A. Urb. 699. Cic. 53. Coss.---L. Domitius Ahenobarbus. A. Claudius Pulcher. liance, and to procure for him every thing that Pom pey's power could give for while Pompey, forgetful of his honour and interest, was spending his time ingloriously at home, in the caresses of a young wife, and the delights of Italy; and, as if he had been only Cæsar's agent, was continually decreeing fresh honours, troops, and money to him; Cæsar was pursuing the direct road to empire; training his legions in all the toils and discipline of a bloody war; himself always at their head, animating them by his courage, and rewarding them by his bounty; till, from a great and wealthy province, having raised money enough to corrupt, and an army able to conquer all who could oppose him, he seemed to want nothing for the vast execution of his designs, but a pretext to break with Pompey; which, as all wise men foresaw, could not long be wanted, when Julia, the cement of their union, was removed. For though the power of the Trium virate had given a dangerous blow to the liberty of Rome, yet the jealousies and separate interests of the chiefs obliged them to manage it with some decency; and to extend it but rarely, beyond the forms of the constitution; but whenever that league should hap pen to be dissolved, which had made them already too great for private subjects, the next contest of course must be for dominion, and the single mastery of the empire. On the second of November, C. Pontinius triumphed over the Allobroges: he had been prætor, when Cicero was consul; and, at the end of his magistracy, obtained the government of that part of Gaul, which, A. Urb. 699. Cic. 53. Coss.---L. Domitius Ahenobarbus. A. Claudius Pulcher having been tampering with Catiline in his conspiracy, broke out soon afterwards into open rebellion, but was reduced by the vigour of this general. For this service he demanded a triumph, but met with great opposition, which he surmounted with incredible patience for he persevered in his suit, for five years successively; residing all that while, according to custom, in the suburbs of the city, till he gained his point at last by a kind of violence. Cicero was his friend, and continued in Rome on purpose to assist him; and the consul Appius served him with all his power; but Cato protested, that Pontinius should never triumph while he lived; "though this," says Cicero," like many of his other threats, will end at last in nothing." But the prætor Galba, who had been his lieutenant, having procured by stratagem an act of the people in his favour, he entered the city in his triumphal chariot, where he was so rudely received and opposed in his passage through the streets, that he was forced to make his way with his sword, and the slaughter of many of his adversaries *. 1 In the end of the year, Cicero consented to be one of Pompey's lieutenants in Spain; which he began to think convenient to the present state of his affairs, and Ad *Ea re non longius, quam vellem, quod Pontinio ad triumphum volebam adesse: etenim erit nescio quid negotioli, &c. Quin. 3. 5. Pontinius vult A. D. IV. Non. Novemb. triumphare. Huic obviam Cato et-Servilius prætores aperte, et Q. Mucius tribunus, Sed erit cum Pontinio Appius consul. Cato tamen affirmat, se vivo illúm non triumphare; id ego puto, ut multa ejusdem, ad nihil recasurum. Ad Att. 4. 16, It, Dio, 1, 39. p. 120, A. Urb. 699. Cic. 53. Coss.---L. Domitius Ahenobarbus. A. Claudius Pulcher. resolved to set forward for that province, about the middle of January*: but this seemed to give some umbrage to Cæsar, who, by the help of Quintus, hoped to disengage him gradually from Pompey, and to attach him to himself; and with that view had begged of him in his letters, to continue at Rome †, for the sake of serving himself with his authority, in all affairs, which he had occasion to transact there; so that out of regard probably to Cæsar's uneasiness, Cicero soon changed his mind, and resigned his lieutenancy; to which he seems to allude in a letter to his brother, where he says, that he had no second thoughts in whatever concerned Cæsar; that he would make good his engagements to him; and being entered into his friendship with judgment, was now attached to him by affection ‡. He was employed at Cæsar's desire along with Oppius, in settling the plan of a most expensive and magnificent work, which Cæsar was going to execute at Rome, out of the spoils of Gaul; a new forum, with many grand buildings annexed to it; for the area of which alone they had contracted to pay to the several owners about five hundred thousand pounds; or * Sed heus tu, scripseramne tibi me esse legatum Pompeio; et extra urbem quidem fore, ex Id. Jan. visum est hoc mihi ad multa quadrare. Ad Att. 4. 18, T ་ Quod mihi tempus, Romæ præsertim, ut istę me rogat, manenti, vacuum ostenditur ?-Ad Quin. 2. 15. Ego vero nullas deligas Polides habere possum in Cæsaris rebus-Videor id judicio facere. Jam enim debeo; sed tamen amore sum incensusAd Quin. 3. 1. §. 5. A. Urb. 699. Cic. 53. Coss-L. Domitius Ahenobarbus. A. Claudius Palcher. as Suetonius computes, near double that sum *. Cicero calls it a glorious piece of work, and says, that the partitions, or inclosures of the Campus Martius, in which the tribes used to vote, were all to be made new of marble, with a roof likewise of the same, and a stately portico carried round the whole, of a mile in circuit, to which a public hall or town-house was to be joined †. While this building was going forward, L. Æmilius Paulus was employed in raising another, not much inferior to it, at his own expence : for he repaired and beautified an ancient Basilica in the old forum; and built at the same time a new one with Phrygian columns, which was called after his own name; and is frequently mentioned by the later writers, as a fabric of wonderful magnificence, computed to have cost him three hundred thousand pounds §. A. Urb 700. Cic. 54. THE new tribunes pursued the measures of their predecessors, and would not suffer an election of consuls; * Forum de manubiis inchoavit; cujus area super H. S. millies constitit. Suet. J. Cæs. 26. + Itaque Cæsaris amici (me dico et Oppium, dirumparis licet) in monumentum illud, quod tu tollere laudibus solebas, ut forum laxaremus, et usque ad libertatis atrium explicaremus, consumsimus H. S. sexcenties: cum privatis non poterat transigi minore pecunia. Efficiemus rem gloriosissimam. Nam in Campo Martio septa tributis comitiis marmorea sumus, et tecta facturi, eaque cingemus excelsa porticu, ut mille passuum conficiatur. Simul adjungetur huic operi, villa etiam publica-Ad Att. 4. 16. Paulus in medio foro Basilicam jam pæne texuit, iisdem an A. Urb. 700. Cic. 54. so that when the new year came on, the republic wanted it's proper head: in this case, the administration fell into the hands of an Interrex; a provincial magistrate, who must necessarily be a patrician, and chosen by the body of patricians, called together for that purpose by the senate *. His power however was but short-lived, being transferred every five days, from one interrex to another, till an election of consuls could be obtained; but the tribunes, whose authority was absolute, while there were no consuls to controul them, continued fierce against any election at all: some were for reviving the ancient dignity of military tribunes; but that being unpopular, a more plausible scheme was taken up and openly avowed, of declar ing Pompey Dictator. This gave great apprehensions to the city, for the memory of Sylla's dictatorship; and was vigourously opposed by all the chiefs of the senate, and especially by Cato: Pompey chose to keep himself out of sight, and retired into the country, to avoid the suspicion of affecting it. The rumour of a Dictatorship, says Cicero, is disagreeable to "the honest; but the other things, which they talk 66 66 of, are more so to me: the whole affair is dreaded, but flags: Pompey flatly disclaims it, though he "never denied it to me before: the tribune Hirrus "will probably be the promoter; good gods! how silly and fond of himself without a rival? At Pom 66 66 pey's request, I have deterred Crassus Junianus, who tiquis columnis: illam autem, quam locavit, facit magnificentissimam. Nihil gratius illo monumento, nihil gioriosius-Ibid. * Vid. Asçon argument in Milon. |