and quickly stopped the fight, the loss of men would have been greater.

When a road had been cleared for Cassius, Marcellus and Lepidus joined their camps, and went to Corduba with their troops, and Cassius to Carmona. About the same time C. Trebonius arrived as proconsul to take the government of the Further province. Trebonius had been praetor urbanus at Rome in B.C. 48; and, as it has been stated (p. 248), he saw Caesar at Antioch in July B.C. 47, and he reached Rome on the 14th of August. If Caesar did not hear of the misgovernment of Cassius at Alexandria, we may suppose that he did at Antioch, and that he appointed Trebonius to supersede him. It was probably late in the year that Trebonius arrived in Spain. As soon as Cassius heard of his arrival, he placed in winter quarters the legions which were with him and the cavalry; and hastily packing up his property he travelled to Malaca (Malaga) on the south coast of the province and set sail with his vessels, though the weather was bad. The reason for this hasty retreat, as he said himself, was that he would not trust himself in the power of Lepidus, Trebonius, and Marcellus; but, as his friends declared, it was because he did not choose after he had ceased to be governor to pass through a province, a large part of which had abandoned him; as others supposed, he went by sea to prevent the money which he had collected by boundless rapacity from falling into any person's hands. Cassius had a favourable voyage for the winter season, and when he had reached the Iberus (Ebro), he entered the river to pass the night there. He probably took shelter behind the island Buda which lies in front of the aestuary of the Ebro. Though the weather became more tempestuous, he thought that he could continue his voyage without any greater danger, but he met with a violent swell at the mouth of the river, and being unable either to turn the vessel round on account of the strong current of the river, or to keep his course against the waves which met him right in the narrow passage between the mainland and the island, he went down in the ship and perished with all his treasures.'

1 This seems to be the meaning of the author, who, if he did not know the

This story of the misgovernment of Cassius may be rather tedious. The author is not a good writer, and it is not easy to interpret his narrative, and it is impossible to abridge it. We learn however something of the dreadful condition of a Roman province under a bad governor, as we have already seen in the case of Verres in Sicily (vol. iii. chap. iv.); and the evil was aggravated in Spain during a civil war. Cassius did great damage to Caesar's cause in the peninsula and enabled his enemies to make head against him there after his victory seemed complete. It was Caesar's misfortune to have many bad and incapable men about him. He had used them as tools to help him to power and he was obliged to employ them even when he might not have wished. Lepidus had done some service by putting an end to the civil war in Spain, but he had no claim for a triumph. However he did triumph at the close of B.C. 47, though as Dion says (43. c. 1) he had no trophies to display except the money of which he had robbed the Spaniards; a charge which Dion would not hesitate to make without evidence, if it only enabled him to give a better turn to his sentence.

place, has accurately described the difficulty of sailing out from the mouth of the river.

VOL. V.

U

CHAPTER XXII.

CAESAR IN ASIA.

B.C. 47.

CAESAR sailed from Egypt to Seleucia Pieria near Suadeiah, a little north of the mouth of the Orontes, on which river stands Antioch. While he was in this city, he saw persons from Rome, who informed him of the state of affairs, and he learned also from letters that the administration was badly conducted. In consequence of the agitation of the tribunes of the plebs there was much disturbance; and the military tribunes and commanders of legions by seeking popularity and indulging the soldiers allowed the ancient and strict military discipline to be weakened. These abuses required his presence at Rome; but his first object was to settle the provinces which he intended to visit, to secure them against internal disorder, to make all necessary regulations and to release them from fear of external enemies. He expected to be able to accomplish this matter in Syria, Cilicia, and Asia in a short time, for there was no war in these parts. In Bithynia and Pontus he saw that he would have more trouble, for he heard that Pharnaces had not quitted Pontus, nor did he expect that he would, for the king was greatly elated by his victory over Domitius Calvinus. Caesar visited most of the chief towns in Syria, rewarded those who deserved it, both individuals and communities; and heard and decided old disputes. Kings, princes (tyranni), and rulers who were near

1 The author has said (B. A. c. 33) that Caesar went to Syria by land, which is almost certainly a mistake. Josephus (Antiq. xiv. 8. 3) says that he went by He had ships enough for his few men. See B. A. c. 69, and c. 65. The statement of Appian, B. C. ii. 91, is perhaps ambiguous, certainly careless.

sea.

the borders of the province came to meet him and made their submission, and after accepting the terms imposed of protecting the province, were sent off well satisfied with the dictator and the Roman people. The author of the Alexandrine War tells us all this in a few sentences and does not enter into any particulars. He adds that Caesar stayed only a few days in Syria; but if Caesar did all that the author mentions, he may have stayed a few weeks. Josephus (Antiq. xiv. 8, 3) reports that when Caesar was in Syria he rewarded Antipater for his services, and confirmed Hyrcanus in the priesthood. Antigonus the son of Aristobulus came also to complain to Caesar that his father was poisoned by means of Antipater and his brother was beheaded by Scipio, and he claimed Caesar's protection. Antipater, who was present, defended himself before Caesar, and Antigonus gained nothing by his appearance. Caesar gave Hyrcanus leave to restore the walls of Jerusalem, which had been demolished by Pompeius, and he sent this permission says Josephus to the consuls to be engraved in the Capitol. Josephus then gives the decree, but by some strange blunder he quotes an older document, which was a league of friendship between the Jews and Romans. However he gives the decree, which he intended to give, in another place (Antiq. xiv. 10. § 5). Caesar appointed his kinsman Sextus Caesar (B. C. ii. 20) commander of the forces and governor of Syria, and sailed with his fleet to Tarsus, the chief place in the Level Cilicia, on the Cydnus, which river at that time was accessible to ships, but the entrance is now closed by a bar. The cities of Cilicia were summoned to meet Caesar at Tarsus, where he settled their affairs and those of other bordering communities. But he was eager to find Pharnaces, and he went by long marches over the Taurus through Cappadocia to Mazaca.

Mazaca was situated at the base of the great volcanic mountain Argaeus (Argish) about 13,000 feet high, and, as Strabo says, always crowned with snow; but the geographer is probably mistaken when he states that from the summit both the Euxine and the Mediterranean are visible. The Roman emperor Tiberius changed the name of Mazaca to Caesareia and it is now Kaisariyeh on the Kara Su, a small

stream which flows into the Halys (Kizil Ermak). Caesar's course from Tarsus to Mazaca was due north, and Strabo estimates the distance from the Pylae Ciliciae or Cilician pass at six days' journey. The Pylae Ciliciae is the ancient name of the pass which leads from Tarsus through that part of Taurus now named the Bhulgar Dagh or mountain. It is the pass now named Gölek Boghaz,2 by which the Younger Cyrus and his army, and afterwards Alexander descended from the table-land of Cappadocia to Tarsus and the Cilician Plains. The narrow road in one part is cut out in the rock, and the sides are as steep as a wall: it would be difficult for an army to pass, if it were in the possession of an enemy. The author gives no reason why Caesar went to Mazaca. He stayed there only two days, and then went to Comana of Cappadocia, as the author says (c. 66).

This Comana was in the country named Cataonia, and on the river Sarus (Sihoon) in 37° 59′ N. lat., 36° 12′ E. long., now Al Bostan in a deep valley, and at least eighty miles direct distance south-east of Mazaca. Comana contained (Strabo, p. 535) a temple of Enyo, or of Bellona, as the author of the Alexandrine War names her, "who is so much venerated that the priest of the goddess in dignity, authority and power was considered next to the king by the unanimous consent of the people." The priest possessed large estates and on them six thousand slaves, when Strabo visited the place, men and women who were attached to the land. This valuable preferment was generally given to a member of the royal family. It is certain that the historian of the Alexandrine War means to say that Caesar visited the Comana of Cappadocia, though it lay entirely out of his way. He adds that Caesar gave the priesthood of this Comana to Lycomedes, a Bithynian, of the royal family of Cappadocia, who had a claim to the office. But Appian states (Mithridat. c. 121)

2 Bogház or Bogáz is the Turkish name for a mountain pass, and the cutlet of a river also.

3 Carsten Niebuhr passed it in winter with a caravan. (Reisebeschreibung, &c. p. 107, 1837). The road is older than the time of the Younger Cyrus, but it has doubtless been improved.

4 In the old texts of the Alexandrine War the name is Nicomedes, not Lycomedes.