III. CESAR, POMPEY. We have here two other ambitious men, of a character very different from the former; as their ambition, covered and supported by the most glorious qualities, seems less worthy of blame, and was yet no less pernicious to the republic. These two great men had no superiors in antiquity, if we consider only their military virtues, their enterprises and victories, which filled the universe with the glory of their name. [o] Cæsar, in less than ten years, when he commanded in Gaul, took above eight hundred cities by force; subdued three hundred nations, fought at several times in pitched battles against three millions of enemies, a million of which he cut in pieces, and took another million prisoners. For which reason an historian says, that in respect to the greatness of his projects, the rapidity of his conquests, his courage and intrepidity in dangers, he might be compared to Alexander the Great, but then only while Alexander was neither heated with wine nor angry. [p] Magnitudine cogitationum, celeritate bellandi, patientia periculorum, magno illi Alexandro, sed sobrio neque iracundo, simillimus. The encomiums which [q] Tully gives, in a thousand places, to Pompey's merit, are extremely honourable. From his youth he signalized himself by great commands and important expeditions. He had a share in more battles than those of his rank and age had usually read. He gained as many triumphs as the world has different parts, and as many victories as there are different sorts of war. Success and courage had so constantly attended on him, that he might be said, in some manner, to be exalted above the condition of humanity. And lastly, all the moral virtues, probity, integrity, disinterestedness and religion, had acquired him an immense reputation amongst foreign nations, and taught them to believe that what [o] Plut. in Cæsar. [p] Paterc. lib. ii. n. 41. ~ [q] Pro Coruel. Balb. n. 9. . . . Pro Leg. Manil. n. 28, 41. was was told of the virtue of the ancient Romans was not a fable. Take ambition from these two rivals, and substitute instead of it a real love for their country, and, I repeat it again, antiquity has never produced two greater men; but the one could not bear a superior, nor the other an equal, Pompey, [r] says an historian, was exempt from almost every fault, if it was not one of the greatest, that being born in a city that was free, and sovereign of nations, in which by right all the citizens were equal, he could not bear that any one should be equal to him in dignity and power. [s] And Cæsar, resolving to rule, and lord it over the rest at any rate, had those verses of Euripides continually in his mouth, which insinuate, that if the greatest crimes were to be committed, it was when a throne was the motive. Nam si violandum est jus, regnandi gratiâ [t] The triumvirate formed between Pompey, Cæsar, and Crassus, with a view only to their private interests, and which occasioned their own destruction, no less than the ruin of the republic, shews what we are to think of the so much boasted probity of the great Pompey. [u] He went still farther; and, to strengthen his power, was not ashamed to take Cæsar for his father-in-law, adopting by that alliance all his criminal views and designs, the injustice of which he knew better than any body. [r] Thus Cato, in reply to some persons, who were saying that the differences which had arose between Pompey and Cæsar had ruined the commonwealth, no, says he, it was their union. Cato was not mistaken. He had foreseen all that happened afterwards. Finding the laws overthrown, the authority of the senate despised, the people cor [r] Vell. Paterc. lib. ii. n. 29. 0 3 [u] Cic. lib. iii. de Offic. n. 82. [x] Plut. in Pomp. rupted rupted by bribes, the first places in the commonwealth publicly sold for money, and even with Poinpey's knowledge and consent, he did not forbear to inform the senate and people, that they were labouring to give themselves a master, and to divest themselves of the most valuable part of their substance, which was their liberty. It fell out as he had foretold. Discord at last broke out: the two parties took up arms; [y] the one seemed to have more justice on his side, the other more force. Here the pretence was the more specious, and there the measures most wisely taken. Pompey relied upon the authority of the senate, and Cæsar upon the valour of his soldiers. But the step which Pompey took, of quitting Rome and Italy, took off very much from the high opinion which had before been conceived of his merit. All the world is acquainted with the success of this civil war. After a great deal of bloodshed, and that the best blood of the republic, Cæsar remained conqueror, and assumed a sovereign power to which the diadem only was wanting, with the title of king, to gratify his ambition; and this he tried several times in vain to obtain by his emissary. It was this which hastened his death, and, by a last effort of expiring liberty, armed against him the hands of his best friends, and those upon whom he had conferred the greatest benefits. It was looked upon as the effect of divine vengeance, that this usurper, who had pursued Pompey to his destruction, after he had made use of his interest to establish his own tyranny, should fall dead, and covered with wounds, at the foot of that Pompey's statue. IV. THE YOUNG OCTAVIUS.. Matters were now brought to that degree of disorder and confusion in the Roman republic, which Po [y] Alterius ducis causa melior videbatur, alterius erat firmior. Hic omnia speciosa, illic valentia. Pompeium senatûs auctoritas, Cæsarem militum armavit fiducia. Paterc. lib. ii. n. 49. lybius speaks of, where the only remedy for the present is the supreme authority of a powerful man, as alone capable of restoring order and regularity. This man was the young Octavius, destined to introduce a new form of government. He was the son of Julius Cæsar's niece, who had adopted him, and declared him his heir by will, and he was not then quite twenty years old. As soon as he heard the news of his uncle's death, he made haste to Rome, took the name of Cæsar, distributed all the money the deceased had left him among the citizens, and by that means formed a powerful party against Anthony, who aspired to the government. Tully was the person that contributed most to the advancement of the young Cæsar. I beg leave here to explain at large the part which Tully had in this great event. I have endeavoured in the second volume to give some idea of his genius and eloquence, and it may not be improper here to take a view of him as a politician and member of the state. An author who is seldom out of the hands of youth, ought to be known by them in every light. Tully was then very powerful in the republic; all eyes were turned upon him. as the strongest bulwark and firmest defender of liberty. His hatred against Anthony, whose resentment he had cause to fear, very much contributed to make him incline to Octavius's party. But he was also more attached to him [z] says Plutarch, through a secret motive of vanity and ambition, as hoping that the arms of this young man would secure and increase his own power and authority in 'the government, for the good of the republic. This was always the weak side of Cicero, which induced him to make so mean a court to Cæsar after his victory, and which even hindered him from distrusting Pompey as he should have done, and as he was advised to do [a] by being told that he must not al [z] In Vit. Cic. [a] Pompeius solet aliud sentire & loqui: neque tamen tantum valet 0 4 ingenio, ut non appareat quid cupiat. Epist. i. lib. 8. ad Famil. ways ways rely on his fine speeches, and that it was easy, amidst all his fair discourses, to discover what he aimed at and desired. But Tully would be praised, flattered, considered and employed. A commendation in which there appeared some reserve, was capable, if not to make a quarrel, at least to make him behave with coldness to his best friends; as actually happened in the case of Brutus [b] who upon some occasion had only called him an an excellent consul. And what, says Cicero, could an enemy have said more sparingly? On the other hand, whoever praised and caressed him might get from him whatever they would. The young Cæsar was not sparing in this point. He was continually loading him with civilities and flatteries, called him his father, seemed inclined to depend entirely upon him, and do nothing without his advice. And for this reason Tully, who was extremely warm in the pursuit of every thing he had at heart, c] so highly extolled him in the senate and before the people, and procured him so many privileges, dispensations and extraordinary honours in preferring the courage with which he had opposed himself to Anthony above all the most glorious actions. And as men of understanding, who doubtless discerned a great fund of ambition, joined with considerable merit, in the young Cæsar, were apprehensive that such particular distinctions might be attended with ill consequences, and the public liberty suffer by them [d], Tully, to reconcile them, persisted in repeating, that instead of taking any alarm at them, they ought, on the contry, to have the highest expectations from this young man, whose sentiments he was thoroughly acquainted with, and knew that he held nothing more dear than [b] Hic auteni (Brutus) se etiam tribuere multum mihi putat, quòd scripserit optimum consulem. Quis enim jejuniùs dixit inimicus? Ad Att. lib. xii. Epist. 22. [c] Laudo, laudo vos, Quirites, cùin gratissimis animis prosequimini nomen clarissimi adolescentis, yel potiùs pueri; sunt enim facta ejus immortalitatis non ætatis. Multa memini, multa audivi, multa legi; nihil tale cognovi, &c. Philip. iv. n. 3. Qui nisi esset in hac republicâ natus, rempublicam scelere Antonii nullam haberemus. Phil. iti. n. 5. [d] Philip. v. n. 50, 51. |