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caesab’s Pkoceedings ат коме.

not Attic, but Egyptian, that is, copper talents, according to
the standard of Ptolemy Philadelphus. On this supposition
the sum of Appian, though not agreeing with the other
accounts, ceases to be a ridiculous exaggeration. Justus
Lipsius could not see his way in these contradictory state-
ments.

Caesar, who returned to Rome in October 707, employed the
last months of the year, partly in making preparations for a
Parthian war, and partly in introducing various regulations,
as he had done after his return from Afiica. During the latter
period of the republic, it had been very common to insert .ιn
intercalary month, quite arbitrarily, for the purpose of gaining
certain advantages. The refusal on the part of the Pontifex
Maximus to make such an insertion had been the cause of
Curio’s hostility towards the senate. Caesar remedied the evil
consequences and confusion arising from such proceedings by
his reform of the calendar, which he introduced after his
return from Africa.

LECTURE XCIX.

It is one of the inestimable advantages of an hereditary govern-
ment commonly called the legitimate, whatever its form may
be, that it may be formally inactive in regard to the state and
the population—that it may reserve its interference until it is
absolutely necessary, and apparently leave things to take their
own course. If we look around us and observe the various
constitutions, we shall scarcely perceive the interference of the
government; the greater part of the time passes away with-
out those who have the reins in their hands being obliged to
pay any particular attention to what they are doing, and a
very large amount of individual liberty may be enjoyed. But
if the government is what we call a usurpation, the ruler has
not only to take care to maintain his power, but in all that he
undertakes he has to consider by what means, and in what
ways, he can establish his right to govern, and his own per-
sonal qualifications for it. Men who are in such a position are

urged on to act by a very sad necessity, from which they can-
not escape; and such was the position of Caesar at Rome. In
our European states, men have wide and extensive spheres in
which they can act and move. The much-decried system of
centralisation has indeed many disadvantages; but it has this
advantage for the ruler, that he can exert an activity which
shews its influence far and wide. But what could Caesar do,
in the centre of nearly the whole of the known world? He
could not hope to effect any material improvements either in
Italy or in the provinces. He had been accustomed from his
youth, and more especially during the last fifteen years, to an
enormous activity, and idleness was intolerable to him. At
the close of the civil war, he would have had little or nothing
to do, unless he had turned his attention to some foreign
enterprise. He was obliged to venture upon something that
would occupy his whole soul, for he could not rest. His
thoughts were therefore again directed to war, and that in a
quarter where the most brilliant triumphs awaited him, where
the bones of the legions of Crassus lay unavenged'—to a war
against the Parthians. About this time the Getae also had
spread in Thrace, and he intended to check their progress
likewise. But his main problem was to destroy the Parthian
empire, and to extend the Roman dominion as far as India, a
plan in which he would certainly have been successful ; and he
himself felt so sure of this, that he was already thinking of
what he should undertake afterwards. It is by no means
incredible, that, as we are told, he intended, on his return,
to march through the passes of the Caucasus, and through
ancient Scythia into the country of the Getae, and thence
through Germany and Gaul into Italy.¹ Besides this expedi-
tion, he entertained other plans of no less gigantic dimensions.
The port of Ostia was bad, and in reality little better than a
mere road-stead, so that great ships could not come up the
river. Accordingly, it is said that Caesar intended to dig a
canal for sea-ships, from the Tiber, above or below Rome,
through the Pomptine marshes as far as Terracina. He further
contemplated to cut through the isthmus of Corinth. It is
not easy to see in what manner he would have accomplished
this, considering the state of hydraulic architecture in those
times. The Roman canals were mere fossae, and canals with

ɪ Plutarch, Caes. 58.

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