History of Julius Caesar Vol. 1 of 2

“Is there any position more disgraceful than that of a senator, who goes on a mission without the slightest authorisation on the part of the State? It was this kind of mission that I should have abolished during my consulship, even with the consent of the Senate, notwithstanding the apparent advantages it held out, had it not been for the senseless opposition of a tribune. At any rate I caused its duration to be shortened: formerly it had no limit; now I have reduced it to a year.” (Cicero, On Laws, III. 8.)

1159

“Moreover, I think that the Julian law has defined the duration of free embassies: nor will it be easy to extend it.” (Cicero, Letters to Atticus, XV. 11. – Orelli, Index Legum, p. 192.)

1160

Cicero, Oration for Sestius, 64. “Liberty torn from nations and individuals on whom it had been conferred, and whose right had been, by virtue of the Julian law, so precisely ensured against all hostile attacks.” (Oration against Piso, xxxvii. 16.)

1161

Cicero, Familiar Letters, VIII. 8. – Several of its chapters have been preserved in the Digest, XLVIII. tit. XI. It is generally supposed that the fragments inscribed on a tablet of brass in the Museum of Florence belong to the same law. They have been published by Maffei, Museum Veronese, p. 365, No. 4, and commented on by the celebrated Marini, in his work on the Monuments of the Fratres Arvales, I. pp. 39, 40, note 44.

1162

Suetonius, Cæsar, 42.

1163

Cicero, Oration for Rabirimus Postumus, 4, 5.

1164

Fragments of the Julian law, De Repetundis, preserved in the Digest, XLVIII. tit. XI.

The law is directed against those who, holding a magistracy, an embassy, or any other office, or forming part of the attendants of these functionaries, receive money.

They may receive money to any amount from their cousins, their still nearer relatives, or their wives.

The law includes those who have received money: For speaking in the Senate or any public assembly; for doing their duty or absenting themselves from it; for refusing to obey a public order or for exceeding it; for pronouncing judgment in a criminal or a civil case, or for not pronouncing it; for condemning or acquitting; for awarding or withdrawing the subject of a suit; for adjudging or taking an object in litigation; for appointing a judge or arbitrator, changing him, ordering him to judge, or for not appointing him or changing him, and not ordering him to judge; for causing a man to be imprisoned, put in irons, or set at liberty; for accusing or not accusing; for producing or suppressing a witness; for recognising as complete an unfinished public work; for accepting wheat for the use of the State without testing its good quality; for taking upon himself the maintenance of the public buildings without a certificate of their good condition; for enlisting a soldier or discharging him.

All that has been given to the proconsul or prætor contrary to the provisions of the present law, cannot become his by right of possession.

Sales and leases are declared null and void which have been made, for a high or a low price, with a view to right of possession by a third.

The magistrates are to abstain from all extortion, and receive as salary but 100 pieces of gold each year.

The action will lie equally against the heirs of the accused, but only during the year succeeding his death.

No one who has been condemned under this law can be either judge, accuser, or witness.

The penalties are exile, banishment to an island, or death, according to the gravity of the offence.

1165

Dio Cassius, XXXVIII. 8.

1166

De alternis consiliis rejiciendis. (Cicero, Oration against Vatinius, 11. —Scholiast of Bobbio, pp. 321, 323, edit. Orelli.)

1167

“The citizens who, not being of your order, cannot, thanks to the Cornelian laws, challenge more than three judges.” (Cicero, Second Prosecution of Verres, II. 31.)

1168

Suetonius, Cæsar, 28.

1169

Cicero, Familiar Letters, XIII. 35. “Pompeius Strabo, father of Pompey the Great, re-peopled Comum. Some time after, Scipio established 3,000 inhabitants there; and, finally, Cæsar sent 5,000 colonists, the most distinguished of whom were 500 Greeks.” (Strabo, cxix.)

1170

Cicero, Letters to Atticus, II. 18. – Dio Cassius, XXVIII. 8.

1171

Dio Cassius, XXVIII. 8. – Orelli, Index Legum, 178.

1172

Cicero, in his speech against Vatinius, chap. 6, while reproaching him for having disregarded the auspices, exclaims, “I ask you first, Did you refer the matter to the Senate, as Cæsar did?”

“It is true that Cæsar’s acts were, for the benefit of peace, confirmed by the Senate.” (Cicero, Second Philippic, 39.)

1173

Dio Cassius, XXXVIII. 7.

1174

Cæsar conducted himself with discretion in his consulship.” (Plutarch, Crassus, 17.)

1175

“Cæsar published laws that were worthy, I will not say of a consul, but of the most reckless of tribunes.” (Plutarch, Cæsar, 14.)

1176

Cicero, Letters to Atticus, VI. 1. – Appian, Civil Wars, II. 13.

1177

Pliny, Natural History, XXXIII. 5. Drumann and Mommsen, like ourselves, refuse their belief to the assertion of Suetonius.

1178