52 caesar’s suit for the consulship.
could triumph without his army ; according to some irregular
custom which had been established in the seventh century, he
demanded to become a candidate while he was in his province
with the imperium. He then intended after his election to
return with his army to Rome, celebrate his triumph, and then
disband his army. In order to prevent such irregularities, it
had been ruled, we do not know when, that no one should be
allowed to sue for the consulship, while at the head of an
army. His opponents, therefore, required him to lay down
his imperium, as he might afterwards petition for a prolonga-
tion, and to disband his troops, a demand which was equivalent
to asking him to renounce his triumph. He was to come to
Rome as a private person, and in that character sue for the
consulship; but he was convinced that his life would be lost
if he complied with this demand. Now, the proposal of
Curio was, that both Pompey and Caesar should lay down
their imperium, disband their armies, and come to Rome in
the character of private citizens. This was the fairest proposal
that could have been made, but Pompey’s party replied that
his imperium had a longer period yet to last than that of
Caesar, and that therefore the two men could not be placed on
a footing of equality. It was a misfortune for Rome that
Pompey, who was then severely ill, did not die, as his friends
apprehended. He was so popular, or perhaps so much feared,
that all Italy offered up prayers for his recovery. Pompey
assumed the appearance of being ready to yield, but lamented
the manner in which he was treated by Curio. When Curio
put the question to the vote, as to whether both were to lay
down their imperium, an immense majority of 3l70 senators
answered in the affirmative, while only twenty-two voted
against it.3 But the consul Marcellus rejected the decree;
the state was in perfect anarchy and dissolution. Marcellus
was a champion for the authority of the senate, and never-
theless he refused to acknowledge that authority : the supporters
of Pompey decried rebellion, while they themselves were
the worst revolutionists, whenever things did not go on as
they wished. It is generally observed that, when the govern-
ment displeases the faction which claims for itself the title of
supporter of the government, that faction immediately calls upon
the people to revolt, and even goes so far as to preach regicide,
3 Appian, De Bell. Civ. ii. 30.
PARTY OF POMPEY.
53
as De Lamennais has done in his last work. I have heard
persons of the droite in France speak like Jacobins, at a time
when they reckoned upon leading the populace : they asserted
that the commonest people possessed an incredible degree of
intelligence, that they evinced the highest interest in the
public good, just like the best-educated persons, and that it
was necessary humbly to defend the holy cause with the
assistance of the lowest classes. The optimates of Rome, or
the faction of Pompey, were persons of precisely the same
kind; they were thoroughCuriohad not indeed
made his reasonable proposal from any honourable motive, for
he saw no help for himself except in the ruin of the state;
but the Pompeian party too wished for confusion.
Among the tribunes of the year following, there were some
detestable persons who had sold themselves body and soul to
Caesar, and among them was the frightful M. Antony, afterwards
the triumvir. The senate had already given Pompey the com-
mand to raise an army in Italy for the protection of the
republic, but through his want of resolution he effected nothing.
On the 1st of January of the year 703 the question was again
discussed in the senate, as to what was to be done about the
provinces. The party of Pompey was predominant: he had
troops in the city, and through his influence it was resolved
that Caesar should be commanded to lay down his imperium.
The tribunes opposed the decree, which they had a perfect
right to do, but they were not listened to, and the consuls
had recourse to personal threats against them. The fear of
the tribunes only made them worse; and, perhaps exaggerat-
ing the danger, they fled from Rome to Caesar, who was
then at Ravenna, on the frontier of his province of Cisalpine
Gaul.4
The people at Rome, and especially Pompey and his
party, believed the most absurd reports, which told them
exactly the contrary of what was really the case. It was
thus reported and believed that Caesar’s soldiers were highly
discontented and wished to be disbanded, that they were
enraged against Caesar for keeping them in arms so long
without necessity, and that they were not numerous, .and
4 This appears very st-atιge, as all the country south of the river Po had the
Roman franchise, so that Caesar’s province comprised a large district which was
completely Roman.—N.