Caesar Introduction

INTRODUCTION

I. The Importance Of The Gallic Campaigns

The Commentaries on the Gallic War are Caesar's own story 1 of how he conquered the peoples living in what is now France and some of the lands bordering on France. He has told his story simply and directly. It was his genius that made the conquest possible, and the story could not be true without making this evident; but he has spoken of himself as if the writer and the general were different men, and there is no boasting. He has not explained to us the great importance of the war to the Roman state; there is no suggestion of its importance to his personal career; much less has he hinted at his own importance in the history of Rome and the world. These things must be learned from a study of history, not from Caesar's story.

Effect on Rome. Rome was the governing nation of ancient 2 times. In Caesar's time she had conquered the other nations which touched the Mediterranean, and was governing most of them as provinces; that is, she sent Roman governors to them and collected taxes from them. In this way she governed a comparatively narrow strip of land in southern Gaul; and as this was the particular province which Caesar was sent to govern, he calls it simply "the Province," Provincia (see map). This province was only partially protected by mountains and rivers from the semicivilized and warlike Gauls on the north; and for this reason it could never be sure of peace and safety until the rest of Gaul was conquered. Moreover, the land on the north was productive and well worth having.

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Therefore Caesar's conquest of Gaul was justified, from a Roman point of view, both by the value of the land and by the necessity of protecting the Province.

I Effect on Gaul. But there was a better reason for that conquest. Though the Gauls were brave they were no match for the less civilized Germans, who lived across the Rhine. Just at the time when Caesar took command of his province the Germans had begun crossing the Rhine in great numbers and were driving the Gauls out of their homes. If this movement had not been checked, the homeless Gauls would have been driven to attack Roman territory; and if the Gauls had been exterminated between the Germans and the Romans, then the -Romans would have found the Germans still more dangerous neighbors than the Gauls. For the Gauls themselves, too, it was far better to be conquered by the civilized Romans than by the uncivilized Germans. The one means of safety for both Gauls and Romans was that the Romans should govern all the country west of the Rhine and should hold the Germans at bay on the other side of that great river. This was the result of Caesar's conquest of Gaul; and this result is the great justification of his bloody warfare there.

i Effect on Caesar. In their effect on Caesar's own career the Gallic campaigns were all-important, and his career changed the course of history. In Gaul he gained military experience and the devotion of his army. By the aid of that army he overthrew a constitution under which the Roman state was going to ruin, and laid the foundations of an empire which lived for centuries. No doubt he did this from selfish and ambitions motives; but his ambition was so great that it could never have been satisfied until ho had brought the empire he ruled to the highest possible degree of excellence, and his genius was so great that he saw the needful measures and the means to carry them out. The daggers of his assassins gave hiin too short a time to complete his work; but he did enough to prove himself the greatest man in Roman history.

II. Life Of Caesar

Early Years, and Choice of Party. Gaius Julius Caesar was i born in the year1 102, B.C., on the 12th day of the month which was then called Quintilis, but which we now, in his honor, call July. Tradition traced the descent of the Julian family back beyond the foundation of Rome, and even to the goddess Venus as its remote ancestor. Caesar, therefore, belonged to the Roman nobility, and in the continuous strife between the Senatorial, or Aristocratie, and the Democratic parties, might have been expected to side with the aristocrats. But none of his own family had been very conspicuous in the state, and his aunt had married Marius, the greatest leader of the Democratic party, the great general who had saved Rome by his victories over the Cimbri and Teutoni. It was natural that his ambition should be fired by his uncle's career, and that his sympathies should incline toward the Democratic party. When he was only fifteen Marius made him priest of Jupiter, an office of some honor and few duties; and in 83, after the death of Marius, he deliberately identified himself with the Democratic party by marrying Cornelia, the daughter of the new leader of that party, Cinna.

Overthrow of Caesar's Party. But the power of the Demo- i cratic party was almost at an end. In 83 Sulla, the leader of the Aristocratic party, returned to Italy with his victorious army, after fighting for several years against Mithradates, in the East. A bloody contest drove the Democrats from power; and in 82 the victor, determined to make a revival of that party impossible, slaughtered its eminent men and so changed the constitution of the state that the Senate was in full control. The young Caesar, as nephew of Marius and son-inlaw of Cinna, was too conspicuous to be overlooked. Sulla ordered him to divorce Cornelia. Caesar refused, and had to flee for his life until influential friends persuaded Sulla to

• Or perhaps in the year 100 B.C.

pardon him. Sulla's grudging consent is said to have been coupled with the warning that Caesar would prove as dangerous as many Mariuses.

7 Weakness of Opposite Party. But the form of government set up by Sulla did not stand long, and the years which followed his death made more and more clear the need of some strong man who should give order and stability to the state. Daring those same years Caesar was testing and developing the powers which were to make him the man to do this work.

8 Revival of Caesar's Party. When Sulla died, in 78, the Senate was in complete control: the Democratic party had neither a leader nor any chance to use its strength. Gradually the Senate lost this control, until, in 70, under the consuls Pompey and Crassus, the changes made by Sulla were completely done away with and the Democratic party again had an opportunity, if it could but find a leader. For a time Pompey seemed likely to be this leader. In 66 the people, contrary to the wishes of the Senatorial party, elected him general to serve against Mithradates. This gave him supreme control in Asia Minor, but kept him out of Eome for the next four years.

9 Development of Caesar's Powers. During all this time Caesar was developing his powers of leadership. He got a taste of military service in Asia Minor, and at twenty-two he won the civic crown of oak leaves for saving the life of a fellow citizen in battle; but as yet he seems to have had no thought of gaining distinction as general. A born politician, he loved the game of politics for its own sake as well as for its rewards. An excellent orator, both by nature and by training, he used his oratorical powers in furthering the plans of his party. He made friends easily, and his influence over them was strong. Therefore, before he was old enough to take office he was a great favorite with the people and a much sought for ally in political scheming; and at the earliest age permitted bylaw he was elected without difficulty to the offices of Quaestor (for 68), Aedile (for 65), and Praetor (for 62). The greatest test