'conventus' in a province meant an assize district or circuit of the proconsul; or, more literally still, the assize itself: as Caesar frequently comes to Gallia Cisalpina · ad conventus agendos.' The same thing is meant by the ἀγοραῖοι ἄγονται of Acts xix. 38.

7. c. 15. praefecturae. See Arn. Hist. Rome, iii. 19. A‘praefectura' was either a town with no municipal institutions of its own, and governed by a 'praefectus' sent from Rome; or a country district in the territory of a colony, under a praefect appointed by the colony itself.

9. Labienus. Caesar had not mentioned the defection of his eminent lieutenant at Ariminum. Hearing that he had reached Pompeius' camp at Teanum, he had politely sent his baggage after him. Labienus was afterwards the fiercest enemy of Caesar. See an astonishing instance of his cruelty, below, 3. 71, also Bell. Afr. c. 16.

II. milites imperat: mittunt. The asyndeton admirably expresses the rapidity with which his commands were obeyed. The twelfth legion had been sent for from Cisalpine Gaul while Caesar was at Ariminum; and now within a fortnight overtook him. With these he ventured to advance, trusting to the good-will of the Italian towns, and to the chance of Pompeius' soldiers deserting to him.

13. Asculum Picenum. This had been at an earlier period the capital of the Picenians; the epithet distinguishes it from Ascoli in Apulia.

14. decem cohortibus. The instrumental ablative; as a body of men is a kind of implement of war. Caesar says 'ten cohorts,' as they were not all of the same legion.

17. incidit: 'he met with,' as they were moving in opposite directions. Incidere in' is also used for 'to be overtaken by' in Bell. Gall. 1. 53.

18. confirmandorum hominum, for the purpose of encouraging the population.'

24. Corfinium. This was the celebrated capital of the Italian confederacy in the Social War, which, under the name of Italica, was intended to supplant Rome. Its site can be seen near Pescara; but no modern town has taken its place. It was in the country of the Peligni.

26. Domitius. This devoted partisan of the oligarchy had been appointed by them to succeed Caesar in Transalpine Gaul (supra, c. 6). 27. Alba. This is Alba Forentina, just north of Lake Fucinus; a Roman military colony, often used as a state prison for captured kings, like Syphax of Numidia, or Bituitus king of the Arverni.

28. c. 16. recepto Firmo. The MSS. read thus. The name of Fermo, as Kraner remarks, was introduced as a gloss from Cic. ad Att. 8. 12; and it is evident from the words ' expulso Lentulo' that Asculum is meant. Some editions read. oppido.'

32. fluminis, of the river Aternus (the Pescara).

10. 3. iuxta murum. He was only able fully to invest the town when reinforcements came up in c. 18.

7. c. 17. locorum angustiis. For Pompeius' troops would bar the road to the South, and also that leading from Corfinium by Alba to Rome.

12. contione, from coventio.' The word should therefore not be spelt 'concio.'

ex suis possessionibus. This enormous offer of lands gives an idea of the immense possessions of a Roman noble, and the reason which made an agrarian law so offensive to them. Domitius had received large grants from Sulla out of his wholesale confiscations (Mommsen, iii. 357). Caesar himself had promised each of his men five minae, equal to £16; and 300 sesterces to every citizen (Merivale, ii. p. 153), a bad omen for patriotic reforms.

14. pro rata parte. The share of a centurion was double that of a private soldier, Bell. Gall. 8. 4, note 2.

15. c. 18. Sulmonenses quod oppidum, 'that the inhabitants of Sulmo, which city,' &c., a construction kaтà σúveoir.

16. cupere ea facere quae vellet, wished to place themselves entirely at his disposal.' So Caesar uses 'favere et cupere Helvetiis,' and Horace, cupio omnia quae vis,' as a phrase of compliment.

19. M. Antonium. He had been with Caesar as quaestor in Gaul for two years; and was one of the two tribunes who had fled to him at Ravenna.

26. Caesar primis diebus. A slight carelessness of style, as the same word had begun the last sentence. Compare Bell. Gall. 1. 7, ·Caesari cum id nuntiatum esset .. maturat ab urbe proficisci,' and 1. 12, 'eos impeditos. . aggressus, magnam partem eorum concidit,' where there is the same degree of irregularity.

29. legio viii. This was probably one of the legions left in the Aeduan country (Bell Gall. 8. 54); as it reached Caesar within a month after he despatched from Ariminum the order for its advance. By 'eo triduo' is meant within three days' of the time when be began the works mentioned in the last sentence.

30. ab rege Norico. A Norican king named Voccio is mentioned in the Bell. Gall. 1. 53, as brother-in-law to Ariovistus. This name

being Celtic, it is probable that Caesar's popularity in Cisalpine Gaul enabled him to engage cavalry from the kindred people of Styria. For the great stress laid by him on the possession of a small number of very superior cavalry, see Bell. Gall. 7. 13, note 1, and 4. 13, note 1.

33. vallo castellisque,' with a rampart and bastions.'

11. 3. c. 19. dissimulans, 'concealing their true contents.'

5. ne animo deficiant. For the tenses used in the dramatic, as distinguished from the ordinary, oblique, see Bell. Gall. 1. 14, note 7. 6. cum paucis familiaribus, with a few who were his intimates' ('cum paucis familiarium' would mean that he summoned a part only of his intimates).

7. consilium fugae capere, 'to make arrangements for flight' (leaving his army behind).

12. fugeret; while at the same time he avoided all meetings and general assemblies.' The omission of the adversative conjunction, by placing the two actions quite closely together, brings out rhetorically the idea of their inconsistency and absurdity. So Cic. de Div. 1. 39, 'quid causae est cur Cassandra furens futura prospiciat, Priamus sapiens idem facere non queat?' (supra, II, note 2).

15. si qua fuisset facultas; the oblique of‘si qua fuerit facultas, ad me.. venias.'

16. id ne fieri posset. . fiebat, but this had become impossible from the blockade and from the strength of the lines round the city.'

19. c. 20. prima vesperi. Caesar uses only ' vesperi' for the genitive; 'vesperum' and ' vesperam' for the accusative; vespere' for the ablative. As the time of these occurrences was early in February, the beginning of the first night-watch was about 4.49'. See Leverrier's table in Jules César, vol. ii. p. 553.

secessionem faciunt, held a separate conference.'

20. honestissimos sui generis, 'the most distinguished of the privates.'

22. cuius spe, 'from hope and trust in whom;' the genitive of the object.

23. proiectis omnibus,' was forsaking them all.'

27. ut.. conentur. Consequences in a construction with the historic present are generally historic, as 'Sulla hortatur suos ut fortem animum gererent,' Sall. Jug. 107 (P. S. Latin Gr. p. 406), sometimes, as here, primary.

28. ultro citroque. See Bell. Gall. 1. 42, note 6.

33. vivum. . tradere. See below, chap. 74, for the feeling of Roman soldiers with regard to their general.

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12. 5. c. 21. parvis momentis, 'from small impulses,' as we have 'magna momenta rerum,' and in Hamlet, enterprises of great pith and moment.'

magni casus intercederent,' because (as he reflected) great events often happen in war,' &c. The quasi-oblique subjunctive gives the thought as conceived by the actor, not by the writer.

8. portas murosque asservari, ' and ordered that they should hold the walls and gates for him.' The next sentence begins the orders which he gave to his own troops.

9. non certis spatiis, 'not at regular intervals, but with an unbroken line of men supported by strong detachments; so that they were in contact with one another, and manned the whole of the ramparts.' For this purpose two men are required for every yard in length. The men would naturally have been placed only at the towers; that is, at distances of about sixty yards; now they manned the whole curtain as well.

16. qui ea nocte conquieverit, as to fall asleep on that night.' The use of the perfect tense gives the tone of fact to the consequence more strongly than the imperfect would do. See Bell. Gall. 3. 15, note 3, and index.

17. summae rerum, 'of a decisive result.'

ut alius in aliam partem, that every one was attentive and looking out in various directions,' to divine what was then happening to the citizens, to the generals, and to the soldiers in the town, and what would be the issue to each.

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20. Exciperent is the oblique of excipiant,' in the future sense (as 'non dubito quin Chremes tibi det gratam '), the direct construction being laboro quid excipiat,' or some similar phrase. The sentence would have been clearer if 'excepturi essent' had been written. 23. c. 22. Caesarem convenire. Supra, c. 8, note 1. 25. de salute sua agit. The word 'agit' is omitted by the MSS., and is an addition of Bentley's: such an ellipse as oro cum Caesare' being unexampled in Latin prose, although ' tecum oro' (‘I plead with you') occurs several times in Plautus; and naturally enough, since 'oro' simply means to speak;' as 'orator' and 'peroro' show; also 'talibus orabat Iuno,' (Virg. Aen. 10. 96). See Varronianus, p. 205.

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28. quod.. venerat, as, in fact, he had been admitted.' The indicative makes Caesar the informant here; and indicates a kind of sharpness like that with which he addresses Afranius and Petreius in chap. 85.

29. ex praetura; on giving up the praetorship (held in B. C. 60),

Caesar had himself received the province of Spain; but gave it up in order to take Gaul, by a vote of the people; passing on Spain to Lentulus. The latter was consul in B.C. 57, and in that capacity carried the recall of Cicero from exile.

33. in ea re, ‘in the course of his persecution.'

13. 3. ut. . liceat. On the words 'liceor,'' liceo,' 'licet,' see Bell. Gall. 1. 18. 3.

6. durius consulere. Litotes, 'that they were meditating suicide.' The soldiers of Cotta and Sabinus actually killed themselves (Bell. Gall. 5. 37). Cp. Lucan, Phars. 4. 520, where a similar event occurring at sea is forcibly described.

12. c. 23. decurionum. The senate of a 'municipium' was called ' ordo decurionum;' its members were the 'decuriones.' The highest magistrates are loosely called the 'consules' or 'praetores;' properly and formally the 'decemviri iuri dicundo.'

14. conviciis. The necessity of stopping these gives an idea of the ordinary temper of Roman soldiers; much as Hirtius' calling the burning of villages 'vulgare illud incursionis hostium signum' (c. 3)-stopped for once by Caesar-shows the ordinary customs of Roman warfare.

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17. H. S. LX. This must mean sexagies sestertium'- six millions of sesterces about £48,000.

22. sacramentum apud se, 'to swear allegiance to him.' So we have consulis sacramento teneri,'' to be under allegiance to the consul.' Caesar's boldness in thus trusting his cause to troops recently arrayed against him is most striking. He had now with him the thirteenth legion (c. 7), the twelfth (c. 15), the eighth (c. 18). There were also some levies made at Rimini (c. 11). Five cohorts went over to him at Gubbio (c. 12), some others at Osimo (c. 13), soldiers were sent him from Cingulum (c. 15), seven cohorts came over to him at Sulmo (c. 18), twenty-two newly-levied cohorts and three hundred cavalry came from Gaul (ib.), and finally the thirty-two cohorts under Domitius now joined him. These would altogether have amounted to 65,000 men or thereabouts. As he reckons, in c. 25, that after sending the Domitians to Sicily, he retained only six legions, we must understand that some of those deserting to him were dismissed, as in c. 87.

23. iustum iter. Under this weight' (says Gibbon, i. 21), which would oppress the delicacy of a modern soldier, they were trained by a regular step to advance in six hours nearly twenty miles.' A' magnum iter' was twenty-four miles (Veget. 1. 9).

25. in Apuliam. He marched straight down towards Brundisium, not turning aside for Rome and its treasuries until he had driven