, he again silently pondered his plan from all sides for a long time, making one decision, then another. Then he shared his doubts with the friends who were present, among whom was Asinius Pollio; he understood the beginning of what disasters for all people would be the crossing of this river and how posterity would appreciate this step. Finally, as if putting aside reflections and boldly rushing towards the future, he uttered the usual words for people entering into a daring enterprise, the outcome of which is doubtful: “Let the lot be cast!” - and moved to the transition. Rushing the rest of the way without rest, he broke into Arimin before dawn, which he occupied. It is said that on the night before this crossing, Caesar had an ominous dream; he dreamed that he had committed a terrible incest by consorting with his own mother.

33. After the capture of Arimin, as it were, the gates to war were thrown wide open in all countries and on all seas, and along with the border of the province, all Roman laws were violated and erased; it seemed that not only men and women were roaming around Italy in horror, as they had done before, but the cities themselves, having risen from their places, were fleeing, at enmity with each other. In Rome itself, which was flooded with a stream of fugitives from the surrounding villages, the authorities could not maintain order either by persuasion or by orders. And little was lacking for the city to destroy itself in this great confusion and storm. Conflicting passions and violent excitement reigned everywhere. For even the side that had triumphed for some time did not remain at rest, but, again colliding in a huge city with a frightened and defeated enemy, boldly announced to him an even more terrible future, and the struggle was resumed. Pompey, who was no less stunned than the others, was now besieged on all sides. Some blamed him for helping to strengthen Caesar to the detriment of himself and the state, others blamed him for allowing Lentulus to insult Caesar when he was already making concessions and offering fair conditions for reconciliation. Favonius suggested that he stamp his foot on the ground, for Pompey once, boasting, told the senators that there was no need for them to fuss and take care of preparations for war: if Caesar only comes, then he, Pompey, should stamp his foot on the ground, as all of Italy will be filled troops. However, even now Pompey outnumbered Caesar in the number of armed soldiers; no one, however, allowed him to act according to his own calculations. Therefore, he believed the false rumors that the war was already at the gates, that it had engulfed the whole country, and, yielding to the general mood, announced publicly that there was an uprising and anarchy in the city, and then left the city, ordering the senators and all those who prefer to follow him. fatherland and freedom of tyranny.

34. So the consuls fled without even performing the usual sacrifices before the road; most of the senators also fled - with such haste that they took with them from their property the first thing that came to hand, as if they were dealing with someone else's property. There were also those who had previously ardently supported Caesar, but now, having lost the ability to reason from horror, they allowed themselves to be carried away without any need by this stream of general flight. But the saddest sight was the view of the city itself, which, on the eve of a great storm, seemed like a ship with desperate helmsmen, rushing on the waves and abandoned to the mercy of blind chance. And yet, no matter how much pain this migration caused, the Romans, out of love for Pompey, considered the land of exile their fatherland and left Rome as if it had already become Caesar's camp. Even Labienus, one of Caesar's closest friends, who had been his legate and his most zealous assistant in the Gallic wars, now fled from him and went over to the side of Pompey. Caesar sent him after him his money and belongings.

First of all, Caesar moved against Domitius, who was occupied by Corfinius with thirty cohorts, and encamped near this city. Domitius, despairing of success, demanded poison from his slave doctor and drank it, wishing to commit suicide. But soon, hearing that Caesar was surprisingly merciful to the prisoners, he began to mourn himself and condemn his too hasty decision. However, the doctor reassured him, assuring him that he had given him sleeping pills instead of poison. Domitius, perking up, hurried to Caesar, received his forgiveness and again ran to Pompey. This news, reaching Rome, reassured the inhabitants, and some of the fugitives returned.

35. Caesar included in his army the detachment of Domitius, as well as all the soldiers recruited for Pompey, whom he captured in the Italian cities, and with these forces, already numerous and formidable, advanced on Pompey himself. But he did not wait for his arrival, fled to Brundisium and, first sending consuls with an army to Dyrrhachium, soon, when Caesar was already very close, he himself sailed there; this will be told in detail in his biography. Caesar wanted to immediately hurry after him, but he had no ships, and therefore he returned to Rome, within sixty days becoming master of all Italy without any bloodshed. He found Rome in a calmer state than he expected, and as many senators were present, he made a conciliatory speech to them, suggesting that a delegation be sent to Pompey to reach an agreement on reasonable terms. However, none of them accepted this offer, either out of fear of Pompey, whom they left in danger, or because they did not trust Caesar and considered his speech insincere.

The people's tribune Metellus wanted to prevent Caesar from taking money from the state treasury and referred to the laws. Caesar replied to this: “Weapons and laws do not get along with each other. If you are dissatisfied with my actions, then you better go away, for the war does not tolerate any objections. When, after the conclusion of peace, I put my weapons aside, you may appear again and orate before the people. Already by the fact, - he added, - that I say this, I am sacrificing my rights: after all, you and all my opponents whom I have captured here are entirely in my power. Having said this to Metellus, he went to the doors of the treasury and, since he did not find the keys, sent for the craftsmen and ordered them to break the door. Metellus, encouraged by the praise of several present, again began to oppose him. Then Caesar decisively threatened Metellus that he would kill him if he did not stop annoying him. “Know, young man,” he added, “that it is much more difficult for me to say this than to do it.” These words made Metellus retire in fear, and everything needed for the war was delivered to Caesar quickly and without interference.

36. Caesar went to Spain, deciding first of all to drive out Aphranius and Varro, the legates of Pompey, and, subjugating the legions and provinces there, so that he no longer had opponents in the rear, then oppose Pompey himself. In Spain, Caesar was more than once ambushed, so that his life was in danger, his soldiers were severely starved, and yet he tirelessly pursued the enemies, challenged them to battle, surrounded them with ditches, until at last he took possession of both camps and armies. The leaders fled to Pompey.

37. On Caesar's return to Rome, his father-in-law Piso urged him to send ambassadors to Pompey to negotiate a truce, but Servilius the Isaurian objected to this to please Caesar. The Senate appointed Caesar dictator, after which he returned the exiles and returned civil rights to the children of those outlawed under Sulla, and also, by slightly reducing the discount rate, alleviated the position of the debtors. After issuing several more similar orders, he renounced the sole power of the dictator eleven days later, declaring himself consul together with Servilius of Isauria, and set out on a campaign.

At the beginning of January, which roughly corresponds to the Athenian month Posideon, about the winter solstice he sailed with a select force of six hundred cavalry and five legions, leaving the rest of the army behind so as not to lose time. After crossing the Ionian Sea, he occupied Apollonia and Orik, and again sent the fleet to Brundisium for the lagging part of the army. The soldiers were still on their way. Their young years passed, and, tired of endless wars, they loudly complained about Caesar, saying: “Where, to what region will this man take us, treating us as if we were not living people, subject to fatigue? But after all, the sword wears out from blows, and the shell and shield need to be given rest after such a long service. Do not even our wounds make Caesar understand that he commands mortal people and that we feel deprivation and suffering, like everyone else? Now it’s time for storms and winds on the sea, and even God cannot subdue the elements by force, but he goes to any lengths, as if not pursuing enemies, but fleeing from them. With such speeches they slowly moved towards Brundisium. But when, having arrived there, they learned that Caesar had already sailed, their mood quickly changed. They scolded themselves, called themselves traitors to their emperor, and scolded their leaders for not hurrying them on their way. Positioned on a hill, the soldiers looked out to sea towards Epirus, waiting for the ships on which they were to cross to Caesar.

38 Meanwhile, Caesar, having no military forces in Apollonia sufficient to fight, and seeing that the troops from Italy were slow to cross, found himself in a difficult situation. Therefore, he decided on a desperate enterprise - on a twelve-oared ship, secretly from everyone to return to Brundisium, although many enemy ships plowed the sea. He went aboard at night in the garb of a slave, and sitting at a distance, like the most insignificant person, kept silent. The course of the Aoya River carried the ship out to sea, but the morning wind, which usually calmed the waves at the mouth of the river, driving the waves into the sea, gave way to the onslaught of a strong sea wind that blew at night. The river fought fiercely against the tide. Resisting the surf, it rustled and swelled, forming terrible whirlpools. The helmsman, powerless to cope with the elements, ordered the sailors to turn the ship back. Hearing this, Caesar stepped forward and, taking the amazed helmsman by the hand, said: “Forward, my dear, be bold, do not be afraid of anything: you are carrying Caesar and his happiness.” The sailors forgot about the storm and, as if rooted to the oars, fought the current with the greatest zeal. However, it was impossible to go further, since a lot of water had accumulated in the hold and the ship was in terrible danger at the mouth. Caesar, although with great reluctance, agreed to turn back. On Caesar's return, the soldiers came out in a crowd to meet him, reproaching him for not hoping for victory with them alone, but upset because of the stragglers and taking risks, as if not trusting those legions that landed with him.

39 Finally Antony arrived from Brundisium with troops. Caesar, emboldened, began to challenge Pompey to battle. Pompey set up camp in a convenient place, having the opportunity to supply his troops in abundance by sea and from land, while Caesar's soldiers from the very beginning lacked food, and then, due to the lack of the most necessary, they began to eat some roots, crumbling them into small pieces and mixing with milk. Sometimes they sculpted bread from this mixture and, attacking the advanced guards of the enemy, threw these breads, shouting that they would not stop the siege of Pompey as long as the earth would give birth to such roots. Pompey tried to hide both these loaves and these speeches from his soldiers, for they began to lose heart, fearing the insensitivity of the enemies and considering them some kind of wild beasts.

Near the fortifications of Pompey, there were constant skirmishes. Victory in all these clashes remained with Caesar, except for one case when, having failed, Caesar almost lost his camp. Pompey made a raid against which no one resisted: the ditches were filled with corpses, Caesar's soldiers fell near their own shaft and palisade, hit by the enemy during a hasty flight. Caesar went out to meet the soldiers, trying in vain to turn the fleeing back. He grabbed the banners, but the standard-bearers threw them, so that the enemy captured thirty-two banners. Caesar himself was nearly killed in the process. Grabbing some tall and strong soldier who was running past, he ordered him to stop and turn to the enemy. He, in dismay in the face of terrible danger, raised his sword to hit Caesar, but Caesar's squire arrived in time and cut off his hand.

However, Pompey - either through some indecision, or by accident - did not fully take advantage of his success, but retreated, driving the fugitives into their camp. Caesar, who had already lost all hope, said after that to his friends: “Today the victory would have remained with the opponents if they had someone to win.” Himself, having come to his tent and laid down, he spent the night in tormenting anxiety and heavy reflections on how foolishly he commands. He said to himself that before him lay vast plains and rich Macedonian and Thessalian cities, and instead of transferring military operations there, he encamped by the sea, on which the advantage belongs to the enemy, so that he himself suffers the privations of the besieged rather than besieges enemy. In such a painful state of mind, oppressed by a lack of food and an unfavorable situation, Caesar decided to move against Scipio to Macedonia, hoping either to lure Pompey to where he would have to fight in the same conditions as him, without receiving support from the sea, or to defeat Scipio, given to himself.

40. In the army of Pompey and among the chiefs, this caused an ardent desire to set off in pursuit, since it seemed that Caesar was defeated and was fleeing. But Pompey himself was too cautious to dare a battle that might decide the whole matter. Provided with everything necessary for a long time, he preferred to wait until the enemy exhausted his forces. The best part Caesar's troops had combat experience and irresistible courage in battle. However, his soldiers, due to their advanced age, got tired of long transitions, from camp life, construction work and night wakes. Suffering from hard labor due to bodily weakness, they also lost good spirits. In addition, as they said then, bad nutrition caused some kind of general illness in Caesar's army. But most importantly, Caesar had neither money nor food supplies, and it seemed that in a short time his army would disintegrate by itself.

41. One Cato, who, at the sight of the enemies who fell in battle (there were about a thousand of them), left, covering his face as a sign of sadness, and wept, praised Pompey for avoiding battle and sparing his fellow citizens. All the rest accused Pompey of cowardice and mockingly called him Agamemnon and the king of kings: not wanting to give up sole power, he, they say, is proud that so many generals are under him and go to his tent for orders. Favonius, imitating the frank speeches of Cato, complained that, because of Pompey's love of power, they would not taste Tusculus figs this year. Aphranius, recently arrived from Spain, after such an unsuccessful command, and suspected of having sold his army to Caesar for money, asked why they were not fighting the merchant who had bought the provinces from him. Under the pressure of all this, Pompey against his will began the persecution of Caesar.

And Caesar traveled most of the way in difficult conditions, getting food from nowhere, but seeing everywhere only neglect because of his recent failure. However, after the capture of the Thessalian city of Gomfa, he not only managed to feed the army, but also unexpectedly found relief for the soldiers from the disease. There was a lot of wine in the city, and the soldiers drank plenty on the way, indulging in unbridled revelry. Hop drove the disease away, again restoring health to the sick.

42. Both armies entered the plain of Pharsala and encamped there. Pompey again turned to his former plan, especially since both the omens and dreams were unfavorable. On the other hand, those around Pompey were so arrogant and sure of victory that Domitius, Spinter and Scipio argued furiously among themselves about which of them would receive the post of high priest that belonged to Caesar. They sent to Rome in advance to hire houses suitable for consuls and praetors, expecting to take up these posts immediately after the war. The riders were especially eager to fight. They were very proud of their martial arts, the brilliance of their weapons, the beauty of their horses, and also their numerical superiority: against the seven thousand horsemen of Pompey, Caesar had only one thousand. The number of infantry was also not equal: Caesar had twenty-two thousand in the ranks against forty-five thousand of the enemy.

43. Caesar gathered his troops, and informing them that two legions under the command of Cornificius were not far off, and fifteen cohorts led by Kalenus were near Megara and Athens, asked whether they were willing to wait for these reinforcements, or preferred to risk themselves. The soldiers with loud cries asked him not to wait, but to lead them into battle and make every effort to ensure that they could meet the enemy as soon as possible. When Caesar performed a cleansing sacrifice, after the slaughter of the first animal, the priest immediately announced that in the next three days the struggle with the enemy would be decided by battle. When asked by Caesar if he noticed any signs of a successful outcome of the battle from the victim, the priest replied: “You yourself can answer this question better than me. The gods announce a great change in the status quo. Therefore, if you think that the present state of affairs is favorable for you, then expect failure; if it is unfavorable, expect success. At midnight on the eve of the battle, when Caesar went around the posts, they saw a fiery torch in the sky, which seemed to sweep over Caesar's camp and, flashing with a bright light, fell into Pompey's location, and during the morning guard from Caesar's camp, confusion was noticeable in the enemy camp. On this day, however, Caesar did not expect battle. He ordered to be removed from the camp, intending to speak in the direction of Scotussa.

44. When the camp tents had already been rolled up, scouts galloped up to Caesar with the message that the enemy was moving in battle formation. Caesar was very happy and, having made prayers to the gods, he began to build an army, dividing it into three parts. He placed Domitius Calvinus in the center, Antony commanding the left flank, while he himself was at the head of the right wing, intending to fight in the ranks of the tenth legion. Seeing, however, that the enemy cavalry was located against this legion, alarmed by its numbers and the brilliance of its weapons, Caesar ordered six cohorts located in the back of the formation to quietly pass to him and placed them behind the right wing, explaining how to act when the enemy cavalry will go on the offensive.

Pompey commanded the right flank of his army, the left - Domitius, and in the center was Scipio, Pompey's father-in-law. Pompey's entire cavalry was concentrated on the left flank. She was supposed to bypass the right wing of Caesar and inflict a decisive defeat on the enemies exactly where their commander commanded: it was believed that, no matter how deep the enemy infantry was, she would not be able to withstand the pressure, but would be crushed and defeated under the simultaneous onslaught of numerous cavalry.

Both sides were about to give the signal to attack. Pompey ordered the heavily armed men to stand still and wait with javelins at the ready until the enemy approached within javelin range. According to Caesar, Pompey made a mistake in not appreciating how the swiftness of the onslaught increases the strength of the first blow and inspires the courage of the fighters. Caesar was about to move his troops forward when he noticed one of the centurions, devoted to him and experienced in military affairs. The centurion encouraged his soldiers and urged them to show an example of courage. Caesar addressed the centurion, calling him by name: "Gaius Crassinius, what are our hopes for success and what is our mood?" Crassinius, holding out his right hand, loudly shouted back to him: “We have won, Caesar, a brilliant victory. Today you will praise me dead or alive!” With these words, he was the first to rush at the enemy, dragging one hundred and twenty of his soldiers; cutting down the first enemies he met and forcing his way forward with force, he laid down many, until at last he himself was slain by a blow of the sword to the mouth, so that the blade passed through and out through the back of the head.

45. So the infantry fought in the center, and meanwhile Pompey's cavalry from the left flank proudly set off on the offensive, scattering and stretching out to cover the right wing of the enemy. However, before she had time to attack, Caesar's cohorts ran forward, which, contrary to custom, did not throw spears and did not hit the enemy in the legs, but, by order of Caesar, aimed at the enemies in the eyes and inflicted wounds in the face. Caesar expected that the young soldiers of Pompey, boasting of their beauty and youth, not accustomed to wars and wounds, would most of all be afraid of such blows and would not resist, frightened both by the danger itself and the threat of being disfigured. And so it happened. The Pompeians retreated before the spears raised up, losing courage at the sight of weapons directed against them; guarding the face, they turned away and closed. In the end, they broke up their ranks and turned into a shameful flight, ruining the whole thing, for the victors immediately began to surround and, attacking from the rear, cut down the enemy infantry.

When Pompey saw from the opposite flank that his cavalry was scattered and running, he ceased to be himself, forgot that he was Pompey Magnus. He most likely looked like a man who was deprived of his mind by a deity. Without saying a word, he retired to the tent and there he waited tensely for what would happen next, not moving from his place until a general flight began and the enemies, bursting into the camp, engaged in battle with the guards. Then only he seemed to come to his senses and said, as they say, only one phrase: “Has it really reached the camp already?” Having removed the military attire of the commander and replacing it with clothing appropriate to the fugitive, he quietly retired. About his further fate, how he, having trusted the Egyptians, was killed, we tell in his biography21.

46. ​​And Caesar, arriving at Pompey's camp and seeing the corpses of the enemies and the ongoing massacre, exclaimed with a groan: “This is what they wanted, this is what they brought me to! If Gaius Caesar, the performer of the greatest military deeds, had then refused command, I would probably have been sentenced to death. Asinius Pollio reports that Caesar spoke these words in Latin, and he himself wrote them down in Greek. Most of those killed, he reports, were slaves who fell in the capture of the camp, and the soldiers died no more than six thousand. Caesar included most of the prisoners in his legions. To many noble Romans he granted forgiveness; among them was Brutus - later his killer. Caesar, they say, was alarmed at not seeing Brutus, and was very glad when he was among the survivors and came to him.

47. Among the many miraculous signs that foreshadowed the victory of Caesar, the sign in the city of Trallach is reported as the most remarkable. In the Temple of Victory there was an image of Caesar. The ground around the statue was naturally barren and paved with stone, and on it, as they say, a palm tree grew near the plinth.

In Patavia, a certain Gaius Cornelius, a man famous for the art of divination, a compatriot and acquaintance of the writer Livy, just that day was sitting and watching the flight of birds. According to the story of Livy,22 he was the first to know about the time of the battle and announced to those present that the matter had already begun and the opponents had entered the battle. Then he continued to watch and, seeing a new sign, he jumped up with an exclamation: “You have won, Caesar!” Those present were amazed, and he, having removed the wreath from his head, swore that he would not lay it on again until his art of divination was confirmed in practice. Livy claims that it was all so.

48. Caesar, having granted freedom to the Thessalians in commemoration of the victory, began the persecution of Pompey. Upon arrival in Asia, he declared free the citizens of Cnidus from the location of Theopompus, the compiler of the code of myths, and reduced taxes to all the inhabitants of Asia by one third. Caesar arrived in Alexandria when Pompey was already dead. Here Theodotus offered him the head of Pompey, but Caesar turned away and, taking the ring with his seal in his hands, shed tears. All the friends and relatives of Pompey, who, wandering around Egypt, were taken prisoner by the king, he attracted to himself and did good. Caesar wrote to his friends in Rome that the most pleasant and sweet thing for him in victory was the opportunity to grant salvation to all the new citizens who fought with him.

As for the Alexandrian War, some writers do not consider it necessary and say that the only reason for this dangerous and inglorious campaign for Caesar was his passion for Cleopatra; others make the king's courtiers responsible for the war, especially the powerful eunuch Potinus, who had recently killed Pompey, expelled Cleopatra, and secretly plotted against Caesar. For this reason, in order to protect himself from assassination attempts, Caesar is reported to have then begun to spend his nights in drinking bouts. But Potin openly showed hostility - in many words and deeds aimed at vilifying Caesar. He ordered Caesar's soldiers to be fed with the most stale bread, saying that they should be satisfied with this too, since they eat someone else's. By dinner, he gave out earthenware and wooden utensils, referring to the fact that Caesar allegedly took away all the gold and silver for debts. Indeed, the father of the then reigning king owed Caesar seventeen and a half million drachmas, part of this debt Caesar forgave his children, and now demanded ten million to feed the troops. Potinus advised him to leave Egypt and attend to his great deeds, promising later to return the money with gratitude. Caesar replied that he least of all needed Egyptian advisers, and secretly summoned Cleopatra from exile.

49. Cleopatra, taking with her only one of her friends, Apollodorus of Sicily, got into a small boat and, at nightfall, landed near the royal palace. Since otherwise it was difficult to remain unnoticed, she climbed into the bed-bag and stretched out in it to her full length. Apollodorus tied the sack with a strap and carried it across the courtyard to Caesar. They say that even this cunning of Cleopatra seemed bold to Caesar and captivated him. Finally conquered by Cleopatra's courtesy and her beauty, he reconciled her with the king so that they reigned together.

During a general feast in honor of reconciliation, Caesar's servant, a barber, out of cowardice (in which he excelled everyone) did not let anything pass by his ears, eavesdropped and found out everything, found out about a conspiracy prepared against Caesar by the commander Achilles and the eunuch Potin. Having learned about the conspiracy, Caesar ordered the banquet hall to be surrounded by guards. Potin was killed, but Achilles managed to escape to the army, and he began a long and difficult war against Caesar, in which Caesar had to defend himself with insignificant forces against the population of a huge city and a large Egyptian army. First of all, he was in danger of being left without water, since the water channels were filled up by the enemy. Then the enemies tried to cut it off from the ships. Caesar was forced to avert the danger by starting a fire, which, spreading from the shipyards, destroyed a huge library. Finally, during the Battle of Pharos,24 when Caesar jumped off the embankment into a boat to help his people, and the Egyptians rushed to the boat from all sides, Caesar threw himself into the sea and only with difficulty swam out. They say that at that time he was subjected to archery and, plunging into the water, still did not let go of notebooks. With one hand he raised them high above the water, and with the other rowed, the boat was immediately sunk. In the end, when the king took the side of the opponents, Caesar attacked him and won the battle. The enemies suffered heavy losses, and the king went missing.

Then, leaving Cleopatra, who soon gave birth to a son from him (the Alexandrians called him Caesarion), Caesar went to Syria. 50. Arriving from there in Asia, Caesar learned that Domitius was defeated by the son of Mithridates Pharnaces and fled from Pontus with a small retinue, and Pharnaces, greedily using his success, occupied Bithynia and Cappadocia, attacked the so-called Lesser Armenia and incited all the inhabitants there to revolt. kings and tetrarchs. Caesar immediately marched against Pharnaces with three legions, in a great battle near the city of Zela, he completely destroyed the army of Pharnaces and expelled him from Pontus. Reporting this to Rome to one of his friends, Matius, Caesar expressed the suddenness and speed of this battle in three words: "I came, I saw, I conquered." In Latin, these words, having the same endings25, give the impression of convincing brevity.

51. Then Caesar crossed over to Italy and arrived in Rome at the end of the year for which he was elected dictator for the second time, although this office had never been a year before. The next year he was elected consul. Caesar was criticized for his attitude towards the rebellious soldiers who killed two former praetors - Cosconius and Galba: he punished them only by calling them citizens, not soldiers, and then gave each a thousand drachmas and allocated large plots land in Italy. Caesar was also blamed for the extravagances of Dolabella, the greed of Mattius, and the revelry of Antony; the latter, on top of everything else, appropriated the house of Pompey by some unclean means and ordered it to be rebuilt, since it seemed to him not spacious enough. Among the Romans, dissatisfaction with such actions spread. Caesar noticed all this, but the state of affairs in the state forced him to use the services of such assistants.

52. Cato and Scipio, after the battle of Pharsalus, fled to Africa, and there, with the assistance of the king of Juba, gathered considerable forces. Caesar decided to oppose them. He crossed over to Sicily about the time of the winter solstice,26 and, wishing to deprive his commanders of any hope of delay and delay, he immediately ordered to pitch his tent on the very seashore. As soon as a favorable wind blew, he sailed with three thousand infantry and a small detachment of cavalry. Having landed these troops, he imperceptibly sailed back, fearing for his main forces. He met them already at sea and delivered them safely to the camp. Having learned that opponents rely on some old oracle that says that the Scipio family is always destined to win in Africa, Caesar - it's hard to say whether in jest, to make fun of Scipio, the commander of his enemies, or seriously, wanting to interpret the prediction in his favor, - in each battle he gave some Scipio an honorable place at the head of the army, as if in chief (among Caesar's people there was a certain Scipio Salution from the African Scipio family, a man in all other respects insignificant and despised by everyone). But they often had to face the enemy and look for battles: Caesar's army suffered from a lack of food and fodder for horses, so the soldiers were forced to feed the horses with sea moss, washing off sea salt from it and adding a little grass as a seasoning.

The enemy cavalry from the Numidians dominated the area, quickly appearing every time in large numbers. One day, when Caesar's horse detachment settled down to rest and some Libyan danced wonderfully along with his flute, and the soldiers had fun, entrusting the care of the horses to slaves, suddenly the enemies surrounded and attacked them. Part of Caesar's soldiers were killed on the spot, others fell during a hasty flight to the camp. If Caesar himself and Asinius Pollio had not rushed from the camp to help, the war would probably have been over. During another battle, as reported, the enemy also gained the upper hand in the ensuing hand-to-hand fight, but Caesar grabbed the flag-bearer, who was running at full speed, by the neck and turned him around with the words: “There, where are the enemies!”

53. These successes prompted Scipio to measure his strength in a decisive battle. Leaving Aphranius in the camp and Yuba not far from him, he himself set about strengthening the position for a new camp over the lake near the city of Thapsa, meaning to create here a refuge and support in the battle for the whole army. While Scipio was working on this, Caesar, passing through wooded places with incredible speed, convenient for a surprise attack, surrounded one part of his army, and hit the other in the forehead. Putting the enemy to flight, Caesar took advantage of the favorable moment and the concomitance of a happy fate: at the first onslaught, he managed to capture the camp of Aphranius and, after the flight of Juba, completely destroyed the camp of the Numidians. In a few hours, Caesar took possession of three camps, and fifty thousand enemies fell; Caesar lost no more than fifty men. This is how some writers talk about this battle. Others maintain that Caesar did not even take part in the affair, but that a fit of the common illness struck him just as he was setting up his army in battle order. As soon as he felt the approach of a fit, then, before the disease completely took possession of him and he lost consciousness, he was carried to a nearby tower and left there.

Some of the former consuls and praetors who fled were captured and committed suicide, and many were ordered to be executed by Caesar. 54. Burning with the desire to capture Cato alive, Caesar hastened to Utica: Cato was guarding this city and therefore did not take part in the battle. Upon learning of the suicide of Cato, Caesar was clearly saddened, but no one knew exactly what. He only said: "Oh, Cato, I hate your death, because you hated to accept salvation from me." But the essay subsequently written by Caesar against Cato does not contain signs of a mild, conciliatory mood. How could he have spared Cato alive, if he poured out so much anger on the dead? On the other hand, the indulgence shown by Caesar towards Cicero, Brutus, and many other vanquished, leads some to conclude that the above-mentioned work was not born out of hatred of Cato, but out of rivalry in the state arena, and for this reason. Cicero wrote a laudatory essay in honor of Cato under the title "Cato". This essay, of course, was a great success with many, since it was written by a famous orator and on a noble topic. Caesar was stung by this writing, believing that the praise of the one whose death he had caused serves as an accusation against him. He collected many accusations against Cato and called his book Antikaton. Each of these two works had many supporters, depending on who sympathized with - Cato or Caesar.

55. Upon returning from Africa to Rome, Caesar first of all delivered a speech to the people, praising his victory. He said that he had seized so much land that he would annually deliver two hundred thousand Attic medimns of grain and three million pounds of olive oil to the state storehouse. Then he celebrated triumphs27 - Egyptian, Pontic, African - not over Scipio, of course, but over King Juba. The son of the king of Yuba, still a very young boy, was led to triumphal procession. He fell into the happiest captivity, as he turned from a barbarian and Numidian into one of the most learned Greek writers. After the triumphs, Caesar began to distribute rich gifts to the soldiers, and arranged refreshments and games for the people. At twenty-two thousand tables, refreshments were arranged for all citizens. Games - gladiatorial fights and sea battles - he gave in honor of his long-dead daughter Julia.

Then a census was carried out. Instead of the 320,000 who had previously numbered, there were now only 150,000. The civil wars have done such damage, they have exterminated such a large part of the people - and this is not even taking into account the disasters that have befallen the rest of Italy and the provinces!

56 After this, Caesar was elected consul for the fourth time and then went with troops to Spain against the sons of Pompey, who, despite their youth, raised a surprisingly large army and showed the courage necessary for generals, so that they put Caesar in an extremely dangerous position. A great battle took place near the city of Munda. Caesar, seeing that the enemy was pressing his army, which was weakly resisting, shouted, running through the ranks of the soldiers, that if they were no longer ashamed of anything, then let them take it and give it to the boys. Caesar managed to overpower the enemies only with great difficulty. The enemy lost over thirty thousand people; at Caesar, a thousand of the best soldiers fell. After the battle, Caesar told his friends that he had often fought for victory, but now for the first time he fought for his life. This victory he won during the feast of Dionysius,28 the very day on which Pompey Magnus is said to have entered the war. The time span between these two events is four years. The youngest of Pompey's sons fled, and a few days later Didius brought the head of the eldest.

This war was the last fought by Caesar. The triumph celebrated on the occasion of the victory, like nothing else, upset the Romans. It was not good for Caesar to triumph over the misfortunes of his fatherland, to be proud of what only necessity could serve as an excuse before gods and people. After all, Caesar did not defeat foreign leaders and not barbarian kings, but destroyed the children and the family of a man, the most famous among the Romans, who fell into misfortune. In addition, before Caesar himself, either through messengers or in writing, reported his victories in civil wars, but was ashamed of such glory.

57. However, bowing before the happy fate of this man and allowing himself to be put on a bridle, the Romans believed that sole power was a rest from civil wars and other disasters. They elected him dictator for life. This irremovability, combined with unlimited autocracy, was open tyranny. At the suggestion of Cicero, the Senate awarded him honors29 that were still within the limits of human greatness, but others vied with each other to offer excessive honors, the irrelevance of which led to the fact that Caesar became unpleasant and hated even by the most well-meaning people. Caesar's haters, it is thought, no less than his flatterers helped to make these decisions, so that there would be as many pretexts for discontent as possible and so that their accusations would seem well-founded. Otherwise, Caesar, after the end of the civil wars, kept himself impeccable. It was even decided - and, as they think, with with good reason- to dedicate the temple of Mercy to him as a token of gratitude for his philanthropy. Indeed, he forgave many who opposed him with weapons in their hands, and to some, such as Brutus and Cassius, he gave honorary positions: both of them were praetors. Caesar did not allow the statues of Pompey to lie thrown down from the plinth, but ordered them to be put back in their original place. On this occasion, Cicero said that Caesar, having restored the statues of Pompey, approved his own. Caesar's friends requested that he surround himself with bodyguards, and many offered their services. Caesar disagreed, stating that he thought it was better to die once than to constantly expect death. Seeing the best and most reliable protection in his disposition, and seeking such a disposition, he again resorted to treats and grain distributions for the people. For soldiers, he founded colonies. Of these, the most famous are Carthage and Corinth, cities that previously happened to be simultaneously destroyed, and now - simultaneously restored.

58. With regard to the nobility, he promised some for the future the positions of consuls and praetors, he seduced others with other offices and honors, and inspired great hopes in all equally, striving to rule over those who voluntarily obey. When the consul Maximus died, for the remaining one day before the end of his term, Caesar appointed Caninius Rebilius as consul. As was customary, many went to greet him, and Cicero said: "Let's hurry so that we can catch him in the position of consul."

Numerous successes were not for the active nature of Caesar the basis for calmly enjoying the fruits of his labors. On the contrary, as if inflaming and inciting him, they gave rise to plans for even greater undertakings in the future and the desire for new glory, as if he had not been achieved. It was a kind of competition with oneself, as if with a rival, and the desire to surpass the past with future exploits. He was preparing for a war with the Parthians, and after conquering them, he had the intention, having passed through Hyrcania along the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus, bypass Pontus and invade Scythia, then attack the countries neighboring Germany and Germany itself and return to Italy through Gaul, closing the circle Roman possessions so that on all sides the empire bordered on the Ocean.

Among the preparations for the campaign, Caesar decided to dig a canal through the Isthmus of Corinth and entrusted Anienus with the supervision of this. Then he undertook the construction of a deep channel, which would intercept the waters of the Tiber near the city itself, in order to turn the course of the river to Circe and force the Tiber into the sea at Tarracina, thus making navigation safer and easier for merchants going to Rome. In addition, he wanted to drain the swamps near the cities of Pometia and Setia in order to provide fertile land to many tens of thousands of people. Further, he wanted to build a dam in the sea near Rome and, having cleared the shoals off the Ostian coast, to establish safe harbors and anchorages for navigation of such importance. These were his preparations.

59. Witty conceived and completed by him the device of the calendar with the correction of errors that crept into the chronology, brought great benefits. The point is not only that among the Romans in very ancient times the lunar cycle was not coordinated with the actual length of the year, as a result of which sacrifices and holidays gradually moved and began to fall on the opposite of the original seasons: even when the solar year was introduced, which was used in the time we are describing, no one knew how to calculate its duration, and only the priests knew at what moment the correction should be made, and unexpectedly for everyone they included an intercalary month, which they called mercedony. They say that for the first time Numa began to insert an additional month, finding in this a means to correct an error in the calendar, but a means valid only for a short time. This is stated in his biography. Caesar invited the best scientists and astrologers to resolve this issue, and then, having studied the proposed methods, he created his own, carefully thought out and improved calendar. The Romans still use this calendar and, apparently, they have fewer errors in the chronology than other peoples. However, this transformation also gave people who were insidious and hostile to the power of Caesar a reason for accusations. So, for example, the famous orator Cicero, when someone noticed that “tomorrow the constellation Lyra will rise,” said: “Yes, by decree,” as if this phenomenon, which occurs due to natural necessity, could happen at the request of people.

60. Caesar's desire for royal power most of all aroused obvious hatred against him and the desire to kill him. For the people, this was the main fault of Caesar; for secret ill-wishers, this has long been a plausible pretext for enmity towards him. The people who persuaded Caesar to accept this power spread a rumor among the people, allegedly based on the Sibylline books, that the conquest of the Parthian kingdom by the Romans was possible only under the leadership of the king, otherwise it was unattainable. Once, when Caesar returned from Alba to Rome, they ventured to greet him as king. Seeing the confusion among the people, Caesar became angry and remarked to this that his name was not the king, but Caesar. Since these words were met with general silence, Caesar retired in a very sad and unmerciful mood.

On another occasion, the Senate awarded him some extraordinary honors. Caesar was seated on the speaker's dais. When the consuls and praetors approached him, along with the full senate, he did not rise from his seat, but addressing them as if they were private individuals, he replied that honors should rather be reduced than increased. By such behavior, however, he caused dissatisfaction not only with the Senate, but also among the people, since everyone believed that in the person of the Senate, Caesar had insulted the state. Those who could not have stayed longer left the meeting at once, greatly distressed. Then Caesar, realizing that their behavior was caused by his act, immediately returned home, and in the presence of friends threw off his clothes from his neck, shouting that he was ready to allow anyone who wanted to strike him. Subsequently, he justified his act with an illness that does not allow the feelings of people possessed by him to remain at rest when they, standing, make a speech to the people; this disease quickly shocks all the senses: first it causes dizziness, and then convulsions. But in reality, Caesar was not sick: they say that he wanted to, as it should be, stand before the Senate, but he was restrained by one of his friends, or rather flatterers - Cornelius Balbus, who said: “Don't you remember that you are Caesar? Will you not demand that you be honored as a higher being?”

61. These cases were joined by insults to the tribunes of the people. The holiday of Lupercalia was celebrated, about which many write that in ancient times it was a shepherd's holiday; in fact, it is somewhat reminiscent of the Arcadian Lyceums. Many young people from noble families and even persons holding the highest government positions, during the holiday, run naked through the city and, to the laughter, to the merry jokes of those they meet, beat everyone who gets in their way with shaggy skins. Many women, including those occupying a high social position, come forward and purposely, as at school, put both hands under the blows. They believe that this makes it easier for pregnant women to give birth, and helps the childless to bear. This spectacle Caesar watched from the dais for speakers, sitting on a golden chair, discharged, as for a triumph. Anthony, as consul, was also one of the spectators of the sacred run. Antony entered the forum and, when the crowd parted before him, he handed Caesar a crown entwined with a laurel wreath. Among the people, as was prepared in advance, liquid applause was heard. When Caesar rejected the crown, the whole people applauded. After Antony offered the crown a second time, unfriendly claps were heard again. At the second refusal of Caesar, everyone again applauded. When the idea was thus revealed, Caesar got up from his seat and ordered the crown to be carried to the Capitol. Then the people saw that the statues of Caesar were crowned with royal crowns. Two tribunes of the people, Flavius ​​and Marullus, came up and removed the wreaths from the statues, and those who were the first to greet Caesar as king were taken to prison. The people followed them with applause, calling both tribunes "Brutus", because Brutus destroyed the hereditary royal dignity and the power that belonged to the sole rulers, transferred to the senate and the people. Caesar, irritated by this act, deprived Flavius ​​and Marullus of power. In his accusatory speech, wishing to offend the people, he called them many times “Brutes” and “Kimans”32.

62. Therefore the people turned their hopes to Mark Brutus. On the paternal side, he was believed to be descended from the famous ancient Brutus, and on the maternal side - from another noble family, the Servilii, and was the son-in-law and nephew of Cato. The honors and favors shown to him by Caesar lulled in him the intention to destroy the autocracy. After all, Brutus was not only saved by Caesar during the flight of Pompey at Pharsalus, and not only saved many of his friends with his requests, but generally enjoyed great confidence in Caesar. Brutus received at that time the highest of the praetorships,33 and in three years was to be consul. Caesar preferred him to Cassius, although Cassius also claimed the position. On this occasion, Caesar is reported to have said that, although Cassius' claims are perhaps more solid, he nevertheless could not neglect Brutus. When already during the conspiracy some people reported on Brutus, Caesar did not pay attention to this. Touching his hand to his body, he said to the informer: "Brutus will wait a little longer with this body!" - wanting to say by this that, in his opinion, Brutus, for his valor, is quite worthy of the highest power, but the desire for it cannot make him ungrateful and low.

People who were striving for a coup d'état either turned their eyes to one Brutus, or among others gave preference to him, but, not daring to talk to him about this, they wrote inscriptions at night on the judicial platform, sitting on which Brutus sorted out cases, acting as praetor. Most of these inscriptions were approximately the following: "You are sleeping, Brutus!" or "You're not a Brutus!" Cassius, noticing that these inscriptions were more and more exciting to Brutus, began to incite him even more insistently, for Cassius had a personal enmity towards Caesar for reasons that we have stated in the biography of Brutus. Caesar suspected him of this. “What do you think Cassius wants? I don’t like his excessive pallor,” he once told friends. On another occasion, having received a denunciation that Antony and Dolabella were plotting a rebellion, he said: "I am not particularly afraid of these long-haired fat men, but rather of pale and skinny ones," alluding to Cassius and Brutus.

63. But, apparently, what is appointed by fate is not so much unexpected as inevitable. And in this case, as they say, amazing signs and visions were revealed: flashes of light in the sky, noise repeatedly heard at night, lone birds descending on the forum - all this, perhaps, is not worth mentioning at such a terrible event. But, on the other hand, the philosopher Strabo writes that many fiery people appeared, rushing somewhere; a slave of one warrior erupted a strong flame from his hand - it seemed to the observers that he was on fire, however, when the flame disappeared, the slave was unharmed. When Caesar himself performed the sacrifice, the sacrificial animal did not have a heart. This was a terrible omen, since there is not a single animal in nature without a heart. Many also say that a soothsayer foretold Caesar that on that day of the month of March, which the Romans call the Ides,35 he should beware of great danger. When that day came, Caesar, going to the Senate, greeted the soothsayer and jokingly told him: “But the Ides of March have come!” To which he calmly replied: “Yes, they have come, but they have not passed!”

The day before, during a dinner arranged for him by Marcus Lepidus, Caesar, as usual, lying at the table, signed some letters. It was about what kind of death is the best. Caesar was the first to cry out: “Unexpected!” After that, when Caesar was resting on a bed next to his wife, all the doors and windows in his bedroom disappeared at once. Awakened by the noise and the bright light of the moon, Caesar saw Calpurnia sobbing in her sleep, making indistinct, inarticulate sounds. She dreamed that she was holding her murdered husband in her arms. Others, however, deny that Caesar's wife had such a dream; Livy says36 that the house of Caesar, by decree of the Senate, who wished to honor Caesar, was decorated with a pediment, and Calpurnia saw this pediment destroyed in a dream, and therefore lamented and wept. With the onset of the day, she began to ask Caesar, if possible, not to go out and postpone the meeting of the senate; if he does not pay attention to her dreams at all, then at least through other omens and sacrifices, let him find out the future. Here, apparently, anxiety and fear crept into the soul of Caesar, for before he had never noticed in Calpurnia the superstitious fear so characteristic of female nature, but now he saw her greatly agitated. When fortunetellers, after numerous sacrifices, announced to him unfavorable omens, Caesar decided to send Antony to dissolve the senate.

64. At this time, Decimus Brutus, nicknamed Albinus (who enjoyed such confidence of Caesar that he wrote him down as the second heir in his will), one of the participants in the conspiracy of Brutus and Cassius, fearing that the conspiracy would not become known if Caesar canceled this day of the Senate meeting, began to ridicule the fortune-tellers, saying that Caesar would incur accusations and reproaches of ill will on the part of the senators, since it seemed that he was mocking the Senate. Indeed, he continued, the senate had met at the suggestion of Caesar, and all were ready to decide that he should be proclaimed king of the extra-Italian provinces and wear the royal crown while in other lands and seas; but if someone announces to the already assembled senators that they disperse and assemble again when Calpurnia happens to have more favorable dreams, what will Caesar's ill-wishers say then? And if after that one of Caesar's friends begins to assert that this state of affairs is not slavery, not tyranny, who wants to listen to their words? And if Caesar, because of bad omens, nevertheless decided to consider this day not present, then it is better for him to come himself and, addressing the Senate with a greeting, adjourn the meeting. With these words, Brutus took Caesar by the hand and led him. When Caesar moved a little away from the house, some strange slave went towards him and wanted to talk to him; however, driven back by the pressure of the crowd surrounding Caesar, the slave was forced to enter the house. He put himself at the disposal of Calpurnia and asked to be left in the house until Caesar returned, as he had important news to tell Caesar.

65. Artemidorus of Cnidus, a connoisseur of Greek literature, came into contact on this ground with some of the people who participated in the conspiracy of Brutus, and he managed to learn almost everything that was done from them. He approached Caesar, holding a scroll in his hand, in which was written everything that he intended to convey to Caesar about the conspiracy. Seeing that all the scrolls that are handed to him, Caesar is handing over to the slaves around him, he came very close, moved close to him and said: “Read this, Caesar, yourself, without showing it to others - and immediately! This is a very important matter for you." Caesar took the scroll in his hands, but many petitioners prevented him from reading it, although he tried many times to do so. So he entered the Senate, holding only this scroll in his hands. Some, however, report that someone else handed this scroll to Caesar and that Artemidorus could not approach Caesar at all, being pushed back from him by the crowd all the way.

66. However, this may be just a game of chance; but the place where the struggle and murder of Caesar took place, and where the senate was assembled at that time, was without any doubt chosen and appointed by the deity; it was one of the beautifully decorated buildings built by Pompey, next to his theatre; there was an image of Pompey. Before the murder, Cassius, they say, looked at the statue of Pompey and silently called him to help, despite the fact that he was not a stranger to Epicurean philosophy37; however, the approach of the moment when the terrible deed was to take place, apparently, led him into a kind of frenzy, which made him forget all previous thoughts. Anthony, loyal to Caesar and distinguished by great bodily strength, Brutus Albin deliberately detained in the street, starting a long conversation with him.

As Caesar entered, the senate rose from its seat in respect. The conspirators, led by Brutus, were divided into two parts: some stood behind Caesar's chair, others went out to meet him, together with Tullius Cimvres, to ask for his exiled brother; with these requests, the conspirators escorted Caesar to his chair. Caesar, sitting in an armchair, rejected their requests, and when the conspirators approached him with even more insistent requests, he expressed his displeasure to each of them. Then Tullius grabbed Caesar's toga with both hands and began to pull it from his neck, which was a sign of an attack. Casca was the first to stab at the back of the head with his sword; this wound, however, was shallow and non-fatal: Casca, apparently, was at first embarrassed by the audacity of his terrible act. Caesar, turning, grabbed and held the sword. Almost simultaneously, both of them shouted: the wounded Caesar in Latin - “The scoundrel Casca, what are you doing?”, And Casca in Greek, referring to his brother, “Brother, help!” The uninitiated senators, stricken with fear, did not dare to run, defend Caesar, or even scream. All the conspirators, ready to kill, surrounded Caesar with drawn swords: wherever he turned his gaze, he, like a wild beast surrounded by catchers, met the blows of swords directed at his face and eyes, since it was agreed that all the conspirators would accept participation in the murder and, as it were, taste the sacrificial blood. Therefore, Brutus struck Caesar in the groin. Some writers say that, fighting off the conspirators, Caesar rushed about and shouted, but when he saw Brutus with a drawn sword, he threw a toga over his head and exposed himself to blows. Either the killers themselves pushed the body of Caesar to the plinth on which the statue of Pompey stood, or it ended up there by accident. The plinth was heavily spattered with blood. It might have been thought that Pompey himself appeared to avenge his adversary, who was prostrate at his feet, covered with wounds and still trembling. Caesar is reported to have received twenty-three wounds. Many conspirators wounded each other by directing so many blows to one body.

67. After the murder of Caesar, Brutus stepped forward, as if wishing to say something about what had been done; but the senators, unable to stand it, rushed to run, spreading confusion and overwhelming fear among the people. Some closed their houses, others left their money-changing shops and trading premises unattended; many ran to the place of the murder to look at what happened, many fled from there, having seen enough. Antony and Lepidus, the closest friends of Caesar, slipped away from the Curia and took refuge in other people's houses. The conspirators, led by Brutus, still not calmed down after the murder, flashing with drawn swords, gathered together and set off from the Curia to the Capitol. They did not look like fugitives: joyfully and boldly they called the people to freedom, and people of noble birth who they met on the way were invited to take part in their procession. Some, such as Gaius Octavius ​​and Lentulus Spinter, went with them and, posing as accomplices in the murder, attributed fame to themselves. Later they paid dearly for their boasting: they were executed by Antony and the young Caesar. So they did not enjoy the glory, because of which they died, because no one believed them, and even those who punished them punished them not for a committed offense, but for an evil intention.

The next day, the conspirators, led by Brutus, went to the forum and delivered speeches to the people. The people listened to the orators, expressing neither displeasure nor approval, and with complete silence showed that they pity Caesar, but honor Brutus. The Senate, trying to forget the past and universal reconciliation, on the one hand, appointed Caesar divine honors and did not cancel even his most unimportant orders, and on the other, distributed the provinces among the conspirators who followed Brutus, honoring them with due honors; therefore everyone thought that the state of affairs in the state was consolidated and the best balance was again achieved.

68. After the opening of Caesar's will, it was discovered that he had left a significant gift to every Roman. Seeing how his corpse, disfigured by blows, was carried through the forum, the crowds of people did not maintain calm and order; they piled around the corpse benches, bars, and tables of money-changers from the forum, set it all on fire, and thus committed the corpse to burning. Then some, seizing burning brands, rushed to set fire to the house of Caesar's murderers; others ran all over the city in search of the conspirators, trying to seize them in order to tear them apart on the spot. However, none of the conspirators could be found, everyone safely took refuge in their houses.

They say that a certain Cinna, one of Caesar's friends, had a strange dream just last night. He dreamed that Caesar invited him to dinner; he refused, but Caesar, not listening to objections, took him by the hand and led him along. Hearing that the body of Caesar was being burned in the forum, Cinna went there to pay him his last debt, although he was filled with fear because of his sleep and he was feverish. Someone from the crowd, seeing him, called another, who asked who it was, his name; he passed it on to a third, and a rumor immediately spread that he was one of Caesar's murderers. Among the conspirators there was indeed a certain Cinna - the namesake of this. Deciding that he was that person, the crowd rushed to Cinna and immediately tore the unfortunate man in front of everyone. Brutus, Cassius and the rest of the conspirators, terribly frightened by this incident, left the city a few days later. Their further actions, defeat and end are described by us in the biography of Brutus38.

69. Caesar died only fifty-six years old, outliving Pompey by little more than four years. Caesar did not have to use the power and authority, to which he aspired all his life at the cost of the greatest dangers and which he achieved with such difficulty. He got only the name of the lord and glory, which brought envy and ill will of fellow citizens. His mighty guardian genius, who helped him throughout his life, did not leave him even after death, becoming an avenger for the murder, chasing the killers and chasing them through the seas and lands until none of them were left alive. He punished those who were somehow involved either in the execution of the murder or in the plans of the conspirators.

Of all the accidents of human life, the most amazing fell on the lot of Cassius. Defeated at Philippi, he committed suicide by stabbing himself with the same short sword that killed Caesar.

Of the supernatural phenomena, the most remarkable was the appearance of the great comet,39 which shone brightly seven nights after the assassination of Caesar and then disappeared, as well as the weakening of the sunlight. For all that year sunlight was pale, the sun rose dim and gave little warmth. Therefore, the air was cloudy and heavy, because the heat of the sun did not have the strength to penetrate to the earth; in the cold air, the fruits withered and fell unripe. The appearance of the ghost of Caesar to Brutus showed with particular clarity that this murder was objectionable to the gods. Here's how it all happened. Brutus intended to transport his army from Abydos to another mainland. As usual, at night he rested in a tent, but did not sleep, but thought about the future. It is said that this man needed sleep less than all the generals and was naturally able to stay awake for the greatest amount of time. He heard some noise near the door of the tent. Looking around the tent by the light of the already dying lamp, he saw a terrible ghost of a man of huge growth and formidable in appearance. At first Brutus was amazed, and then, as soon as he saw that the ghost was inactive and did not even make any sounds, but silently stood near his bed, he asked who he was. The ghost answered: "Brutus, I am yours evil spirit. You will see me at Philippi." Brutus answered fearlessly: “I will see,” and the ghost immediately disappeared. After a short time, Brutus stood at Philippi with his army against Antony and Caesar. In the first battle he won, putting to flight Caesar's army that stood against him, and during the pursuit he ravaged his camp. When Brutus planned to give a second battle, a ghost appeared to him at night; he said nothing to Brutus, but Brutus realized that his fate was sealed, and rushed towards danger. However, he did not fall in battle; during the flight of his army, he is said to have climbed a precipice, and, throwing himself bare-chested on a sword which one of his friends held out to him, died.

NOTES

1. ... seeking a priestly position ... - According to other sources (Velleius, II, 43; Suetonius, 1), Caesar became a priest of Jupiter under Mary and Cinna, and Sulla deprived him of this dignity.

2. ...near the island of Pharmacussa... - Not far from Miletus.

3. ... belonged to the second place ... - After Cicero.

4. ... against the writings of Cicero on Cato ... - See below, ch. 54.

5. ... scratches his head with one finger ... - In Rome, this gesture was considered a sign of effeminacy.

6. ...the third marriage... - The first wife of Caesar was called Cossutia, the second was Cornelia, the third, Pompey, was in a distant relationship with Pompey the Great.

7. The Appian Way - "the queen of Roman roads", laid by Appius Claudius the Blind in 312, led from Rome to Capua, and then to Brundisium.

8. ... in an essay about his consulate ... - It existed in two versions, in Greek prose (which Plutarch used) and in Latin verse; only excerpts from the poetic arrangement have been preserved.

9. ... a certain person ... - P. Clodius, the future tribune of 58 and the famous enemy of Cicero.

10. ... there is a goddess ... called Good ... - "Good goddess", a secret female cult in Rome.

11. ...with an illegible signature... - On voting tablets, Roman judges wrote (in one letter) "justify", "condemn" or "abstain".

12. ... in a naval battle at Massilia ... - A battle during the civil war in 49. The same selection of stories about the exploits of Caesar's soldiers is given by Suetonius, "Divine Julius", 68.

13. ... with the Helvetians and Tigurins (the Tigurins are one of the 4 Helvetian tribes). - This people, pressed by the Germans, began to migrate from the area of ​​\u200b\u200bmodern Switzerland to the west, crowding out other Gallic tribes, and Caesar took advantage of this as an excuse for armed intervention in Gallic affairs.

14. ... Caesar tells ... - About the war with the Usipetes and tencters - in "Notes on the Gallic War", IV, 1-15; on the crossing of the Rhine - IV, 16-19.

15. from the spot of perjury - Caesar entered into negotiations with the ambassadors of the Usipetes and tencters, and then, without warning, hit the Germans (winter 56-55).

16. legion of Cicero - Meaning Kv. Tullius Cicero, the orator's brother; was a legate to Caesar in 54-52; his camp in 54 was in Belgica.

17. New Kom - this colony on the shores of Lake Como received the rights of Roman citizenship in the consulate of Caesar.

18. take Arimin - A city that is no longer on the territory of the Gallic province, whose governor was Caesar, but of Italy itself: this capture was tantamount to declaring civil war. On crossing the Rubicon, cf. Pom., 60.

19. converging with his own mother - A symbol of mastery of his native land.

20. in his biography. - Room, 62

21. in his biography - Pom., 73-80.

22. According to the story of Livy - Prince. CXI (not preserved). Livy himself was a native of Patavia (Padua).

23. Cleopatra from exile - Egypt was ruled by the young Ptolemy XIII and his older sister and wife Cleopatra; there was a struggle between them, and Cleopatra with her supporters at that time was outside Alexandria.

24. during the Battle of Pharos - Caesar was besieged by the army of Achilles on the island of Pharos, which covered the Alexandrian harbor from the sea.

25. having the same endings - The famous veni, vidi, vici.

26. around the time of the winter solstice - At the end of 47

27. triumphs - Egyptian, Pontic, African ... - Plutarch does not mention another triumph, Gallic.

28. during the feast of Dionysius - This is how Plutarch calls the Roman feast of Liberalia. - Sextus Pompey was saved after Munda, Gnaeus Pompey the Younger perished.

29. The Senate appointed him honors - Consulate for ten years in advance, the hereditary title of "emperor", etc., but nothing is known about the special role of Cicero in these actions.

30. in his biography - Numa, 18-19. Caesar introduced from January 1, 45 the so-called Julian calendar, which ancient and Catholic Europe used before the Gregorian reform of the 16th century, and Protestant and Orthodox Europe even longer.

31. Feast of Lupercalia Arcadian Lyceum (cf. Rom. 21). - February 15, 44, a month before the death of Caesar.

32. "Brutes" and "Kimans". - The name "Brutus" means "stupid" (cf. Pop., 3); the inhabitants of Kima in Ionia were consistently reputed to be common fools.

33. the highest of the praetorships - the position of the city praetor, who directed all judicial activities in the city of Rome.

34. in the biography of Brutus - Chap. eight.

36. Livy says - In the lost book CXVI.

37. was not alien to Epicurean philosophy - Epicurean philosophy did not allow the intervention of the gods in human affairs.

38. in the biography of Brutus - Chap. 21 w.

39. great comet - Astronomers find it difficult to identify it. Perhaps this is a legend that arose shortly after the death of Caesar.

40. to another continent - I.e. to Europe via the Hellespont.

The famous historians of antiquity - Plutarch and Gaius Suetonius Tranquill - report practically nothing about the most early years life of Julius Caesar. However, we know that he was born on July 13, 100 BC. e. It may be true that this happened two years earlier. In those days, children had to enter adulthood quite early. Caesar was no exception. While still quite a yellow-mouthed youngster, he should already have been married! Moreover, his marriage was by no means the result of cordial affection. That was the decision of Caesar's parents. The Yuliev clan was very noble, but by the time the hero of our story was born, little was left of the former material well-being of the family. To maintain the previous standard of living, it was simply necessary to take urgent action. Caesar's father, apparently, did not think of anything else but to marry his young son to the daughter of one of the Roman patricians, who belonged to a not very noble - equestrian class, but unusually rich. It is hardly appropriate to blame him for this - the conclusion of such alliances was and still is a quick and reliable way to improve the financial situation. Characteristically, both sides benefited: the patrician automatically ascended to a new hierarchical level, previously inaccessible to him, and the Julius clan again found itself with money. Now it was possible to arrange luxurious festivities and presentations again! As for the feelings of minor spouses, of course, no one cared about them.

Caesar from childhood was distinguished by extreme obstinacy. Due to his exceptional youth, he did not have the opportunity to argue with his father, but, for his part, he did everything to ensure that his marriage to Cossutia (namely, that was the name of the daughter of the notorious patrician) fell apart as quickly as possible.

And so it happened.

Julius Jr., being in the midst of social life, very soon decided on his priorities. He did not see any point in wasting family funds on continuous amusements, but day and night he dreamed of trying himself in a risky political field. Acutely sensing how good the possibilities of successful politicians are, Caesar sought to enter power. However, it was almost impossible for him to count on a quick career under Lucius Cornelia Sulla, an absolute dictator, who seized power. It was necessary to bet on the opposition. Now Julius Caesar himself thought that it would be nice to get along with the leadership of the opposition, resorting to a tried and tested means - marriage.

Even then, he was swift in his decisions.

The poor and unlucky Cossutia was categorically rejected by him for the sake of Cornelia (it is possible that Caesar's untimely death further contributed to this decision). She was the daughter of Lucius Cinne himself. Cinna was elected consul four times and enjoyed enormous popularity among the urban poor. Being deprived of his powers by Sulla, Cinna burned with hatred for the dictator and wanted them back at any cost. The young Caesar, a brilliantly educated aristocrat with extreme ambition, was a great find for Cinna (by the way, Caesar did receive an excellent education, despite the fact that in the process of training he showed truly outstanding abilities, managing to copy from three sources at the same time!). Cinna immediately gave his consent to the marriage. It should be noted that the new marriage was doubly desired by Caesar, because in addition to hypertrophied ambition, an irrepressible passion for Cornelia lived in his heart. The wife answered him the same and soon gave Caesar a daughter - Julia.

Perhaps, then, he could not even close to foresee what consequences his decision to become the husband of the daughter of the disgraced consul would have. And it so happened that Sulla was immediately informed about the intention of a representative of one of the most noble, and now also the richest families of Rome, to marry the daughter of perhaps the most powerful of his opponents. The dictator was furious and, calling Julius Caesar to him, demanded that he refuse to conclude this marriage. Here is how everything that happened is described by Plutarch: When Sulla seized power, he could not, either by threats or promises, induce Caesar to divorce Cornelia, the daughter of Cinna, who at one time was the sole ruler of Rome; so Sulla confiscated Cornelia's dowry. The reason for Sulla's hatred of Caesar was the latter's relationship with Marius, for Marius the Elder was married to Julia, Caesar's aunt; from this marriage was born Marius the Younger, who was therefore Caesar's cousin».

Calpurnia

Sulla's dislike of Caesar's decision and the latter's intractability is also confirmed by Suetonius: The dictator Sulla by no means could get him to divorce her.". However, this challenge was clearly not enough for Caesar. Not content with having boldly disobeyed the lord of Rome, he loudly announced his intention to join the priestly class. This decision was well thought out: religion and power are an insurmountable stronghold. Sulla understood this as well as Caesar himself. That is why the priestly demarche of Julius Jr. was the last straw for the dictator. In essence, Caesar signed his own sentence. Nothing could save him; in comparison with what now threatened him, the loss of his wife's dowry could be generally ignored. There was only one thing left: immediate flight!

Why was Caesar not put to death immediately after the announcement of his intentions?

The answer is more than simple: the active intervention of friends and relatives (two proved to be especially active supporters of Caesar: Mamercus Aemilius and Aurelius Kota), as well as the fervent petitions of influential and powerful patrons from among the ministers of worship.

Special mention should be made of the latter.

First of all, it is necessary to clarify: not so much ministers as servants. It's about the vestals.

Today, few people know about them.

The very word "Vestals" has almost gone out of use.

But once it was one of the most powerful social institutions Ancient Rome. Perhaps, it is impossible to imagine a more successful opportunity to at least briefly talk about him here.

Image of the goddess Vesta (1553. Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum)

Julius Caesar was associated with the Vestal Virgins almost all his life - both in his youth, even when he was deprived of the priesthood by Sulla, and later, having already become emperor.

But who were they, these vestals?

They were named after the Roman goddess Vesta (among the Greeks, she was called Hestia). Vesta was the goddess - the patroness of the family hearth and sacrificial fire. Her cult was established by Numa Pompilius, the second ruler of Rome. He ruled Rome in 716-673 (672). BC e. It was Numa Pompilius who came up with the idea to move the temple of Vesta from the town of Alba Longa located southeast of Rome (by the way, this is, figuratively speaking, the cradle of the Julius family, to which Caesar belonged) directly to the capital. Even the place that Numa Pompilius chose for the new temple is characteristic. He built it almost opposite the Roman Forum, thus, as if once and for all, making it clear that the adoption of any state decisions will henceforth be under the strict and strict control of the priests of Vesta. The fact that the sacred fire always burned in the temple was especially symbolic: as long as it burns, Rome and its rulers should be in prosperity! The main duty of the Vestal Virgins was to constantly monitor and maintain this fire.

Numa Pompilius

Everyone, of course, knows the modern slogan about society equal opportunities. This artificially forced thesis does not stand up to any criticism today, and even in relation to Ancient Rome, namely to the priestesses of Vesta, it is completely unsuitable! It was not worth thinking about entering the temple “from the street”. The selection criteria were astoundingly rigorous. First of all age: 6 – 10 years. The chosen ones (even at such a young age) had to have impeccably correct speech, be distinguished by an excellent physique and excellent health. The future Vestal Virgin could not be an orphan (with rare exceptions). Preference was given to girls from noble families and noble families; their parents and relatives received more than generous gifts from the emperor. It is curious that the girl could even belong to ... the slave class! If the priests approved her candidacy, the parents of the newly-minted Vestal were immediately freed from slavery and received the status of free citizens. Well, since free citizens did not have to drag out a miserable existence, they were even provided with decent work. Another important detail: the young maiden herself had to express her desire to become a vestal! Being accepted into the temple, she had to keep her virginity until the age of 30 ... If we add to this that cruel punishments were due for any disobedience and fault, and the little priestesses had more than enough duties, to realize at the age of 6 - 10 years the significance of the coming privileges were ready not so much for the children as for their parents. In those cases when the girls did not listen to their parents and opposed the election with all their might, the high priest had the right to independently select twenty candidates who were to draw lots.

Landscape with the Temple of the Vestals (painter Adam Elsheimer, 1600)

As soon as a girl was chosen fit for the temple, her head was immediately shaved and dressed in an inconspicuous linen robe. When trying to use jewelry, ribbons, etc., the Vestal was punished as cruelly as for the loss of innocence. In the latter case, the Vestal Virgins who transgressed the law were doomed to death! The ritual itself was particularly wild: the unfortunate were walled up alive in the walls of a terrible underground dungeon. Historians note that, apparently, it is no coincidence that the very place where the dungeon was erected was called the “cursed wasteland”. Before performing the ritual, the priestesses, deprived of their dignity, were led through the city streets with their faces covered: even for those miserable moments of life that still remained for them, they were deprived of the right to contemplate God's light. After the shameful passage through the city of the former Vestals on short time thrown into the dungeon; they were entitled to nothing but bread and water. Interestingly, each such incident was an occasion for declaring a citywide mourning; not a single shop was open, and a few passers-by scurried around with gloomy, downcast faces. By the way, the chosen ones of the Vestal Virgins, who dared to trample on the sacred covenant, had a no less bitter fate. True, here they did without solemn processions and rituals: they were simply beaten with batogs ...

If the vestal, who had the turn to watch the fire of Vesta, accidentally fell asleep, and the fire died out or went out altogether (this was a very bad omen for Rome!), although they did not kill her, they mercilessly flogged her in prison, having stripped naked before that .

All these facts involuntarily give rise to the question: was it worth it for the parents of girls to strive for them to be elected Vestals? In fairness, we note that not all mothers wanted a similar fate for their daughters, knowing full well that they could lose them forever at any moment. However, there were also many who consciously, almost from birth, prepared their children for ordination. However, in fact: what were the privileges granted to the Vestals, and did they exist at all?

They did, that's for sure!

Although the Vestals were destined to bear the heavy burden of ordination until they reached the age of thirty, they, nevertheless, were free to leave the temple. At all solemn events, they were given places of honor, and the townspeople treated them almost with reverence. The Vestal Virgins could pardon a criminal sentenced to death with a mere surety, without providing any evidence of his innocence. The Vestals also had the right to act as a conciliator in disputes and disagreements between representatives of the most noble families of the empire (this provided the basis for very promising acquaintances). If even a simple priestess of Vesta asked for someone (not to mention the supreme one, to whom they all obeyed), then no one, even the ruler of Rome, could ignore this request! Vestals could travel around the country with a magnificent retinue and in luxury, and in addition, they received a lot of valuables from the donations of believers.

It's funny, but only rare Vestal Virgins enjoyed the right to leave the temple at the age of thirty! Even the prospect of starting a family and living a normal life using the accumulated funds and acquired important connections, apparently, did not particularly attract them. In addition, as soon as any of them decided to take such a bold step, very strange events began to happen in her worldly life, which had just begun: misfortunes and misfortunes continually rained down on her head, and there was not a trace of her former health! Women fell ill and withered... Needless to say, all this looks really very strange and implausible coincidence of circumstances; well, in ancient Rome, on this account, there was an opinion that such was the punishment of the great Vesta, imposed on impudent apostates.

The vast majority of girls did not leave the temple.

At different times, from six to twenty vestals were with him.

It was to their defense that the supporters of the disgraced Julius Caesar resorted, rightly believing that the collective petition of the priestesses of Vesta cannot remain unsatisfied. Moreover, the Vestal Virgins had to bother practically “for their own”, since Caesar, as you remember, also had a priesthood (although he himself worshiped the god Jupiter).

Naturally, such an active and unparalleled intercession bore fruit. Sulla could not then kill Caesar, as he did not want to; True, he nevertheless deprived him of the priestly dignity, along the way he appropriated the inheritance that was due to him and the dowry of his wife, but this was no longer significant. The bird escaped from his claws to freedom!

Caesar, having avoided immediate death, was wise enough to understand that, having failed to destroy him openly, Sulla would certainly resort to the services of assassins in order to liquidate him secretly. If Caesar had stayed in Rome then, he would definitely not have been able to take off his head. As Plutarch reports, Sulla did intend to " destroy Caesar, and when they told him that it was pointless to kill such a boy, he answered: “You don’t understand anything if you don’t see that there are many Maries in this boy.” This is confirmed by Suetonius: “Sulla long refused the requests of his devoted and prominent followers(who urged him to change his anger to mercy and spare Caesar. - G. B.) but they persisted and persisted; Finally, as you know, Sulla gave in, but exclaimed, obeying either the divine suggestion, or his own instinct: “Your victory, get it! but know: the one whose salvation you are trying so hard to someday become the death of the cause of the optimates, which we defended with you: many Maries are hidden in Caesar alone!»

Having Sulla as your enemy was tantamount to a death sentence. The very appearance of this man, who had seized upon the government of Rome, could shudder even an internally steadfast person. The famous author of the novel "Spartacus" Raffaello Giovagnoli repeatedly mentions Sulla on the pages of his book. Perhaps it is no exaggeration to say that his descriptions of the appearance of Sulla and his terrible death are unparalleled.

So, he writes:

“This extraordinary man was fifty-nine years old. He was quite tall, well and strongly built, and if at the time of his appearance in the circus he walked slowly and listlessly, like a man with broken forces, then this was a consequence of those obscene orgies to which he always indulged, and now more than ever. . But the main reason for this sluggish gait was the exhausting incurable disease, which imposed on his face and on the whole figure the seal of heavy, premature old age.

Sulla's face was terrible. Not that the completely harmonious and regular features of his face were rude - on the contrary, his large forehead, protruding nose, somewhat reminiscent of a lion's, rather large mouth, imperious lips made him even handsome; these regular features were framed by thick reddish hair and illuminated by gray-blue eyes - lively, deep and penetrating, which had at the same time the gleam of an eagle's eyeballs and the oblique, hidden look of a hyena. In every movement of these eyes, always cruel and powerful, one could read the desire to command and the thirst for blood.

But a faithful portrait of Sulla, which we have depicted, would not justify the epithet "terrible" that we used when speaking of his face - and it was really terrible, because it was covered with some kind of disgusting dirty red rash, with scattered here and there white spots, which made him very similar, in the ironic expression of one Athenian jester, to the face of a Moor, showered with flour.

When Sulla, walking slowly, with the air of a man satiated with life, entered the circus, on top of a tunic of snow-white wool, embroidered around with gold ornaments and patterns, instead of a national palla or traditional toga, he was wearing an elegant mantle of bright purple, trimmed with gold and pinned on the right shoulder with a golden clasp, into which the most precious stones were set. As a man with contempt for all mankind, and for his fellow citizens in particular, Sulla was the first of those few who began to wear the Greek mantle.

At the applause of the crowd, a grin twisted Sulla's lips, and he whispered: "Applause, applaud, stupid sheep!"

Now, presumably, you have a much clearer idea of ​​what kind of person turned out to be the main opponent of Julius Caesar! There was nothing to think about any confrontation, the forces were too unequal. It was necessary to flee, and immediately.

Lucius Cornelius Sulla Happy (from 80 BC), lat. Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix, (138 - 78 BC) - Roman statesman and military leader, perpetual dictator (82 BC - 79 BC), the founder of the Sullan party and the main rival of Gaius Maria, the organizer of bloody proscriptions and the reformer of the Roman state system.

Sulla came from a gradually fading noble family, whose representatives had not held the highest government posts for a long time. Sulla's great-great-grandfather, Publius Cornelius Rufinus, was consul in 290 and 277 BC. BC, but was expelled from the Senate for violating the luxury laws.

Sulla's great-grandfather and grandfather (both called Publius) were praetors, and his father, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, failed to reach the praetorship. Sulla also had a brother, Servius. Sulla's mother died and he was raised by his stepmother.

Sulla grew up in a poor environment. Subsequently, when Sulla became one of the most influential people in Rome, he was often reproached for betraying his modest lifestyle.

Probably, the mentioned poverty of his family was only relative - in comparison with other families who amassed enormous wealth during numerous wars, families who did not occupy the high magistracies of Sulla did not have the opportunity to profit from military campaigns and vicegerency in the provinces. Sulla's wealth as a young man is estimated to be around 150,000 sesterces, although he probably had to pay his father's debts.

However, Sulla still received a good education (in particular, he was good at Greek and knew Greek literature well, but at the same time he did not try to start a career with judicial or political speeches, which were very popular activities at that time.

At the same time, Sulla led a dissolute lifestyle in his youth (for this he is especially strongly condemned by his main biographer, the moralist Plutarch). According to Plutarch, Sulla regularly drank in the company of people unworthy of his position and, in contrast to most Romans, at dinner "it was impossible to talk with Sulla about anything serious", although the rest of the day Sulla was extremely active.

Sulla began his service about a little later than the others (novice politicians who followed the cursus honorum) - as a quaestor in 107, in the first consulate of Gaius Marius, and was appointed quaestor under him. Gaius Marius was to travel to Africa, where Rome was mired in the Jugurthian War in Numidia against King Jugurtha (started in 112 and resumed in 110).

Sulla in this war was to accompany Marius. Sulla's first task was to assemble a significant auxiliary cavalry force in Italy and transfer it to North Africa. It took Sulla only a few months to cope with this and establish herself with the most better side. With his able leadership, Sulla soon won the respect of his soldiers.

Shortly after the arrival of Sulla, Marius sent a delegation to Jugurtha's opponent, King Bocchus, at the request of the latter - Bocchus hinted that he wanted to say something important. Together with Sulla, the legate Gaius Maria, the former praetor Aulus Manlius, went to Bocchus. Manlius occupied a higher position, but transferred the right to speak to Sulla, who was more skillful in eloquence.

Sulla negotiated, seeing as his main goal to ensure the loyalty of Bocchus to Rome in exchange for the position of "ally and friend of the Roman people" and possible territorial concessions. Sallust conveys the final part of Sulla's speech in this way: “Be well imbued with the idea that no one has ever surpassed the Roman people in generosity; what about him military force you have every reason to know her."

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Sulla became close to the king. In the meantime, Jugurtha had bribed Bocchus' friends, and they persuaded him to cut off contact with the Romans. Thus, Sulla's life was threatened, although in the end Bocchus agreed to cooperate with Rome and sent an embassy there from among the most reliable people to make peace on any terms.

However, the ambassadors were robbed by robbers, but Sulla, who by this time had received the position of propraetor from Marius, kindly received them and helped in the future.

The envoys went to Rome and received an answer containing an unambiguous hint that Bocchus was expected to extradite Jugurtha. Bock then asked Sulla to come to him to discuss the details.

Sulla rode out accompanied by a detachment of mostly lightly armed soldiers, and was soon joined by Volux, the son of Bocchus. But on the fifth day of the journey, the scouts reported the presence of a large Numidian army nearby under the command of Jugurtha himself.

Then Volux offered Sulla to run away together at night, but Sulla resolutely refused, citing his unwillingness to cowardly run away from the unfortunate Jugurtha.

However, Sulla nevertheless agreed to set out at night, but only with the entire detachment. To carry out his plan, Sulla ordered his soldiers to quickly refresh themselves and light large fires to create the illusion that they were supposed to spend the whole night here.

However, while searching for a new camp, the Moorish horsemen reported that Jugurtha was again in front of them, about three kilometers away. Many in the camp believed that it was an ambush organized by Volux and even wanted to kill him, but Sulla only demanded that he leave the camp.

However, Volux denied his guilt and proposed to Sulla a daring plan: to pass through the camp of Jugurtha with a small detachment, and as a guarantee, Volux went along with Sulla. They managed to pass through Jugurtha's camp and soon arrived at Bocchus.

At the court of Bock, there were people bribed by Jugurtha, with the help of whom it was planned to negotiate. But Bocchus secretly sent his loyal man, Damar, to Sulla with an offer to conduct secret negotiations, while simultaneously misleading the people of Jugurtha.

During the daytime negotiations, Bokh asked Sulla to give him 10 days of respite for reflection, but direct secret negotiations between Bokh and Sulla took place at night through the mediation of Dabar.

Sulla succeeded in negotiating the terms of peace with Bocchus, and the next day Bocchus sent a man of Jugurtha to his court with a proposal to hand over Sulla to him in order to achieve the desired peace conditions by holding him as a hostage.

Soon Jugurtha arrived at Bocchus. True, according to Sallust, Bocchus was thinking all this time whether to give Sulla Jugurtha or Jugurtha Sulla, but in the end decided to give Jugurtha to the Romans.

Jugurtha's companions were slain, and he himself was captured by Boc's men. At the same time, Jugurtha, who was captured, was handed over to Sulla, and not to his immediate commander, Mary.

Soon Marius got the right to hold a triumph, but even then in Rome they said that the war was still won thanks to Sulla. Marius' ambition was so hurt that this episode marked the beginning of a long feud between Marius and Sulla.

A little later, Bocchus erected statues in Rome depicting the goddess Victoria with trophies in her hands, and next to them - the scene of the transfer of Jugurtha Sulle. This almost led to a clash between supporters of both.

The end of the Jugurthian War roughly coincided with the defeat of the Romans at the Battle of Arausion on October 6, 105 BC. e., when the proconsul Quintus Servilius Caepio refused to obey the orders of the consul Gnaeus Mallius Maximus because of his low birth. Gaius Marius was elected consul in absentia for 104 BC. e. and prepared the army to organize a rebuff to the Germans.

Sulla in this war was successively a legate (104 BC) and a military tribune (103 BC) with Gaius Marius, but relations between them soon escalated. Plutarch reports that at the beginning of the war, Marius “still used the services of Sulla, believing that he was too insignificant, and therefore did not deserve envy.

In 104 BC e. Sulla captured the leader of the Tektosagas, Copyllus, and generally achieved notable success, so that soon Marius stopped giving him orders, fearing the rise of his capable officer.

However, in 102 BC. e. Sulla passed from Marius to Quintus Lutacius Catulus, in whom he, holding the post of legate, quickly gained confidence and soon achieved significant success.

So, Sulla defeated the Alpine barbarians, and then skillfully arranged the supply of the army. Sulla also took part in the Battle of Vercelli on July 30, 101 BC. e. and later described it in his memoirs. These memoirs have not been preserved, but Plutarch used them when describing the battle.

Sulla was during the battle with Catulus and was in the hottest place of the battle, while Marius was carried away by the pursuit of the Germans.

The Romans won a complete victory in the battle and for a long time removed the threat from the Germans. Soon, despite the disagreements between Catulus and Marius, who claimed a decisive role in the victory, a joint triumph was held in Rome.

Shortly after the end of the Cimbrian war, Sulla participated in the election of praetors, but was defeated. Sulla himself attributed his failure to the plebs, who sought to force Sulla to first go through the edilite and organize luxurious games with the participation of lions, using his friendship with Bocchus.

Presumably in 93 BC. e. nevertheless, he was elected city praetor (praetor urbanus), and he achieved the position by bribery, which he was subsequently reproached with.

At the same time, Sulla, who never passed through the post of aedile, nevertheless arranged a major persecution of animals with the participation of 100 lions during the praetorship.

After the praetorship in Rome, Sulla went to Cilicia, where he was governor. On behalf of the Senate, Sulla attempted to install the pro-Roman Ariobarzanes I, nicknamed Philoromeus (loving the Romans), on the throne in nearby Cappadocia.

At the same time, he had to face the Cappadocian usurper Gordius and the Armenian king Tigran II, whose army was defeated by Sulla, who had a small army.

During his governorship, Sulla was also the first Roman official to receive an embassy from Parthia. Sulla held "tripartite negotiations" on the issue of friendship about an alliance between Parthia and Rome, while setting up three chairs - one for the Parthian ambassador Orobaz, the second for himself, the third for Ariobarzanes; he himself sat in the center chair.

After returning to Rome, Sulla was brought to trial on charges of bribery, but the charges against him were soon dropped.

Shortly before the outbreak of the Allied War, Sulla and Marius were engaged in a confrontation that threatened to turn into open conflict: King Bocchus erected in Rome a statue depicting the goddess Victoria with trophies in her hands, and next to them - the scene of the transfer of Jugurtha to Sulla.

Marius, along with his supporters, was already about to destroy these images, and Sulla's supporters were preparing to come to their defense, but a war began with the Italics.

Sulla was appointed legate to the consul in 91 BC. e. Sextus Julius Caesar. During the war, he had to cooperate with Gaius Marius, although there is a decline in the authority of Marius while increasing the popularity of Sulla.

At the start of the war, Sulla and Marius encountered the Marsi, who had always been Rome's most dangerous enemy in Italy. Sulla attacked the Marsi when they were disorganized making their way through the vineyards.

A little later in Campania, Sulla attacked the Italic commander Lucius Cluentius, who became so close to Sulla's camp that he hastily attacked him, being unprepared and breaking away from his reserve.

Cluentius managed to put Sulla to flight, but his reserve troops hurried to meet the fleeing Sullan troops, with the help of which Cluentius was already forced to retreat. However, Cluentius was nearby, and soon, having strengthened his army with the help of the Gauls, he went out to fight Sulla.

According to Appian, before the battle, one massive Gaul from the army of Cluentius began to challenge one of the Romans to battle; a short Mauritanian came out of the ranks of the Sullan army and killed the Gaul. The rest of the Gauls fled, and Sulla took advantage of the start of the flight of all the troops of Cluentius and began their pursuit.

During the pursuit, Sulla destroyed about 30 thousand enemy soldiers, and at the walls of the nearby city of Nola, in which the soldiers of Cluentius fled - another 20 thousand. Also during the campaign, Sulla took Pompeii.

Then Sulla entered Samnium, in the region of the Ghirpini, where he first besieged Eklan. The people of Eclan asked Sulla to grant them a reprieve, as they awaited the arrival of reinforcements from Lucania.

Sulla, who unraveled the plan of the Eklans, overlaid the wooden wall of the city with brushwood in the hour allotted to them, and then set it on fire.

Eclan capitulated, but Sulla, unlike other cities that surrendered to him, gave it to his soldiers to plunder, explaining that Eclan surrendered not out of loyalty to the Romans, but out of necessity.

Shortly thereafter, Sulla unexpectedly attacked the Samnite commander Motila from the rear and defeated him, and then captured the capital of the rebellious Italics, Bovian.

After the end of the main hostilities of the Allied War, Sulla went to Rome and put forward his candidacy for consul. Due to his increased popularity, he was elected consul for the year 88; his colleague was Quintus Pompey Rufus.

At this time, Mithridates VI Eupator, king of Pontus, captured Asia and destroyed 150,000 Roman citizens in it. Having sent letters to all the cities, he gave the order to kill them in one day and hour, accompanying this with the promise of a huge reward. The only exception was Rhodes - both in steadfastness against Mithridates and in loyalty to the Romans.

But most of the policies cooperated with Mithridates - for example, the Mytilenes gave Mithridates some Romans in chains. In parallel, Mithridates expelled Ariobarzanes and Nicomedes, kings of Cappadocia and Bithynia, respectively. The performance of Mithridates was associated with the weakening of Rome by the Allied War.

Sulla received by lot Asia as a province, as well as an army to wage war against Mithridates. At the same time, in order to arm the army, for lack of other means, sacrificial gifts were sold, which, according to legend, were left by Numa Pompilius.

At the same time, it was clear that the war against Mithridates would be extremely profitable and easy enough. Therefore, two people actively applied for the post of army commander - Sulla and Marius, who hoped to restore their status by successful military operations.

Gaius Marius, who did not have in 88 BC. e. magistracy and did not have the opportunity to obtain command legally, he won over to his side the tribune Publius Sulpicius Rufus - a man with a very tarnished reputation. To achieve his goal, Mariy decided to rely on the Italians who had just been defeated with his participation.

The fact is that as a result of the Allied War, the Italians, according to lex Iulia and lex Plautia Papiria, formally received full civil rights, including the right to vote on an equal basis with Roman citizens. At the same time, they were enrolled in the last tribes, and not distributed among the old tribes, where they would have outnumbered the Romans proper.

Because of this, they were the last to vote, which did not allow them to really influence the political life in the country. Initially, the new citizens did not yet understand that they had received incomplete civil rights, and since the main goal pursued by them during the Allied War - obtaining equal civil rights with the Romans - was achieved, the tension among the Italians subsided immediately with the receipt of these rights.

Two regions - Lucania and Samnium - did not receive the right to vote at that time because of their stubborn resistance during the Allied War.

As a result of the conspiracy that arose, the people's tribune Publius Sulpicius, in agreement with Gaius Marius, introduced a bill on the distribution of citizens among all tribes. Because of this bill, Roman society was divided into two groups - the Romans, who sought to maintain their dominance in political life, and the Italics, new citizens who sought to win full and equal rights, guaranteeing their participation in political life on an equal footing.

Thus, the Italics wanted to make sure that there were absolutely no legal differences between them and the Romans.

If the proposed bill were approved, the plans of Gaius Maria and Sulpicius, since the new citizens, who were more numerous than the Romans, could themselves ensure the passage of this or that bill.

Many Romans, realizing this, resisted the passage of the bill. The consuls, Sulla and Quintus Pompey Rufus, also came out on the side of the Romans (old citizens). Especially actively opposed the Sulla bill.

Having received command of the army to wage war against Mithridates, he realized that Gaius Marius could easily take command of the army with the help of a bill passed by the Italics. Finally, the consuls, exercising their power, declared the period fixed for discussing the bill and voting on it as non-attendance days, which excluded the possibility of meetings.

Sulpicius did not wait until the end of non-attendance days, but ordered his supporters to come to the forum with hidden daggers.

Sulpicius demanded the speedy cancellation of non-attendance days, realizing that Sulla could at any moment head to Greece and take the army with him. The consuls refused, and then the supporters of Sulpicius drew their daggers and began to threaten the consuls.

Quintus Pompey managed to escape, and Sulla persuaded Sulpicius to let him go, promising to consider the situation. And only after the murder of the son of Quintus Pompey, who was also a relative of Sulla, by the supporters of Sulpicius, the non-attendance days were canceled. However, Sulla immediately after this went to the army waiting for him, trying to cross over to Greece as quickly as possible so that the decision to change the commander to Gaius Marius could not be carried out.

However, in Rome, Sulpicius managed to pass both bills - on the redistribution of the Italics among all the tribes and on the reappointment of the army commander for the war against Mithridates - before Sulla crossed the Adriatic Sea. According to Plutarch, Sulla was in Rome at the time of the passage of the law, and he had to rush to the army in order to get ahead of the people of Marius, who were instructed to establish control over the troops.

In an effort to regain command and exile, he turned his troops to Rome, having previously enlisted the support of the soldiers themselves. This was the first time that a magistrate used his troops to capture Rome.

Quintus Pompey Rufus joined Sulla on the way. In response to the question of the envoys of the Senate who came to Sulla about why he was marching with the army against his homeland, Sulla replied that he wanted to "liberate her from tyrants."

Although Sulla and Pompey subsequently promised the ambassadors that they would begin negotiations, instead they occupied the Esquiline and Colline gates and began to prepare for battle against the troops that Marius had managed to gather. The soldiers of Sulla who entered the city were subjected to scattered attacks by local residents, but the unrest was stopped by the threat of burning their houses.

In total, 6 legions participated on the side of Sulla. At the Esquiline Forum, two Roman armies clashed for the first time. Street fighting ensued, during which the supporters of Gaius Marius promised to give freedom to the slaves if they joined them, and also called on the Romans to speak out.

However, the slaves and townspeople did not fight, so the Marians, along with their supporters, were forced to flee the city under the onslaught of the regular army of Sulla and Quintus Pompey.

Despite the opportunities for sole control, Sulla sent an army from Rome to Capua, where she had to wait for him to cross to Greece, and he himself began to rule as before, as a consul.

The consuls legislated the repeatedly violated procedure, according to which only the bill that was discussed in the Senate could be sent to the popular assembly.

In the popular assembly, a return was made to voting by centuries, and not by tribes. Also, the tribunes of the people were deprived of many rights, and the orders of Sulpicius were canceled. Finally, the senate was replenished with 300 senators from among the most notable people.

At the same time, 12 people were expelled. Among them were Gaius Marius, Sulpicius and Gaius Marius the Younger. Marius and Sulpicius were also sentenced to death in absentia, and soon Sulpicius was already killed by his slave, whom Sulla ordered first to be released for assistance, and then executed for treason. Marius hid in the Minturnian swamps, shortly after which he fled to Africa. His son, Gaius Marius the Younger, also fled to Africa.

However, the supporters of Marius and Sulpicius who remained in Rome, as well as numerous Romans associated with Marius in one way or another, began to demand the annulment of the sentence of Marius and his return to Rome.

In addition, the people chose the opponents of Sulla as consuls for the year 87. From one of the two elected consuls, Lucius Cornelius Cinna, Sulla took the obligation to pursue policies in his interests, and he solemnly swore an oath to support the policy pursued by Sulla. In addition, under unclear circumstances (presumably on the orders of Gnaeus Pompey Strabo), the second consul Quintus Pompey Rufus was killed.

However, after taking office at the beginning of 87, Cinna spoke of the need to re-enact the law on the redistribution of the Italics. Also, Cinna, finally violating his oath, instructed one of the people's tribunes to begin legal prosecution against Sulla.

Information has been preserved that the reason for the change in Cinna's political orientation was a bribe of 300 talents he received from the Italians. But Sulla did not pay attention to the trial that had begun and, "wishing both the accuser and the judges a long life, he went to war with Mithridates."

In 87, Sulla arrived from Italy in Greece to take revenge on Mithridates for the shed Roman blood. It was also well known that Mithridates was very rich, and in the Greek cities that joined Mithridates there were a huge number of works of art, which at the beginning of the 1st century were already highly valued in Rome.

Sulla defeated the generals of Mithridates in the Athens area. Shortly thereafter, Sulla occupied Athens itself, finding a weakly fortified place in the city wall. After that, Sulla gave the city to the plunder of his soldiers, which resulted in the murder of many citizens, so that many Athenians committed suicide, expecting the imminent destruction of the city.

However, then Sulla, having taken the Acropolis, where the Athenian tyrant had strengthened, pardoned the city due to its glorious past. In two battles - at Chaeronea and at Orchomenus - he completely defeated the army of Pontus.

Then Sulla, having crossed over to Asia, found Mithridates in Dardanus pleading for mercy and ready to accept the world on any terms, which, however, did not prevent him from bargaining.

Having imposed tribute on him and confiscated part of the ships, he forced him to leave Asia and all other provinces, which he occupied by force of arms. Sulla freed the captives, punished defectors and criminals, and ordered that the king be content with the borders of his ancestors, that is, directly with Pontus.

At this time, the Marians were in charge in Italy, who managed to capture Rome and launched a campaign of terror against their opponents, including against the supporters of Sulla. Gnaeus Octavius, the legal consul, was killed in the forum, and his head was put on public display.

For the victory over Mithridates, Sulla received the right to triumph, but this happened only on January 27-28, 81 BC. e.

Having landed in Brundisium, Sulla, not having a numerical advantage, quickly subjugated southern Italy and, together with the nobles who joined him, who survived the years of the Marian terror (Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius, Mark Licinius Crassus, Gnaeus Pompey), defeated all the troops of the Marians.

The latter suffered a crushing defeat and were either killed during the war itself (like Gaius Marius the Younger) or expelled from Italy and subsequently killed outside of it (like Gnaeus Papirius Carbon and Gaius Norbanus).

Sulla came to power in 82. The question arose: how would Sulla rule - like Gaius Marius, Cinna and Carbone, that is, by indirect means, such as controlling the crowd with the help of terror, intimidation, or as a legally registered ruler, even as a king?

Sulla urged the Senate to elect the so-called interregnum - interrex, since there were no consuls then: Gnaeus Papirius Carbon died in Sicily, Gaius Marius the Younger - in Praeneste.

The Senate elected Lucius Valerius Flaccus, expecting him to propose choosing new consuls. However, Sulla instructed Flaccus to submit a proposal to the popular assembly to call for the election of a dictator.

At the same time, the dictatorial power should not have been limited by the traditional term of 6 months, but the dictatorship should continue "until Rome, Italy, the entire Roman state, shocked by internecine strife and wars, is strengthened."

However, the custom of electing a dictator on special occasions ceased 120 years ago (the last dictator was Gaius Servilius Geminus). At the same time, the proposal did not indicate that Sulla should have been chosen as dictator, although he himself did not hide this. Finally, Sulla, in one of his speeches, directly stated that it was he who would be useful to Rome at the present time.

Through the popular assembly, a decree was passed that not only relieved Sulla of responsibility for everything he had done before, but also for the future gave him the right to execute by death, confiscate property, establish colonies, build and destroy cities, give and take thrones. Sulla made Lucius Valerius Flaccus his head of the cavalry.

Proscriptions were introduced first.

Sulla drew up a proscriptive list of eighty people without communicating with any of the magistrates. There was an explosion of general indignation, and a day later Sulla announced a new list of two hundred and twenty people, then a third no less.

After that, he addressed the people with a speech and said that he included in the lists only those whom he remembered, and if someone escaped his attention, then he would make other such lists.

At the Forum, signs were posted with the names of those who should have been eliminated. The killer of the proscribed, who brought Sulla's head as evidence, received two talents (40 kg) of silver, if it was a slave, then he received freedom. Scammers also received gifts.

But those who dared to shelter the enemies of Sulla, death awaited. The sons and grandsons of the convicts were also deprived of civil honor, and their property was subject to confiscation in favor of the state.

Many of Sulla's associates (for example, Pompey, Crassus, Lucullus) amassed enormous wealth by selling property and by making rich people into proscriptions.

Proscriptions raged not only in Rome, but throughout all the cities of Italy. Neither the temples of the gods, nor the hearth of hospitality, nor the father's house protected from murder; husbands died in the arms of their spouses, sons in the arms of their mothers.

At the same time, those who fell victim to anger and enmity were only a drop in the ocean among those who were executed for the sake of their wealth. The executioners had reason to say that such and such was ruined by his huge house, this by the garden, another by warm bathing.

But the case of Lucius Catiline seems to be the most incredible. At a time when the outcome of the war was still in doubt, he killed his brother, and now he began to ask Sulla to enter the deceased into the proscription lists as alive. Sulla did just that.

In gratitude for this, Catiline killed a certain Marcus Marius, a member of a hostile party, and brought his head to Sulla, who was sitting in the Forum, and then went to Apollo's urn nearby and washed his hands.

Consequently, a great deal of attention in the preparation of proscriptions was paid to the property of those entered on the lists. Depriving the children and grandchildren of the rights to inherit the property of the murdered convincingly proves that proscriptions were arranged not only for the purpose of reprisals against political opponents, but also for the purpose of appropriating the property of the proscribed.

There was also the practice of adding a person to the proscription list without the consent of Sulla, because of which, in particular, Mark Licinius Crassus was removed from enrichment with the help of proscriptions.

At that time, the future perpetual dictator Gaius Julius Caesar was also under threat of death, but his influential relatives managed to persuade Sulla to spare him. According to Plutarch, Sulla said about Caesar to his associates: “You don’t understand anything if you don’t see that there are a lot of Maries in this boy.” Suetonius recorded a similar version

Sulla himself, as having the highest power and being a dictator, stood above the consuls. Before him, as before a dictator, there were 24 lictors with fasces, the same number accompanied the former kings. Numerous bodyguards surrounded Sulla. He began to abolish existing laws and instead issued others.

Among Sulla's most famous measures is the law on magistrates, the lex Cornelia de magistratibus, which established new age limits for those wishing to occupy the highest government positions and created some restrictions to curb a fast-moving career.

Thus, the age limit began to be 29 years for the quaestor (according to the law of Willius 180 BC - lex Villia annalis - this age was 27 years), 39 years for the praetor (33 years according to the law of Willia) and 42 years for the consul (36 years according to Willia's law). That is, between the performance of the office of quaestor and praetor, at least 10 years should have passed.

By the same law, Sulla also forbade holding the position of praetor before the post of quaestor, and the post of consul before the post of praetor (previously, these norms were often violated, since they had not yet been enshrined in law). In addition, this law was prohibited from holding the same position less than 10 years later.

Sulla also sharply reduced the influence of the position of people's tribunes, depriving it of any significance (in particular, the tribunes were deprived of the right to legislative initiative) and by law forbidding the people's tribune to hold any other position.

The consequence of this was that all those who valued their reputation or origin began to evade the post of tribune in the following time. Perhaps the reason for limiting the power and prestige of the popular tribunes for Sulla was the example of the brothers Tiberius and Gaius Gracchi, as well as Livius Drusus and Publius Sulpicius, who, from the point of view of the optimates and Sulla personally, caused a lot of evil to the state.

To the number of members of the senate, completely depopulated due to internecine strife and wars, Sulla added up to 300 new members from the most noble horsemen, and the vote of each of them was entrusted to the tribes. Sulla included in the composition of the national assembly, granting them freedom, over 10,000 of the youngest and strongest slaves who belonged to the previously killed Romans.

Sulla declared all of them Roman citizens, calling them Cornelii by his own name, in order to thereby be able to use the votes of 10,000 such members of the popular assembly, who were ready to carry out all his orders.

He intended to do the same with regard to the Italians: he endowed the soldiers of 23 legions (up to 120,000 people) who served in his army with a large amount of land in the cities, part of which had not yet been redistributed, part taken away as a fine from the cities.

It is also known that Sulla increased the number of priests in the priestly colleges.

It is believed that Sulla also legalized the circulation of the plated coin or even resumed its issuance. At the same time, Sulla intensified the fight against counterfeiters, which was supposed to symbolize the intensification of the struggle to stabilize the financial situation of the Roman state.

Sulla himself presented all his actions to the people as "the dispensation of the republic", that is, as the improvement of the unwritten Roman republican constitution.

In 79, Sulla, unexpectedly for everyone, left his post as perpetual dictator. At the same time, he openly declared that he was ready to give an account of all his actions, after which he appeared in the city publicly without lictors and bodyguards. Also, Sulla did not control the election of consuls for the year 78 and appeared on the forum during the elections as a private person.

Sulla did not take any action even though one of the consuls was Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, who was extremely hostile to Sulla and his reforms.

Having become a private man, Sulla, with great extravagance, began to set games for the people. The scope of these games was very wide: "the surplus of prepared supplies was so great that every day a lot of food was thrown into the river, and forty-year-old and even older wine was drunk." At the same time, Sulla himself violated the laws on the restriction of luxury, carried out earlier by himself.

At this time, Sulla developed symptoms of an unknown illness.

For a long time he did not know that he had ulcers in his intestines, and meanwhile his whole body was putrefied and began to be covered with a myriad of lice. Many were busy taking them off day and night, but what they managed to remove was only a drop in the ocean compared to what was born again.

All his clothes, bath, washing water, food were teeming with this decaying stream - this is how his illness developed. Many times a day he plunged into the water to wash his body and purify himself. But everything was useless.

It is currently believed that Sulla was ill with pubic pediculosis, which was combined with an obscure internal disease that complicated or made it impossible to complete treatment.

Sulla died in 78 BC. e. His death provoked a feud between his supporters and opponents. The consuls also belonged to these two groups - Quintus Lutatius Catulus Capitolinus supported the Sullans, and Mark Aemilius Lepidus, despite the fact that he became consul with the support of the Sullan Gnaeus Pompey, belonged to the anti-Sullans who survived the proscription and led the opponents of the solemn burial of Sulla. Meanwhile, it was decided to bury him at public expense on the Field of Mars.

Plutarch and Appian preserved the details of Sulla's burial. First, his body in royal garb on a golden bed was carried throughout Italy, and banners and fasces were worn before him. Then his soldiers in full armor began to flock to Rome. In Rome, the best orators delivered speeches in memory of him. On the last journey, the body of Sulla was accompanied by a huge procession.

His body was taken to the Field of Mars, where only kings were buried, on the shoulders of several of the most powerful senators. “The day turned out to be cloudy in the morning, they were waiting for rain, and the funeral procession started only at the ninth hour. But strong wind fanned the fire, a hot flame broke out, which engulfed the corpse entirely. When the fire was already dying down and there was almost no fire left, a downpour poured, which did not stop until the very night.

There is evidence that the inscription on Sulla's tombstone was composed by himself: "Here lies a man who, more than any other mortal, did good to his friends and evil to enemies."

Ancient authors differently assessed the activities carried out by Sulla, however, they characterized him as a bright ambiguous personality. In particular, luck was repeatedly attributed to him accompanying him in all matters (up to his own funeral).

Plutarch characterized Sulla as a man "changeable and disagreeing with himself." Plutarch also notes that Sulla was "tough in temper and vengeful by nature", but "for the sake of good, he knew how to restrain his anger, yielding to calculation."

According to Plutarch, Sulla had blue eyes and reddish spots on his face, giving him a menacing look.

In his youth, Sulla was the lover of the wealthy freedwoman Nikopol, from whom, after her death, he inherited property by will. The main biographer of Sulla Plutarch calls the first wife of Sulla Ilia, the second - Elia, the third - Clelia.

However, it has been repeatedly suggested that Julia (Elijah) is a spelling of the name Elia, distorted in the Greek tradition, or vice versa.

After a divorce from Clelia (the divorce was given under the pretext of her infertility), Sulla married Caecilia Metella, daughter of Lucius Caecilius Metellus Dalmaticus and widow of Marcus Aemilius Scaurus. Thanks to this marriage, Sulla became close to the Metelli, one of the most influential ancient Roman families at the end of the 2nd - beginning of the 1st century BC. e.

Soon after Sulla's resignation as dictator, Caecilia fell ill and died soon after. Sulla was for some reason restricted from communicating with the dying religious taboos (perhaps due to membership in the college of pontiffs), so he was unable to visit his dying spouse. After her death, Sulla violated the law he had issued on restrictions on expenses during the funeral.

Sulla married for the last time at the age of about 59, shortly before his death. His chosen one was Valeria Messala, whom he met at the gladiatorial games.

Passing by Sulla, behind his back, she stretched out her hand, pulled a piece of hair from his toga and proceeded to her place. At the surprised look of Sulla, Valeria replied: “Yes, nothing special, emperor, I just want a small share of your happiness for myself.” Sulla was pleased to hear this, and he obviously did not remain indifferent, because through the sent people he found out about the name of this woman, found out who she was from and how she lived
Plutarch. Sulla, 35".

From the first wife of Ilia / Julia / Elia, Sulla had a daughter, Cornelia. Clelia was given a divorce, the reason for which Sulla called her infertility, therefore, obviously, Sulla had no children from her.

Sulla's son Lucius (presumably from Metella), not having lived for six years, died shortly before the death of Cecilia Metella. After Caecilia gave birth to twins shortly before her death, Sulla violated the onomastic religious rites of his time to give the children the names Faust (Faust) and Cornelia Fausta (Cornelia Fausta), which were not used in Rome. At the same time, according to legend, the shepherd who discovered Romulus and Remus bore a similar name - Faustul (Favstul).

The last child born from Sulla was the girl Postumia (Postuma).

Sulla was the first person in Rome to use the legions given to him by the Senate to unleash a civil war and seize power. But although Sulla seized power with the help of the army (moreover, with the help of active military operations), he held it without the direct intervention of the troops.

Sulla was also the first to be elected dictator not for 6 months, as required by the unwritten Roman constitution, but "until Rome, Italy, the entire Roman power, shaken by internecine strife and wars, is strengthened." At the same time, he resigned ahead of schedule.

The measures taken by Sulla, for all their bloodiness, contributed to the stabilization of the situation in the state and the restoration of the influence of the senate after the upheavals. It is believed that Sulla pursued a policy that was beneficial primarily to wealthy landowners.

At the same time, many well-born, and therefore influential, senators from respected families (mainly those who, for various reasons, joined Maria and Cinna) were destroyed during proscriptions, and in their place were people who were personally devoted to Sulla.

In addition, the new senators, who came out mainly from horsemen, were much more actively involved in trade, which was previously considered an occupation unworthy of a patrician.

Moreover, the wealth of numerous families was concentrated in the hands of a small elite close to Sulla (suffice it to say that in the future the richest people in Rome, Crassus and Lucullus, became senators at this particular time).

Of particular note is the granting of land to 120,000 Sullan veterans. The land for allotments was found in Italy - taken from the tribes of the Samnites and Lucanians who were expelled and proscribed or hostile to Sulla.

This contributed not only to the expansion of small free landownership against the background of the previous rise of large farms with the use of slave labor, but also to the widespread Latinization of Italy.

Assessment of Sulla's activities in historiography

Sulla's constitution is the most important stage in the preparation of the state-legal formalization of imperial power.

Sulla's dictatorship, despite its short duration, dealt a serious blow to the plebs and its political position. Now there can be no talk of any consolidation of the plebs as an independent political force.

In Soviet historiography, we find a much more unanimous assessment of Sulla's activities. His class positions are clear: he was the defender of the interests of the senatorial aristocracy. The reforms he carried out brought Rome back to pre-Grakhan times.

The main weakness of his policy was that he, using new methods and techniques of political struggle - reliance on the army, perpetual dictatorship - sought to revive an already obsolete political form: the rule of the Senate oligarchy.

Sulla again won and established order in Rome through violence and bloodshed. Sulla exterminated many horsemen, silenced the tribunes of the people, and curbed the consuls.

Sulla (Sulla) (138-78 BC), Roman commander, consul 88. In 84 he defeated Mithridates VI. Having defeated Gaius Marius in the civil war, he became a dictator in 82, carried out mass repressions (see Proscriptions). At 79, he resigned.

Marxist view:

Sulla Lucius Cornelius Sulla (138 - 78 BC), Roman military and political figure. Moved forward as a military leader in the Yugurtin war 111-105. In 104-102 he participated in the war with the Teutons and Cimbri, in the Allied War 90-88 BC. e. in the 1st Mithridatic War 89-84 (see Mithridatic Wars of the 1st century BC). During the latter, taking Rome, he dealt with the supporters of Mary and transferred all power into the hands of the slave owners. aristocracy. Then he moved with an army to the East, in 86 captured Athens, in the same year he defeated Mithridates VI Eupator. In 84 he made peace with him. During the absence of S. supporters of Cinna and Maria again seized power in Rome. In 83 S. landed with an army in Italy, defeating the troops of his political. opponents, established a dictatorship, accompanied by cruel terror. An important pillar of the dictator's regime was former legionnaires settled in Italy in colonies, which were formed on lands confiscated from S.'s avenues. S.'s dictatorship testified to the deep crisis of Rome. slave owner republics. In 79 S. resigned, retaining influence on the political. life.

Used materials from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia in 8 volumes

"The first to draw up lists of those sentenced to death"

Lucius Cornelius Sulla (138-78 BC) - Roman commander and politician; came from a noble but impoverished patrician family. In 107, Sulla became a quaestor under Gaius Marius, in 104 he became a legate, and the next year a military tribune. In 102, as legate of Quintus Catullus, he took part in the campaign against the Cimbrians. In 97, Sulla negotiated with the Parthians and installed Ariobarzanes I on the throne of Cappadocia. In 90, Sulla successfully acted against the Marsi as a legate of the consul Lucius Julius Caesar in the Allied War of 91-88. In April 89, he defeated Cluentius at Nola, and in the summer of the same year he conquered the rebellious cities of Campania and Samnium.

In 88, Sulla was elected consul and appointed commander in chief in the war against Mithridates VI of Eupator. Gaius Marius achieved his removal. Then Sulla fled from Rome to the troops waiting in Campania to be sent to the East, and led them to Rome. Guy Marius and his followers were expelled from the capital, but Sulla could not completely stabilize the situation. In the spring of 87, at the head of six legions, he crossed over to Greece, defeated the troops of Mithridates VI and laid siege to Athens. At the beginning of March 86, Athens fell, and Sulla was able to march to the north of Greece. In the battle of Chaeronea, he utterly defeated the 120,000-strong army of the Pontic commander Archelaus. When the Romans marched into Thessaly, a Pontic landing force landed in their rear. Sulla was forced to turn back and at Orchomenus he again defeated the Pontics. In the autumn of 86, through Macedonia and Thrace, he went to the Hellespont. At the beginning of 85, Sulla sent his army to Asia and signed a peace treaty with Mithridates VI in Dardane.

Having arranged affairs in the Asian provinces, Sulla began to prepare for an expedition to Italy, where the supporters of Gaius Marius seized power. At the beginning of 83, Sulla's army landed at Brundisium and moved into Campania. In the battle near Mount Tifata, Sulla defeated the army of Gaius Norbanus. The legionnaires of Lucius Scipio went over to his side without a fight. In Cisalpine Gaul, the commanders of Sulla, Gnaeus Pompeii and Quintus Metellus Pius, also successfully operated. In the spring of 82, the civil war resumed. Sulla defeated Gaius Marius Jr. and locked him up in Praeneste. The way to Rome was open. On November 1, 82, Sulla defeated the Samnite army at the Colline Gates of the capital, and his commanders finished off the last forces of the Marians in Cisalpine Gaul. Sulla proclaimed himself dictator and waged a campaign of repression against his opponents. His political course was distinguished by a bright conservative orientation. In 79, Sulla unexpectedly resigned his power and returned to private life. He died at his villa in Cum from a serious illness in 78.

Gaius Sallust Crispus on Sulla:

"Sulla belonged to a noble patrician family, to its branch, already almost extinct due to the inactivity of their ancestors. In the knowledge of Greek and Latin literature, he was not inferior to the most learned people, he was distinguished by great endurance, was greedy for pleasures, but even more for glory. At his leisure, he loved indulge in luxury, but carnal pleasures still never distracted him from business, although in family life he could have behaved more worthily. much, and most of all for money. And although before the victory in the civil war he was the happiest of all, yet his luck was never greater than his perseverance, many asked themselves whether he was more brave or happier ...
When Lucius Sulla, having seized power in the state by force of arms, ended badly after a good start, everyone began to grab and drag; one wanted to have a house, land - the other, and the winners knew neither measure nor restraint, they committed disgusting and cruel crimes against citizens. In addition, Lucius Sulla, in order to maintain the loyalty of the army, at the head of which he stood in Asia, contrary to the custom of his ancestors, kept him in luxury and too freely.

Appian on Sulla:

"Sulla sentenced to death up to forty senators and about one thousand six hundred so-called horsemen. Sulla, it seems, was the first to draw up lists of those sentenced to death and at the same time assigned gifts to those who would kill them, money - to those who would inform, punishments - who would cover those sentenced. Few later he added others to the scribbled senators, all of whom, being captured, suddenly died where they were overtaken - in houses, in back streets, in temples, some in fear rushed to Sulla and were beaten to death at his feet, others were dragged away they trampled on him. The fear was so great that none of those who saw all these horrors even dared to utter a word. Some suffered exile, others confiscation of property. Those who fled the city were everywhere searched for by detectives and whoever they wanted were put to death. "

Velleius Paterculus about Sulla: "The power that his predecessors used before to protect the state from the greatest dangers, he used as an opportunity for immoderate cruelty."

Used materials of the book: Tikhanovich Yu.N., Kozlenko A.V. 350 great. A brief biography of the rulers and generals of antiquity. The Ancient East; Ancient Greece; Ancient Rome. Minsk, 2005.

Nicknamed Lucky

Sulla Lucius Cornelius, nicknamed the Happy (Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix), Roman politician and dictator, notorious for the so-called proscriptions, that is, numerous executions without trial and investigation of thousands of Roman citizens.

Origin and early career

Born into a noble but impoverished family. He received an excellent education. In his youth, he did a lot of science, was fond of the Greek language and literature. He was the first to bring the writings of Aristotle to Italy. With numerous friends he was cheerful and sociable, distinguished by unbridled passions, was fond of hunting and fishing.

In 107, as a quaestor, he fought in Africa under the command of Gaius Marius during the Jugurthian War. He became famous for the fact that in negotiations with the Moorish king Bokh, by cunning, he achieved the extradition of Jugurtha. In 104, as a legate, he fought under the command of Marius with the Teutons, under the command of Catulus - with the Cimbri. In 93 he received the post of praetor, as propraetor of Cilicia he won the first victory over the king of Pontus Mithridates VI Eupator. Taking part in the Allied War with Marius, he won brilliant victories over the Marsians and the Samnites, causing Marius' dissatisfaction with his successes.

War with Mithridates

As a reward for victories in 88, he receives a consulate and an army to wage war with Mithridates. Marius, having at that time achieved the position of commander-in-chief in the war with Mithridates, unsuccessfully tried to lure the soldiers of Sulla. Sulla sent an army to Rome, Marius and his supporter Sulpicius fled. In 87, Sulla went to Greece, where the following year he defeated Archelaus (commander Mithridates) at the battle of Chaeronea. In 84, Sulla concludes a truce with Archelaus, but then, in view of the intrigues of Mithridates, he sends the army to Asia, where he concludes peace with Mithridates.

Return to Rome

Meanwhile, Marius captures Rome and arranges a bloody massacre of members of the aristocratic party. His sudden death allows Sulla to return to Italy in the spring of 83 and, after a series of battles with the supporters of Marius, enter Rome in November 82, having previously ordered that the captured political opponents be cut to pieces in front of the eyes of the Roman senators at the temple of Bellona. With the help of proscriptions (special lists of outlawed citizens), he begins the wholesale extermination of the Maria party. According to numerous denunciations, thousands of Roman citizens were executed, whose property was confiscated in favor of Sulla and informers. Some of the latter thus acquired great fortunes. Sulla ordered the heads of the murdered senators to be exhibited in the Forum for general intimidation. Sulla himself takes the title of dictator and surrounds himself with guards from his own freedmen (the so-called 10 thousand Cornelii).

Sulla is a dictator

As dictator, Sulla passed a series of laws that ensured an aristocratic form of government. He cancels many decisions of the Gracchi, depriving, in particular, the equestrian class of judicial powers and returning them to the senate. Plebeian tribunes and censors were deprived of almost all their rights. There was also a law on insulting the greatness of the Roman people, which provided for criminal penalties for a number of political crimes. Especially known are the so-called "laws of Cornelius" in the field of legal proceedings and criminal law, many of which survived until the 6th century. n. e. and entered the Digests of Justinian, as well as laws in the field of sacred law, designed to restore the "mores of the ancestors" (mores maiorum).

Death

Having established calm in the state with the most severe measures, Sulla at the beginning of 79 publicly resigns his powers as a dictator and even invites the people to bring themselves to justice for their actions. However, out of fear, no one dares to do so. Sulla retires to his estate near Puteoli, indulging in drunkenness and debauchery, engaging in agriculture and writing memoirs completed after the death of Sulla by his freedman Epikad. His death was terrible. According to the story of Plutarch, rotting alive, he took baths many times a day, trying to get rid of suppuration and insects that ate him, but all efforts were in vain. Having ordered the treasury to strangle a certain Roman magistrate Granius in front of his eyes for non-payment of a debt, Sulla, shouting loudly, began to spit blood and, after spending a hard night, died by morning. On the Field of Mars, he erected a monument to himself, the inscription on which said that no one did more good to friends and evil to enemies than Sulla. This monument was not dared to be removed even after his death.

Leonid Kofanov

Copyright (c) "Cyril and Methodius"

Sovereign dictator of Rome

Lucius Cornelius Sulla was born into an impoverished family of a Roman patrician who belonged to the noble aristocratic family of the Cornelius. He received a good education at home, choosing for himself military career. It was in this field that the ambitious Sulla dreamed of advancing in ancient Rome, in which he surpassed himself, becoming its sovereign dictator.

As a military leader, Sulla became famous during the Yugurtin war of 111-105 BC. e. Then Rome fought against Jugurtha, the nephew of the deceased Numidian king Mitsips, who, in the struggle for the throne, killed two of his sons-heirs. Jugurtha became ruler of Numidia against the decision of the Roman Senate. In addition, his soldiers, during the capture of the city of Cirta in 113, killed the entire population there, among which there were many Roman citizens.

In 104-102, Lucius Cornelius Sulla participated in the war with the Germanic tribes - the Teutons and Cimbri, who appeared as early as 113 in northeastern Italy. After the defeat of the Roman army in the battle with the Germans at Arauosin, the Senate appointed Gaius Marius as its new commander-in-chief. In 102, at the Battle of the Aquas of the Sextievs, he first defeated the Teutonic army, and the next year at Vercelli, the Cimbri. The remnants of these Germanic tribes were sold into slavery. The war against the Teutons and Cimbri added military glory to Sulla. He became a popular military commander among the Roman legionaries.

In the 90s BC. e. on the eastern border of Ancient Rome in Asia Minor, the Pontic kingdom is being strengthened. Its ruler Mithridates VI Eupator openly challenges the mighty Rome. The Roman Senate decides to send troops to Greece under the command of Lucius Cornelius Sulla, who was elected consul in 88.

At this time, Gaius Marius appears on the political scene, who wants to lead the eastern campaign. He begins to fight for the position of chief commander of Rome with the help of the people's tribune Sulpicius Rufa, who submits a number of relevant bills to the Senate. Relying on the veterans of the legions of Mary and part of the Roman aristocracy, Sulpicius seeks the adoption of the laws he proposed.

Lucius Cornelius Sulla was victorious: he repealed the laws of Sulpicius and hurried to the East at the head of the Roman army. In 87, the next annual election of consuls was held in Rome. The consuls were an adherent of Sulla Octavius ​​and his opponent Cinna.

While Sulla fought in the East, power in Rome was seized by his enemies Gaius Marius and Cinna, who in 86 were elected consuls. When the fugitive Marians returned to Rome, they staged a terrible massacre of their opponents there. The detachment of slaves hired by Marius was especially raging, and Cinna was forced to order the slaughter of this entire detachment of slaves.

After winning the war in the East, Lucius Cornelius Sulla began to prepare for a struggle for power in the Eternal City itself. First of all, he attracted to his side the army of the Marian democrats, who ended up in Greece, in Pergamon. This was done without a fight, and the quaestor Gaius Flavius ​​Fimbrius, who commanded the troops of Marius in Greece, committed suicide. After that, Sulla decided to start a civil war in Rome.

In the spring of 83, Sulla landed at Brindisi at the head of an army of 40,000 loyal to him. Gaius Marius mobilized more than 100 thousand of his supporters, primarily from among the Roman plebs, the Samnites, the inhabitants of the Samnium region, took the side of the Marians. In the Eternal City, the Marians began to form new legions.

In 83, at Mount Tifata near the city of Capua, a major battle took place between the troops of Sulla and the Marians. The legions of the Sullans defeated the army of the consul Kai Norban. The Marians were forced to hide from the victors behind the fortress walls of Capua. The pursuers did not dare to storm the city in order to avoid heavy losses.

Another battle took place near Sacripont. Here, the legions under the command of Lucius Cornelius Sulla himself were opposed by the 40,000-strong army of Maria the Younger. The battle was short. Sulla's veteran legionaries broke the resistance of Gaius Marius' poorly trained recruits and put them to flight. More than half of them were killed or captured by the Sullans.

On November 1, 82, the last major battle of the civil war on Italian soil took place at the Roman Colline Gate. The Marians and Samnites were commanded by Pontius Celesinus, who dared not let Sulla's army into Rome. The battle went on all night. Yet the experience, combat training and discipline of the legions prevailed. In the end, the Marians took to flight; 4,000 of them were captured.

Entering Rome, Lucius Cornelius Sulla did exactly the same as his opponent Gaius Marius did on a similar occasion.

The dictatorship of Lucius Cornelius Sulla was the first step towards the establishment of imperial power in Ancient Rome. It began with the mass destruction of his political opponents.

Having become a dictator, Lucius Cornelius Sulla published lists of people to be destroyed - proscriptions. The number of these Roman citizens reached 5,000. The children of Sulla's victims were deprived of Roman citizenship. Any help to people who fell into proscription was punishable by death. For denunciation of their proscribed masters, slaves received freedom, and free citizens received a large monetary reward.

Having strengthened the power of the Roman Senate and his supporters in it, Lucius Cornelius Sulla decided to hold free elections and in 79 voluntarily resigned his dictatorial powers. At the same time, until the last days, he retained a huge influence on the political life of Rome. Sulla's refusal from dictatorial power was unexpected for his contemporaries and incomprehensible to ancient and later historians.

Characterizing Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Roman historians note a number of contradictions in his personality. Sulla enjoyed extraordinary prestige among the legionnaires, but he himself was a selfish and cold man. The desire to restore the republic was combined with his disdain for Roman customs. In Greek cities, for example, he appeared in Greek dress, which Roman magistrates did not usually do. Greedy for money, considering all the confiscated property of the condemned to be his property, the dictator was at the same time a wasteful person.

Site materials used http://100top.ru/encyclopedia/

Literature:

Plutarch. Comparative biographies. M., 1964. T. 2. S. 119-153.

Gulia G. Sulla. M., 1972.

Appian. Civil wars. 1. 46-107 // Roman Wars. SPb., 1994.

Carcopino J. Sulla ou la monarchie manquee. Paris, 1931.

Read further:

Bikerman E. Chronology of the ancient world. Middle East and antiquity. Publishing house "Nauka", Main edition of oriental literature, Moscow, 1975

I. WHEN Sulla seized power, he could neither threaten nor promise
induce Caesar to divorce Cornelia, daughter of Cinna, who was at one time
sole ruler of Rome; so Sulla confiscated Cornelia's dowry.
The reason for Sulla's hatred of Caesar was the kinship of the latter with Mary, for
Marius the Elder was married to Julia, Caesar's aunt; Marius was born from this marriage
The younger, who was therefore Caesar's cousin. Busy
at first with numerous murders and urgent matters, Sulla did not pay attention to
Caesar's attention, but he, not content with this, spoke publicly, seeking
priesthood, although he himself barely reached adolescence. Sulla
opposed this and made it so that Caesar failed. He
even intended to destroy Caesar, and when they told him that it was pointless
kill such a boy, replied: "You do not understand anything if you do not see,
that there are many Maries in this boy." When Caesar learned about these words
Sulla, he hid for a long time, wandering in the land of the Sabines. But once,
when he fell ill and was being carried from one house to another, he stumbled
at night on a detachment of Sullan warriors who examined this area in order to
apprehend all those in hiding. Having given the head of the detachment Cornelius two talents,
Caesar achieved that he was released, and immediately, having reached the sea, he sailed to
Bithynia, to King Nicomedes.
After spending some time here, he is on his way back to the island of Pharmacussa
was captured by pirates, who even then had a large fleet and with
with the help of their countless ships dominated the sea. (II). When
the pirates demanded a ransom of twenty talents from him, Caesar laughed,
declaring that they did not know who they had captured, and himself offered to give them
fifty talents. Then, sending his people to various cities for
money, he remained among these fierce Cilicians with only one friend and
two servants; despite this, he behaved so arrogantly that whenever
going to rest, he sent orders to the pirates so that they would not make noise. Thirty
eight days he stayed with the pirates, behaving as if they were his
bodyguards, and he was not their prisoner, and without the slightest fear amused himself and
joked with them. He wrote poems and speeches, recited them to pirates and those who did not
expressed his admiration, called ignoramuses and barbarians to their faces, often with
laughingly threatening to hang them. Those willingly listened to these free speeches, seeing
in them is a manifestation of complacency and playfulness. However, as soon as they arrived
ransom money from Miletus and Caesar, having paid them, was released, he immediately
equipped the ships and left the Milesian harbor against the pirates. He got them
still anchored off the island and captured most of them.
He took the captured wealth for himself as booty, and imprisoned people in
prison in Pergamon. He himself went to Yunk, the governor of Asia, finding that
it is for him, as praetor, to punish the captured pirates. However, Junk
looking with envy at the seized money (for there were a lot of them), declared,
that he would take up the case of the captives when he had time; then
Caesar, saying goodbye to him, went to Pergamum, ordered the pirates to be withdrawn and
crucify every single one, as he often predicted to them on the island when they
considered his words a joke.
III. MEANWHILE, Sulla's power was waning, and Caesar's friends
began to call him to Rome. However, Caesar first went to Rhodes, to school
Apollonius, son of Molon, from whom Cicero also studied and who was famous not
only by his oratory, but also by his moral virtues.
Caesar is said to have been naturally gifted in the highest degree
to eloquence in the state field and zealously exercised his
talent, so that, undoubtedly, he belonged to the second place in this
art; however, he refused to excel in eloquence, caring more
about becoming the first through power and force of arms; being busy
military and civilian enterprises, with the help of which he subjugated
state, he did not reach the limit in oratory, which was
he was given by nature. Later, in his work against
writings of Cicero on Cato, he himself asked not to compare this word of a warrior with
skillful speech of a gifted orator who devoted a lot of time
perfecting your gift.
IV. ON ARRIVAL in Rome, Caesar brought Dolabella to trial on charges of
extortion in the provinces, and many of the Greek cities presented him
witnesses. Dolabella, however, was acquitted. To thank the Greeks for
their zeal, Caesar undertook to conduct their business, which they began with the praetor
Macedonian Mark Lucullus against Publius Antony, accusing him of
bribery. Caesar handled the matter so energetically that Antony turned to
a complaint to the tribunes of the people in Rome, referring to the fact that in Greece he did not
is on an equal footing with the Greeks. In Rome itself, Caesar, thanks to his
eloquent defense speeches in the courts, achieved brilliant success, and
with his politeness and affectionate courtesy, he won the love of the common people,
for he was more attentive to everyone than might have been expected in his
age. Yes, and his dinners, feasts and a generally brilliant lifestyle contributed to
the gradual growth of his influence in the state. At first, the envious of Caesar did not>
paid attention to it, believing that it would be forgotten immediately after
when his funds run out. Only when it was too late, when this power is already so
grew up that it was difficult for her to oppose anything, and went straight
to overthrow the existing system, they realized that it was impossible to count
an insignificant start in no matter. That which is not nipped in the bud
increases rapidly, for in its very neglect it finds conditions for
unhindered development. Cicero seems to have been the first to believe
suspicious and fearsome activities of Caesar, in appearance
calm, like a smooth sea, and recognized in this man a bold and
decisive character, hiding under the mask of affection and cheerfulness. He
said that in all the thoughts and manner of actions of Caesar, he sees
tyrannical intentions. "But," he added, "when I see how carefully
his hair is styled and how he scratches his head with one finger, I always
it seems that this man cannot be plotting such a crime as
the overthrow of the Roman state system". But more on that later.
V. The FIRST proof of the love of the people for him Caesar received at that time,
when, seeking the post of military tribune at the same time as Gaius Pompilius,
was elected by a greater number of votes than that, the second, and even more obvious,
when, after the death of his aunt Julia, wife of Maria, he not only spoke in
forum a brilliant eulogy of the deceased, but also dared to put up during
funeral images of Mary, which were shown for the first time since the arrival
to the power of Sulla, since Marius and his supporters were declared enemies
states. Some raised their voices against this act, but the people shouted
and with loud applause showed his approval to Caesar, who later
for such a long time, as it were, returned the honor of Mary from Hades to Rome.
The Romans used to hold funeral speeches during the burial of old women in
custom, but there was no such custom with respect to the young, and the first to do this
Caesar when his wife died. And this caused the approval of the people and attracted
his sympathy for Caesar, as a man of meek and noble disposition. After
funeral of his wife, he went to Spain as a quaestor under the praetor Veterus,
whom he always revered, and whose son later, when he himself became praetor,
made a questor. Returning after the departure of this post, he married
third marriage in Pompeii, having a daughter from Cornelia, whom he later gave
married Pompey Magnus.
Spending lavishly with his money and buying, it seemed, at the cost of the greatest spending
short and fragile glory, in reality, acquiring the greatest blessings for
cheap price, he is said to have had
debts for one thousand three hundred talents. Appointed caretaker of the Appian Way,
he spent a lot of his own money, then, being aedile, put up three hundred
twenty pairs of gladiators, and lavish expenses for theaters, ceremonies and dinners
eclipsed all its predecessors. But the people, for their part, became
so disposed towards him that everyone sought out new positions and honors,
with which Caesar could be rewarded.
VI. ROME was then divided into two camps - adherents of Sulla, who had
great strength, and supporters of Mary, who were completely defeated,
humiliated and eked out a miserable existence. To re-strengthen and lead
the Marians, Caesar, when memories of his generosity in the office of aedile
were still fresh, he brought them to the Capitol at night and set the
images of Mary and the goddesses of Victory carrying trophies. The next morning the view
these glittering gold and extremely skillfully made images, inscriptions
which told about the victories over the Cimbri, caused the viewers to feel
astonishment at the courage of the man who erected them (his name, of course, is not
remained unknown). Word of this soon spread, and the Romans
ran to look at the pictures. At the same time, some shouted that Caesar
plotting tyranny, restoring honors buried by laws and
decrees of the Senate, and that he is testing the people, wanting to know whether they are ready
the one, bribed by his generosity, dutifully endure his jokes and undertakings. Marianas
on the contrary, appearing at once in multitudes, they cheered each other up and with
applause filled the Capitol; many of them shed tears of joy
at the sight of the image of Marius, and they extolled Caesar with the greatest praises,
as the only person who is worthy of kinship with Mary. That's why
on this occasion, a meeting of the senate was convened, and Lutacius Catulus, who then enjoyed
the greatest influence among the Romans, made an accusation against Caesar, throwing
famous phrase: "So, Caesar encroaches on the state no longer by
digging, but with siege engines. "But Caesar so skillfully acted in his
defense that the Senate was satisfied, and Caesar's supporters were even more
bolder and urged him not to retreat from anything in his plans, for
the support of the people will ensure its primacy and victory over its opponents.
VII. Meanwhile, the high priest Metellus died, and two famous people,
who enjoyed great influence in the Senate, - Servilius of Isauria and Catulus, -
fought with each other, seeking this position. Caesar didn't back down.
them and also put forward his candidacy in the People's Assembly. It seemed that
all applicants enjoy equal support, but Catulus, because of the high
position that he occupied, more than others feared an unclear outcome of the struggle
and therefore began negotiations with Caesar, offering him a large sum of money if
he refuses to compete. Caesar, however, replied that he would continue
struggle, even if it means taking on even more debt. In a day
elections, saying goodbye to his mother, who shed tears, - seeing him off to
door, he said: "Today, mother, you will see your son or the supreme
priest, or an exile." In the elections, Caesar won and this inspired
the senate and the nobility fear that he will be able to captivate the people to any audacity.
Therefore, Piso and Catulus reproached Cicero for sparing Caesar, who was
implicated in the Catalina conspiracy. As you know, Catiline intended not only
to overthrow the existing system, but also to destroy all power and produce
complete revolution. He himself left the city when only
insignificant evidence, and the most important plans were still hidden, Lentula
He also left Cethega in Rome, so that they continued to weave a conspiracy. unknown
did Caesar secretly support and express sympathy with this
people, but in the senate, when they were completely exposed and the consul Cicero
asked each senator his opinion on the punishment of the guilty, all
favored the death penalty, until the turn came to Caesar, who
made a premeditated speech, stating that killing people without trial,
outstanding in origin and dignity, unjustly and not in
the custom of the Romans, unless absolutely necessary. If, further to
complete victory over Catalina, they will be detained in Italian
cities that Cicero himself can choose, then later the senate will be able to
atmosphere of peace and tranquility to decide the fate of each of them.
VIII. THIS proposal seemed so philanthropic and was so
strongly and convincingly justified that not only those who spoke after
Caesar, joined him, but many of those who had spoken earlier became
renounce your opinion and support Caesar's proposal as long as
the turn did not reach Cato and Catulus. These same began to object ardently, and Cato
even expressed suspicion against Caesar in his speech and spoke out against him
with all sharpness. Finally, it was decided to execute the conspirators, and when Caesar
left the Senate building, then a lot of
runaway youths from among those who were then guarding Cicero. But, as reported,
Curio, covering Caesar with his toga, safely brought him out, and he himself
Cicero, when the young men looked around, stopped them with a sign, or being afraid of the people,
or generally considering such a murder unjust and illegal. If everyone
this is true, then I do not understand why Cicero in his essay on his consulate
doesn't say anything about it. He was later accused of not
took advantage of the great opportunity then presented to get rid of
Caesar, but was afraid of the people, unusually attached to Caesar. This
affection showed itself a few days later, when Caesar came to the senate,
to defend against raised suspicions, and was met with a hostile
noise. Seeing that the meeting was dragging on longer than usual, the people shouted
ran and surrounded the building, urgently demanding to let Caesar go.
Therefore also Cato, greatly fearing the rebellion of the poor, who, laying
hopes for Caesar, inflamed the whole people, persuaded the Senate to establish
monthly bread distributions for the poor. It added to other expenses.
new state - in the amount of seven million five hundred thousand drachmas annually, but
on the other hand, it averted the great danger that directly threatened, since it deprived
Caesar of most of his influence just at the time he was about to
take the position of praetor and, as a result, was to become even more dangerous.
IX. HOWEVER, the year of his praetorship passed quietly, and only in his own house
Caesar had an unfortunate incident. There was a man from among the old
nobility, known for their wealth and eloquence, but in outrage and insolence
not inferior to any of the famous libertines. He was in love with Pompey
Caesar's wife, and was reciprocated. But women's rooms are strictly
guarded, and the mother of Caesar Aurelius, a respectable woman, with her constant
watching her daughter-in-law made dating lovers difficult and dangerous. At
The Romans have a goddess whom they call the Good, and the Greeks the Feminine. Phrygians
give her as their own, considering the wife of their king Midas, the Romans claim that
this is the nymph Dryad, the wife of a Faun, according to the Greeks, she is one of the mothers
Dionysus, whose name must not be named. Therefore, the women participating in it
feast, they cover the tent with vines, and at the feet of the goddess is placed, in
according to myth, the sacred snake. No man can
attend the festival and even be in the house where he copes
triumph; only women perform sacred rites, in many ways, as they say,
similar to Orphic. When the day of the feast comes, the consul or praetor,
whose house he manages, must leave the house with all the men
his wife, having received the house, performs the sacraments. The main part of them
takes place at night, accompanied by games and music.
X. In that year Pompey celebrated the feast, and Clodius, who had not yet
beards, and therefore, hoping to remain unnoticed, appeared there,
disguised as a harpist and indistinguishable from a young woman. He found
door unlocked and was safely led into the house by one of the maids,
initiated into the mystery, which went ahead to inform Pompey.
Since she did not return for a long time, Clodius could not stand waiting on one
the place where he had been left, and began to make his way forward through the big house,
avoiding brightly lit places. But the maid of Aurelius ran into him and,
believing that a woman was in front of her, she began to invite him to take part in the games
and, in spite of his resistance, she drew him to the others, asking who
he and where. When Clodius replied that he was expecting Abra (that was the name of that
maid of Pompeii), his voice betrayed him, and the maid of Aurelius threw herself into the light, to
crowd, and began to shout that she had found a man. All women were
frightened by this, but Aurelius, having stopped the celebration of the sacraments and covered the shrines,
ordered the doors to be locked and began to go around the whole house with lamps in
looking for Claudia. Finally they found him hiding in the room of a maid who
helped him into the house, and the women who discovered him drove him out.
The women, having gone home, told their husbands about
happened. The next day, a rumor spread throughout Rome that
Clodius committed blasphemy and is guilty not only before those offended by him, but also
before the city and the gods. One of the tribunes of the people publicly accused Clodius of
wickedness, and the most influential senators opposed him, accusing him of
along with other vile debauchery in connection with his own sister,
wife of Lucullus. But the people opposed their efforts and accepted Clodius under
protection, which brought him great benefit in court, for the judges were frightened and
trembled before the black. Caesar immediately divorced Pompey. However, being
summoned to court as a witness, he stated that he knew nothing
about what Claudius is accused of. This statement seemed very
strange, and the accuser asked him: “But why then did you divorce your
wife?" "Because," answered Caesar, "that even
a shadow of suspicion." Some say that he answered as he really thought,
others - that he did it out of pleasing the people, who wanted to save Clodius.
Clodius was acquitted, as the majority of the judges filed in the vote
signs with an illegible signature so that condemnation does not incur wrath
rabble, and justification - infamy among the nobles.
XI. AFTER the praetorship, Caesar received the province of Spain in control. So
how he could not come to an agreement with his creditors, shouting
besieging him and opposing his departure, he turned for help
to Crassus, the richest of the Romans. Crassus needed the strength and energy of Caesar
to fight against Pompey; so he satisfied the most persistent and
Caesar's inexorable creditors and, having given guarantee for the sum of eight hundred
thirty talents, provided Caesar with the opportunity to go to the provinces.
It is said that when Caesar crossed the Alps and passed by
poor town with an extremely small barbarian population, its
friends asked with a laugh: "Is there really competition here because of
positions, disputes about primacy, strife among the nobility?" "As for me, -
Caesar answered them with all seriousness - then I would rather be the first
here than the second in Rome."
Another time, already in Spain, reading at your leisure something written about
deeds of Alexander, Caesar plunged into thought for a long time, and
then even shed a tear. When surprised friends asked him why, he
answered: “Does it not seem to you sufficient cause for sorrow that in
At my age, Alexander already ruled over so many nations, and I still haven't
did a great job!"
XII. IMMEDIATELY upon his arrival in Spain, he developed a vigorous activity.
Having added ten more to his twenty cohorts within a few days,
he marched with them against the Callaic and Lusitanians, whom he defeated, having reached,
then to the Outer Sea and subjugated several tribes previously not subject to
the Romans. Having achieved such success in military affairs, Caesar led no worse
and civil: he established harmony in the cities and, above all, settled disputes
between lenders and debtors. Namely, he ordered that from the annual
one third of the debtor's income remained to him, the rest went to lenders,
until the debt is paid off. Having done these deeds, which received
general approval, Caesar left the province, where he himself became rich and
gave the opportunity to enrich himself during campaigns to his soldiers, who
proclaimed him emperor.
XIII. PERSONS seeking triumph were to remain outside Rome, and
seeking a consular position - to be present in the city. Caesar, who
was just at the time of the consular elections, did not know what to prefer, and
therefore appealed to the Senate with a request to allow him to solicit consular
positions in absentia, through friends. Cato was the first to oppose this
demands, insisting on the observance of the law. When he saw that Caesar
managed to win over many in his favour, then, in order to delay the permission
question, gave a speech that lasted all day. Then Caesar decided
recoil. - zases from triumph and seek the post of consul. So he arrived at
Rome and immediately took a deft step, misleading everyone except
Cato. He managed to reconcile Pompey and Crassus, two people who enjoyed
greatest influence in Rome. By the fact that Caesar, instead of the former enmity, united
their friendship, he put the power of both at the service of himself and under
under the cover of this philanthropic act, he made, imperceptibly for everyone,
real coup d'état. For the cause of civil wars was not
the enmity of Caesar and Pompey, as most people think, but to a greater extent their
friendship when they first united to destroy the power of the aristocracy, and
then rose against each other. Cato, who is often true
predicted the outcome of events, acquired for this at first a reputation for being quarrelsome and
grumpy person, and later - the glory of an adviser, although reasonable, but
unhappy.
XIV. SO, Caesar, supported on both sides, thanks to friendship with
Pompey and Crassus, succeeded in the elections and was honorably proclaimed
consul together with Calpurnius Bibulus. As soon as he took office,
out of a desire to please the mob, introduced bills more befitting
to some insolent tribune of the people, rather than to a consul, bills
proposed the withdrawal of colonies and the distribution of land. In the Senate all the best citizens
spoke out against this, and Caesar, who had long been looking for a reason for this,
swore loudly that the callousness and arrogance of the senators forced him
against his will to appeal to the people for joint action. With these words
he went to the forum. Here, placing Pompey next to him on one side, with
the other, Crassus, asked whether they approved of the proposed laws. When they
answered in the affirmative, Caesar turned to them with a request to help him against
those who threaten to oppose these bills sword in hand. Both
promised him their support, and Pompey added that against those who raised their swords he
will come out not only with a sword, but also with a shield. These words upset the aristocrats,
who considered this speech extravagant, childish speech, did not
befitting the dignity of Pompey himself and dropping respect for the senate, but
people really liked them.
In order to use the power of Pompey even more freely for their own purposes,
Caesar gave his daughter Julia to him, although she was already engaged to
Servilius Caepio, to the latter he promised the daughter of Pompey, who also did not
was free, for she was betrothed to Faustus, the son of Sulla. A little later myself
Caesar married Calpurnia, daughter of Piso, whom he made consul on
next year. This caused great indignation of Catan, who declared that there was no
strength to endure these people who, by marriage unions, obtain the highest power in
state and with the help of women transfer troops, provinces and
positions.
Bibulus, Caesar's consular comrade, resisted with all his might.
his bills; but since he achieved nothing, and even with Cato
risked being killed on the forum, then locked himself at home and did not appear until
expiration of the term of office. Pompey soon after his marriage filled
forum with armed warriors and thereby helped the people to achieve the approval of laws,
and to Caesar to receive both Gaul - Prealpine and
Transalpine - together with Illyricum and four legions. katana, which
dared to speak out against this, Caesar sent him to prison, hoping that
he will appeal to the people's tribunes with a complaint. However, seeing that Cato, not
without saying a word, allows himself to be led away and that not only the best citizens
oppressed by this, but also the people, out of respect for the virtue of Cato, silently and in
despondency follows him, Caesar himself secretly asked one of the people
tribunes to release Cato.
Of the rest of the senators, only a very few attended with Caesar.
meetings of the Senate, while others, dissatisfied with the insult to their dignity,
refrained from participating. When Considius, one of the most
old people, once said that they do not come out of fear of weapons and
warriors, Caesar asked him: "So why are you not afraid and do not stay
at home?" Considius answered: "My old age frees me from fear, for
The short period of life left to me does not require much caution.
But the most shameful of all the events of that time was considered that in
the consulate of Caesar, the same Clodius was elected tribune of the people, who
defiled both the marriage of Caesar and the sacrament of the nocturnal rites. Is he chosen
was with the aim of destroying Cicero; and Caesar himself went to his province only
after, with the help of Clodius, he overthrew Cicero and achieved his exile
from Italy.
XV. SUCH were the deeds he did before the Gallic Wars. What
the same applies to the time when Caesar waged these wars and went on campaigns,
subjugated Thallia, then here he, as it were, began a different life, embarking on the path
new deeds. He has shown himself to be second to none of the greatest,
the most amazing generals and military figures. For, if compared with him
Fabiev, Scipio and Metellus or who lived simultaneously with him and shortly before
him Sulla, Mary, both Lucullus and even Pompey himself, military glory
which was then exalted to heaven, then Caesar, with his exploits alone
will leave behind because of the severity of the places in which he waged war, others in
strength of the size of the country he conquered, a third - referring to the number
and the strength of the enemy whom he defeated, the fourth - taking into account
the savagery and deceit with which he had to face, fifth -
philanthropy and indulgence towards prisoners, sixth - gifts and
generosity to his warriors and, finally, to all - by what he gave the most
battles and exterminated the largest number of enemies. For in those less than ten years,
during which he waged war in Gaul, he stormed over eight hundred
cities, conquered three hundred nationalities, fought with three million people, from
whom one million destroyed during the battles and captured the same number.
XVI. HE ENJOYED such love and devotion from his warriors that even
those people who were no different in other wars, with irresistible
bravely went to any danger for the glory of Caesar. An example would be
Acilius, who, in a battle of confusion at Massilia, jumped on an enemy ship
and when they cut off his right hand with a sword, he held the shield in his left, and then,
striking the enemy in the face with this shield, put everyone to flight and took possession of
ship.
Another example is Cassius Stseva, who, at the battle of Dyrrhachia, having lost
eye, gouged out by an arrow, wounded in the shoulder and thigh by darts and taken
his shield hits one hundred and thirty arrows, called the enemies, as if wanting to surrender;
but when two of them approached him, he cut off the hand of one with a sword,
put another to flight with a blow to the face, and he himself was saved by his own,
rushing to help.
In Britain, one day, forward centurions fell into swampy, flooded
water places and were attacked by the enemy here. And here's one in front of your eyes
Caesar, who was watching the skirmish, rushed forward and, having done a lot
feats of amazing courage, saved the centurions and the hands of the barbarians, who
fled, and he himself was the last to rush into the channel and where to swim, where to wade
crossed over to the other side, forcibly overcoming all obstacles and losing
this shield. Caesar and those who stood around greeted him with cries of amazement and
joy, and the warrior, in great embarrassment, with tears, threw himself at the feet of Caesar,
begging his forgiveness for the loss of the shield.
In Africa, Scipio captured one of Caesar's ships, on which he sailed
appointed quaestor Granius Peter. Capturers announced the whole team
ship with their booty, but the quaestor was promised freedom. But he replied that
Caesar's soldiers were accustomed to give mercy, but not to receive it from others, and with these
threw himself at his own sword with words.
XVII. SIMILAR courage and love for glory Caesar himself nurtured and nurtured
in his warriors, first of all, by the fact that he generously distributed honors and gifts: he
wanted to show that he was accumulating the wealth gained in campaigns not for himself, not for
in order to drown himself in luxury and pleasures, but keeps them as a common
property and reward for military merit, reserving only the right
distribute awards among those who have distinguished themselves. The second means of educating the troops
was that he himself voluntarily threw himself into any danger and did not
refused to endure any hardship. His love for danger
caused astonishment among those who knew his ambition, but everyone was amazed at how he
endured hardships that seemed to surpass his physical strength, for
he was weakly built, with white and delicate skin, suffered from headaches
pains and epilepsy, the first attack of which, they say, happened to him in
Cordube. However, he did not use his sickness as an excuse to
pampered life, but, having made military service a means of healing, he tried
incessant transitions, poor food, constant stay under
open skies and hardships conquer your weakness and strengthen your body. Slept
he is mostly on a wagon or on a stretcher, to be used for business and
rest hours. During the day he traveled around the cities, guard detachments and fortresses, and
next to him sat a slave who knew how to write after him, and behind him one warrior with
sword. He moved with such speed that for the first time he made his way from
Rome to Rodan in eight days. Riding since childhood was for him
habitual business. He knew how, pulling his hands back and folding them behind his back, let
horse at full speed. And during this campaign, he also practiced
sitting on a horse, dictating letters, taking up two or even
says Oppias, a still greater number of scribes. They say that Caesar is the first
came to the idea of ​​talking with friends about urgent matters through
letters, when the size of the city and exceptional employment did not allow
meet in person. As an example of his moderation in food, the following is given.
story. Once in Mediolanum he dined with his hospitable Valery Leon,
and he served asparagus seasoned not with ordinary olive oil, but
myrrh. Caesar calmly ate this dish, and to his friends, who expressed
dissatisfaction, addressed with a censure: "If you don't like something, -
he said, “it is enough if you refuse to eat. But if anyone
undertakes to condemn this kind of ignorance, he himself is ignorant. " Once he was
caught on the way by bad weather and ended up in the hut of a poor man. Finding there
the only room that was barely able to accommodate one
man, he turned to his friends with the words: "An honorable
give to the strongest, and what is necessary to the weakest,” and suggested to Oppius
to rest in the room, and he, along with the others, lay down to sleep under a canopy in front of
door.
XVIII. The FIRST of the Gallic wars that he had to fight was with
helvetii and tigurins. These tribes burned twelve of their cities and
four hundred villages and moved through Gaul, subject to the Romans, as before
Cimbri and Teutons, to whom they seemed to be not inferior to either courage or
crowded, for there were three hundred thousand in all, including capable
fight - one hundred and ninety thousand. The Tigurins were defeated not by Caesar himself, but by Labienus,
whom he sent against them and who defeated them at the river Arara. Helvetii
they attacked Caesar unexpectedly, when he was heading with an army to one of
allied cities; nevertheless, he managed to take a reliable position here, too,
Gathering his forces, he lined them up in battle order. When the horse was brought to him,
Caesar said: "I will use it after the victory, when it comes to the chase.
And now - forward, against the enemy!" - and with these words he began an offensive on foot
build. After a long and stubborn battle, he defeated the barbarian army, but the largest
I met difficulties in the camp, at the wagons, because there they fought not only again
rallied warriors, but also women and children who defended with them until
last drop of blood. Everyone was cut down, and the battle ended just before
midnight. To this remarkable victory, Caesar added an even more glorious
deed, forcing the barbarians who survived the battle (and there were over a hundred
thousand), unite and repopulate the land they left, and
the cities they destroyed. He did this out of fear that in the deserted
the Germans will cross the region and capture them.
XIX. He waged the SECOND war already for the Gauls against the Germans, although earlier
declared in Rome their king Ariovistus an ally of the Roman people. But the Germans were
unbearable neighbors for the peoples conquered by Caesar, and it was clear that they
not satisfied with the existing order of things, but at the first opportunity
seize all of Gaul and fortify it. When Caesar noticed that the chiefs
timid in his army, especially those young people from noble families who
followed him out of a desire to get rich and live in luxury, he collected them on
advice and announced that those who are so cowardly and cowardly can
return home and not endanger yourself against your will. "I
but,” he said, “I will go against the barbarians with only the tenth legion, for
those with whom I have to fight are no stronger than the Cimbri, and I myself do not consider
himself a commander weaker than Mary. "Having learned about this, the tenth legion sent to
delegates to him to express their gratitude, while the rest of the legions
condemned their superiors, and, finally, all, filled with courage "
inspiration, followed Caesar and after many days of travel defeated
camp two hundred stades from the enemy. Already the very arrival of Caesar is somewhat
upset the daring plans of Ariovistus, for he did not expect that the Romans,
who, it seemed, could not withstand the onslaught of the Germans, would decide on their own
attack. He marveled at the courage of Caesar and at the same time saw that his
own army is thrown into confusion. But even more weakened the courage
Germanic prediction of sacred women, who, observing the whirlpools in the rivers and
listening to the noise of the streams, they announced that it was impossible to start a battle
before the new moon. When Caesar found out about this and saw that the Germans
refrain from attacking, he decided it was best to attack them until they
ready to fight than to remain inactive, allowing them to bide their time
more suitable time for them. Raiding the fortifications around
hills where they pitched their camp, he so teased the Germans that they
anger left the camp and joined the battle. Caesar dealt them a crushing
defeat and, putting them to flight, drove them all the way to the Rhine, at a distance of
four hundred stadia, covering all this space with the corpses of enemies and their weapons.
Ariovistus managed to cross the Rhine with a few people. Number
the dead are said to have reached eighty thousand.
XX. AFTER this, leaving his army in winter quarters in the ground
Sequani, Caesar himself, to attend to the affairs of Rome, went to Gaul,
lying along the river Pada and was part of the province assigned to him, for
the border between Cis-Alpine Gaul and Italy proper is the river
Rubicon. Many from Rome came here to Caesar, and he had the opportunity
increase their influence by fulfilling the requests of everyone, so that everyone moved away from
him, either getting what they wanted or hoping to get it. In this way
he acted throughout the war: he defeated enemies with the weapons of his fellow citizens, then
took possession of the citizens themselves with the help of money captured from the enemy. BUT
Pompey didn't notice. Meanwhile white, the most powerful of
Gauls, who owned a third of all of Gaul, broke away from the Romans and collected
army of many thousands. Caesar attacked them with all haste and
attacked the enemies while they devastated the lands allied to the Romans
tribes. He overthrew the hordes of enemies who put up only negligible resistance,
and committed such a massacre that the swamps and deep rivers, littered with many
corpses, became easily passable for the Romans. After that, all peoples living
on the shores of the Ocean, voluntarily submitted again, but against the Nervii, most
wild and warlike from the tribes inhabiting the Belgian country, Caesar had to
go on a hike. Nervii, who lived in dense thickets, sheltered their families and
property far from the enemy, and themselves in the depths of the forest in the amount of sixty
thousands of people attacked Caesar just when he, busy building
shaft around the camp, did not expect an attack. The barbarians overthrew the Roman
cavalry and, surrounding the twelfth and seventh legions, killed all the centurions.
If Caesar, breaking through the thick of the fighting, had not rushed with a shield into
hand on the barbarians, and if, at the sight of the danger threatening the commander,
the tenth legion did not rush from the heights to the enemy and did not crush his ranks, hardly
at least one Roman soldier would have survived. But the courage of Caesar led to the fact that
the Romans fought, one might say, beyond their strength and, since the nerves still did not
fled, destroyed them, despite desperate resistance. From
of sixty thousand barbarians, only five hundred remained alive, and out of four hundred
their senators are only three.
XXI. WHEN news of this came to Rome, the senate decided to arrange
fifteen days of festivities in honor of the gods, which had never happened before
what a victory. But, on the other hand, the danger itself, when
at the same time so many hostile tribes seemed huge, and the love of the people for
Caesar surrounded his victories with a particularly bright brilliance.
Having put things in order in Gaul, Caesar again wintered in the valley
Pada, strengthening his influence in Rome, for those who, using his help,
sought positions, bribed the people with their money, and having received a position,
did everything that could increase the power of Caesar. Moreover, most of
the most noble and prominent people came to him in Luka, including
Pompey, Crassus, Praetor of Sardinia, Appius, and Viceroy of Spain, Nepos, so that
in all, one hundred and twenty lictors and more than two hundred senators were assembled there. On the
the meeting decided the following: Pompey and Crassus should be elected
consuls, Caesar, in addition to extending consular powers for another five
years, a certain amount of money must also be issued. This is the last
the condition seemed quite strange to all sane people. For just those
the persons who received so much money from Caesar offered to the senate or,
rather, they forced him, against his will, to give money to Caesar, as if
he wouldn't have them. Cato was not there then - he was purposely sent to Cyprus,
Favonius, who was an adherent of Cato, having achieved nothing with his
objections in the senate, ran out of the doors of the curia, loudly appealing to the people. But
no one listened to him: some were afraid of Pompey and Crassus, and most were silent from
pleasing Caesar, in whom it placed all its hopes.
XXII. CAESAR, returning again to his troops in Gaul, found a din
heavy war: two Germanic tribes - the Usipets and Genkters - crossed over
Rhine, looking for new lands. Caesar tells about the war with them in his
"Notes" next. The barbarians sent ambassadors to him, but during the truce
unexpectedly attacked him on the way, and therefore their detachment of eight hundred horsemen
put to flight five thousand of Caesar's horsemen, taken by surprise. Then
they sent messengers a second time to deceive him again, but he delayed
ambassadors and led an army against the Germans, believing that it was stupid to trust the word
so treacherous and treacherous people. Tanusius, however, reports that when
the Senate ruled on the feast and sacrifices in honor of the victory,
Cato proposed that Caesar be handed over to the barbarians in order to cleanse the city.
from the stain of perjury and turn the curse on him who is alone in this
guilty. Of those who crossed the Rhine, four hundred thousand were cut down; few
those who returned were friendly received by the Germanic Sugambri tribe.
Desiring to acquire the glory of the first man who crossed the Rhine with the army,
Caesar used this as an excuse to attack the Sugambri and began
the construction of a bridge across a wide stream, which was just in this place
especially full-flowing and stormy and possessed such a force of current that blows
rushing logs threatened to demolish the pillars that supported the bridge. But Caesar
ordered to drive huge and thick piles into the bottom of the river and, as if curbing the power
stream, within ten days he built a bridge, the appearance of which surpassed all
expectations. (XXIII). Then he transferred his troops to the other side without meeting
no resistance, for even the Suebi, the most powerful among
Germans, took refuge in the distant wilds of the forest. So he devastated by fire
land of enemies, strengthened the vigor of those who were constantly allies
Romans, and returned to Gaul, spending eighteen days in Germany.
The campaign against the British proved the exceptional courage of Caesar. For he
was the first who went out into the Western Ocean and crossed with an army through
the Atlantic Sea, who extended Roman dominance beyond the known
circle of lands, trying to take possession of an island of such incredible size that
many writers claim that he does not exist, and stories about him and
its very name is a mere invention. Caesar crossed twice to this
an island from the opposite coast of Gaul, but after he had inflicted more
harm to the enemy, than delivered benefits to his troops (these poor and meager
living people there was nothing worth capturing), he finished this
war not as he wished: taking hostages from the king of the barbarians and imposing tribute on them,
he left Britain.
In Gaul, a letter was waiting for him, which they did not have time to deliver to him in Britain.
Friends in Rome reported the death of his daughter, Pompey's wife,
who died from childbirth. Both Pompey and Caesar were seized with great sorrow,
their friends were in confusion, because now the bonds of kinship were broken,
which still maintained peace and harmony in the strife-stricken
state: the child also soon died, outliving his mother by only a few
days. The body of Julia, the people, despite the opposition of the people's tribunes, took
on the Champ de Mars and buried there.
XXIV. TO put your massively expanded army into winter
apartment, Caesar was forced to divide it into many parts, and himself, as
usually went to Italy. But at this time, the universal
uprising in Gaul, and the hordes of the rebels, wandering through the country, ravaged the winter
apartments of the Romans and attacked even the fortified Roman camps. The largest and
the strongest part of the rebels, led by Ambiorig, killed the detachment of Kotta and
Tituria. Then, with an army of sixty thousand, Ambiorix laid siege to the legion
Cicero and almost took the camp by storm, for the Romans were all wounded and
held on more by their courage than by their strength.
When Caesar, who was already far away, received news of this, he
immediately returned and, having gathered seven thousand soldiers, hurried with them to the rescue to
besieged Cicero. The besiegers, learning of his approach, marched
towards, treating with contempt for a small enemy and counting
destroy it immediately. Caesar, skillfully avoiding them all the time,
reached a place where it was possible to successfully defend against superior
enemy forces, and here he camped. He kept his warriors from any skirmishes
with the Gauls and forced them to build a rampart and build a gate, as if discovering
fear of the enemy and encouraging his arrogance. When the enemies, filled
insolence, began to attack without any order, he made a sortie, turned them
fled and killed many.
XXV. THIS VICTORY stopped numerous uprisings of local Gauls, and
Caesar himself traveled all over the place during the winter, vigorously suppressing the emerging
disorder. In addition, three legions from
Italy: two of them were given to Caesar by Pompey from among those under him
command, and the third was recruited anew in the Gallic regions along the Pad River.
But soon the first signs of the biggest and most dangerous war appeared,
such as was ever waged in Gaul. Her plan had long been ripening in secret and
distributed by the most influential people among the most warlike tribes. In their
numerous armed forces were at disposal, and large sums of money,
gathered for war, and fortified cities, and difficult terrain. BUT
because because of the winter time, the rivers were covered with ice, the forests with snow,
the valleys were flooded, the paths in some places disappeared under thick snow
veil, in others have become unreliable due to swamps and overflowing waters, then
it seemed quite obvious that Caesar could not do anything with
rebels. Many tribes rose up, but the lands of the Arverns were the center of the uprising.
and carnuts. The rebels elected Vercingetorix, father of
whom the Gauls had previously executed, suspecting him of striving for tyranny.
XXVI. VERZINGETORIG divided his forces into many separate detachments,
putting at the head of their numerous chiefs, and won over to his side
the entire region around Arar. He hoped to raise the whole of Gaul,
while in Rome itself Caesar's opponents began to unite. If
he did this a little later, when Caesar was already involved in the civil
war, then Italy would be in no less danger than during the invasion
Cimbri. But Caesar, who, like no one else, knew how to use in war
any advantage, and above all - a favorable combination of circumstances,
set out with his army immediately upon receipt of the news of the uprising;
large space, which he passed in a short time, speed and
the swiftness of movement on winter impassability showed the barbarians that on
they are moved by an irresistible and invincible force. For in places where
it seemed that the messenger with the letter would not be able to penetrate, even making his way into
for a long time, they suddenly saw Caesar himself with the whole army.
Caesar went, devastating the fields, destroying the fortifications, conquering the cities,
joining those who surrendered, until the tribe of the Aedui came up against him. Edui earlier
were proclaimed brothers of the Roman people and enjoyed a special
honor, and therefore now, joining the rebels, they defeated the army of Caesar
into deep despair. Caesar was forced to purge their country and headed through
the region of the Lingones to the Sequani, who were his allies and whose land
separated the rebellious Gallic regions from Italy. During this trip he
was attacked by enemies who surrounded him with huge hordes, and decided
give a fight. After a long and bloody battle, he finally
defeated and defeated the barbarians. In the beginning, however, he seemed to suffer damage, -
at least the Arverni still show the sword of Caesar hanging in the temple,
captured in battle. He himself later, seeing this sword, smiled and, when
his friends wanted to remove the sword, did not allow it, counting the offering
sacred.
XXVII. MEANWHILE most of the barbarians who survived the battle
hid with his king in the city of Alesia. During the siege of this city,
seemed impregnable because of the high walls and the large number of besieged,
Caesar was in great danger, for the elite forces of all the Gallic
tribes, united among themselves, arrived in Alesia in the amount of three hundred
thousand people, while the number of those locked in the city was at least a hundred
seventy thousand. Cramped and squeezed between two forces so great,
Caesar was forced to build two walls: one - against the city, the other -
against the coming Gauls, for it was clear that if the enemies unite, then he
the end. The fight near Alesia enjoys well-deserved fame, since not a single
another war does not give examples of such bold and skillful feats. But more
everything is amazing how Caesar, having fought with a large army for
walls of the city and breaking it, he did it imperceptibly not only for
besieged, but even for those Romans who guarded the wall facing
city. The latter learned of the victory no earlier than they heard from
Alesia weeping and sobbing men and women who saw how the Romans with
the opposite side are carrying to their camp many shields decorated with
silver and gold, shells covered in blood, many goblets and Gallic
tents. So instantly, like a dream or a ghost, was destroyed and scattered
this innumerable force, and most of the barbarians died in the battle. Finally
the defenders of Alesia also surrendered - after causing a lot of trouble and
Caesar and ourselves. Vercingetorix, leader of the whole war, wearing the most
beautifully armed and richly decorated with a horse, rode out of the gate. Driving around
the platform on which Caesar was sitting, he jumped off his horse, tore off everything
armor and, sitting at the feet of Caesar, remained there until he was imprisoned under
guards to keep for triumph.