History of Julius Caesar Vol. 2 of 2

Pursuit of Ambiorix.

II. Having thus rendered all retreat impossible to Ambiorix, he advanced with his army towards the country of Liége by way of Zulpich and Eupen, across the forest of the Ardennes. Having arrived on the Meuse, he divided his troops into three corps, and sent all his baggage with the 14th legion, under the command of Cicero, into the fortress of Tongres, the scene of the disaster of Sabinus. Of these three corps, the first was sent towards the north, near the southern frontiers of Brabant; the second towards the west, between the Meuse and the Demer; and the third marched towards the Scheldt, under the command of Cæsar, whose intention was to gain the extremity of the forest of the Ardennes between Brussels and Antwerp, where Ambiorix was said to have taken refuge. When he quitted Tongres, he announced that he should return in seven days. But, unwilling to risk his troops on difficult ground, against men who, scattered, carried on a war of partisans, he sent messengers to invite the neighbouring peoples to go and ravage the country of Liége, and, at his call, all hurried to take part in the pillage. Among them 2,000 Sicambrian cavalry, attracted from beyond the Rhine, conceived the idea of falling upon Cicero’s camp in order to carry off the riches it contained. They arrived at the moment when a part of the garrison had gone to forage. It was with great difficulty, and with the loss of two cohorts, that the Romans repulsed this attack. The devastation of the country of Liége was completed, but Ambiorix escaped.

The defeat of Sabinus at Tongres thus cruelly avenged, Cæsar returned to Rheims, convoked there the assembly of Gaul, and caused judgment to be passed on the conspiracy of the peoples of Sens and Orleans. Acco, the head of the revolt, was condemned to death and executed, and Cæsar, after placing his legions in winter quarters in the countries watered by the Moselle, the Marne, and the Yonne, repaired to Italy.

C. Domitius Calvinus and M. Valerius Messala, Consuls.

III. At Rome, the legal working of the institutions was incessantly clogged by the ambitions of individuals. The year 700 had closed without the holding of the consular comitia. Sometimes the tribunes of the people, the only magistrates whose elections took place on a fixed day, opposed the holding of the comitia; sometimes the interreges themselves failed to obtain favourable auspices, or, in moments of trouble, dared not assemble the people.[715 - Dio Cassius, XL. 45.] The boldness of the agitators of all parties explains this anarchy.

Weary of intrigues and disorder, the public opinion looked for the end of it only from a new power, which wrests from Cicero this painful confession: “The Republic is without force; Pompey alone is powerful.”[716 - Cicero, Epist. ad Quintum, III. 4.] Already people even spoke of the dictatorship.[717 - Cicero, Epist. ad Quintum, III. 8.] Several men, according to Plutarch, ventured to say openly “that the power of a single person was the only remedy for the evils of the Republic, and that this remedy must be sought from the mildest physician, which clearly indicated Pompey.”[718 - Plutarch, Cæsar, 31.] Accordingly, the tribune Lucceius brought forward the formal motion to elect Pompey dictator. Cato rose energetically against this ill-timed motion. Several of Pompey’s friends considered it prudent to justify him by affirming that he never asked or desired the dictatorship. Cato’s reproaches had none the less produced their effect; and, to put an end to suspicions, Pompey permitted the consular comitia to be held.[719 - Plutarch, Pompey, 57.] In fact, he had never the courage equal to his ambition, and “although he affected in his speeches,” says Plutarch, “to refuse absolute power, all his actions showed a desire to arrive at it.”[720 - Plutarch, Cæsar, 31.]

The comitia opened in the month of Sextilis of the year 701; the consuls named were Cn. Domitius Calvinus and M. Valerius Messala. The first had been placed under accusation, as we have seen above; but the pre-occupations of the moment had caused his trial to drag out in length; and it is unknown whether he was acquitted, or whether all judicial action had been paralysed on account of the absence of magistrates during the first months of the year 701. Moreover, Calvinus was protected by Pompey, and his colleague, Messala, was favoured by Cæsar, at the recommendation of Cicero.

Expedition of Crassus against the Parthians, and his Death.

IV. Crassus had left for Syria about eighteen months before, full of ambitious hopes, and flattering himself with the prospect of immense conquests. He intended not only to subjugate the Parthians, but even to renew the campaigns of Alexander, penetrate into Bactriana, and reach India; unfortunately, he was not equal to such a task. Forgetting the first rules of a general-in-chief, which consist in never despising his enemies, and in placing on his side all the chances of success, he had no care for the army he was going to combat, had made no inquiries either as to the roads, or as to the countries he had to cross, and neglected the alliances and succours which the peoples who were neighbours and enemies to the Parthians might have offered him.

He had started from Brundusium in spite of the bad season, had landed at Dyrrachium, not without the loss of several vessels; thence, following the direct military road which led from the coasts of the Adriatic to the Bosphorus,[721 - “Ut via illa nostra, quæ per Macedoniam est usque ad Hellespontum militaris.” (Cicero, Orat. de Provinciis Consularibus, 2. – Strabo, VII. vii. 268.)] he had proceeded by land into Galatia, and had entered into Mesopotamia, after crossing the Euphrates.[722 - Plutarch, Crassus, 17.]

The Parthians, taken by surprise, offered no resistance, and the rich and flourishing Greek colonies on the Euphrates and Tigris, who detested the Parthian yoke, received Crassus as a liberator. The town of Nicephorium (Rakkah), situated near Ichnæ, on the Balissus, opened its gates to him; Zenodotium alone stood a siege. Instead of taking advantage of the concurrence of circumstances, and advancing promptly upon the Tigris, carrying the considerable town of Seleucia, Ctesiphon,[723 - On the left bank of the Tigris, opposite Seleucia.] the ordinary residence of the King of the Parthians, and even Babylon, he confined himself to plundering the province. Having left 7,000 infantry and 1,000 cavalry in garrison in a few fortresses, he returned to Syria to take his winter quarters. There, without occupying himself with the next campaign, he only thought of committing exactions and of pillaging the temples of Hierapolis and Jerusalem.

At the commencement of 701, Crassus took the field again with seven legions, nearly 4,000 cavalry, and the same number of light-armed infantry,[724 - Plutarch, Crassus, 24.] and re-entered Mesopotamia. He had for lieutenants his son Publius, celebrated for his courage, his elevated sentiments, and his conduct in Gaul; the brave Octavius, who afterwards perished rather than abandon his general; Vargunteius, Censorinus, and Petronius: for quæstor, C. Cassius Longinus, esteemed for his valour and prudence, and who was, ten years afterwards, one of the murderers of Cæsar. An Arab had become his auxiliary; it was the chief of the Osroenes, Bedouins of the desert, who had formerly served Pompey in his campaign against Mithridates; he was named Abgaros, or Abgar,[725 - The ancient authors name him Augar, Abgaros, or Ariamnes.] and had been bribed by the King of the Parthians to betray Crassus.

Artabazus, King of Armenia, visited the proconsul at the head of 6,000 cavalry, promising him 10,000 more, and 30,000 foot, if he consented to attack the Parthians through Armenia, where the mountainous character of the country rendered their numerous and formidable cavalry useless. Crassus rejected this proposal, alleging the necessity of proceeding into Mesopotamia to the garrisons he had left there in the preceding year. These, in fact, were already blockaded by the Parthians, and soldiers who had escaped brought information of the immense preparations Orodes was making to resist him. A second time, then, he crossed the Euphrates, not far from Biradjik, the place of the passage of Alexander the Great.[726 - Zeugma, according to Dio Cassius. This town is on the right bank of the Euphrates, opposite Biradjik.] There he had his choice of two roads to reach Seleucia: either to descend the left bank of the Euphrates to the point where it approaches the Tigris,[727 - According to Drumann, the course of the river could not always be followed, as Plutarch says, because there existed a canal which joined the Euphrates with the Tigris. (Pliny, VI. 30. – Ammianus Marcellinus, XXIV. 2.)] or to cross the desert. The first, proposed by Cassius, although the longest, procured him the immense advantage of having his right wing constantly supported by the Euphrates, on which boats could have carried his provisions. The second offered, it is true, a shorter passage; but in following it, the army was exposed to want of water and provisions, and to more laborious marches. The perfidious counsels of Abgar led him to prefer the latter. “There was not,” said the Arab, “a moment to lose, to prevent the Parthians from carrying away their treasures, and placing them in safety among the Hyrcanians and Scythians.” Crassus possessed some of the qualities which make a good general; he had given proofs of it in the war of the allies, as well as in that against Spartacus, but his faculties were paralysed by his covetousness. Glory ought to be the only thought of the soldier.

During this time, Orodes, King of the Parthians, had divided his forces into two armies: one, of which he took the command in person, went to ravage Armenia, in order to prevent Artabazus from joining the Romans; the other was entrusted to the vizier Surena, a man of merit, to whom Orodes owed his crown. Without undervaluing his intelligence, we are unwilling to believe, with some writers, that Surena invented new military tactics to oppose those of the Romans, and that that was the reason why, renouncing the employment of infantry, he made use only of cavalry. If he placed all his confidence in that arm, it was because the Parthians, in conformity with the nature of their country, generally fought only on horseback, and among them, as Dio Cassius says, infantry was of no value.[728 - “There are among them few infantry. These are only chosen among the weakest men. From the tenderest age the Parthians are accustomed to handle the bow and the horse. Their country, which forms almost entirely one plain, is very favourable for breeding horses, and for courses of cavalry.” (Dio Cassius, XL. 15.) – “Equis omni tempore vectantur; illis bella, illis convivia, illis publica ac privata officia obeunt.” (Justin, XLI. 8.)] Surena’s talent consisted in the employment of the craft so familiar to the Asiatics, in order to surround Crassus with snares and traitors, and to draw him into the plains, where the advantage was all on the side of cavalry.

The army of the Parthians was thus composed solely of cavalry, some barbed with iron, as well as their horses,[729 - “Munimentum ipsis equisque loricæ plumatæ sunt, quæ utrumque toto corpore tegunt.” (Justin, XLI. 2.)] and armed with long and heavy lances; others furnished with powerful bows and arrows, which, while they carried much farther than those of the Romans, perforated defensive armour.

After quitting the town of Carrhæ, the Roman army advanced towards the south, across the desert. The sand and heat made the march painful, while the enemy remained always invisible. At length, when they arrived on the banks, of a small river, the Balissus (Belick), which flows into the Euphrates, they perceived a few Parthian horsemen. Abgar, sent against them with a vanguard to reconnoitre, did not return. The traitor had betrayed Crassus to Surena. The proconsul, impatient and uneasy, then crosses the Balissus with his whole army, and, without allowing it to repose, pushes forward his cavalry, and obliges the infantry to follow it.

A few soldiers soon arrive to inform Crassus that they are all who have been able to escape from an ambuscade into which his vanguard has fallen, and that the whole Parthian army is on its march to encounter him. At this intelligence, he, who believed that the enemy would not dare to wait him, becomes confused, and hastily forms his troops in array of battle on a long front, for fear of being surrounded. The cavalry is on the wings; the Osroenes form a last line. The Parthians first throw forward their light cavalry, which makes whirls in the plain, raising clouds of dust, and causing the air to ring with their savage cries and the noise of their drums,[730 - “Signum in prælio non tuba, sed tympano datur.” (Justin, XLI. 2.)] and then retire as if in flight.[731 - “Fidentemque fuga Parthum versisque sagittis.” (Virgil, Georg., III., line 31.] Crassus sends forward against them his light infantry; but, surrounded and overwhelmed with the more powerful missiles of the Parthians, it is obliged to take refuge behind the legions.

On a sudden, the Osroenes whom Abgar had not carried with him attack the Romans in the rear,[732 - “The Osroenes, placed behind the Romans, who had their backs turned to them, struck them where their unprotected limbs were exposed, and rendered more easy their destruction by the Parthians.” (Dio Cassius, XL. 22.)] and at the same time appear, glittering in the sun, the long lines of the cuirassed horsemen. Crassus then forms his army in a square. Each face is composed of twelve cohorts, and the rest is in reserve. The cavalry and light infantry, divided into two corps, flank two opposite sides of the square.[733 - The army was composed of seven legions, but some troops had been left at Carrhæ. The square was composed of forty-eight cohorts, or nearly five legions; the rest was probably in reserve in the square. The 4,000 cavalry and 4,000 light infantry were probably divided half to the right and half to the left of the great square, the sides of which must have been about 1,000 mètres long.] Publius and Cassius command, one the right, the other the left. Crassus takes his place in the centre.[734 - Plutarch, Crassus, 28.] The heavy cavalry, lance in rest, charge the great Roman square, and attempt to break it; but the thick and close ranks of the legions oppose an invincible resistance. The Parthians fall back a certain distance and call up their numerous archers, then, all together, they return in line, and throw upon the deep masses of the Romans a shower of missiles of which none fail of their aim. The legionaries, if they remain in their position, have the disadvantage of their pila and slings, which carry but a short distance, and, if they advance to use their swords, they lose that cohesion which forms their strength. Without moving, and defending themselves with difficulty, they see their numbers diminish without being discouraged; they hope that the enemy will soon have exhausted his munitions. But the ranks of the Parthians succeed each other; as quickly as the first have used all their arrows, they go to fetch others near a long line of camels which carry their provisions. The combat has lasted several hours; and the Parthians continue to extend their circle, and threaten to surround entirely the great Roman square.

In this critical position, Crassus can only have recourse to his cavalry. The side hardest pressed by the enemy is that commanded by Publius; his father orders him to make a desperate effort to disengage the army.

This noble and intrepid young man immediately takes 1,300 cavalry, among whom were the 1,000 Gauls sent by Cæsar, 500 archers, and eight cohorts of infantry. Two young men of his own age follow him – Censorinus and Megabacchus; the first a senator and talented orator, the second equally distinguished. As soon as they are in motion, the Parthians, according to their custom, fly, shooting their arrows at the same time, in the manner of the Scythians. Publius takes this flight for a rout, and allows himself to be drawn too far away. When he has long advanced far out of sight of the body of the army, the fugitives halt, wheel round, are joined by numerous reserves, and surround the Roman troop. These defend themselves heroically, but the Gauls, unprovided with defensive armour, resist with difficulty the cavalry barbed with iron. Meanwhile the son of Crassus has been rejoined by his foot, who combat valiantly; he orders them to advance, but they show him their hands nailed to their bucklers, and their feet fixed to the ground, by the arrows. Publius then makes a last appeal to his brave Gaulish cavalry, who, in their devotedness to him, meet death far from their country, in the service of a foreign cause. They dash with impetuosity against the wall of iron which rises before them, they overthrow some of the cavalry under the weight of their own armour, snatch their lances from others, or leap to the ground to stab their horses in the belly; but valour must yield to numbers. Publius, wounded, tries to retreat, and draws up the wreck of his troops on ground the slope of which is disadvantageous to him. He attempts in vain to make a retrenchment with bucklers; his cavalry being placed in form of an amphitheatre, the last ranks are as much exposed as the first to the arrows of the Parthians. Two Greeks offer to save him by leading him to Ichnæ, a town not far off; the young hero replies that he will not abandon his soldiers; he remains to die with them. Of 6,000 men, 500 only are made prisoners, the others are killed fighting. Publius and his two friends, Censorinus and Megabacchus, slay each other.

During this time, Crassus, relieved by his son’s offensive movement, had taken position on a height, and waited in expectation of his victorious return. But soon messengers come to inform him that, without prompt succour, his son is lost. He hesitates a moment between the hope of saving him and the fear of endangering the rest of his army. At last he decides on marching. Hardly has he put the troops in motion, when he sees the Parthians approaching to meet him, uttering shouts of victory, and carrying the head of his son on the end of a pike. In this circumstance, Crassus recovers an instant that energy familiar to the Roman character, and, passing along the ranks, “Soldiers,” he exclaims, “this loss concerns me alone. As long as you live, all the fortune and all the glory of Rome endure and remain invincible. Be not discouraged by my misfortune, and let your compassion for me be changed into rage against your enemies.” These last accents of a presumptuous chief produced little effect upon an army already disheartened. It fought with resignation, no longer feeling that ardour which gives the hope of victory. Taken in flank by the numerous archers, attacked in front by the heavy cuirassed cavalry, the Romans struggled till evening, remaining always on the defensive, and seeing the circle in which they were enclosed incessantly contracting around them. Fortunately, the Parthians, incapable of holding a position during the night, never encamped on the field of battle; they withdrew.

This combat, fought at fifteen or twenty leagues to the south of Carrhæ, was disastrous. Nevertheless, all was not lost, if the general-in-chief preserved his energy and presence of mind; but, disheartened and plunged in deep grief, he stood immovable, aside from the rest, incapable of giving any order. Octavius and Cassius called together the tribunes and centurions, and decided on retreat; yet it was necessary to abandon 4,000 wounded, who could not be carried away, and even conceal their departure from them, lest their cries might awaken the attention of the enemy. The retreat is executed at first in complete silence; suddenly the miserable victims perceive that they are made a sacrifice, their groans give warning to the Persians, and excite a frightful tumult among the Romans: some return to load the wounded on the baggage horses, others form in battle to repulse the enemy: 300 of the cavalry escape, reach Carrhæ, and cross the Euphrates over the bridge which Crassus had built. Meanwhile the Parthians, occupied in massacring the 4,000 wounded and the stragglers, pursue only faintly the remains of the Roman army, which, protected by a sally of the garrison of Carrhæ, succeed in shutting themselves up within its walls.

Either through discouragement, or through want of provisions, the Romans made no stay in this town, but abandoned it, to seek refuge in Armenia. Crassus, followed by a small number of troops, trusting again in a native who was deceiving him, saw his flight retarded by the circuitous way he was made to take uselessly. At daybreak the Parthians appeared. Octavius had reached, with 5,000 men, one of the spurs of the mountains of Armenia, and would have been able to place himself in safety in the fortress of Sinnaka, at a distance of only a day’s march; he prefers descending into the plain to the succour of his general, whom he brings back with him to the heights. If they continue the combat till evening, all will not be lost; but Surena has again recourse to stratagem: he sends seductive offers, and proposes an interview. Crassus refuses it; he is resolved on fighting. Unfortunately, the soldiers, who hitherto had obeyed imprudent orders, this time refuse to obey the only order which could save them. Crassus is forced to agree to the interview. At the moment he is on his way to it, an accidental quarrel, or rather one raised by the treachery of the Parthians, arises between the escorts of the two nations. Octavius thrusts his sword through the body of a Parthian esquire; a battle follows, and all the Roman escort is massacred. Crassus is slain, and his head carried to Orodes. Of 40,000 legionaries, one quarter alone survived. The cavalry of C. Cassius, which had separated from the army on their departure from Carrhæ, and a few other fugitives, succeeded in reaching Syria, in covering Antioch, and even subsequently in expelling successfully the Parthians from the Roman province.

Consequences of the Death of Crassus.

V. The death of Crassus had two serious consequences: the first was to raise still higher the merit of the conqueror of Gaul, by showing what became of the most numerous and best-disciplined armies under the command of a presumptuous and unskilful chief; the second, to take away from the scene a man whose influence was a check upon the ambition of two individuals destined to become rivals. With Crassus, Pompey would not have been the instrument of a party; without Pompey, the Senate would not have dared to declare against Cæsar.

The balance thus broken, Pompey sought a new point of support. His alliance with Cæsar had alone given him the concurrence of the popular party. Now that this alliance was weakened, he would naturally seek to be reconciled to the aristocracy, flatter its passions, and serve its rancours. In the first moments, he provoked disorder rather than repressed it.

Three competitors disputed the consulship for 702, T. Annius Milo, P. Plautius Hypsæus, and Q. Cæcilius Metellus Scipio.[735 - Q. Cæcilius Metellus Scipio was the son of P. Cornelius Scipio Nasica, and of Licinia, daughter of Crassus. He had been adopted by Q. Cæcilius Metellus Pius.] They rivalled each other in intrigue and corruption.[736 - Plutarch, Cato, 55.] Pompey, especially since he had been reconciled to P. Clodius, treated Milo as an enemy, and, according to his habitual tactics, pretended to believe that he harboured designs against his life. Although he retarded the comitia, he favoured P. Hypsæus and Q. Scipio, who solicited the consulship, and Clodius, who, the same year, was a candidate for the prætorship. Milo had a great number of partisans; his largesses to the people and his spectacles seemed likely to ensure his election; and Pompey, in the way of whose views he stood, did all he could to prevent the Senate from naming an interrex to hold the comitia. He desired this important office for himself; but, obliged to give way before the resistance of Cato, he confined himself to preventing any election, and the year ended again without the nomination of consuls.

CHAPTER VII.

EVENTS OF THE YEAR 702

Murder of Clodius.

I. ROME seemed to be given up only to the petty contentions of individuals; but, behind the men who stood in view, grave interests and violent passions were in agitation. The disease which undermines society unknown to it, reveals itself when facts, of no great importance in themselves, occur suddenly to produce an unforeseen crisis, to unveil dangers which were unperceived, and to show to all men that society on the brink of an abyss of which nobody had suspected the depth. Thus, by mere accidents of his life, Clodius seems to have been destined to cause the explosion of the elements of disorder which the Republic concealed in its bosom. He is caught in the house of Cæsar’s wife during a religious sacrifice, and this violation of the mysteries of the Bona Dea leads to a fatal division in the first bodies of the state. His impeachment irritates the popular party; his acquittal exposes to the world the venality of the judges, and separates the order of the knights from that of the Senate. The animosity with which he is pursued makes him a chief of a formidable party, which sends Cicero into exile, makes Pompey tremble, and accelerates the elevation of Cæsar. His death is destined to awaken all the popular passions, and inspire the opposite faction with so many fears, that it will forget its rancours and jealousies to throw itself into the arms of Pompey, and all the people will be in arms from one end of Italy to the other.

On the 13th of the Calends of February, 702 (13th of December, 701), Milo started from Rome to proceed to Lanuvium, his native town, of which he was the dictator.[737 - All that follows is taken almost entirely from Asconius, the most ancient commentator on Cicero, and is derived, it is believed, from the Acta Diurna. (See the Argument of the Oration of Cicero for Milo, edit. Orelli, p. 31.)] Towards the ninth hour, he met on the Appian Way, a little beyond Bovillæ, Clodius, who, on his part, was returning on horseback from Aricia to Rome, accompanied by three friends and thirty slaves, all armed with swords. Milo was in a chariot with his wife Fausta, daughter of Sylla, and M. Fufius, his familiar. In his train marched an escort ten times more numerous than that of Clodius, and in which were several celebrated gladiators. The two troops passed near a small temple of the Bona Dea,[738 - Nine years after the sacrilege committed on the day of the festival of the Bona Dea, Clodius was slain by Milo before the gate of the temple of the Bona Dea, near Bovillæ. (Cicero, Orat. pro Milone, 31.)] without exchanging a single word, but casting on each other furious looks. They had hardly passed, when two of Milo’s gladiators, who lagged behind, picked a quarrel with the slaves of Clodius. At the noise of this dispute, the latter turned his bridle, and advanced uttering threats. One of the gladiators, named Birria, struck him with his sword, and wounded him grievously in the shoulder;[739 - Romphæa. (Asconius, Argument of the Orat. of Cicero pro Milone, p. 32, edit. Orelli.)] he was carried into a neighbouring tavern.[740 - Cicero, Orat. pro Milone 10. – Dio Cassius, XL. 48. – Appian, Civil Wars, II. 21. – (Asconius, Argument of the Oration of Cicero pro Milone, p. 31, et seq.)]

Milo, learning that Clodius was wounded, feared the consequences of this aggression, and believed that he would incur less danger by dispatching his enemy. He therefore sent his men to burst open the tavern; Clodius, dragged from the bed on which he had been placed, is pierced with blows, and thrown into the high road. His slaves are slain or put to flight. The corpse remained stretched on the Appian Way, until a senator, Sext. Tedius, who was passing, caused him to be taken up, placed in a litter, and carried to Rome, where he arrived at night, and was laid on a bed in the atrium of his house. But already the news of the fatal meeting was spread through the whole town, and the crowd hastened towards the residence of Clodius, where his wife, Fulvia, pointing to the wounds with which he was covered, urged the people to vengeance. The concourse was so great that several men of mark, and among others C. Vibienus, a senator, were stifled in the crowd. The corpse was carried to the Forum, and exposed on the rostra; two tribunes of the people, T. Munatius Plancus and Q. Pompeius Rufus, harangued the multitude, and demanded justice.

Afterwards, at the instigation of a scribe named Sext. Clodius, the body was carried to the curia, in order to insult the Senate; a funereal pile was made of the benches, tables, and registers. The fire communicated to the Curia Hostilia, and thence gained the Basilica Porcia, and the two buildings were reduced to ashes. Then the multitude, becoming more and more furious, snatched the fasces which surrounded the funereal bed,[741 - Lectus libitinæ. (Asconius, p. 34.) – The sense of this word is given by Acro, a scholiast on Horace (see Scholia Horatiana, edit. Pauly, tom. I., p. 360). It corresponds with our word corbillard, a hearse. We know the custom of the Romans of carrying at interments the images of the ancestors of the dead with the ensigns of their dignities. The fasces must have been numerous in the Clodian family.] and proceeded to the front of the houses of Hypsæus and Q. Metellus Scipio, as if to offer them the consulship. Lastly, they presented themselves before the abode of Pompey; some demanded with loud shouts that he should be consul or dictator, others shouted the same wishes for Cæsar.[742 - Dio Cassius, XL. 50.]

Nevertheless, nine days after, when the smoke was still rising from the ruins, the populace, on the occasion of a funereal banquet in the Forum, sought to burn the house of Milo and that of the interrex, M. Lepidus. They were driven away by a shower of arrows.[743 - Dio Cassius, XL. 49.] Milo, in the first moment, had dreamt only of hiding himself; but on hearing the indignation and terror caused by the burning of the curia, he resumed his courage. Persuaded, moreover, that, to repress these excesses, the Senate would proceed to severities against the opposite party,[744 - Dio Cassius, XL. 49.] he returned into Rome by night, carried his boldness so far as to announce that he still solicited the consulship, and began actually to buy the votes. Cœlius, a tribune of the people, spoke in his favour in the Forum. Milo himself mounted the tribune, and accused Clodius of having laid an ambush for him. He was interrupted by a considerable number of armed men, who rushed into the public place. Milo and Cœlius wrapped themselves in the mantles of slaves, and took flight. A great slaughter of their adherents was made. But soon the rioters, profiting by this pretext for disorder, murdered all they met, whether citizens or strangers, especially such as attracted their attention by their rich garments and gold rings; armed slaves were the chief instruments of these disorders. No crime was spared; under pretence of seeking Milo’s friends, a great number of houses were pillaged, and during several days all sorts of outrages were committed.[745 - Appian, Civil Wars, II. 22.]

The Republic is declared in Danger.

II. Meanwhile the Senate declared the Republic in danger, and charged the interrex, the tribunes of the people, and the proconsul Cn. Pompey, having the imperium near the town, to watch over the public safety, and make levies in all Italy. The care of rebuilding the Curia Hostilia was entrusted to the son of Sylla: it was decided that it should bear the name of the old dictator, the memory of whom the Senate sought to place in honour.[746 - Dio Cassius, XL. 50.]

As soon as Pompey had assembled a military force sufficiently imposing, the two nephews of Clodius, both named Appius, demanded the arrest of the slaves of Milo, and of those of Fausta, his wife. But the first care of Milo, his enemy once dead, had been to enfranchise his slaves, as a reward for having defended him, and, once enfranchised, they could no longer depose against their patron.

About a month after the death of Clodius, Q. Metellus Scipio brought the affair before the Senate, and accused Milo of falsehood in the explanations he had given. He arrayed skilfully all the circumstances which pointed to him as the aggressor: on one side, his escort much more numerous – the three wounds of Clodius – the eleven slaves of the latter slain; on the other, certain criminal facts connected with the event – a taverner slaughtered – two messengers massacred – a slave chopped to pieces for refusing to give up a son of Clodius; lastly, the sum of 1,000 ases offered by the accused to whoever would undertake his defence. Then Milo sought to appease Pompey, by offering to desist from his candidature for the consulship. Pompey replied that the right of deciding belonged to the Roman people alone. Milo remained under the accusation not only of murder, but of electoral solicitation, and of an outrage on the Republic. He could not be judged before the previous nomination of the urban prætor, and before the convocation of the comitia.

Pompey sole Consul.

III. This time the fear of disorder silenced opposition, and all eyes turned towards Pompey; but what title to give him? That of dictator caused alarm. M. Bibulus, though previously hostile, moved the proposal to elect him sole consul; it offered the only means of averting the dictature, and preventing Cæsar from becoming his colleague.[747 - “The Senate and Bibulus, who was first to state his opinion, forestalled the thoughtless resolutions of the multitude by conferring the consulship on Pompey, in order that he might not be proclaimed dictator; and in conferring it upon him alone, in order that he might not have Cæsar for his colleague.” (Dio Cassius, XL. 2.)] M. Cato supported this motion, which passed unanimously.[748 - Plutarch, Cato, 47.] It was added that, if Pompey believed a second consul necessary, he should name himself, but not within two months.[749 - Plutarch, Pompey, 57.] On the 5th of the Calends of March (27th of February) – it was during an intercalary month – Pompey, though absent, was declared consul by the interrex Serv. Sulpicius, and immediately re-entered Rome. “This extraordinary measure, which had never before been adopted for anybody, appeared wise; nevertheless, as Pompey sought less than Cæsar the favour of the people, the Senate flattered itself with the hope of detaching him completely from it, and securing him in its own interests. And so it happened. Proud of this new and altogether unusual honour, Pompey no longer proposed any measure with a view of pleasing the multitude, and did scrupulously all that could be agreeable to the Senate.”[750 - Dio Cassius, XL. 50.]

Three days after his installation, he obtained two senatus-consultus – one, to repress outrages with violence, especially the murder committed on the Appian Way, the burning of the curia, and the attack on the house of the interrex, M. Lepidus; the other, to prevent electoral solicitation by a more rapid proceeding and a more severe penalty. In all criminal actions, a delay of three days was fixed for the interrogation of witnesses, and one day for the contradictory debates. The accuser had two hours to speak, the accused three to defend himself.[751 - Dio Cassius, XL. 52. – Cicero, Brutus, 94; Epist. ad Atticum, XIII 49. – Tacitus, Dialog. de Oratoribus, 38.]

M. Cœlius, tribune of the people, protested against these laws, alleging that they violated the tutelary forms of justice, and that they were only imagined for the ruin of Milo. Pompey replied in a tone of menace: “Let them not oblige me to defend the Republic by arms!” He, moreover, adopted all measures for his personal safety, and went with a military guard, as though he feared some outrage on the part of Milo.

Trial of Milo.

IV. Pompey required farther, that a quæstor should be chosen among the consulars to preside over the hearing of the cause. The comitia were held, and L. Domitius Ahenobarbus was elected. It was conceded to Milo that the accusation of murder should be tried first, and that that of solicitation should be adjourned.

The accusers were the elder of the Appii (the nephew of Clodius), M. Antonius, and P. Valerius Nepos. Cicero, assisted by M. Claudius Marcellus, was to defend the accused. Every effort had been made to intimidate Cicero. Pompeius Rufus, C. Sallustius,[752 - This was the historian. He had been the paramour of Milo’s wife. Surprised by him in the very act, he had been cruelly beaten, and compelled to pay, without pity.] and T. Munatius Plancus had sought to excite the people against him, and to make Pompey look upon him with suspicion. Although he remained firm against the threats of his adversaries, his courage was shaken.

The trial began on the eve of the Nones of April, and on the first day the pleadings were interrupted by a violent agitation. Next day, the interrogation of the witnesses was carried on under the protection of an imposing military force. Most of the evidence was overpowering for the accused, and proved that Clodius had been massacred in cold blood. When Fulvia, the widow of Clodius, appeared, the emotion increased twofold; her tears, and the spectacle of her grief, affected the assembly. When the session was closed, the tribune of the people, T. Munatius Plancus, harangued the mob, engaged the citizens to come next day in great number to the public place, in order to oppose the acquittal of Milo, and he recommended them to show unmistakably their opinion and grief to the judges when it came to the voting.

On the 6th of the Ides of April the shops were closed; guards were placed on the issues of the Forum by order of Pompey, who, with a considerable reserve, stationed himself at the treasury. After the drawing for the judges, the eldest of the Appii, M. Antonius, and P. Valerius Nepos sustained the accusation. Cicero alone replied. He had been advised to represent the murder of Clodius as a service rendered to the Republic; but he rejected this plea, although Cato had dared to declare in full Senate that Milo had performed the act of a good citizen.[753 - Velleius Paterculus, II. 47.] He preferred resting his argument on the right of legitimate defence. He had hardly commenced, when the cries and interruptions of the partisans of Clodius caused him an emotion which was visible in his speech; the soldiers were obliged to make use of their arms.[754 - All this account is taken from the argument by Asconius Servius, serving as an introduction to his Commentary on the Oration for Milo. (See the edit. of Orelli, pp. 41, 42. – Dio Cassius, XL. 53.)] The cries of the wounded, and the sight of the blood, deprived Cicero of his presence of mind; he trembled, and often broke off. His pleading was far from being worthy of his talent. Milo was condemned, and went into exile to Marseilles. In the sequel, Cicero composed at his leisure the magnificent oration which we know, and sent it to his unfortunate client, who replied; “If thou hadst spoken formerly as thou hast now written, I should not be eating mullets at Marseilles.”[755 - Dio Cassius, XL. 54.]

During the wars of Greece and Africa, Milo, who had not forgotten his part of conspirator, returned into Italy, invited by Cœlius. They both attempted to organise seditious movements; but they failed, and paid for their rash enterprise with their lives.[756 - Velleius Paterculus, II. 68.]

Pompey, having reached the summit of power, believed, like most men who are vain of themselves, that all was saved because they had placed him at the head of affairs; but, instead of attending to these, his first care was to marry again. He espoused, in spite of his advanced age, Cornelia, daughter of Scipio, the young widow of Publius Crassus, who had just perished among the Parthians. “It was considered,” says Plutarch, “that a woman so young, remarkable both for her mental qualities and for external graces, would have been more properly married to his son. The more honest citizens reproached him with having, on this occasion, sacrificed the interests of the Republic, which, in the extremity to which it was reduced, had chosen him for its physician, and trusted to him alone for its cure. Instead of responding to this confidence, he was seen crowned with flowers, offering sacrifices and celebrating nuptial rites, while he ought to have regarded as a public calamity this consulship, which he would not have obtained, according to the laws, alone and without a colleague, if Rome had been more happy.”[757 - Plutarch, Pompey, 58.]