History of Julius Caesar Vol. 1 of 2

Appian, War against Mithridates, 117.

1037

Plutarch, Pompey, 47. – Dio Cassius, XXXVII. 21.

1038

Cicero, Oration for Murena, 14.

1039

Cicero, Letters to Atticus, I. 18.

1040

Dio Cassius, XXXVII. 50.

1041

Cicero, Letters to Atticus, I. 19.

1042

Cicero, Letters to Atticus, I. 19.

1043

Cicero, Oration on the Agrarian Law, II. 27.

1044

“Your ancestors never set you the example of buying lands from individuals in order to send colonies thither. All the laws, up to the present time, have contented themselves with establishing them on the lands belonging to the State.” (Cicero, Oration on the Agrarian Law, II. 25.)

1045

Plutarch, Cato of Utica, 36.

1046

Dio Cassius, XXXVII. 51.

1047

Plutarch, Cato, 35.

1048

“People abuse the Senate; the equestrian order stands aloof from it. Thus this year will have seen the overthrow of the two solid foundations on which I, single-handed, had planted the Republic – the authority of the Senate and the union of the two orders.” (Cicero, Letters to Atticus, I. 18.)

1049

Cicero, Letters to Atticus, II. 1.

1050

Plutarch, Cæsar, 12. – Appian (Civil Wars, II. 2, § 8) speaks of twenty-five million sestertii —i. e., 4,750,000 francs [£190,000].

1051

Suetonius, Cæsar, 18.

1052

Cicero, Letter to Atticus, I. 14, 16.

1053

“From his youth up he was zealous and true to his clients.” (Suetonius, Cæsar, 71.)

1054

Suetonius, Cæsar, 12.

1055

Plutarch, Cæsar, 12.

1056

Plutarch, Cæsar, 12.

1057

A chain of mountains in Portugal, now called Sierra di Estrella, separating the basin of the Tagus from the valley of Mondego. According to Cellarius (Ancient Geography, I. 60), Mount Herminium is still called Arminno. The principal oppidum belonging to the population of these mountains seems to have been called Medobrega (Membrio). It is mentioned in Cæsar’s Commentaries, War of Alexandria, 48.

1058

Probably in the modern province of Leyria.

1059

A survey made, in August, 1861, by the Duc de Bellune, leaves no doubt that the peninsula of Peniche was once an island. The local traditions state that in ancient times the ocean advanced as far as the town of Atoguia; but since Dio Cassius speaks of the rising tide which swept away soldiers, we must believe that there were fords at low tide. We give extracts from Portuguese authors who have written on this subject.

Bernard de Brito (Portuguese Monarchy, I. p. 429, Lisbon, 1790) says: – “As along the entire coast of Portugal we cannot find, at the present time, a single island that fulfils the conditions of the one where Cæsar sought to disembark better than the peninsula, on which there is a locality which, taking its name from its situation, is called Peniche, we shall maintain, with our countryman Resende, that it is to this that all the authors refer. And I do not believe it possible to find one more suitable in every way than this: because, over and above the fact that it is the only one, and situated at but a short distance from the mainland, we see that when the tide is low it is possible to traverse the strait dryshod, and with still greater facility than would have been possible in ancient times, because the sea has silted up sand against a large portion of this coast, and brought it to pass that the sea does not rise to so high a point upon the land. Still, it rises high enough to make it necessary, at high tide, to use a boat to reach the island, and that in a space of about 500 paces in width, which separates the island from the mainland.”

The following is the passage of Resende: – “Sed quærendum utrobique quænam insula ista fuerit terræ contigua, ad quam sive pedibus sive natatu profugi transire potuerint, ad quam similiter et milites trajicere tentarint? Non fuisse Londobrin, cujus meminit Ptolomæus (Berligam modo dicimus), indicio est distantia a continente non modica. Et quum alia juxta Lusitaniæ totius littus nulla nostra ævo exstet, hæc de qua Dion loquitur, vel incumbenti violentius mari abrasa, vel certe peninsula illa oppidi Peniche juxta Atonguiam, erit intelligenda. Nam etiam nunc alveo quingentis passibus lato a continente sejungitur, qui pedibus æstu cedente transitur, redeunte vero insula plane fit, neque adiri vado potest. Et forte illo sæculo fuerit aliquanto major.” (L. André de Resende. De Antiquitatibus Lusitaniæ cæteraque Historica quæ exstant Opera, Conimbricæ, 1790, I., p. 77.)

Antonio Carvalho (Da costa corografia Portuguesa, II. p. 144, Lisbon, 1712) sets forth the same view.