was continued for five miles according to the MSS. of Cæsar; but some editors in place of 'five' have put 'fifty.' Plutarch's 400 stadia are equal to 50 Roman miles.]
[Footnote 488: Cæsar (_Gallic War_, i. 54). The army wintered in the country between the Jura, the Rhone and Saone, and the Rhine; which was the country of the Sequani. Cæsar says that he went into Citerior Gallia, that is, North Italy, 'ad conventus agendos,' to make his circuits for the administration of justice and other civil business.
He may be excused for not saying anything of his political intrigues.]
[Footnote 489: The rising of the Belgæ is the subject of Cæsar's Second Book. This campaign was in B.C. 57. It was not a rebellion of the Belgæ, for they had not been conquered, but they feared that the Romans would attack them after completing the subjugation of the Galli. The Belgæ were defeated on the Axona, the Aisne, a branch of the Seine (_Gallic War_, ii. 9-11). There is no mention in Cæsar of lakes and rivers being filled with dead bodies.]
[Footnote 490: The Nervii considered themselves of German origin. They occupied Hainault in Belgium, and the modern cities of Cambray and Tournay in France were within their limits. The Nervii were on the Sabis, the Sambre. Cæsar (ii. 25) speaks of seizing a shield and restoring the battle. Plutarch has taken from Cæsar (c. 29) the amount of the enemy's loss. See Dion Cassius (39. c. 1, &c.)]
[Footnote 491: "Ob easque res ex litteris Cæsaris dies xv subplicatio decreta est, quod ante id tempus accidit nulli." (Cæsar, _Gallic War_, ii. 35.)]
[Footnote 492: See the Life of Crassus, c. 14; Life of Pompeius, c.
51. The meeting at Luca was at the end of B.C. 56, and Plutarch has omitted the campaign of that year, which is contained in Cæsar's Third Book of the Gallic War.]
[Footnote 493: Csasar (iv. 1) names them Usipetes and Tenetheri. The events in this chapter belong to B.C. 55, when Cn. Pompeius Magnus and M. Licinius Crassus were consuls for the second time.]
[Footnote 494: Cæsar, iv. c. 12. Plutarch here calls the Commentaries [Greek: ephêmerides] ἐφημερίδες, which means a Diary or Day-book. The proper Greek word would be [Greek: hypomnêmata] ὑπομνήματα. Kaltwasser accordingly concludes that Plutarah appears to have confounded the Ephemerides and the Commentarii, or at least to have used the word [Greek: ephêmerides] ἐφημερίδες improperly instead of [Greek: hypomnêmata] ὑπομνήματα. There is no proof that Cæsar kept a diary.
That kind of labour is suited to men of a different stamp from him.
Plutarch means the Commentarii. It is true that Servius (_Ad Æneid._ xi. 743) speaks of a diary (Ephemeris) of Cæsar, which records his being once captured by the Gauls. But see the note of Davis on this passage (Cæsar, ed. Oudendorp, ii. 999). Suetonius, who enumerates Cæsar's writings (Cæsar, 55, 56), mentions no Ephemeris. There were abundant sources for anecdotes about Cæsar. The Roman himself wrote as an historian: he was not a diary keeper.]
[Footnote 495: Tanusius Geminus wrote a history which is mentioned by Suetonius (Cæsar, 9). Cato's opinion on this occasion was merely dictated by party hostility and personal hatred. His proposal was unjust and absurd. Cæsar had good reason for writing his Anticato.]
[Footnote 496: Or Sigambri, a German tribe on the east bank of the Lower Rhine. They bordered on the Ubii, and were north of them. The name probably remains in the Sieg, a small stream which enters the Rhine on the east bank, nearly opposite to Bonn.]
[Footnote 497: Cæsar describes the construction of this bridge (iv.
17) without giving any particulars as to the place where it was made.
The situation can only be inferred from a careful examination of the previous part of his history, and it has been subject of much discussion, in which opinions are greatly divided. The narratives of Dion Cassius (39. c. 48) and Florus (iii. 10) give some assistance towards the solution of the question. Professor Müller, in an excellent article in the 'Jahrbücher des Vereins von Alterthumsfreunden im Rheinlande' (vii. 1845), has proved that the bridge must have been built near Coblenz. Cæsar defeated the Germans in the angle between the Moselle and the Rhine. He must have crossed the Moselle in order to find a convenient place for his bridge, which he would find near Neuwied. The bridge abutted on the east bank on the territory of the Ubii, who were his friends. The narrative of Cæsar, when carefully examined, admits of no other construction than that which Müller has put upon it; and if there were any doubt, it is removed by Cæsar himself in another passage (_Gallic War_, vi. 9) where he speaks of his second bridge, which gave him a passage from the territory of the Treviri into that of the Ubii, and he adds that the site of the second bridge was near that of the first.
In the Gallic War (iv. 15) Cæsar speaks of the junction (ad confluentem Mosæ et Rheni) of the Mosa and the Rhine, where Müller assumes that he means the Moselle, as he undoubtedly does. Either the reading Mosa is wrong, or, what is not improbable, both the Moselle and the Maas had the same name, Mosa. Mosella or Mosula is merely the diminution of Mosa. At this confluence of the Moselle and Rhine the town of Coblenz was afterwards built, which retains the ancient name.
Cæsar indicates which Mosa he means clearly enough by the words 'ad confluentem.' There was no 'confluens' of the Great Mosa and the Rhenus.]
[Footnote 498: The first expedition of Cæsar to Britain was in the autumn of B.C. 55, and is described in his fourth book of the Gallic War, c. 20, &c. He landed on the coast of Kent, either at Deal or between Sandgate and Hythe. His second expedition was in the following year B.C. 54, which is described in the fifth book, c. 8 &c. He crossed the Thamesis (Thames) in face of the forces of Cassivelaunus, whose territories were bounded on the south by the Thames.
There has been some discussion on the place where Cæsar crossed the Thames. Camden (p. 882, ed. Gibson) fixes the place at Cowey Stakes near Oatlands on the Thames, opposite to the place where the Wey joins the Thames. Bede, who wrote at the beginning of the eighth century, speaks of stakes in the bed of the river at that place, which so far corresponds to Cæsar's description, who says that the enemy had protected the ford with stakes on the banks and across the bed of the river. Certain stakes still exist there, which are the subject of a paper in the Archæologia, 1735, by Mr. Samuel Gale. The stakes are as hard as ebony; and it is evident from the exterior grain that the stakes were the entire bodies of young oak trees. Cæsar places the ford eighty miles from the coast of Kent where he landed, which distance agrees very well with the position of Oatlands, as Camden remarks.
Cassivelaunus had been appointed Commander-in-chief of all the British forces. This is the king whom Plutarch means. He agreed to pay an annual tribute to the Romans (_Gallic War_, v. 22), and gave them hostages. Compare Cicero, _Ad Attic._ iv. 17.
Cæsar wrote two letters to Cicero while he was in Britain. He wrote one letter on the 1st of September, which Cicero received on the 28th of September (_Ad Quintum Fratrem,_ iii. 1). Cicero here alludes to Cæsar's sorrow for his daughter's death, of which Cæsar had not received intelligence when he wrote to Cicero; but Cicero knew that the news had gone to him. On the 24th of October, Cicero received another letter written from the British coast from Cæsar, and one from his brother Quintus who was with Cæsar. This letter was written on the 26th of September. Cæsar states (_Gallic War_, v. 23) that it was near the time of the equinox when he was leaving Britain.]
[Footnote 499: See the Life of Crassus, c. 16, and the Life of Pompeius, c. 53.]
[Footnote 500: L. Aurunculeius Cotta and Q. Titurius Sabinus were sent into the country of the Eburones, the chief part of which was between the Maas and the Rhine, in the parallels of Namur and Liege. This king, who is called Abriorix, is named Ambiorix by Cæsar (_Gallic War_, 24, &c.) The Gauls, after an unsuccessful attempt on the camp, persuaded the Romans to leave it under a promise that they should have a safe passage through the country of the Eburones. Ambiorix made them believe that there was going to be a general rising of the Gauls, and that their best plan was to make their way to the camp of Q. Cicero or Labienus. When they had left their camp, the Gauls fell upon them in a convenient spot and massacred most of them.]
[Footnote 501: Quintus Cicero was encamped in the country of the Nervii in Hainault. The attack on his camp is described by Cæsar (_Gallic War_, v. 39, &c.) Cæsar says, when he is speaking of his own camp (v. 50), 'Jubet...ex omnibus partibus castra altiore vallo muniri portasque obstrui, &c...cum simulatione terroris;' of which Plutarch has given the meaning.]
[Footnote 502: Kaltwasser remarks that Plutarch passes over the events in Cæsar's Sixth Book of the Gallic War, as containing matters of less importance for his purpose.]
[Footnote 503: Cæsar (vii. 4) calls him Vercingetorix. He was of the nation of the Arverni, whom Plutarch (as his text stands) calls Arvenni in c. 25, and Aruveni in c. 26. The Arverni were on the Upper Loire in Auvergne. The Carnunteni, whom Cæsar calls Carnutes, were partly in the middle basin of the same river. Orleans (Genapum) and Chartres (Autricum) were their headquarters.]
[Footnote 504: [Greek: tais autais hodois] ταῖς αὐταῖς ὁδοῖς in the MSS., which gives no sense. I have adopted Reiske's alteration [Greek: autais tais hodois] αὐταῖς ταῖς ὁδοῖς. Cæsar (vii. 8) describes his march over the Cevenna, the Cevennes, in winter. He had to cut his road through snow six feet deep. The enemy, who considered the Cevennes as good a protection as a wall, were surprised by his sudden appearance.]
[Footnote 505: So Plutarch writes it. It is Ædui in Cæsar's text, or Hædui. The Ædui, one of the most powerful of the Gallic tribes, were situated between the Upper Loire and the Saone, and possessed the chief part of Burgundy. The Saone separated them from the Sequani on the east.]
[Footnote 506: The Lingones were on the Vosges, which contain the sources of the Marne and the Moselle. The Saone separated them from the Sequani on the south-east. The account of this campaign is unintelligible in Plutarch. It is contained in Cæsar's Seventh Book.]
[Footnote 507: A small matter in itself; but if true, a trait in Cæsar's character. Schaefer has the following note: "Aliter facturus erat Cyrneus, omnino inferior ille Romano." The Corsican is Napoleon.
Cæsar was the magnanimous man, whom Aristotle describes (_Eth. Nicom._ iv. 7); Napoleon was not.]
[Footnote 508: Alise, or rather the summit of Mont Auxois, west of Dijon in Burgundy, represents the Alesia of Cæsar. A stream flowed along each of two sides of the city. Alesia belonged to the Mandubii, who were dependants of the Ædui. The siege and capture of Alesia, B.C.
52, are told by Cæsar (_Gallic War_, vii. 68, &c.)
The assembling of the Gallic nations was a last great effort to throw off the yoke.
Dion Cassius (40. c. 41) says Vercingetorix was put in chains. Seven years after he appeared in Cæsar's triumph, after which he was put to death.
Cæsar passed the winter of B.C. 51 at Nemetocenna, Arras, in Belgium.
The final pacification of Gaul is mentioned (viii. 48). Cæsar left Gaul for North Italy in the early part of B.C. 50, and having visited all the cities in his province on the Italian side of the Alps, he again returned to Nemetocenna in Belgium, and after finally settling affairs in those parts, he returned to North Italy, where he learned that the two legions, which had been taken from him for the Parthian war, had been given by the consul C. Marcellus to Pompeius, and were kept in Italy.
In nine years Cæsar completed the subjugation of all that part of Gaul which is bounded by the Saltus Pyrenæus, the Alps and the Cevennes, the Rhine and the Rhone; and it was reduced to the form of a province.
(Suetonius, _Cæsar_, c. 25.) With the capture of Alesia the Seventh book of the Gallic War ends. The Eighth book is not by Cæsar.]
[Footnote 509: As to the disturbances at Rome mentioned in this chapter, see the Life of Pompeius, c. 54, &c., notes.]
[Footnote 510: Life of Pompeius, c. 52.]
[Footnote 511: M. Claudius Marcellus, consul B.C. 51, with S.
Sulpicius Rufus.]
[Footnote 512: Novum Comum or Novocomum; north of the Padus, had been settled as a Colonia Latina by Cæsar. (Appianus, _Civil Wars_, ii.
26.)
The government of the colonia was formed on a Roman model: there was a body of Decuriones or Senators.]
[Footnote 513: See the Life of Pompeius, c. 58; Appianus, _Civil [Footnote 514: L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, whom Cæsar took in Corfinium, c. 34.]
[Footnote 515: See the Life of Pompeius, c. 52.]
[Footnote 516: Cæsar (_Civil War_, i. 1) mentions this letter; but it was read in the Senate after great opposition. The consuls of the year B.C. 49 were L. Cornelius Lentulus and C. Claudius Marcellus.
Cæsar, in the first few chapters of the Civil War, has clearly stated all the matters that are referred to in c. 30 and 31. The "letters" mentioned in c. 31 as coming before Curio and Antonius left Rome, are not mentioned by Cæsar. Plutarch might have confounded this with [Footnote 517: Cæsar was at Ravenna when the tribunes fled from Rome, and he first saw them at Ariminum, Rimini, which was not within the 3.)]
[Footnote 518: Q. Hortensius Hortalus, a son of the orator Hortensius.
He was an unprincipled fellow.]
[Footnote 519: Cæsar says nothing of the passage of the Rubico, but his silence does not disprove the truth of the story as told by Plutarch. The passage of the Rubico was a common topic (locus communis) for rhetoricians. Lucanus (_Pharsalia,_ i. 213) has embellished it:-- "Fonte cadit modico parvisque impellitur undis Puniceus Rubicon, cum fervida canduit æstas-- Tunc vires præbebat hiems."
This small stream does not appear to be identified with certainty.
Some writers make it the Fiumicino.
Ariminum was not in Cæsar's province, and Plutarch must have known that, as appears from his narrative. Kaltwasser thinks that he may mean that it was originally a Gallic town, which was true.]
[Footnote 520: In Plutarch's time the system of naming the Romans was greatly confused, and he extended the confusion to earlier times. C.
Asinius Pollio, who was with Cæsar at the Rubico and at the battle of Pharsalia, wrote a history of the Civil Wars. He was also a poet.
(Horatius, _Od._ ii. 1.) His work, as we may collect from c. 46, furnished materials for anecdotes about Cæsar.]
[Footnote 521: This dream according to Suetonius (_Cæsar_, c. 7) and Dion Cassius (41. c. 24) he had at Cades (Cadiz) in Spain during his quæstorship. The time of the dream is not unimportant, if the interpretation of it was that he was destined to have the dominion of the world. Cæsar has not recorded his dream. Sulla recorded his dreams. He was superstitious and cruel. Cæsar was not cruel, and there is no proof that he was superstitious.]
[Footnote 522: Pompeius went to Capua, where he thought of making a stand, but he soon moved on to Brundisium. On the confusion in the city see Dion Cassius (41. c. 5-9).]
[Footnote 523: The author of the Eighth book of the Gallic War (c. 52) speaks of Labienus being solicited by Cæsar's enemies. Cæsar had put him over Gaul south of the Alps. In the Civil War, Book 1, he is merely mentioned as having fortified Cingulum at his own cost. Cicero (_Ad Attic._ vii. 7) says that he was indebted to Cæsar for his wealth. His defection is mentioned by Cicero several times, and it gave a temporary encouragement to the party of Pompeius. (_Ad Attic._ vi. 12, 13.) Labienus joined Pompeius and the Consuls at Teanum in Campania on the 23rd of January.]
[Footnote 524: Corfinium three miles from the river Aternus. Cæsar (_Civil War_, i. 16-23) describes the siege of Corfinium. L. Domitius Ahenobarbus was treated kindly by Cæsar. He afterwards went to Massalia and defended it against Cæsar. This most excellent citizen, as Cicero calls him, met the death he so well deserved at the battle of Pharsalia, and as Cicero says (_Phillipp._ ii. 29), at the hand of M. Antonius.]
[Footnote 525: See the Life of Pompeius, c. 62.]
[Footnote 526: From this it appears that the Life of Pompeius was written after the Life of Cæsar.]
[Footnote 527: Cæsar (_Civil War_, i, 32) has reported his own speech.]
[Footnote 528: See the Life of Pompeius, c. 62.]
[Footnote 529: This was the "sanctius ærarium" (Cæsar, _Civil War_, i.
13), which Lentulus had left open; in such alarm had he left the city.
This money, which was kept in the temple of Saturn, was never touched except in cases of great emergency. Vossius remarks that to save his own character, Cæsar says that he found this treasury open. But Cæsar does not say that he found it open. He says that Lentulus left it open. There was time enough for Metellus to lock the door after Lentulus ran away. Cæsar would have been a fool not to take the money; and if he wanted it, he would of course break the door open, if he found it shut. But whether the door was open or shut was unimportant; the wrongful act, if there was any, consisted in taking the money, and he would not have been excused for taking it simply because the door was unlocked. I believe Cæsar broke it open (Cicero _Ad Attic._ x. 4; Dion Cassius, 41. c. 17; and the authorities quoted by Reimarus). I also believe Cæsar when he says that Lentulus left the door unlocked.
The Senate had supplied Pompeius with money for the war out of the ordinary treasury. When Cæsar took Corfinium, he gave to Domitius all the money that he found there, which was to a large amount, though this was public money and had been given to Domitius by Pompeius to pay his soldiers with. (Appianus, ii. 28; Cæsar, _Civil War_, i. 23.)
When "that man of greatest purity and integrity," as Cicero calls him, M. Terentius Varro, commanded for Pompeius in Spain (B.C. 48), he carried off the treasure from the temple of Hercules at Cadiz. That man, on whom Cicero vents every term of abuse that his fear and hatred could supply, restored the stolen money to the god. (Cæsar, _Civil War_, ii. 18, 21.)]
[Footnote 530: The Spanish campaign against Afranius is contained in the _Civil War_, 34, &c. The legati of Pompeius in Spain were L.
Afranius, consul B.C. 60, M. Petreius, and M. Terentius Varro, better known for his learning and his numerous works than for his military talents. After the surrender of Afranius and Petreius, Cæsar marched to the south of Spain, for Varro, who was in Lusitania, was making preparations for war. Varro, after some feeble efforts, surrendered to the conqueror at Cordova. Varro was treated kindly like all the rest who fell into Cæsar's hands, and he had the opportunity of placing himself against Cæsar at Dyrrachium.
On his return from the successful close of his Spanish campaign, Massalia surrendered to Cæsar after an obstinate resistance. (Cæsar, It was on his return to Massalia from the south of Spain that Cæsar heard of his appointment as Dictator (_Civil War_, ii. 21).]
Cæsar does not speak of those who had suffered in Sulla's time; nor does Dion.]
[Footnote 532: Cæsar and P. Servilius Isauricus (son of the consul Isauricus, B.C. 79) were elected Consuls for B.C. 48. See the Life of Pompeius, c. 54, notes; and of Cæsar, c. 57, _Dictator_.
When Cæsar had left Rome, the boys formed themselves into two parties, Pompeians and Cæsarians, and had a battle without arms, in which the Cæsarians were victorious. (Dion Cassius, 41, c. 39.)
As to Cæsar's forces, see _Civil War_, iii. 2.]
[Footnote 533: Dion Cassius (41. c. 45) tells this story of the boat adventure; and (Appianus, _Civil Wars_, ii. 57) Cæsar was uneasy at the delay of M. Antonius and his legions, and he feared that Antonius might desert him. Cæsar says nothing of this attempt to cross the sea.
He very seldom mentions his personal risks. He left this to the anecdote collectors.]
[Footnote 534: The river appears to be the Anas of Dion (41. c. 45) which is near Apollonia, though he does not mention the river in his account of Cæsar's attempted voyage. This is the river which Strabo calls Æas, and Hekatæus calls Aous (Strabo, p. 316).
For the events in these three chapters see the Life of Pompeius, c.
65, &c., and the references in the notes.]
[Footnote 535: Cæsar calls the root Chara (_Civil War_, iii. 48. Comp.
Plinius, _N.H._ 19, c. 8). These facts are mentioned in Cæsar. The events in the neighbourhood of Dyrrachium and Apollonia must be studied in Cæsar, Dion Cassius, Book 41, and Appianus, Book ii.]
[Footnote 536: Cæsar mentions the capture of Gomphi (_Civil War_, iii.
80), but he says nothing of the wine. Cæsar let his men plunder Gomphi. The town had offered him all its means and prayed him for a garrison, but on hearing of his loss at Dyrrachinm the people shut their gates against him and sent to Pompeius for aid. The town was stormed on the first day that it was attacked.]
[Footnote 537: As Kaltwasser observes, there was no bad omen in the dream, as it is here reported. We must look to the Life of Pompeius, c. 68, for the complete dream. Perhaps something has dropped out of the text here. Dacier, as Kaltwasser says, has inserted the whole passage out of the Life of Pompeius.]
[Footnote 538: This is an error. The name is Q. Cornificus. See the note of Sintenis. He was a quæstor of Cæsar. Calenus is Fulvus Calenus, who had been sent by Cæsar into Achaia, and had received the submission of Delphi, Thebæ, and Orchomenus, and was then engaged in taking other cities and trying to gain over other cities. (Cæsar, [Footnote 539: See the Life of Pompeius, c. 71.]
[Footnote 540: I have omitted the unmeaning words [Greek: ê dia theias hêttês tethambêmenos] ἢ διὰ θείας ἥττης τεθαμβημένος. See the note of Sintenis.]
[Footnote 541: These words of Cæsar are also reported by Suetonius (_Cæsar_, 30), on the authority of Pollio. They are: Hoc voluerunt: tantis rebus gestis C. Cæsar condemnatus essem, nisi ab exercitu auxilium petissem. These words are more emphatic with the omission of 'they brought me into such a critical position,' and Casaubon proposes to erase them in Plutarch's text, that is, to alter and improve the text.]
[Footnote 542: A rich town of Lydia in Asia Minor on the north side of the Mæander. This miracle at Tralles and others are enumerated by Cæsar (_Civil War_, iii. 105; Dion Cassius, 41. c. 61). The book of Livius, in which this affair of Patavium (Padua) was mentioned (the 111th), is lost. See the Supplement of Freinsheim, c. 72.]
[Footnote 543: See life of Pompeius, c. 42, notes; and Appianus [Footnote 544: Cæsar crossed the Hellespont, where he met with C.
Cassius Longinus going with a fleet to aid Pharnakes in Pontus.
Cassius surrendered and was kindly treated, in consideration of which he afterwards assisted to murder Cæsar. (Appianus, _Civil Wars_, ii.
88.)]
[Footnote 545: Of Knidus. The same who is mentioned by Cicero (_Ad Attic._ xiii. 7) as a friend of Cæsar, and by Strabo, p. 48, &c.
Asia is the Roman province of Asia.]
[Footnote 546: Cæsar (_Civil War_, iii. 106) speaks of his arrival on the coast of Egypt. The Egyptians were offended to see the Roman fasces carried before him.]
[Footnote 547: Cæsar had the head of Pompeius burnt with due honours, and he built a temple to Nemesis over the ashes. The temple was pulled down by the Jews in their rising in Egypt during the time of Trajanus.
As to the seal ring see the Life of Pompeius, c. 80, and Dion Cassias (42. c. 18).]
[Footnote 548: The Alexandrine war, which is confusedly told here, is recorded in a single book entitled De Bello Alexandrino and in Dion Cassius (42. c. 34-44). The origin of it is told by Cæsar at the end of the third Book of the Civil War. The history of the Alexandrine war by Appianus was in his Ægyptiaca, which is lost. Dion Cassius, a lover of scandal, mentions that Cæsar's attachment to Kleopatra was the cause of the Alexandrine war (42. c. 44). But it could not be the sole cause. Cæsar landed with the insignia of his office, as if he were entering a Roman province, and it might be reasonably suspected by the Egyptians that he had a design on the country. Instead of thanking them for ridding him of his rival, he fixed himself and his soldiers in one of the quarters of Alexandria. Cæsar went to get money (Dion, 42. c. 9). Kleopatra kept him there longer than he at first intended to stay.]
[Footnote 549: Ptolemæus Auletes through Cæsar's influence had been declared a friend and ally of the Romans in Cæsar's consulship B.C.
59. (Cic. _Ad Attic._ ii. 16.) Ptolemæus had to spend money for this: he both gave and promised. It does not appear that this money was promised to Cæsar: it is more probable that it was promised to the Roman State and Cæsar came to get it.]
[Footnote 550: The story of Kleopatra coming to Cæsar is also told by Dion Cassius (42. c. 34). Cæsar mentions his putting Pothinus to death (_Civil War_, iii. 112). Cæsar had at first only 3200 foot soldiers and 800 cavalry to oppose to the 20,000 men of Achillas, who were not bad soldiers. Besides these 20,000 men Achillas had a great number of vagabonds collected from all parts of Cilicia and Syria.]
[Footnote 551: Alexandria had no springs, and it was supplied from the Nile, the water of which was received into cisterns under the houses.
This supply was (_Bell. Alex._ 5, &c.) damaged by Ganymedes the Egyptian drawing up salt water from the sea and sending it into the cisterns. Cæsar supplied himself by digging wells in the sand.]
[Footnote 552: As to the destruction of the library see Dion Cassius (42. c. 38) and the notes of Reimarus. The destruction is not mentioned by Cæsar or the author of the Alexandrine war. Kleopatra afterwards restored it, and the library was famed for a long time after. Lipsius (Opera iii. 1124, Vesal 1675) has collected all that is known of this and other ancient libraries.]
[Footnote 553: The Pharos is a small island in the bay of Alexandria, which was connected with the mainland by a mole, and so divided the harbour into two parts. The story of the battle of the Pharos is told by Dion Cassius (42. c. 40), with the particulars about Cæsar's escape. See the notes of Reimarus.
The modern city of Alexandria is chiefly built on the mole which joined the old city to the mainland. (Article _Alexandria_, 'Penny Cyclopædia,' by the author of this note.)]
[Footnote 554: The King, the elder brother of Kleopatra, was drowned in the Nile. (Dion Cassius, 42. c. 43, and the notes of Reimarus.) His body was found. (Florus, ii. 60.)]
[Footnote 555: Cæsar did not add Egypt to the Roman Empire. He married Kleopatra to her younger brother, who was a boy. Dion says that he still continued his commerce with Kleopatra. Cæsar was nine months in Egypt, from October 48 to July 47 of the unreformed Kalendar.
Cæsarion, a Greek form from the word Cæsar, may have been Cæsar's son, for there is no doubt that Cæsar cohabited with Kleopatra in Egypt.
There is more about this Cæsarion in Suetonius, _Cæsar_, c. 52, where the reading is doubtful; _Cæsar Octavian_. c. 17. When Cæsar Octavianus took Egypt he put Cæsarion to death.]
[Footnote 556: He had been acknowledged by Pompeius as king of the Bosporus after the death of his father. He was now in Asia Minor, where he had taken Amisus and had castrated all the male children.
Cæsar after hearing of the defeat of Domitius Calvinus, his legatus, by Pharnakos, advanced against him and routed his army. Zela is eight hours south of Amasia, the birthplace of Strabo, and about 40° 15' N.
lat. Pharnakes was afterwards murdered by Asander, one of his generals. (Appianus, _Civil Wars_, ii. 91; Dion Cassius, 42, 46; The modern town of Zilleh, which contains 2000 houses, stands on the site of Zela. A hill rises abruptly above the plain near the centre of the present town, and occupies a commanding position. The appearance of the place corresponds very well with Strabo's description (p. 561), in whose time it was the capital of Zelitis. (Hamilton's _Asia Minor_, i. 361.)]
[Footnote 557: This is the best MS. reading, not Amintius; the true name is probably C. Matius. He was an intimate friend of Cæsar, and he is well spoken of by Cicero. He remained faithful to the cause of Cæsar after his death, and he attached himself to Octavianus. There is a letter of Cicero to Matius, with the answer of Matius (Cicero, _Ad Diversos_, xi. 27, 28) written after Cæsar's death, which shows him to have been a man of honour and courage, and worthy of the name of Cæsar's friend.
This letter of Cæsar's is probably a forgery of the anecdote-makers.
Davis (note to Oudendorp's Cæsar, ii. 992) has indicated the probable source of this supposed letter. (Suetonius, _Cæsar_, c. 37.) The battle was a smart affair of several hours, and was not won without some loss.]
[Footnote 558: He was named Dictator for B.C. 47 by the Senate in Rome immediately after the battle of Pharsalia: he was at Alexandria when he received this news. He appointed M. Antonius his Master of the Horse and sent him to Rome. (Dion Cassius, 42. c. 21-33.)]
[Footnote 559: It broke out during his dictatorship. (Suetonius, _Cæsar_, c. 70; Dion Cassius, 42. c. 52.) The story is told very circumstantially by Appianus (_Civil Wars_, ii. 92). The soldiers demanded of Cæsar release from service (missio), and he granted it to them in a single word, Mitto. The soldiers having got what they asked for were no longer soldiers, but citizens; and Cæsar in the subsequent part of the conference properly addressed them as Quirites, just as Cicero addresses the Roman people by this name in one of his orations against Rullus. The soldiers at last prevailed on him to restore them to their former condition; and he set out with them for his African war. This affair is alluded to by Tacitus. (_Annal._ ii. 42; Lucanus, v. 357.)]
[Footnote 560: P. Cornelius Dolabella, a devoted adherent of Cæsar.
His turbulent tribunate is recorded by Dion Cassius (42. c. 29, &c.).
He was consul with M. Antonius B.C. 44. The name Amantius occurs here again. It is Amintius in some editions of Plutarch. Kaltwasser observes that nothing is known of Amintius and Corfinius. But Corfinius should be Cornificius; and Amantius should probably be C.
Matius.]
[Footnote 561: Cato was not in the battle of Pharsalus. After the battle Cato, Scipio, Afranius, and Labienus went to Corcyra, whence they sailed to Africa to join Juba. (Life of Cato, c. 55; Dion The history of the African War is contained in one book, and is printed in the editions with the Gallic War of Cæsar. Cæsar landed at Hadrumetum, because Utica was strongly guarded. (Dion Cassius, 42. c.
58.)]
[Footnote 563: Dion Cassius (42. c. 58) calls him Salatto. Suetonius (_Cæsar_, c. 59) also tells the same story. The African campaign is told by Dion Cassius, 43. c. 1, &c.]
[Footnote 564: Scipio avoided fighting as long as he could. Thapsus was situated on a kind of peninsula, south of Hadrumetum, as Dion Cassius states. But his description is not clear. There were salt-pans near it, which were separated from the sea by a very narrow tract.
Cæsar occupied this approach to Thapsus, and then formed his lines about the town in the form of a crescent. Scipio came to relieve Thapsus, and this brought on a battle. (_African War_, 80.) Cæsar could not stop the slaughter after the battle was won.]
[Footnote 565: Petreius, Cæsar's former opponent in Spain, fled with Juba to Zama, where Juba had his family and his treasures. But the people would not receive Juba into the place. On which, after rambling about for some time with Petreius, in despair they determined to fight with one another that they might die like soldiers. Juba, who was strong, easily killed Petreius, and then with the help of a slave he Scipio attempted to escape to Spain on ship-board. Near Hippo Regius (Bona) he was in danger of falling into the hands of P. Silius, on which he stabbed himself. Afranius and Faustus Sulla, the son of the dictator, were taken prisoners and murdered by the soldiers in Cæsar's camp.]
[Footnote 566: As to the death of Cato, see the Life of Cato, c. 65.]
[Footnote 567: The work was in two books, and was written about the time of the battle of Munda, B.C. 45. (Suetonius, c. 56; Cicero, _Ad Attic_, xii. 40; Dion Cassius, 43. c. 13, and the notes of Reimarus about the "Anticato.")]
[Footnote 568: Cæsar made the kingdom of Juba a Roman province, of which he appointed C. Sallustius, the historian, proconsul. He laid heavy impositions on the towns of Thapsus and Hadrumetum. He imposed on the people of Leptis an annual tax of 3,000,000 pounds weight of oil (pondo olei), which Plutarch translates by the Greek word litræ.
On his voyage to Rome he stayed at Carales (Cagliari) in Sardinia. He reached Rome at the end of July, B.C. 46. (_African War_, 97, &c.)
Dion Cassius (43. c. 15, &c.) gives us a speech of Cæsar before the Senate on his return to Rome.]
[Footnote 569: As Kaltwasser remarks, Plutarch has omitted the triumph over Gaul. (Dion Cassius, 43. c. 19; Appianus, _Civil Wars_, ii. 101.)
After the triumph Vercingetorix was put to death. Arsinœ, the sister of Kleopatra, appeared in the Egyptian triumph in chains.]
[Footnote 570: See the Life of Sulla, c. 16 notes; and Dion Cassius, 51. c. 15.]
[Footnote 571: Plutarch has the word [Greek: triklinos] τρίκλινος. The Latin form is triclinium, a couch which would accomodate three persons at table. The word is of Greek origin, and simply means a place which will allow three persons to recline upon it. As triclinia were placed in eating-rooms, such a room is sometimes called triclinium. It is sometimes incorrectly stated that triclinium means three couches, and that a dining-room had the name of triclinium because it contained three couches; which is absurd. Vitruvius describes œci(dining-rooms) square and large enough to contain four triclinia, and leave room also for the servants (vi. 10). It may be true that three couches was a common number in a room.]
[Footnote 572: There was no census this year, as Rualdus quoted by Kaltwasser shows. Augustus had a census made in his sixth consulship, B.C. 28; and there had then been none for twenty-four years. That of B.C. 42 was in the consulship of M. Æmilius Lepidus and Munatius Plancus. It has been remarked that Plutarch gives the exact numbers that are given in Suetonius (_Cæsar_, 41), when he is speaking of the number of poor citizens who received an allowance of corn from the state, which number Cæsar reduced from 320,000 to 150,000. This passage, compared with Dion Cassius (43. c. 21), seems to explain the origin of Plutarch's statement. Appianus (_Civil Wars_, ii. 102) also supposed that it was a census. See Clinton, _Fasti_, Lustra Romana, B.C. 50. (See the Life of Caius Gracchus, c. 5, notes.)]