seek from the neighbouring tribes should arrive. Rather than do this, they turned out all the old men, women, and children, and the Romans suffered them to perish from starvation. The Gauls now mustered from all sides to raise the siege, and very nearly succeeded, when Cæsar comes up, and they are driven headlong in flight. The survivors in the city now surrender, and are forgiven, except Vercingetorix, their leader, who is taken to Rome, and, after being kept a prisoner for six years, is led in triumph, and then killed, that so honour may be done to Cæsar. Here his memoirs of the wars in Gaul finish, the account of his doings there during the two more years that they lasted having been written by Aulus Hirtius.

His other commentaries, in three books, relate to the civil war in which he and Pompey contended for the mastery over Rome and the Republic. He commences the first book with a narration of how his friends were silenced in the Senate, and how Pompey had turned against him. He was on the confines of his province, which was bounded by the river Rubicon. The Senate had called on him to lay down his arms, and all Rome was disturbed. He tells his soldiers his wrongs, and the crimes of Pompey; he has but one legion with him, but it declares in his favour; some of the tribunes on his side have come to Ravenna, and he crosses the Rubicon. Messages pass between him and those in authority at Rome; he demands that Pompey shall go to Spain, and Pompey that he shall return to Gaul. He occupies three cities in the Roman territory, the consular forces retire to Brindisi, and he is victorious in the first engagement. Pompey has boasted that he had only to stamp on the ground, and legions would rise from the earth to obey him ; but he crosses with his army and supporters into Illyria. Cæsar now sends his generals to win over as many of the provinces as possible to his cause, and decides to deal with Spain himself, first going to Rome for the purpose of securing the treasure in the temple of Saturn. On his way to Spain he detaches a force to besiege Marseilles ; and, hurrying on, he encounters the Pompeian troops near

Lerida. He has great difficulty in obtaining provisions for his men, but he adopts various stratagems, and, at last, all the legions opposing him lay down their arms; he makes lenient terms with them, and in forty days the campaign is over. The general he left at Marseilles is also victorious over the fleet which was assisting to hold the city for Pompey.

Further particulars are given of this siege in the second book. We are told that all the inhabitants were seen by Cæsar's troops, who were encamped on high ground, praying for the help of the gods; and that, after the defeat of their ships, they still fought with valour, expecting no mercy should the city be taken. They discharged from the engines on their walls iron-headed poles twelve feet long, whilst Cæsar's troops erected a lofty tower, by means of which, and a covered way, they effect a breach, when a truce is made until Cæsar shall arrive. The Massilians, however, watch their opportunity, and set fire to their assailants' works, but they are again worsted, and are now compelled to surrender. Cæsar carries off their treasure and ships to Rome, but spares their lives, simply leaving two of his legions among them. Before quitting Spain he had been to Andalusia, to settle with another Pompeian general, and to make things pleasant with the towns there. In the meantime matters were not going smoothly for him in Africa. His young lieutenant Curio was distrusted by his troops, and they were also in fear of Juba, the King of Numidia, who was Pompey's friend. Curio made a speech to his legions, in which he appeals to their honour, and reminds them of what they have helped Cæsar to do. He then leads them to attack the forces who side with Pompey; but Juba craftily sends a small body of cavalry to assist them, with which Curio thinks he can cope, and then falls upon him with all his army. Curio is slain, the remnant of Cæsar's troops make for their ships, but they are claimed by Juba, who kills most of them, and sends a few, including two senators, as prisoners to his own kingdom.

Cæsar commences his last book by recording that, having nominated a consul to act with him, he remained

at Rome as Dictator for eleven days, and then went to Brindisi on the track of Pompey, the particulars of whose forces and preparations he gives in detail. He tells his own legions the work he has planned for them, and, crossing with a portion of them into Illyria, forms his camp so near to that of Pompey, with only a river intervening, that the soldiers can talk together. After a fruitless proposal of peace, and the arrival of the remainder of his army under Marc Antony, he endeavours to win over the Greeks to his side, but they hesitate, and he resolves that he will force his rival to fight. Pompey had entrenched himself on a rocky promontory, called Petra, which gave him access to the coast; whilst Cæsar, who commanded the surrounding country, endeavoured to surround him, and cut off his supply of water. Constant fights take place between the two armies, and Cæsar mentions that one of his officers had two hundred and thirty holes made by arrows in his shield. Then two Gauls deserted to Pompey, who, having learnt from them the plan of Cæsar's fortifications, landed a large force by night between his lines, and a total rout ensued, Cæsar losing nearly a thousand men, and thirty-two standards. The Pompeians were so elated with this success that they thought no more of carrying on the war, and Cæsar offers a long apology for his defeat. He, however, makes a speech to his men, and withdraws with them into Thessaly -whither Pompey had gone to join his forces with another army from the east-and seizes the Greek towns of Gomphi and Metropolis. Labienus, one of his generals who has gone over to Pompey, tells him that Cæsar's legions are not the same who conquered Gaul and Germany, but new levies, and that he must be victorious. The battle-field is now chosen near the town of Pharsala, on the banks of the river Eunipius. Pompey's united forces consisted of forty-five thousand fighting men of all arms, whilst Cæsar had only twenty-two thousand. The conflict is minutely described, and Cæsar acknowledges the bravery of his adversaries; but, notwithstanding their overwhelming numbers, and their clouds of horsemen and archers, they were driven back in panic, soldiers

and senators, to the shelter of the mountains, Pompey fled to his camp, and thence to the shore, where he got on board a provision vessel, and was heard to complain that he had been betrayed by those from whose hands he expected victory. The following day Cæsar compels the fugitives to surrender at discretion, and gives them their lives. He declares that he lost only two hundred men, whilst of Pompey's army fifteen thousand were killed, and twenty-four thousand surrendered. Thus was the battle of Pharsala won, and the Roman Republic brought to an end.

Cæsar now thought that Pompey was to be pursued to the neglect of all other things; but, having fled to Egypt, he was murdered by the king's attendants ere he landed. In his last seven chapters, however, Cæsar records how with three thousand of his soldiers he followed him, first to Cyprus and then to Alexandria, where he assisted Cleopatra to depose her brother Ptolemy, and burnt the Egyptian fleet, which things, he says, were the beginning of the Alexandrine war; and with these words his commentaries end.

CICERO.

DIED B.C. 43.

LTHOUGH ancient, if tested by the lapse of years, the times of Cicero, so far as concerns the habits of life, the ways of thinking, the politics, and the tastes of the Romans of his day, were wonderfully like our own; and have, therefore, more interest for a modern reader than classic history generally.

After receiving a good education, Cicero's early manhood was spent in studying for the bar, and in the usual military service. He began to practise as an advocate at the age of twenty-five, and, having succeeded almost too quickly, he retired to Athens for the benefit of his health. There he met his old schoolfellow Atticus, with whom he afterwards corresponded for many years, and nearly four hundred of his letters have been preserved. He also travelled in Asia Minor. On his return to Rome, he increased his reputation as a pleader, which led to his holding several public offices, and obtaining a seat in the Senate. Whilst acting as a quæstor in Sicily, he earned a great name for ability and honourable conduct, which so elated him that he tells us how, on landing at Puteoli, on his way home, during the fashionable season there, he was quite disconcerted to find that his doings were no longer in everybody's mouth, and the valuable lesson it taught him. His next public service was the impeachment of Verres, who was