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Chapter 33. Address to the Troops

5. tribunis plebis: Mark Antony and Quintus Cassius vetoed the Senate's decree that Caesar should disband his army before a certain date. Their veto was disregarded and they fled to Caesar.

6. pro contione: Caesar reports the speech he made on this occasion in B. C. I. 7. A modern monument in the market-place at Rimini commemorates it.

7. veste

distress.

discissa: the Bible makes us familiar with this sign of

11. dignitatem suam: almost his rights or his honor.

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12. quoque argumentative, even.

13. extrema contio: those who were standing on the outer edge of the assembly. The mistake of the soldiers about the gold ring is explained by the fact that the ius anulorum, the right to wear gold rings, was the distinctive mark of the equestrian order. Under the early empire the amount of property required for equestrian rank was 400,000 sesterces (milibus quadringenis)·

Chapter 34. Conquest of Italy and Spain

Chapters 34-37 form a fine example of concise and clear narrative style.

18. Picenum occupavit: Caesar's own account of his almost unopposed progress through Italy is given in Caes., B. C. I. 8-25. Picenum was the district along the Adriatic, east of Umbria.

19. successor ei: as proconsul of Further Gaul appointed by the Senate, when Caesar was ordered to lay down his command. Ordinarily, under the lex Sempronia of C. Gracchus provinces were assigned by the Senate to the consuls before they were elected, leaving it to be determined afterward by lot or otherwise which province each one would take. See Greenidge, Roman Public Life, 285 and 322. Domitius's appointment was somewhat irregular, but the situation was exceptional.

20. Corfinium: in the land of the Paeligni, a mountainous district, east of the Fucine lake. It was the capital of the Italian confederacy in the Social War, 90 B.C., when its name was changed for the time to Italica. in dicionem redacto: Domitius surrendered on February 21, 49 B.C., and was allowed to go free; Caes., B. C. I. 23.

21. Brundisium tetendit: Caesar with six legions arrived at Brun

disium, March 9, but failed to stop Pompey, who crossed to Greece. The dates are given according to the reckoning of Stoffel, Guerre Civile. 23. transfretaturi: over the Adriatic; purpose; Introd. II. § 9. a. (1). 24. Romam iter convertit: Caesar was at Rome a week, but could accomplish little with what was left of the Senate, many members having fled with Pompey and the consuls, and many of the rest being frightened or sullen. His attempt to transact the business of the state is expressed in appellatisque de re publica patribus.

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26. M. Petreio a veteran soldier, probably the conqueror of Catiline; in Lusitania with two legions. L. Afranio: consul in 60 B.C.; in Hither Spain (Tarraconensis), with three legions.

27. M. (Terentio) Varrone: the greatest scholar among the Romans; in Hispania Baetica with two legions. One of the seven legions consisted of Spaniards (with Varro); the other six of Italian veterans.

30. obsidione Massiliae: Caesar left Trebonius with three legions to besiege Massilia, while he himself conducted the campaign in Spain, sending first his legate Fabius with three legions, then three other legions, and lastly going himself and arriving at Ilerda, June 22, where Afranius and Petreius surrendered, August 2. Massilia surrendered, according to Stoffel's calculation, October 10.

Chapter 35. Victories in Macedonia, Egypt, Asia, Africa, and Spain

Page 18. 1. urbe repetita: on this occasion he spent eleven days at Rome, about December 2-13, and as dictator held the consular elections, at which he was chosen consul for 48 B. C. with Servilius Isauricus as his colleague. in Macedoniam transgressus: he crossed to Palaeste on the night of January 4-5, 48 B.C. Pompeium. . . obsessum: referring to the land blockade of Pompey's forces on the coast near Dyrrhachium, by means of earthworks some 16 miles in extent; this was in the spring, after Mark Antony had joined Caesar with the rest of the army. The investment lasted from about the middle of April to the beginning of July.

3. Pharsalico proelio: at Pharsalus in Thessaly, August 9, 48 B.C. (by corrected calendar, June 29).

4. ut... deprehendit: ut as soon as. occisum: treacherously murdered on landing near Pelusium, September 28. Caesar reached Alexandria a few days later.

5. Ptolemaeo: Ptolemy XII, a mere boy, son of Ptolemy Auletes, and brother of Cleopatra.

6. bellum. . . gessit: Caesar remained in Egypt till midsummer, 47 B.C. The "Alexandrian war" was ended by the surrender of the city to Caesar on March 27. The account of this war is extraordinarily brief. It came near being his last. He was surprised with insufficient forces and could barely hold out till reënforcements came from Asia under the command of Mithradates of Pergamos; B. Alex. XXVI.

10. provinciam : Egypt under the Empire remained a kingdom, whose sovereign was the Roman emperor, and it was governed by his personal deputy, a praefectus, of equestrian rank.

15. multiplici successu: made king of Bosphorus by Pompey, Pharnaces took advantage of the Civil War to recover his father's dominions. His success was rapid. He had defeated Domitius Calvinus and the Galatian king Deiotarus, when his career was suddenly arrested by Caesar's arrival from Egypt.

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16. praeferocem: cf. praegrandia, page 89, line 21. Suetonius is fond of the prefixes per- and prae-. intra quintum quam quattuor quibus, etc.: notice the omission of post and the inconcinnity of adfuerat and venit.

17. quibus.

horis: notice the separation of these words; Introd. II. § 10. b. (4). una . . acie the battle of Zela, August 2, 47 B.C., about which is told the famous story of Caesar's dispatch to Rome, “veni, vidi, vici."

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19. inbelli genere hostium compared with the warlike tribes of Gaul.

20. Dehinc Scipionem: more than a year had elapsed since the battle of Pharsalus, and the Pompeian or senatorial party had had abundant time to rally in the province of Africa. Scipio was consul with Pompey in 52 B.C. from August 1, up to which date Pompey was sole consul; he was the father of Cornelia, Pompey's last wife; see notes to page 13, line 22.. Iubam: son of Hiempsal, king of Numidia.

21. devicit: notice the position of this verb, between its objects. This refers to the battle of Thapsus, April 6, 46 B.C. Pompei liberos in Hispania: at the battle of Munda, March 17, 45 B.C., Caesar's last battle. Cneius, the elder son of Pompey, escaped from the battle field but was afterward overtaken and slain. Sextus, the younger son, became the great corsair prince of the Mediterranean and lived till 35 B.C., a thorn in the side of all regular government. See note to page 54, line 18.

Chapter 36. Always Victorious in Wars

23. Omnibus civilibus bellis: ablative of time within which. nullam cladem: this is not quite accurate. Caesar was seriously defeated on the blockading lines near Dyrrhachium in 48 B.c. and compelled to raise the blockade. His marvelous powers of recovery restored the spirits of his beaten troops and he won the decisive victory at Pharsalus about five weeks later.

24. C. (Scribonius) Curio: killed at the battle of the Bagradas, July, 49 B.C., while Caesar was in Spain; his army was annihilated by the forces of Juba. C. Antonius: brother of Mark Antony; the event referred to is not mentioned by Caesar, but by Florus, Appian, and Dio; it was in 49 or 48 B.C.

26. P. (Cornelius) Dolabella: Cicero's profligate son-in-law, who commanded Caesar's fleet in the Adriatic in 49 B. C., while Caesar was in Spain. Cn. Domitius Calvinus: defeated by Pharnaces at Nicopolis near the close of 48 B.C., while Caesar was in Egypt.

30. non instante Pompeio: when Pompey failed to follow up his victory.

31. ultimo proelio: Munda.

32. de consciscenda nece cogitavit : this reminds us of similar tales about Frederick the Great, Napoleon, and other famous commanders.

Chapter 37. Triumphs, 46, 45 B.C.

Page 19. 1. quinquiens triumphavit: in 46 B.c. on returning from Africa, over 1. Gaul; 2. Egypt; 3. Pharnaces; 4. Juba; in 45 B.C., 5. over the sons of Pompey; before this no triumph over Roman citizens had been celebrated.

7. instrumento: collective; material, i e. the spoils exhibited.

8. Velabrum: the valley between the Capitoline and the Palatine; see map of Rome, and Platner, Ancient Rome 2, 18, 56, 393 ƒ. paene curru excussus est axe diffracto: this would appear a dire omen to the superstitious Romans.

9. ad lumina: by torch light; an interesting use of ad; Introd. II. § 5. b. (4).

10. lychnuchos: a rare word; cf. Dom. 4. 1. Elephants were allowed to be used by Agrippa in honor of his victory over Sextus Pompeius at Naulochus in 36 B.C.; cf. Juv., XII. 106:

Caesaris armentum nulli servire paratum
Privato.

11. fercula: frames or litters on which trophies or show pieces were borne.

12. VENI, etc. referring to the battle of Zela, August 2, 47 B.C.; cf. Plut., Caes. L; Florus, IV. 2. 63 (II. 13. 63).

Chapter 38. Bounties

16. super in addition to; Introd. II. § 5. r. (2). (c).

17. nummum: genitive plural; nummus = sestertius.

18. non continuos: i.e. he did not settle his veterans all in one locality.

20. libras except here, a measure not used for liquids.

22. Annuam . . . habitationem: a year's rent of their dwellings. Plutarch tells us (Sulla, I) how Sulla when young and very poor paid 3000 nummi a year for his lodgings. House rent had grown exorbitantly high at Rome. As to the substantive, see Introd. II. § 1. b.

24. epulum: see Plut., Caes. LV for details.

25. viscerationem: a distribution of meat, uncooked. post .. victoriam: at the celebration of the triumph after Munda, early in October, 45 B.C.

Chapter 39. Shows and Games

29. munus gladiatorium: see page 5, line 17, and note.

30. regionatim: one of Suetonius's favorite adverbs in -tim formed from a noun; Introd. II. § 1. f. There were four regiones in the city of Servius Tullius, corresponding to the four city tribes: Suburana, Collina, Palatina, Esquilina. Augustus divided the city into 14 regiones for administrative purposes; see page 63, line 23, and note. omnium linguarum: an indication of the cosmopolitan population of Rome; similarly great modern cities have their theaters and newspapers in many languages; cf. page 71, line 29.

31. circenses: the chief features of the ludi circenses were the solemn procession from the capitol to the Circus Maximus and around the arena, and the chariot races.

32. Munere: ablative of time.

Page 20. 2. Pyrricham: sc. saltationem; a dance in armor; see Pike's Suetonius, note to page 112, line 30. For the syntax of this accusative, see Introd. II. § 4. l.

3. Ludis: sc. scaenicis.

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