was protected by the denunciation of a curse against touching it except in the case of a Gallic war; but Caesar said that he had secured the Romans against the Galli and so had rendered the curse useless. Metellus, trusting to the sanctity of his office placed himself before the doors of the treasury to oppose the money being taken, but Caesar threatened his life and ordered the doors to be broken open, though he has told us that Lentulus forgot to shut the doors. If this was so, we assume that they were not left open after Lentulus left Rome. Caesar took 25,000 bars of gold, 35,000 bars of silver, and forty million sesterces in coined money. Cicero was informed of this event by Curio on the 13th of April, when he stayed with Cicero at Cumae on his road to Sicily; that Caesar in his passion was very near killing Metellus; that it was not true that Caesar was by inclination or temper averse to cruelty, but he thought that clemency would make him popular; that the people were offended with him about the matter of the treasury, and that Caesar having intended to address a public meeting before he left Rome, did not venture to do so and quitted the city in a very disturbed state of mind. It seems as if Cicero believed all that Curio told him (p. 37).

Caesar left the praetor M. Aemilius Lepidus in Rome with. the rank of Praefect of the city; and he gave to the tribune M. Antonius the title of Propraetor with the command of all the troops in Italy. C. Antonius, the brother of Marcus, was entrusted with Illyricum, and Licinius Crassus with Cisalpine Gallia. Dion (41. c. 18), as it seems, is mistaken when he says that Caesar at this time restored to their civil rights the sons of those who had been proscribed by L. Sulla; but he

3 There is a general agreement that Caesar broke open the treasury and took what was in it. (Plutarch, Caesar, c. 35, Pompeius, c. 62; Cic. ad Att. vii. 15, x. 4. 8; Dion, 41. c. 17; Appian, B. C. ii. 41; Lucan, Phars. iii. 114; Florus, iv. 2. 21; Orosius, vi. 15.)

Plin. N. H. 33. 3. 17. ed. Harduin, and the notes. In 19. 3. 15 Pliny says that Caesar also took 1500 pounds of laserpitium, which the Greeks named silphium, the juice of a plant used medicinally. So the Romans kept in their treasury not only an immense amount of the precious metal, but also physic. I suppose that Caesar would turn the physic into money. Did the Roman Republic deal in physic, as the republic of Hamburg is said to have derived a revenue from the profits of a wine-cellar and apothecary's shop? (Adam Smith.)

This letter was Caelius, whom M. Antonius also

released the Jewish prince Aristobulus, who was an enemy of Pompeius, that he might return home and do what he could against Caesar's enemies. Josephus says that Aristobulus was soon poisoned by some of the Pompeian party. Caesar set out with Cicero's best wishes for his defeat in Spain. On the road Caesar wrote a letter to Cicero (Ad Attic. x. 8. B.), which we have: he urged Cicero by the regard that he had for him to keep quiet, and for his own interest to take no part in the present contest. It is a most kind and friendly letter, and a certain proof that Caesar wished him well; a proof also of the value that he set on Cicero's neutrality. written at the request of Cicero's friend Caesar was taking with him to Spain. wrote to Cicero a letter which he calls odious. We have this letter too (Ad Attic. x. 8. a.). Antonius assures Cicero that, with the exception of Caesar, no person is dearer to him, and that Caesar considers Cicero one of his best friends. Antonius earnestly exhorts Cicero not to cross the sea to Pompeius, who began by doing him a wrong that he might afterwards confer a favour. This is a plain allusion to Cicero's exile, which Pompeius, as Antonius hints, might have prevented. Cicero himself has expressed the same opinion of Pompeius' conduct in this matter (Ad Attic. viii. 3. 3). It is an example of Dion's inaccuracy when he informs us that Cicero without having seen Caesar went with other senators to join Pompeius, because they thought that he had the better cause and would be victorious. Dion might have learned better from Cicero's letters, but I am not sure that he ever used them. He has not forgotten however to report the wondrous signs which happened in this year, earthquakes with bellowings, dreadful lightning, and a total eclipse of the sun, which Lucan also (Phars. i. 540) has mentioned.

On reaching Gallia Transalpina (B. C. i. 34) Caesar was informed that L. Vibullius Rufus, who had been taken at Corfinium and set free, had been sent to Spain by Pompeius. He heard also that L. Domitius had gone to take possession of Massilia, with seven vessels (actuaria), which he had manned with slaves, freedmen, and his own tenants. These vessels had been got together by private persons in the island of Igilium

(Giglio) and at Cosa on the coast of Etruria.

Certain young

men of rank, citizens of Massilia, who were deputies at Rome, had been sent home by Pompeius when he was leaving the city, and urged not to let the recent services of Caesar to their town make them forget their former obligations to him. After receiving this message the people of Massilia closed their gates against Caesar; and they summoned to their aid the Albici, a savage people who had long been under their protection and inhabited the hills above Massilia. They brought supplies into the city from the adjacent parts and all the strong posts: they set up workshops for making arms, and were busily repairing the walls and gates and refitting their fleet.

Caesar summoned to him from Massilia the fifteen acting members of the Council of Six hundred (vol. i. 303, and Strabo, p. 179), and urged them not to begin a war: he said they ought to follow the example of all Italy, rather than obey the will of one man. He used all the arguments which he judged suitable for bringing them to a sound state of mind. The fifteen reported his words and brought back an answer from the council to this effect: they knew that the Roman people were divided into two parties, and it was not their business nor were they strong enough to undertake to determine which party had the juster cause: at the head of these two parties were Cn. Pompeius and C. Caesar, both of them patrons of Massilia, one of whom had granted to the state of Massilia the lands of the Volcae Arecomici and the Helvii, and the other after defeating the Salyes (vol. i. p. 310) had made them dependent on Massilia and increased the city's revenue as then they were equally indebted to Pompeius. and Caesar, they were bound to show equal gratitude to them, and not to help one against the other, nor to receive either of them in the city and their harbours.

5

While these negotiations were going on, Domitius arrived. at Massilia with his ships, and notwithstanding the declaration. made to Caesar, the citizens received him into the town, appointed him governor, and entrusted him with the direction

"Victos Salyas" is a conjecture, and not a good one. The reading "victas Gallias" (Oudendorp) is certainly not correct. We know nothing of the lands of the Arecomici and Helvii being granted to Massilia.

of their military affairs. Domitius (p. 7) had been named proconsul of Gallia Transalpina by the party of Pompeius, and the Massiliots, in fact, received him as such. By his orders the Massiliot fleet was sent to cruise in all directions. Merchant ships were seized wherever they could be found and brought into the port of Massilia: those ships which were defective in bolts or in their timbers and tackle were used for furnishing and fitting out the rest: all the grain that could be found was carried to the public stores, and all other merchandize and supplies were reserved for the defence of the town if it should be blockaded. In consequence of this behaviour of the townsmen Caesar brought up three legions to Massilia, prepared towers and covered galleries for an attack on the city, and ordered twelve ships of war to be built at Arelate (Arles), on the Rhone, near the head of the delta of the river. These ships were built and equipped within thirty days from the time when the timber was cut, and brought to Massilia. Caesar gave the command of these ships to Decimus Brutus, who had been employed in the same way in the Venetian war (vol. iv. chap. 6), and he left his legatus C. Trebonius to conduct the siege of Massilia.

While Caesar was busy with these preparations, he sent C. Fabius forward to Spain with three legions, which he had placed in winter-quarters at Narbo (Narbonne) and the neighbouring parts, and he gave instructions to Fabius to occupy with all speed the passes of the Pyrenees, which at that time were held by some troops of L. Afranius. It is said in the eighth book of the Gallic War (c. 54) that Caesar placed C. Fabius with four legions in the country of the Aedui to pass the winter of the year 50-49 (vol. iv. p. 410), and four legions among the Belgae. We must suppose then that three of these four legions stationed among the Aedui were afterwards ordered to remove to Narbo. The remaining legions in Gallia, which were at a greater distance, were ordered to march southward. Fabius following his instructions moved with rapidity to the passes, drove the enemy's force away, and by forced marches advanced against the army of Afranius (B. C. i. 37).

CHAPTER V.

CAESAR IN SPAIN.

B.C. 49.

On the arrival of L. Vibullius Rufus in Spain the legati of Pompeius made preparation for the defence of the Spanish provinces. Afranius had already served under Pompeius in the wars against Sertorius and Mithridates, and was consul in B.C. 60. Petreius was a more active man than Afranius, and a strong adherent of the Pompeian party to the end of his life. Afranius commanded in Hispania Citerior or the part adjacent to the Eastern Pyrenees with three legions. M. Terentius Varro, the third legatus, had also served under Pompeius in the war against the pirates (vol. iii. p. 120). He commanded with two legions in Hispania Ulterior from the Saltus Castulonensis, or the eastern part of the Sierra Morena, to the river Anas (Guadiana). Petreius with two legions commanded in Lusitania west and north of the Guadiana. It was arranged that Varro should remain where he was and defend his province, and that Petreius should march from Lusitania through the country of the Vettones, who lay east of Lusitania, between the Guadiana and the Douro, and join Afranius. Petreius made requisitions of cavalry and auxiliary troops in Lusitania, and Afranius on the Celtiberi, the Cantabri, and all the barbaric nations which extended to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. As soon as Petreius had joined Afranius, they agreed in making their defence at Ilerda (Lerida), in Catalonia.

Besides their five legions Afranius and Petreius had about eighty cohorts raised in their provinces, some of which cohorts were armed in Roman fashion (scutatae), and the rest were