Ancient Rome: An Introductory History (36 page)

Page 177

Julius Caesar's First Consulship

Caesar had not had good relations with the Optimates and nobles in the Senate. Early in his career he had declared himself a
popularis
. His aunt Julia had been Marius' wife; Caesar himself, at the age of eighteen, had at considerable risk to his own life defied Sulla's orders to divorce his wife Cornelia, Cinna's daughter. Furthermore, at the funeral of his aunt Julia, Caesar had dared to have the family masks of Marius brought out and worn although they had not been seen in years, owing to fear of the Sullan party. (The masks, called
imagines
, were wax masks of Romans who had held curule officethat is, any office that imparted
imperium
and were displayed in the family's atrium and brought out at funerals.) Sulla had considered adding Caesar's name to his proscription lists, but did not do so; he just muttered to his fellow aristocrats (who persuaded him not to have Caesar killed) that in Caesar there were many Mariuses.

During his aedileship, Caesar got himself tremendously in debt by entertaining the public with lavish games320 pairs of gladiators, banquets, and theatrical performancesto win the love of the common people. So avid was he to win the position of pontifex maximus in 63
B.C.
that he vowed to outspend all other candidates in their bribery; when leaving the house on election day, he told his mother that he would return as pontifex maximus, or not at all, meaning that he would not be able to face the creditors whose loans had financed the bribery, unless he won. So heavily in debt was Caesar because of his political ambitions and expensive lifestyle that in 62, when he was leaving Rome for his praetorship in Spain, his creditors prevented him from leaving until Crassus posted bond for him and provided security for his debts.

Caesar spent the year 61 as a praetor in Spain (Hispania Ulterior), where he conquered the tribes of the Lusitani and the Callaeci, earned the title
imperator
, and acquired a great deal of money. Upon his return from Spain, he wanted both to have a triumph for his military victories and to run for the consulship of 59. According to the rules, he could not do both, since a general awaiting a triumph had to wait outside the
pomerium
with his army, while a candidate had to be present in Rome. Cato, a strict

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constitutionalist and great-grandson of Cato the Censor, kept the proposal from coming to a vote by speaking the entire day; Caesar then abandoned his show of glow so he could seek real power. Caesar had also been suspected of being a member of the conspiracy of Catiline, but supposedly Cicero, not believing that Caesar was a member, saved his life.

For all these reasons the nobles were suspicious of Caesar. He restored the statues of Marius to the Forum, an act that led one noble to exclaim that Caesar was aiming at supreme power in Rome. Supposedly, while he and some of his friends were passing through a squalid and desolate village in the Alps, and his friends were joking that even in such a small and insignificant village men vied in cutthroat contests for political power, Caesar mentioned that he would rather be first man there than second man in Rome. Another story says that Caesar, seeing a bust of Alexander the Great in a temple of Hercules, suddenly groaned deeply, exclaiming that at the same age in his life, Alexander had already conquered the known world while he himself had done nothing of importance.

Upon assuming office, Caesar brought before the Senate the first of his many proposals, one aimed at giving land to Pompey's veterans and ratifying Pompey's settlement of the East. It was immediately obstructed by his political enemies, with Cato (again) filibustering the bill. Caesar had Cato arrested and taken to jail; when many senators, in protest, joined Cato in jail, Caesar had him set free, realizing that Cato was more dangerous in jail than on the rostrum. Since the Senate was blocking him, Caesar took his bills to the Popular Assembly instead. When his colleague BibulusCato's son-in-law and a longstanding, bitter enemy of Caesartried to obstruct him there, the crowd attacked Bibulus, broke his
fasces
, and dumped a basket of dung on his head; thereafter Bibulus spent most of his consulate at home, "watching the heavens," and declaring that public business could not be conducted because of bad omens. Consequently, all of Caesar's bills were technically invalid.

While addressing the Popular Assembly about the land bills, Caesar had Pompey standing on one side and Crassus on the other. Caesar asked the people if they liked his proposals; when they shouted yes, he asked them for help in getting the proposals passed.

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Pompey then added that if the Senate brought a sword against them, he would bring "a shield and a sword." Pompey also packed the assembly with his soldiers to intimidate those voting. Caesar's proposal granting land to Pompey's veterans, and another law granting more protection to the provincials against the
publicani
, were passed. He regained the good will of the
publicani
by cutting the tax contracts by a third when they claimed that they had overestimated how much they could collect in taxes from Asia and stood to lose money; this actessentially a huge bribe for the
publicani
was part of Crassus' reward for joining him and Pompey.

For Caesar, the most important law that he got passed concerned the allotment of proconsular provinces for the year 58. In 61 the Optimates had seen that Caesar would probably win the consulship for 59, and to thwart his ambitions, they voted that the consuls of 59, as proconsuls in 58, should be in charge of rounding up cattle and keeping the forests clear of robbersnot exactly the military command that Caesar had in mind. So Caesar passed a law that disregarded the Senate's allotment of provinces during his proconsulship and gave him the governorship of Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum with three legions for five years; when the governor of Transalpine Gaul died shortly after, Pompey managed to have Caesar appointed governor of that province as well.

The triumvirate had accomplished its goals: Pompey's veterans got their land and his settlement of the East was ratified; Caesar got an army and the opportunity to use it; and Crassus got the one-third remission on taxes in Asia for the benefit of the
publicani
. Yet the price paid was heavy, for the three men were now deeply hated by Romans and Italians for their domination of politics and their use of force in getting their laws passed. This hatred affected Pompey in particular, for he wanted to be loved by the people; at one performance in the theater an actor turned to face Pompey when he spoke the line, "Nostra miseria tu es magnus" (You are a great part of our misery). Undoubtedly the actor stressed the word
magnus
, and the audience forced him to repeat it countless times (Cicero,
Ep. ad Att
. II.19.3). On another occasion, Caesar was booed when he entered the theater, while Curio, one of the triumvirate's staunch opponents, entered the theater to great applause.

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From his house, Bibulus was earning great glory by opposing the triumvirs'
regnum
or
dominatio
. A joke of the day said that the laws had been passed in the consulship of Julius and Caesar. The scholar Varro expressed his opposition to the three by writing a political pamphlet entitled
The Three-headed Monster
. In November of that year Cicero wrote to his friend Atticus, "I have nothing to write you about the republic, except the deepest hatred of all people against those who control everything. There is no hope of a change; but, as you easily see, their hatred bothers Pompey and he regrets it. I don't quite see how this will end, but it certainly seems that things will erupt somehow" (
Ep. ad Att
. II.XXII).

Cicero soon found out how things would erupt because he had angered the triumvirate. In a speech given one morning in late 59, Cicero questioned the legality of the laws that Caesar had passed. Caesar acted with his usual speed and decisiveness: That afternoon P. Clodius, a patrician (from the Claudius family), was adopted into a plebeian family, with Caesar as pontifex maximus and Pompey as augur overseeing the
adoptio
. It mattered not one bit that Clodius was forty-eight years old and his adoptive father twenty years younger. Clodius hated Cicero and had sworn long before to get revenge on him for wrecking his alibi during the Bona Dea trial; after his adoption into a plebeian family, he was eligible for the tribunate, and he was elected one of the tribunes for 58
B.C.
Cicero waited nervously, although he was assured by his friends (including Pompey and Caesar) that Clodius could not touch him.

Caesar in Gaul

Toward the end of 59
B.C.
Caesar departed for his provinces, Transalpine and Cisalpine Gaul, where he would end up fighting for the next nine years. Caesar himself described his experiences there in his
Gallic Wars
, a year-by-year account of his strategies and campaigns, his battles, his soldiers, the countries (Gaul, Germany, and England), and the peoples living there. Written in Caesar's simple and clear style, the
Gallic Wars
contains a treasure of information about the workings of the Roman and allied armies as led by one of history's best generals and writers.

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The war for Caesar started in this way. The Helvetii, a Germanic tribe, were migrating into Gaul from their home in the Alps, and were destroying the lands of the Aedui, a Gallic tribe allied to Rome. After conquering the Helvetii, Caesar learned that the Gauls were threatened also by Ariovistus, the king of the Germanic tribe called the Suebi, who already possessed land on the Gallic side of the Rhine. Ariovistus was considered a friend of Rome, but he did not consider the Germans inferior or subordinate to the Romans, and consequently refused to follow Caesar's orders to leave Rome's Gallic allies alone. Ariovistus told Caesar to get his army out of that part of Gaul or he would have them hunted down and killed as enemiessomething, he admitted to Caesar, that no doubt would please many nobles in Rome.

Caesar won the battle that soon followed, and next found himself fighting against the Gallic tribes of the Belgae and the Nervii. The battle against the Nervii shows Caesar's great gift for leadership. The Nervii unexpectedly attacked the Romans while they were still constructing their camp, and swarmed onto them unprepared. The Roman army was in great danger, for the soldiers had not had enough time to remove the covers from their shields or put on their helmets before they had to start fighting. At one point, Caesar himself seized a shield and ran to the front lines, inspiring his men, who redoubled their efforts and turned the tide of the battle. Caesar lost many men that day, but won the battle and almost annihilated the tribe of the Nervii. For Caesar's successes the Senate decreed fifteen days of thanksgiving to the gods. (Incidentally, despite what Shakespeare has Mark Antony say, the real Mark Antony was not with Caesar "that day he overcame the Nervii," for Antony did not join Caesar's staff until 54
B.C.
, three years after the Battle of the Nervii, which was fought in 57.)

The Tribunate of Publius Clodius

Clodius became tribune in 58
B.C.
and passed several laws, none of which could be said to be in the best interests of the republic. One law substituted free grain for the masses for grain at reduced prices; by giving the grain away, Clodius substantially increased his popularity and power among the masses in Rome. Another law

Page 182

legalized the various clubs that had been banned because the urban masses were using their freedom to assemble to cause political trouble. (Called
collegia
, most of the clubs had originally been religious or vocational in character and had provided the members with social activities during life and a decent funeral upon death.) Again, Clodius had his own interests at heart, for now he could recruit from the clubs to form his own gang, which he later used to intimidate politicians, the Comitia, and the Senate.

Another law, again in Clodius' interestsfor by it he got revenge on Cicerodeprived of fire and water (that is, sent into exile) anyone who had put a Roman citizen to death without a trial. Cicero had done just that: During the conspiracy of Catiline he relied on the Senate's
ultimum consultum
as legal authority to put the conspirators to death without a trial and appeal (see chapter 19). The support of Italy, the equestrians, and the Senate did not help Cicero, and Pompey deserted him because he could not afford to have Cicero threatening his land laws and settlement of the East, which had been passed during Caesar's consulship. So when Cicero came to Pompey's house to beg for help against Clodius, Pompey refused to see him and ducked out the back door. Clodius packed the Popular Assembly with his thugs, and the day before the bill passed, Cicero, wretched and wearing mourning, went into exile in Macedonia; the letters he wrote while there show him frequently contemplating suicide. Clodius burned down Cicero's house and villas, and built a temple to Libertas on the site of his house.

Clodius did not stop after sending Cicero into exile; he even attacked Pompey. At one trial, for example, Clodius led his gang in shouting insults at Pompey. Pompey could have taken Clodius' insults, except for the fact that the Senate and crowd enjoyed seeing him humiliated in public; they were angry with him for deserting Cicero to Clodius' wrath. Later, one of Clodius' slaves was caught with a sword making his way toward Pompey during one of the riots in the Forum. The slave confessed that there was a plot to assassinate Pompey. After that, Pompey went into retirement and spent most of his time walking in his park and gardens with his wife Julia.

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