The name is absent



72 THE WAR AGAINST THE SONS OF POMPEY IN SPAIN.

at Kome that he became one of the most learned men of his age.
The loss of his historical and geographical works is one of the
greatest that we have to lament in ancient literature, for he
was a perfect master of the Punic language, and undoubtedly
gave in his Greek works the substance of the historical books
of the Carthaginians.

Meantime fresh disturbances had broken out at Rome, the
origin of which were the quarrels between Antony and
Dolabella, of whom the one was as bad as the other. It was
Cicero’s great grief that Dolabella was his son-in-law. Caesar
therefore went to Rome and restored peace; but he was soon
called away, and went to Spain against Cneius and Sextus,
the sons of Pompey, both of whom had been in Africa, and
had gone thence to Baetica, where a legion, formed of the
remnants of the African armies, had revolted against Caesar s
generals. Their example was followed by others, and the
greater part of southern Spain was soon in arms. Many
towns readily joined the Pompeian party, but the towns even
of the same province could not agree upon their course, as
they had done in the time of Sertorius; and it was this
absence of union among them that paralysed the party of
Pompey in all the wars between it and Caesar. The war in
Spain, however, was by far the most important and most diffi-
cult for Caesar. It is quite astonishing to see the men of the
Pompeian party fight in Spain with a bitterness and vehemence
of which there had been no trace before, although all their
hopes of success must now have vanished. The beginning of
the war is described in the barbarously written book
De Bello
Hispaniensi.
Caesar was obliged for several months to exert
all the powers of his mind. The scene of action was Granada
and Andalusia, or more properly speaking, it was almost con-
fined to Granada. The northern mountains of Granada are
nearly impregnable ; and it was there that the sons of Pompey
had established themselves. Cneius, who had the supreme
command, displayed greater qualities as a general than his
father. The battle of Munda, on the 17th of March, was
the termination of the civil war; but Caesar was on the point
of losing it: his soldiers gave way so decidedly, that he himself
gave up all hope. In his despair he jumped from his horse, and
placing himself in the way of the fugitives, called upon them
to run him through with their swords, and at least not to

TRIUMPH OF CAESAR.


73


compel him to survive such a day.4 He succeeded in stopping
the flight, hut thereby gained nothing, except that the day
was restored. He owed his final victory to his Mauretanian
auxiliaries, who attacked the feebly defended camp of the
enemy and plundered it. Labienus, with one legion, marched
towards the camp to repel the Mauretanians ; but his approach
to the camp was believed by the men of his own party to be
a retreat, and the troops yielded, but did not take to flight.
The battle of Pharsalus had been decided in a similar manner.
The dispersal of the enemy obliged Cacsar to destιoy the
several detachments one by one. Cneius, who fled with the
rest, was wounded and cut down ; but Sextus escaped to the
Celtiberians, where he remained concealed till after Caesar’s
death, when he again acted a conspicuous part. Several
months passed away after this victory before the campaign in
Spain was entirely finished. The men with whom Caesar had
to deal there would not condescend to sue to him for pardon.

After his return fɪom Africa, Caesar had celebrated a triumph
which lasted four days ; it was a triumph over Gaul, Pharnaces,
Egypt, and king Juba, no Eoman general being mentioned as
the subject of his triumph. After his return from Spain, he
celebrated a triumph over Spain, and the conquered towns of
Spain were specified. The first triumph had filled the Romans
with delight, but the Spanish triumph hurt their feelings ; for,
notwithstanding his extraordinary presents to the people, they
could not help looking upon it as a triumph over Roman
citizens, though they were not mentioned. Vellcius Paterculus3
states that the sum of the treasuιes which Caesar brought to
Rome in his triumph (probably the first) was
sexies milites HS.,
that is 600,000,000 sesterces. Caesar had obtained from several
towns immense sums, under the name of loans and contribu-
tions, to defray the expenses of the war; and if we consider
that he gave to each soldier 20,000 sesterces (more than £100),
the sum will not appear by any means Inciedible. Appian4,
however, mentions the enormous sum of six and a half myriads,
that is, 65,000 talents, which here must be understood to mean

4 The Russian General Suwaroff acted in a similar manner in the battle of
Kinburn, 1787, when his soldiers refused to obey an order which he had given,
because they thought that they would be lost. When his soldiers fled, he called
out to them. “ Run on, run on, and Ieaie your general to the Turks as a monu-
ment of your cowardice.”—N.

3 u. 56.                    4 De Bell. Civil, ιι. 102.



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