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CHAPTER VII.
EVENTS OF THE YEAR 702
Murder of Clodius.
I. ROME seemed to be given up only to the petty contentions of individuals; but, behind the men who stood in view, grave interests and violent passions were in agitation. The disease which undermines society unknown to it, reveals itself when facts, of no great importance in themselves, occur suddenly to produce an unforeseen crisis, to unveil dangers which were unperceived, and to show to all men that society on the brink of an abyss of which nobody had suspected the depth. Thus, by mere accidents of his life, Clodius seems to have been destined to cause the explosion of the elements of disorder which the Republic concealed in its bosom. He is caught in the house of Cæsar’s wife during a religious sacrifice, and this violation of the mysteries of the Bona Dea leads to a fatal division in the first bodies of the state. His impeachment irritates the popular party; his acquittal exposes to the world the venality of the judges, and separates the order of the knights from that of the Senate. The animosity with which he is pursued makes him a chief of a formidable party, which sends Cicero into exile, makes Pompey tremble, and accelerates the elevation of Cæsar. His death is destined to awaken all the popular passions, and inspire the opposite faction with so many fears, that it will forget its rancours and jealousies to throw itself into the arms of Pompey, and all the people will be in arms from one end of Italy to the other.
On the 13th of the Calends of February, 702 (13th of December, 701), Milo started from Rome to proceed to Lanuvium, his native town, of which he was the dictator.737 Towards the ninth hour, he met on the Appian Way, a little beyond Bovillæ, Clodius, who, on his part, was returning on horseback from Aricia to Rome, accompanied by three friends and thirty slaves, all armed with swords. Milo was in a chariot with his wife Fausta, daughter of Sylla, and M. Fufius, his familiar. In his train marched an escort ten times more numerous than that of Clodius, and in which were several celebrated gladiators. The two troops passed near a small temple of the Bona Dea,738 without exchanging a single word, but casting on each other furious looks. They had hardly passed, when two of Milo’s gladiators, who lagged behind, picked a quarrel with the slaves of Clodius. At the noise of this dispute, the latter turned his bridle, and advanced uttering threats. One of the gladiators, named Birria, struck him with his sword, and wounded him grievously in the shoulder;739 he was carried into a neighbouring tavern.740
Milo, learning that Clodius was wounded, feared the consequences of this aggression, and believed that he would incur less danger by dispatching his enemy. He therefore sent his men to burst open the tavern; Clodius, dragged from the bed on which he had been placed, is pierced with blows, and thrown into the high road. His slaves are slain or put to flight. The corpse remained stretched on the Appian Way, until a senator, Sext. Tedius, who was passing, caused him to be taken up, placed in a litter, and carried to Rome, where he arrived at night, and was laid on a bed in the atrium of his house. But already the news of the fatal meeting was spread through the whole town, and the crowd hastened towards the residence of Clodius, where his wife, Fulvia, pointing to the wounds with which he was covered, urged the people to vengeance. The concourse was so great that several men of mark, and among others C. Vibienus, a senator, were stifled in the crowd. The corpse was carried to the Forum, and exposed on the rostra; two tribunes of the people, T. Munatius Plancus and Q. Pompeius Rufus, harangued the multitude, and demanded justice.
Afterwards, at the instigation of a scribe named Sext. Clodius, the body was carried to the curia, in order to insult the Senate; a funereal pile was made of the benches, tables, and registers. The fire communicated to the Curia Hostilia, and thence gained the Basilica Porcia, and the two buildings were reduced to ashes. Then the multitude, becoming more and more furious, snatched the fasces which surrounded the funereal bed,741 and proceeded to the front of the houses of Hypsæus and Q. Metellus Scipio, as if to offer them the consulship. Lastly, they presented themselves before the abode of Pompey; some demanded with loud shouts that he should be consul or dictator, others shouted the same wishes for Cæsar.742
Nevertheless, nine days after, when the smoke was still rising from the ruins, the populace, on the occasion of a funereal banquet in the Forum, sought to burn the house of Milo and that of the interrex, M. Lepidus. They were driven away by a shower of arrows.743 Milo, in the first moment, had dreamt only of hiding himself; but on hearing the indignation and terror caused by the burning of the curia, he resumed his courage. Persuaded, moreover, that, to repress these excesses, the Senate would proceed to severities against the opposite party,744 he returned into Rome by night, carried his boldness so far as to announce that he still solicited the consulship, and began actually to buy the votes. Cœlius, a tribune of the people, spoke in his favour in the Forum. Milo himself mounted the tribune, and accused Clodius of having laid an ambush for him. He was interrupted by a considerable number of armed men, who rushed into the public place. Milo and Cœlius wrapped themselves in the mantles of slaves, and took flight. A great slaughter of their adherents was made. But soon the rioters, profiting by this pretext for disorder, murdered all they met, whether citizens or strangers, especially such as attracted their attention by their rich garments and gold rings; armed slaves were the chief instruments of these disorders. No crime was spared; under pretence of seeking Milo’s friends, a great number of houses were pillaged, and during several days all sorts of outrages were committed.745
The Republic is declared in Danger.
II. Meanwhile the Senate declared the Republic in danger, and charged the interrex, the tribunes of the people, and the proconsul Cn. Pompey, having the imperium near the town, to watch over the public safety, and make levies in all Italy. The care of rebuilding the Curia Hostilia was entrusted to the son of Sylla: it was decided that it should bear the name of the old dictator, the memory of whom the Senate sought to place in honour.746
As soon as Pompey had assembled a military force sufficiently imposing, the two nephews of Clodius, both named Appius, demanded the arrest of the slaves of Milo, and of those of Fausta, his wife. But the first care of Milo, his enemy once dead, had been to enfranchise his slaves, as a reward for having defended him, and, once enfranchised, they could no longer depose against their patron.
About a month after the death of Clodius, Q. Metellus Scipio brought the affair before the Senate, and accused Milo of falsehood in the explanations he had given. He arrayed skilfully all the circumstances which pointed to him as the aggressor: on one side, his escort much more numerous – the three wounds of Clodius – the eleven slaves of the latter slain; on the other, certain criminal facts connected with the event – a taverner slaughtered – two messengers massacred – a slave chopped to pieces for refusing to give up a son of Clodius; lastly, the sum of 1,000 ases offered by the accused to whoever would undertake his defence. Then Milo sought to appease Pompey, by offering to desist from his candidature for the consulship. Pompey replied that the right of deciding belonged to the Roman people alone. Milo remained under the accusation not only of murder, but of electoral solicitation, and of an outrage on the Republic. He could not be judged before the previous nomination of the urban prætor, and before the convocation of the comitia.
Pompey sole Consul.
III. This time the fear of disorder silenced opposition, and all eyes turned towards Pompey; but what title to give him? That of dictator caused alarm. M. Bibulus, though previously hostile, moved the proposal to elect him sole consul; it offered the only means of averting the dictature, and preventing Cæsar from becoming his colleague.747 M. Cato supported this motion, which passed unanimously.748 It was added that, if Pompey believed a second consul necessary, he should name himself, but not within two months.749 On the 5th of the Calends of March (27th of February) – it was during an intercalary month – Pompey, though absent, was declared consul by the interrex Serv. Sulpicius, and immediately re-entered Rome. “This extraordinary measure, which had never before been adopted for anybody, appeared wise; nevertheless, as Pompey sought less than Cæsar the favour of the people, the Senate flattered itself with the hope of detaching him completely from it, and securing him in its own interests. And so it happened. Proud of this new and altogether unusual honour, Pompey no longer proposed any measure with a view of pleasing the multitude, and did scrupulously all that could be agreeable to the Senate.”750
Three days after his installation, he obtained two senatus-consultus – one, to repress outrages with violence, especially the murder committed on the Appian Way, the burning of the curia, and the attack on the house of the interrex, M. Lepidus; the other, to prevent electoral solicitation by a more rapid proceeding and a more severe penalty. In all criminal actions, a delay of three days was fixed for the interrogation of witnesses, and one day for the contradictory debates. The accuser had two hours to speak, the accused three to defend himself.751
M. Cœlius, tribune of the people, protested against these laws, alleging that they violated the tutelary forms of justice, and that they were only imagined for the ruin of Milo. Pompey replied in a tone of menace: “Let them not oblige me to defend the Republic by arms!” He, moreover, adopted all measures for his personal safety, and went with a military guard, as though he feared some outrage on the part of Milo.
Trial of Milo.
IV. Pompey required farther, that a quæstor should be chosen among the consulars to preside over the hearing of the cause. The comitia were held, and L. Domitius Ahenobarbus was elected. It was conceded to Milo that the accusation of murder should be tried first, and that that of solicitation should be adjourned.
The accusers were the elder of the Appii (the nephew of Clodius), M. Antonius, and P. Valerius Nepos. Cicero, assisted by M. Claudius Marcellus, was to defend the accused. Every effort had been made to intimidate Cicero. Pompeius Rufus, C. Sallustius,752 and T. Munatius Plancus had sought to excite the people against him, and to make Pompey look upon him with suspicion. Although he remained firm against the threats of his adversaries, his courage was shaken.
The trial began on the eve of the Nones of April, and on the first day the pleadings were interrupted by a violent agitation. Next day, the interrogation of the witnesses was carried on under the protection of an imposing military force. Most of the evidence was overpowering for the accused, and proved that Clodius had been massacred in cold blood. When Fulvia, the widow of Clodius, appeared, the emotion increased twofold; her tears, and the spectacle of her grief, affected the assembly. When the session was closed, the tribune of the people, T. Munatius Plancus, harangued the mob, engaged the citizens to come next day in great number to the public place, in order to oppose the acquittal of Milo, and he recommended them to show unmistakably their opinion and grief to the judges when it came to the voting.
On the 6th of the Ides of April the shops were closed; guards were placed on the issues of the Forum by order of Pompey, who, with a considerable reserve, stationed himself at the treasury. After the drawing for the judges, the eldest of the Appii, M. Antonius, and P. Valerius Nepos sustained the accusation. Cicero alone replied. He had been advised to represent the murder of Clodius as a service rendered to the Republic; but he rejected this plea, although Cato had dared to declare in full Senate that Milo had performed the act of a good citizen.753 He preferred resting his argument on the right of legitimate defence. He had hardly commenced, when the cries and interruptions of the partisans of Clodius caused him an emotion which was visible in his speech; the soldiers were obliged to make use of their arms.754 The cries of the wounded, and the sight of the blood, deprived Cicero of his presence of mind; he trembled, and often broke off. His pleading was far from being worthy of his talent. Milo was condemned, and went into exile to Marseilles. In the sequel, Cicero composed at his leisure the magnificent oration which we know, and sent it to his unfortunate client, who replied; “If thou hadst spoken formerly as thou hast now written, I should not be eating mullets at Marseilles.”755
During the wars of Greece and Africa, Milo, who had not forgotten his part of conspirator, returned into Italy, invited by Cœlius. They both attempted to organise seditious movements; but they failed, and paid for their rash enterprise with their lives.756
Pompey, having reached the summit of power, believed, like most men who are vain of themselves, that all was saved because they had placed him at the head of affairs; but, instead of attending to these, his first care was to marry again. He espoused, in spite of his advanced age, Cornelia, daughter of Scipio, the young widow of Publius Crassus, who had just perished among the Parthians. “It was considered,” says Plutarch, “that a woman so young, remarkable both for her mental qualities and for external graces, would have been more properly married to his son. The more honest citizens reproached him with having, on this occasion, sacrificed the interests of the Republic, which, in the extremity to which it was reduced, had chosen him for its physician, and trusted to him alone for its cure. Instead of responding to this confidence, he was seen crowned with flowers, offering sacrifices and celebrating nuptial rites, while he ought to have regarded as a public calamity this consulship, which he would not have obtained, according to the laws, alone and without a colleague, if Rome had been more happy.”757
Pompey had, nevertheless, rendered great services by putting down the riots and protecting the exercise of justice. He had delivered Rome from the bands of Clodius and Milo, had given a more regular organisation to the tribunals,758 and caused their judgments to be respected by armed force. Still, if we except these acts, commanded by circumstances, he had used his power with hesitation, as a man who is struggling between his conscience and his interests. Having become, perhaps unknowingly, the instrument of the aristocratic party, the ties which had attached him to Cæsar had often checked him in the way in which they sought to push him. As the defender of order, he had promulgated laws to restore it; but, as the man of a party, he had been incessantly led to violate them, to satisfy the urgencies of his faction. He caused a senatus-consultus to be adopted, authorising prosecutions against those who had exercised public employments since his first consulship. The retrospective effect of this law, which embraced a period of twenty years; and consequently the consulship of Cæsar, excited the indignation of the partisans of the latter; they exclaimed that Pompey would do much better to occupy himself with the present than to call the hateful investigation of the factions to the past conduct of the first magistrates of the Republic; but Pompey replied that, since the law permitted the control of his own acts, he saw no reason why those of Cæsar should be freed from it; and that, moreover, the relaxation of morals during so many years rendered the measure necessary.759
Complaint was made of the power left to orators of pronouncing the eulogy of the accused, whose defence they offered, because the prestige attached to the word of men of consideration procured too easily the acquittal of the guilty. A senatus-consultus prohibited the custom. Yet in contempt of these orders, which he had brought forward, Pompey was not ashamed to pronounce the eulogy of T. Munatius Plancus, accused, with Q. Pompeius Rufus, of the fire which burnt the Curia Hostilia.760 Cato, who was one of the members of the tribunal, exclaimed, stopping his ears: “I do not believe this eulogiser, who speaks against his own laws.” The accused were condemned nevertheless.
With the aim of repressing electoral corruption and bringing to justice those guilty of it, it was enacted that every one condemned for bribery who should succeed in convicting another of the same crime should obtain thereby the remission of his punishment. Memmius, condemned for an act of this description, wishing to take advantage of the benefit of the legal impunity, denounced Scipio. Then Pompey appeared clothed in mourning before the tribunal, at the side of his father-in-law. At the view of this image of sorrow and of the moral pressure which resulted from it, Memmius desisted, deploring the misfortune of the Republic. As to the judges, they pushed flattery to the point of conducting Scipio back to his dwelling.761
To put a stop in the elections to the intrigues arising from the shameless covetousness of the candidates, it was decreed that the consuls and prætors should not be allowed to take the government of a province until five years after their consulship or prætorship.762 This discouraged the ambitious, who threw themselves into extravagant expenses in order to arrive through one of these magistracies at the government of the provinces. And nevertheless Pompey, although consul, not only preserved the proconsulship of Spain, but he caused his government to be prolonged for five years, kept a part of his army in Italy, and received a thousand talents for the maintenance of his troops. In the interest of his partisans, he did not hesitate to violate his own laws, which has made Tacitus say of him, Suarum legum auctor idem ac subversor.763
The preceding law did not deprive Cæsar of the possibility of arriving at the consulship, but the Senate put in force again the law which prohibited any one who was absent from offering himself as a candidate, forgetting that it had just elected Pompey sole consul, although absent from the town of Rome. The friends of the proconsul of Gaul protested with energy. “Cæsar,” they said, “had merited well of his country; a second consulship would only be the just recompense of his immense labours; or, at all events, if they felt reluctance in conferring this great dignity upon him, they ought at least not to give him a successor, or deprive him of the benefit he had acquired.” Pompey, who had no desire of breaking with Cæsar, had recourse to Cicero764 to add to the law already engraved on a tablet of brass, which was then the form of promulgation, that the prohibition did not apply to those who had obtained the authorisation to offer themselves as candidates in spite of their absence. All the tribunes, who had at first protested, accepted this qualification, at the motion of Cœlius.765
Nevertheless, Cæsar’s friends went to him in great numbers to demonstrate that Pompey’s laws had been all brought forward against his interest, and that it was essential that he should be on his guard against him. Cæsar, proud in the justice of his claims, and strong in the services he had rendered, distrusted neither his son-in-law nor destiny, encouraged them, and praised greatly the conduct of Pompey.766
Pompey takes as his Associate Cæcillus Metellus Pius Scipio.
V. About the first of August, Pompey chose his father-in-law Scipio as his associate in the consulship, for the last five months. This partition of power, purely nominal, and which was subsequently imitated by the emperors, appeared to satisfy men who thought only of forms. The senators boasted of having restored order without injuring the institutions of the Republic.767
Scipio sought to signalise his short administration by abolishing the law of Clodius, which permitted the censors to expel from the Senate only men who had already undergone a condemnation. He restored things to the old footing, by rendering the power of the censors almost unlimited. This change was not received with favour, as Scipio had expected. The old consulars, among whom the censors were usually chosen, found the responsibility of such functions dangerous in a time of trouble and anarchy. Instead of being sought as an honour, the censorship was avoided as a perilous post.768
It was every day more evident, in the eyes of all men of judgment, that the institutions of the Republic were becoming more and more powerless to guarantee order within, and perhaps even peace without. The Senate could no longer meet, the comitia be held, or the judges render judgment, without the protection of a military force; it was necessary, therefore, to place themselves at the discretion of a general, and to abdicate all authority into his hands. Thus, while the popular instinct, which is rarely deceived, saw the safety of the Republic in the power of a single individual, the aristocratic party, on the contrary, saw danger only in this general tendency towards one man. For this reason Cato inscribed himself among the candidates for the consulship for the year 703, denouncing Pompey and Cæsar as equally dangerous, and declaring that he only aspired to the first magistracy to counteract their ambitious designs. This competition, opposed to the spirit of the time and to the powerful instincts which were in play, had no chance of success: the candidature of Cato was defeated without difficulty.
Insurrection of Gaul, and Campaign of 702.
VI. Not only had the murder of Clodius deeply agitated Italy, but the reverberation made itself felt beyond the Alps, and the troubles in Rome had revived in Gaul the desire to shake off the yoke of the Romans. The intestine dissensions, by spreading a belief in the debilitation of the state, awakened incessantly the hopes of its exterior enemies, and, which is sad to confess, these exterior enemies always find accomplices among traitors who are ready to betray their country.769
The campaign of 702 is, without dispute, the most interesting in the double point of view – political and military. To the historian, it presents the affecting scene of tribes, hitherto divided, uniting in one national thought, and arming for the purpose of re-conquering their independence. To the philosopher it presents, as a result consoling for the progress of humanity, the triumph of civilisation against the best combined and most heroic efforts of barbarism. Lastly, in the eyes of the soldier, it is a magnificent example of what may be done by energy and experience in war by a small number contending against masses who are wanting in organisation and discipline.
The events which had occurred in Rome led the Gauls to think that Cæsar would be detained in Italy, upon which a formidable insurrection is organised among them. All the different peoples act in concert, and form a coalition. The provinces in the military occupation of the legions, or held in fear by their proximity, alone remain foreign to the general agitation. The country of Orleans first gives the signal; the Roman citizens are slaughtered at Gien; Berry and Auvergne join the league; and soon, from the Seine to the Gironde, from the Cévennes to the ocean, the whole country is in arms. As a chief never fails to reveal himself when a great national movement breaks out, Vercingetorix appears, places himself at the head of a war of independence, and, for the first time, proclaims this truth, the stamp of grandeur and patriotism: “If Gaul has the sense to be united, and become one nation, it may defy the universe.” All respond to his call.
The peoples, but lately divided by rivalries, customs, and tradition, forget their reciprocal grievances, and unite under him. Foreign oppression creates nationalities much more than community of ideas and interests. Had Vercingetorix formerly, like so many others, bent his brow under the Roman domination? Dio Cassius is the only historian who says so. Be this as it may, he shows himself, as early as the year 702, the firm and intrepid adversary of the invaders. His plan is as bold as it is well combined: to create in the heart of Gaul a great centre of insurrection, protected by the mountains of the Cévennes and of Auvergne; from this natural fortress to throw his lieutenants upon the Narbonnese, whence Cæsar would be no longer able to draw either succours or provisions; to prevent even the Roman general from returning to his army; to attack separately the legions while deprived of their chief, urge into insurrection the centre of Gaul, and destroy the oppidum of the Boii, that small people, the remains of the defeat of the Helvetii, placed by Cæsar at the confluence of the Allier and the Loire as an advance sentinel.
Informed of these events, Cæsar quits Italy in haste, followed by a small number of troops raised in the Cisalpine. On his descent from the Alps, he finds himself almost alone in presence of wavering allies, and of the greatest part of Gaul in revolt, while his legions are dispersed at a distance on the Moselle, the Marne, and the Yonne. So many perils excite his ardour instead of abating it, and his resolution is soon taken.
He is going to draw his enemies, by successful and multiplied diversions, to the points where he intends to strike decisive blows; and by sending his infantry into the Vivarais, his cavalry to Vienne, and proceeding in person to Narbonne, he divides the attention of his adversaries, in order to conceal his designs.
His presence in the Roman province is equivalent to an army. He encourages the men who have remained faithful, intimidates the others; doubles, with the local resources, all the garrisons of the towns of the Province as far as Toulouse; and, after having thus raised in the south a barrier against all invasion, he returns, and arrives at the foot of the Cévennes, in the Vivarais, where he finds the troops which had been sent forward. He then crosses the mountains covered with snow, penetrates into Auvergne, and obliges Vercingetorix to abandon Berry, in order to hasten to defend his own country, which is threatened. Satisfied with this result, he starts unexpectedly, and, almost alone, hastens to Vienne. He takes the escort of cavalry which had preceded him, reaches the country of Langres, and proceeds thence to Sens, where he brings together his ten legions.
Thus, in little time, he has placed the Roman Province in security from any attack, forced Vercingetorix to fly to the defence of Auvergne, and rejoined and concentrated his army.
Although the rigour of the season adds to the difficulty of the marches and supplies of provisions (it was in the month of March), he decides upon immediately taking the field. Vercingetorix has just laid siege to Gorgobina, the oppidium of the Boii. These 20,000 Germans, so recently vanquished, preserve the sincere gratitude of a primitive people towards him who has given them lands, instead of selling them for slaves: they remain faithful to the Romans, and face the anger of Vercingetorix and the attacks of revolted Gaul. Cæsar, unwilling that a people who set the example of fidelity should become the victims of their devotedness, marches to their succour. He might go directly to Gorgobina, and cross the Loire at Nevers; but in that case, Vercingetorix, informed of his approach, would have had time to come and dispute the passage. To attempt this by force was a dangerous operation. He leaves at Sens two legions and his baggage, starts at the head of the eight others, and hastens, by the shortest way, to cross the Loire at Gien. He proceeds up the left bank of the river; while Vercingetorix, instead of waiting for him, raises the siege of Gorgobina. He proceeds to meet Cæsar, who beats him at Sancerre in a cavalry encounter, and then marches upon Bourges, without further care for an enemy incapable of arresting him in the open field. The capture of that important town must make him master of the whole country. The Gaulish general confines himself to following by short marches, and burning all the country around, in order to starve the Roman army.
The siege of Bourges is one of the most regular and interesting of the war in Gaul. Cæsar opens the trenches, that is, he makes covered galleries which permit him to approach the place, to fill the fosse, and to construct a terrace, a veritable breaching battery, surmounted on each side by a tower. When, with the assistance of his military engines, he has thinned the ranks of the defenders, he assembles his legions under protection of the parallels composed of covered galleries, and by means of the terrace, which equals the elevation of the wall, he gives the assault and carries the place.
After the capture of Bourges, he proceeds to Nevers, where he establishes his magazines; then to Decize, to appease the disputes which had arisen, among the Burgundians, from the competition of two claimants to the supreme power. He next divides his army; sends Labienus, with two legions, against the Parisii and their allies; orders him to take the two legions left at Sens; and in person, with the six others, directs his march towards Auvergne, the principal focus of the insurrection. By means of a stratagem, he crosses the Allier at Varennes without striking a blow, and obliges Vercingetorix to retire into Gergovia with all his forces.
Placed on almost inaccessible heights, these vast Gaulish oppida, which enclosed the greater part of the population of a province, could only be reduced by famine. Cæsar was well aware of this, and resolved on confining himself to the blockade of Gergovia; but one day he judges the occasion favourable, and he risks an assault. Repulsed with loss, he thinks only of retreat, when already the insurrection surrounds him on all sides. The Burgundians themselves, who owe everything to Cæsar, have followed the general impulse: by their defection, the communications of the Roman army are intercepted and its rear threatened. Nevers is burnt, and the bridges on the Loire are destroyed; the Gauls, in their presumptuous hope, already see Cæsar humiliated, and obliged to pass with his soldiers under new Furcæ Caudinæ; but old veteran troops, commanded by a great captain, do not recoil after a first reverse; and these six legions, shut up in their camp, isolated in the middle of a country in insurrection, separated from all succour by rivers and mountains, yet immovable and unshaken in face of a victorious enemy who dares not pursue his victory, resemble those rocks beaten by the waves of the ocean, which defy the tempests, and the approach to which is so perilous that no one dare brave them.
