History of Julius Caesar Vol. 1 of 2

Suetonius, Cæsar, 20.

1134

Cicero, Second Oration on the Agrarian Law, 16. —Scholiast of Bobbio on Cicero’s Oration In Rege Alexandrino, p. 350, edit. Orelli. This Ptolemy Alexas, or Alexander, appears to have been a natural son of Alexander I., younger brother of Ptolemy Lathyrus, who is also called Ptolemy Soter II.; in this case he would be, though illegitimate, cousin of Ptolemy Auletes. He had succeeded Alexander II., legitimate son of Alexander I., who married his step-mother, Berenice, only legitimate daughter of Ptolemy Soter II.

1135

Cicero, Letters to Atticus, II. 16. – The King of Egypt gave nearly 6,000 talents (35 millions of francs) to Cæsar and Pompey. (Suetonius, Cæsar, 14.)

1136

Suetonius, Cæsar, 54. – Dio Cassius, XXXIX. 12. – Cæsar’s expressions (War of Alexandria, 33, and Civil Wars, III. 107) show the friendship of Ptolemy Auletes for the Romans.

1137

Cæsar, War in Gaul, I. 35. – Plutarch, Cæsar, 35. – Dio Cassius, XXXVIII. 34.

1138

Suetonius, Cæsar, 20.

1139

Plutarch, Cato, 38. – “It was about the sixth hour, when, in the course of my speech in court for C. Antonius, my colleague, I deplored certain abuses which prevailed in the State, and which seemed to me to be closely allied to the case of my unfortunate client. Some ill-disposed persons reported my words to certain men of high position in different terms to those I had used; and on the same day, at the ninth hour, the adoption of Clodius was carried.” (Cicero, Oration for his House, 16.)

1140

Appian, Civil Wars, II. 14. – Dio Cassius, XXXVIII. 12. – Plutarch, Pompey, 50. – Cicero, 39.

1141

Cicero, Oration for Sestius, loc. cit.

1142

Cicero, writing to Atticus about Cæsar’s first consulship, says: “Weak as he was then, Cæsar was stronger than the entire State.” (Letters to Atticus, VII. 9.)

1143

“Bibulus thought to render Cæsar an object of suspicion. He made him more powerful than before.” (Velleius Paterculus, II. 44.)

1144

Suetonius, Cæsar, 20.

1145

Cæsar rode an extraordinary horse, whose feet were shaped almost like those of man, the hoof being divided in such a way as to present the appearance of fingers. He had reared this horse, which had been foaled in his house, with great care, for the soothsayers had predicted the empire of the world to its master. Cæsar was the first who tamed it: before that time the animal had allowed no one to mount it. Finally, he erected a statue to its honour in front of the Temple of Venus Genetrix.” (Suetonius, Cæsar, 61.)

1146

“I am quite of opinion that the right of absent candidates to solicit the offices of the priesthood may be examined by the comitia, for there is a precedent for that. C. Marius, whilst in Cappadocia, was elected augur by the law Domitia, and no subsequent law has forbidden the course; for the Julian Law, the last on the subject of the priesthood, states: ‘He who is a candidate, or he whose right to become one has been examined.’” (Cicero, Letters to Brutus, I. 5.)

1147

Cicero, Oration against Piso, 37.

1148

Cicero, Oration on the Consular Provinces, 4. —Oration against Piso, 21.

1149

Cicero, Oration against Piso, 16; Letters to Atticus, V. 10, 16, 21. —First Philippic, 8.

1150

“You have obtained,” says he, addressing Piso, “a consular province with no other limits than those of your cupidity, in contravention of the law of your son-in-law. In fact, by a law of Cæsar’s, as just as it is salutary, free nations used to enjoy a full and entire liberty.” (Cicero, Oration against Piso, 16.)

1151

Cicero, Oration against Piso, 25; Familiar Letters, II. 17; Letters to Atticus, VI. 7. – “I will add, that if the ancient right and antique usage were still in force, I should not have had to send in my accounts till after I had discoursed about them, and had them audited with good humour, and the formalities that our intimacy justifies. What I would have done in Rome according to the old fashion, I ought, according to the Julian law, to have done in my province: send in my accounts on the spot, and only deposit in the treasury an exact copy of them. I was obliged to follow the provisions of the law. The accounts, duly audited and compared, were to be deposited in two towns, and I chose, in the terms of the law, the two most important – Laodicea and Apamea… I come to the point of the customary presents. You must know that I had only included in my list the military tribunes, the prefects, and the officers of my house (contubernales). I even made a blunder. I thought I was allowed any latitude in point of time. Subsequently I learnt that the request ought to be sent in during the thirty days allowed for the settling the accounts. Happily, all is safe as far as the centurions are concerned, and the officers of the household of the military tribunes – for the law is silent in regard to the latter. (Cicero, Familiar Letters, V. 20.)

1152

Dio Cassius, XLIII. 25.

1153

“I say nothing about the golden crown that has been so long a torture to you, in your uncertainty as to whether you ought to demand it or not. In fact, the law of your son-in-law forbad them to give it or you to receive it, unless your triumph had been granted you.” (Cicero, Oration against Piso, 37.)

1154

Cicero, Oration against Piso, 37; Letters to Atticus, V. 10, 16.

1155

“Take notice, I beg you, that I paid into the hands of the farmers of the revenues at Ephesus twenty-two millions of sestertii, a sum to which I have a perfect right, and that Pompey laid hands on the whole. I have made up my mind on the subject – whether wisely or unwisely matters not.” (Cicero, Oration against Piso, xxxvii. 16.)

1156

Cicero, Oration against Piso, 21.

1157

Cicero, Oration on the Consular Provinces, 2, 3, 4.

1158