of the Rhine. His second campaign, scarcely less brilliant than the first, added Belgic Gaul to the Roman dominions, and assured the final triumph of his arms throughout the whole extent of Gaul.

The effect of these successes was felt on both sides of the Alps. One Gallic people after another presented to the conqueror their protestations of allegiance, while the tidings of victory filled Rome with joy and gladness. Political animosity was for the hour laid aside, and the Roman senate, Caesar's bitterest partisan foe, decreed a public thanksgiving for fifteen days in honor of the great achievements of the people's favorite.

But the Gauls, though repeatedly vanquished upon the field of battle, were not yet subjugated. Those hardy warriors loved liberty too well to bear with meekness any foreign rule. The spirit of revolt, ever rife among them, was moreover fostered by their warlike neighbors, the Britons and the Germans. But the decree had gone forth that Gaul should be subdued and Romanized. Accordingly Caesar gave himself, year after year, to the great work which had been committed to his hands. Twice he crossed the Rhine and struck terror into the hearts of the Germans; twice he stood upon the hitherto unknown soil of Britain; and when at length, after six years of toil and war, the conquest seemed almost complete, the Gauls rose in one final and desperate struggle for independence. Nations and tribes hitherto jealous and hostile to each other took their places side by side under one common standard, for. one common cause.

Vercingetorix, the intrepid leader of the Gauls, at length established himself, with eighty thousand men, in the strongly fortified town of Alesia, the capital of the Mandubii. Caesar at once invested the city, and for forty days lay intrenched before it, between two concentric lines of almost impregnable works; but at length a mighty array of confederate Gauls, two hundred and fifty thousand strong, arrived in the rear of his intrenchments. A simultaneous assault was made upon the Roman lines, by the besieged on the one hand, and by the army of relief on the other. Utter de

struction seemed inevitably to await Caesar and his cause; but the genius of the great commander rose with the magnitude of the occasion. Roman valor and discipline, inspired and guided by that genius, triumphed over all obstacles, and wrested victory from the hands of the enemy. A few days later, the despatches of Caesar announced to the Roman senate the fall of Alesia and the triumph of the Roman

arms.

Another year of warfare followed, and the conquest of Gaul was complete. Eight years of heroic daring and bloody strife had added a mighty realm to the Roman dominions.

But already the question of the recall of Caesar was discussed in the senate, and a few months later, at the instance of Pompey, who had become his bitter rival, a decree was passed requiring him, under penalty of being declared a traitor to his country, to resign the governorship of both Gauls and disband his army. The news of this action reached Caesar at Ravenna, on the 10th of January, 49 B. C. Scarcely a day elapsed before his decision was made. With a single legion he crossed the Rubicon, the southern boundary of his province, and advanced into Italy. The prestige of his name gathered numerous recruits to his standard; town after town threw open its gates to the conqueror, and in sixty days after the edict of the senate declaring him a traitor to his country, the proscribed outlaw entered the capital the undisputed master of Italy. A bloodless victory and a triumphal march from the Rubicon to Rome, had accomplished one of the most remarkable revolutions recorded in the annals of the world.

The senatorial party, panic-stricken, had fled from the city in anticipation of the reënactment of the bloody scenes of proscription which had marked the triumphs of Marius and Sulla. But the magnanimity of Caesar disappointed both friends and foes. The frantic passion of the aristocracy, in their impotence and exile breathing out threats of proscription, contrasted strangely with the calm moderation of the victor in all the plenitude of his power.

During the next twelve months, by a series of rapid military movements, Caesar secured Sicily, the great granary of the republic, conquered the senatorial forces in Spain, and finally, at Pharsalia, achieved a decisive victory over Pompey and his entire army.

The remaining four years of Caesar's life were divided between military campaigns abroad and political reforms at home. We hear of him successively in Egypt, placing the disputed crown upon the head of Cleopatra; in Pontus, crushing the power of Pharnaces, and reporting his victory in those memorable words, " Veni, vidi, vici," in Numidia, winning the signal victory of Thapsus; and finally in Spain, annihilating, in the desperate and bloody conflict at Munda, the last army which upheld the banner of Pompey. These. varied military movements left him but little time for his contemplated work in the capital; yet the civil and political reforms which he actually accomplished, to say nothing of the magnificent schemes which he conceived, excite our wonder and admiration. With the comprehensive views of the true statesman, with marvellous power to arrange and organize, and with a keen perception of all the conditions of success, he entered with zeal upon the great work of reconstructing the Roman state. He corrected abuses, enriched the public treasury, reformed the calendar, equalized the public burdens, and strove in every way, as the head of a great nation, to give unity and symmetry to the new empire. But while he was yet in the midst of his wonderful career, with gigantic plans yet unaccomplished, designing men were plotting his ruin and his death. He had been loaded with titles and honors, and had been declared dictator for life; but his greatness had excited the envy of the nobles, while his insatiable ambition had awakened the fears of the people. He was suspected of aiming at the sceptre and the crown, and he paid the penalty with his life. He was assassinated in the senate house, on the 15th of March, 44 B. C.

Such was the tragic death of this remarkable man. He had achieved success in almost every field in which he had

been called upon to act. He was a great commander, an eloquent orator, an accomplished writer, and a consummate statesman. Some of the finest literary works of the age were the productions of his genius. They related to a variety of subjects, and embraced both prose and poetry. The Commentaries on the Gallic and the Civil War have been commended and admired in all ages. They will amply repay patient and careful study.

OUTLINE OF THE LIFE OF SALLUST.

GAIUS SALLUSTIUS CRISPUS, the historian, was born 86 B. C., at Amiternum, in the country of the Sabines. Of his early life little is known that is really worth recording. At the age of 36, after having held in succession the offices of quaestor and tribune of the people, he was expelled from the Roman senate, either because of his profligate habits or in consequence of the political intrigues of the day. Three years later, however, he succeeded in regaining his seat in that body by an election to the praetorship. Subsequently his devotion to the cause of Caesar secured him the appointment of governor of Numidia, but his administration seems to have been characterized by injustice and cruelty.

Returning to Rome with immense wealth, Sallust retired to private life, and devoted himself to literary pursuits. He purchased extensive grounds on the Quirinal Hill, and laid them out in a most expensive and magnificent manner. These grounds, afterward the favorite resort of Augustus and his successors, are still known as the Gardens of Sallust.

Sallust died in the midst of his literary career at the early age of 52. He was already the author of three historical works, the Conspiracy of Catiline, the Jugurthine War, and a History of Rome from the death of Sulla to the Mithridatic War. Of the last, only a few fragments are extant. The History of Catiline's Conspiracy is contained in the present volume, and is commended to the learner as an interesting and important chapter in Roman history.