68
CAESAK GOES TO AFRICA.
was over, demanded not only tbe arrears of their pay, but
also the rewards in money and the assignment of lands which
Caesar had promised them. The mutiny became dangerous.
Sallust, the historian, was sent by Caesar to the revolted sol-
diers with fresh promises; but he was insulted by them, and
several senators were killed. Caesar now had the courage to
allow the mutineers, who had been stationed in Campania, to
come to Eome, on condition that they should leave behind
their pila, and bring with them only their Spanish swords.
He addressed the soldiers in the forum; and his self-possession,
as well as the confidence which he shewed that he still had in
them, made such an overawing impression upon them that
they became perfectly submissive. He treated them, however,
with symptoms of contempt, called them Quirites, and an-
nounced to them that they were dismissed from service, leaving
it however to their choice whether they would once more share
with him the honour of a campaign. Hereupon, the soldiers
almost unanimously implored him to allow them to continue in
his service.
Caesar now went with a small part of his forces to Africa,
where M. Cato, Q. Metellus Scipio, the father-in-law of Pompey
through his fifth and last wife Cornelia, Afranius, and Petreius,
were prepared to meet their enemy. After the battle of
Pharsalus, Cato, who had not been present at the battle, had
gone from Dyrrhachium to Corcyra, and thence to Cyrene,
where he collected a number of scattered Romans. The men
whom he thus assembled were more distinguished for their
high rank than their military spirit. Cyrene, in a secluded
part of the world, had scarcely the honour of being regarded
as a Roman province. Cato led his band round the Syrtes
over Tripolis, and through the sandy deserts—a fearful and
difficult march—into the Roman province of Africa. Here
the supreme command of the Pompeian forces was offered to
him, but he declined it, and undertook only the command of
Utica. When Caesar landed, the party of Pompey had a
considerable army, and were allied with King Juba, who ruled
over the greatest and most beautiful part of the kingdom of
Jugurtha. Mauretania was governed by Bogud ; and in his
dominion there was a Roman adventurer, of the name of
P. Sitius of Nuceria, with other Roman deserters and adven-
turers, of whom Sitius had formed a regiment, which, in
CATO AT UTICA,
69
conjunction with King Bogud, gained a victory over Juba, and
declared for Caesar, whose proceedings were thus greatly fa-
cilitated. P. Sitius was a very enterprising man, and Caesar
rewarded him with the rights of a Roman citizen.1 Sitius
infested the dominion of Juba, who was thus kept engaged,
while Caesar established himself on the coast of Tunis. The
reinforcements which were expected gradually joined Caesar,
and he then advanced against the Pompeian generals. The
campaign lasted for several months, until Caesar took his po-
sition in the neighbourhood of Thapsus, a fortified town, which
is situated on a peninsula, connected with the main land by a
small isthmus. Here he was blockaded by Petreius, Afranius,
Scipio, and Juba, who occupied the isthmus, and cut him off
from the main land; but he broke through the hostile army,
first defeated the Romans, who were infinitely superior to him
in numbers, and then routed the army of Juba. No sooner
was the battle won than hosts of Romans deserted to him—a
thing which commonly happens in civil wars. Juba was so
reduced that he was obliged to flee from his kingdom, and as
all was over, he and Petreius killed each other.
Cato alone was now holding out at Utica with the Roman
garrison which he did not wish to abandon. I have purposely
deferred speaking of Cato till now. If there is any man in
Roman history who deserves the reputation which he enjoys
with posterity, it is Cato. Caesar’s depreciation of him was
only the pardonable consequence of his personal irritation. If
we possessed Cicero’s work on Catoz, we should undoubtedly see
Cicero’s heart in all its goodness and amiability. It does honour
to his courage to have written such a work under the cir-
cumstances; and it does honour to Caesar also that he was
unprejudiced enough to allow Cicero to express his admiration
of Cato, without imputing it to him as a crime. Caesar de-
clared that Cato had injured him by his death, as he had
thereby deprived him of the pleasure of pardoning him : Caesar
could not have said anything more concise. It is, on the other
hand, no more than natural that Caesar should have been
deeply wounded by Cicero’s praise of Cato, and this feeling
1 See some remarks which I have made upon him m my edition of Fronto.
— N. p. xιx. foil.
2 It was after Cato’s death that Cicero wrote the celebrated “ Laudatio
M. Catoms”—N.