letter is short: "You judge rightly about me, for you know me well, that nothing is further from my disposition than cruelty. I derive great pleasure from what I have done, and I am exceedingly delighted that you approve of my behaviour. I am not at all disturbed by the report that those, whom I set at liberty, are gone away with the purpose of fighting against me again for nothing pleases me more than to continue like myself and for them to be always what they have been. I hope you will meet me at Rome, that I may in all matters, as I have been used to do, avail myself of your advice and assistance. You must know that nobody is more beloved by me than your son-in-law Dolabella; and if he shall persuade you to go to Rome, I shall be indebted to him for it; he cannot do otherwise than attempt to persuade you, such is his kindness, feeling, and good-will towards me" (Ad Attic. ix. 16 A).

Cicero saw Caesar at Formiae, and he reported the interview to Atticus (ix. 18). Caesar had ordered public notice to be given at Formiae that he wished to have a full meeting of the Senate at Rome on the 1st of April, and his purpose in visiting Cicero was to prevail on him to be present. Cicero says that at this interview he ordered his language so that Caesar should rather think well of him than have reason for thanking him. Cicero persisted in his resolution of not going to Rome; but Caesar was not so easily satisfied on this head as Cicero expected: he said that he was condemned by Cicero's resolution, and that other senators would be less ready to come, if he did not. was different from his. After much talk, Caesar said, Come then to Rome and discuss the matter of peace. According to my own opinion, do you mean? said Cicero; to which Caesar replied, Must I prescribe what you should do? Then, said Cicero, I shall propose that the Senate do not approve of your going to Spain, nor of troops being taken. over the sea into Greece, and I shall say a good deal in commiseration of Pompeius. But, said Caesar, that is what I do not wish to be said. So I supposed, replied Cicero, and that is the reason why I do not wish to be at Rome, because I must either say this, and a good deal which I could not keep

Cicero replied that their case

back, if I were there; or I must not go to Rome. The result was that Caesar put an end to the interview by asking Cicero to consider the matter. Cicero could not refuse; and they parted. Cicero thought that Caesar was not well pleased with him; but Cicero says that he was well pleased with himself; which had not been the case for some time. He evidently means that he managed this disagreeable interview better than he expected.

Cicero says at the end of his letter: "Caesar's concluding words (KaTaxλeis), which I was near omitting, were odious: he said, that if he had not the opportunity of making use of my advice, he would take such advice as he could get, and that he would have recourse to any means." Caesar went off to Pedum in the neighbourhood of Rome, and Cicero to his native town Arpinum.

CHAPTER IV.

CAESAR IN ROME.

B.C. 49.

MANY of the senators were at this time in Rome and a meeting of the Senate was summoned outside the walls by the tribunes M. Antonius and Q. Cassius, for Caesar being a Proconsul could not legally enter the city (Dion. 41. c. 15). The meeting was probably on the 1st of April, the day which Caesar had fixed, and we know from Cicero (Ad Attic. x. 1. 1, 2) that it was before the 3rd. Cicero names the meeting "a congregation of the Senate," for I do not, he says, allow it to be a Senate. Caesar reports (B. C. i. 32) his own address to this assembly.

He began by speaking of the wrongs which he had received from his enemies: he maintained that he had sought no unusual honours, but he had waited for the time when he could legally be a candidate for the consulship like any other citizen; it had been proposed by the ten tribunes, though his enemies resisted the proposal, M. Cato most violently and according to his fashion wasting the time by talking, that Caesar might be a candidate for the consulship without coming to Rome, and this was done in the consulship of Pompeius; now if Pompeius did not approve of this, why did he allow it to be done? and if he did approve of it, why had he prevented Caesar from making use of the permission which the people had granted to him? he spoke of his patient endurance in proposing that both he and Pompeius should disband their armies, which was in fact a surrender of his just 1 Vol. iv. p. 367.

claims he spoke also of the rancorous disposition of his enemies, who refused to do themselves what they required another to do, and chose rather to throw everything into confusion than to give up their military commissions and their armies: further, he spoke of the wrong done to him by taking the two legions from him, and the harshness and arrogance shown in resisting the authority of the tribunes; he reminded them also of the terms which he had proposed, of the confercnces solicited and refused: for all these reasons he exhorted and asked them to undertake the administration of the republic in conjunction with himself: but if they refused this proposal through fear, he would not trouble them by his importunity and he would undertake the administration himself: commissioners ought to be sent to Pompeius about a settlement of the dispute, for he was not afraid that such a mission would have the effect which Pompeius had attributed to it shortly before in the Senate, when he said that a mission of this kind would argue the superiority of those to whom it was sent and the fear of those who sent but this opinion was evidence of a weak and feeble mind; as for himself, as he had endeavoured to surpass others in his acts, so he would strive to surpass them in justice and equity. This is Caesar's apology in his own words, and the best evidence of what he thought and said and if it is not all true, we must be content to take it as we have it. Cicero says that Caesar's talk about peace was a mere pretence, and that Atticus thought so too (Ad Attic. x. 1. 4). After the meeting of the Senate Caesar wrote to Cicero and told him that he excused his not being present and would put the best interpretation on it. Caesar's behaviour shows how much he valued Cicero's support, and it is evidence that there was no man whom he would more gladly have conciliated.

:

The Senate, says Caesar (B. C. i. 33), approved of the proposal to send commissioners to Pompeius about peace, but nobody was willing to go, and chiefly through fear all of them declined the mission; for Pompeius had said in the Senate when he was leaving Rome that he would consider as enemies those who stayed in Rome as much as those who were in Caesar's camp. Three days were spent in discussion and

making excuses.
L. Metellus also a tribune was instigated
by Caesar's enemies to thwart this design of sending com-
missioners and everything else that Caesar proposed to do.
Caesar perceived his purpose, and after some days had been
employed without any result, not wishing to lose any more
time, he left the city without having accomplished what he
intended and reached Transalpine Gallia about the middle of
April. (Ad Attic. x. 8. B.)

This is all that Caesar tells us of his proceedings in Rome.
Dion (41. c. 16) reports that he sent to Sicily and Sardinia
for corn to supply Rome, and promised the citizens seventy-
five denarii each, but it was not paid till the year 46, after the
African war. Caesar however wanted money for his campaign
in Spain, and he took it even from the "aerarium sanctius" or
reserved money, which was kept in Saturn's temple for great
emergencies and had been left untouched by the consuls when
they quitted Rome. He might very reasonably suppose that
there would never be a more appropriate occasion for taking
the money than the present time; and it would not have been
prudent to leave it there, when it might be employed against
himself. It is Caesar's fashion to be very reserved sometimes,
but he would have done better, if he had mentioned this fact.
Lucan (Pharsal. iii. 154), in his extravagant fashion has
enumerated the various sources of the precious metals con-
tained in the treasury. It is probable that the younger
Marius did not spare this sacred deposit when he carried off
so much gold and silver from Rome (vol. ii. p. 368). It has
been conjectured that Caesar wished to take the money in a
regular way, and that a proposal to this effect was made in
the Senate and opposed by the tribune L. Metellus, as we
may infer from a letter of M. Caelius to Cicero (Ad Fam.
viii. 16) in which he strongly urges Cicero to keep quiet and
stay in Italy until the result of Caesar's campaign in Spain
should be known: Caelius declares that as soon as Caesar
arrives there, the Spanish provinces will be in his possession.
Caesar, he further says, left the Senate in anger. Appian
(B. C. ii. 41) supposed that this reserved treasure had been
deposited long before for the event of a Gallic invasion and

Lucan, Pharsal. iii. 54, &c.