6

32. ut idem.. obtineat, that Pompeius had been governing the city from just outside the gates, and had at the same time been proconsul of Spain.' 'Obtineat' is the 'praeteritum ad praesens,' like ‘iampridem scio,' for 'I have been long aware.'

44. 2. per paucos probati,' that the rule of giving provinces to expraetors and ex-consuls, five years after their resignation, had not been observed, but that these had been assigned at the pleasure of a committee of aristocrats.' He is referring to the appointments mentioned in c. 6.

3. in se aetatis excusationem nihil valere,' when to oppose him men distinguished in former wars were summoned to command armies, no one was allowed to plead even age as an excuse.' Commentators suppose the reference to be to Cicero, who had been appointed to command the 'litus Campanum,' and was now fifty-seven years old. Caesar had tried to gain him over by a personal interview at Formiae; and had also written to him urging neutrality. In fact, the great and leading difference between the two conflicting parties was that Caesar allowed people to be neutral, Pompeius did not; and Caesar's remarks here indicate soreness on that point.

7. aut cum honore. He means to complain that no one had thought of giving him a triumph for his Gallic exploits, although they had been the subjects for such repeated and long supplicationes.'

9. neque nunc id agere,' and did not now in the least contemplate embodying their army in his.'

12. ut esset dictum. This seems to refer to Afranius' words,' satis fecisse officio,' in the last chapter, which implied his willingness to withdraw from Spain.

17. c. 86. ex ipsa significatione, from the shout of approval raised by them (ultro) gratuitously.'

19. loco et tempore eius rei, 'as to where and when they should be disbanded.'

21. omni interposita fide, 'even if all pledges were given.'

23. paucis..disputatum, after a very brief discussion of the matter on both sides.'

25. ad Varum, the Var; the frontier river between Transalpine and Cisalpine Gaul.

31. c. 87. iis qui amiserant. Cp. Livy 3. 71, 'Scaptius infit.. se in eo agro de quo agitur, militasse;' Sall. Jug. 63, dixerat haruspex, proinde quae animo agitabat fretus dis ageret.' These dependent indicatives are unusual. Indicativus,' says Kritz (Jug. 38), haud raro in oratione obliqua positus reperitur si auctor. . rei veritatem per se spectari vult ;'

that is, if the historic instinct asserts itself at that point in the writer's mind, and if he therefore lays a narrative stress on the dependent clause. Cp. above, c. 22, note 3. The use of 'is' instead of 'sui' mentioned in 35, note 3, springs from the same cause.

32. quascunque.. habuerunt; the indicative, because the number of these was definite.

45. 5. eo biduo. Supra, c. 41, note 1. The surrender was on the 9th of June. Caesar's separating the defeated army into two would make it impossible for them to change their minds on the march. This would lead one to suspect that the true reading would be 'ut longo inter se spatio castra facerent;' and that the 'non' is an interpolation.

8. hoc eius praescripto; ablativus normae, like more maiorum,' 'instituto suo,' and the like phrases.

10. dimissa est. In five months, Caesar had driven from the field two armies quite equal to that which he commanded, in both cases without any considerable engagement. He had made Italy his own, with the same lightning rapidity with which Napoleon regained France on returning from Elba in A.D. 1815; and his victory in Spain made annoyance impossible from the West for a long time. His success was due partly to excellent generalship; but still more from the indomitable ardour which he knew how to inspire his men with. Only under a consummate commander would soldiers have gone through the life and death race to Octogesa, or crossed the Segre in coracles, or forded it at Lerida, or endured the many days' famine in the time of flood, or boldly advanced upon the Italian towns with no hope except in desertions from the enemy. His empire over them was such that he hesitates not to act in direct opposition to their universal opinion; yet does not lose this influence when for a moment it appeared as if they had been right and he wrong in not fighting. He promises them large donatives, and they wait patiently, although the prospect of payment is remote; deprives them of expected plunder, and then quells the resulting mutiny by a single word (Merivale, ii. p. 221). It remained to be seen how he could make up for the disasters of his lieutenants, and face the great Pompeius himself; and the next books show how he met these farther trials.

No military exploits on record correspond in all points with those of Caesar in B.C. 49. The escape from Elba, as already remarked, is in many respects a parallel to the Corfinium campaign, particularly from the part which the enthusiasm of private soldiers played in both events. With the overthrow of Afranius at Octogesa may be compared the battle of Vittoria in A.D. 1813, when Wellington in a somewhat similar way, by

occupying a position parallel to King Joseph's line of retreat towards France, and directing an attack from his own left at the head of the French column, intercepted all their baggage and treasure, together with more than 140 guns (Napier, vol. iv). As regards the double blow, struck first in the East, then in the West, the events which approach nearest to this in modern history appear to be the battles of Rossbach and Leuthen, gained by Frederick the Great, in AD. 1757, over the French and Austrians respectively, with only a month's interval between them.