§21Sub idem tempus Calpurniam L. Pisonis filiam successuri sibi in consulatu duxit uxorem suamque, Iuliam, Gnaeo Pompeio conlocauit repudiato priore sponso Seruilio Caepione, cuius uel praecipua opera paulo ante Bibulum inpugnauerat.
At about the same time, Caesar married Calpurnia, daughter of Lucius Piso, who was to succeed him in the consulship, and betrothed his own daughter Julia to Gnaeus Pompey, after repudiating her former betrothed, Servilius Caepio, by whose particularly prominent assistance he had attacked Bibulus shortly before.
ac post nouam adfinitatem Pompeium primum rogare sententiam coepit, cum Crassum soleret essetque consuetudo, ut quem ordinem interrogandi sententias consul Kal. Ianuariis instituisset, eum toto anno conseruaret.
And after this new alliance by marriage, he began to ask Pompey for his opinion first, whereas he had been accustomed to ask Crassus, and it was the custom that whatever order of asking opinions a consul had established on the Kalends of January, he should maintain it for the whole year.
§22Socero igitur generoque suffragantibus ex omni prouinciarum copia Gallias potissimum elegit, †cuius emolumento et oportunitate idonea sit materia triumphorum. et initio quidem Galliam Cisalpinam Illyrico adiecto lege Vatinia accepit; mox per senatum Comatam quoque, ueritis patribus ne, si ipsi negassent, populus et hanc daret.
Therefore, with the support of his father-in-law and his son-in-law, he chose the Gauls in preference to all other available provinces, †since its profit and suitability were a fitting material for triumphs.† And at first indeed he received Cisalpine Gaul with the addition of Illyricum by the Vatinian law; soon afterwards, through the senate, Long-haired Gaul as well, since the senators feared that if they themselves refused it, the people would give him this also.
quo gaudio elatus non temperauit, quin paucos post dies frequenti curia iactaret, inuitis et gementibus aduersaris adeptum se quae concupisset, proinde ex eo insultaturum omnium capitibus; ac negante quodam per contumeliam facile hoc ulli feminae fore, responderit quasi adludens: in Suria quoque regnasse Sameramin magnamque Asiae partem Amazonas tenuisse quondam.
Elated with this joy, he could not refrain from boasting a few days later in a crowded senate-house, while his adversaries were unwilling and groaning, that he had obtained what he had coveted, and that from then on he would leap upon the heads of them all; and when someone insultingly remarked that this would not be easy for any woman, he replied, as if playing along, that Semiramis too had reigned in Syria, and that the Amazons had once held a great part of Asia.
§23Functus consulatu Gaio Memmio Lucioque Domitio praetoribus de superioris anni actis referentibus cognitionem senatui detulit; nec illo suscipiente triduoque per inritas altercationes absumpto in prouinciam abiit.
Having completed his consulship, when the praetors Gaius Memmius and Lucius Domitius made a motion concerning the acts of the previous year, he referred the inquiry to the senate; and since the senate did not take it up, and three days were wasted in fruitless altercations, he departed for his province.
et statim quaestor eius in praeiudicium aliquot criminibus arreptus est.
And immediately his quaestor was arrested on several charges as a preliminary judgment against Caesar.
mox et ipse a Lucio Antistio tr. pl. postulatus appellato demum collegio optinuit, cum rei publicae causa abesset reus ne fieret.
Soon he himself too, having been prosecuted by the tribune of the plebs Lucius Antistius, finally obtained, by appealing to the college of tribunes, that he should not be made a defendant, since he was absent on public service.
ad securitatem ergo posteri temporis in magno negotio habuit obligare semper annuos magistratus et e petitoribus non alios adiuuare aut ad honorem pati peruenire, quam qui sibi recepissent propugnaturos absentiam suam; cuius pacti non dubitauit a quibusdam ius iurandum atque etiam syngrapham exigere.
Therefore, for the security of his future, he made it a matter of great business always to obligate the annual magistrates, and to help none other of the candidates, or suffer them to arrive at office, than those who had undertaken to defend him during his absence; for which agreement he did not hesitate to demand an oath and even a written bond from some.
§24sed cum Lucius Domitius consulatus candidatus palam minaretur consulem se effecturum quod praetor nequisset adempturumque ei exercitus, Crassum Pompeiumque in urbem prouinciae suae Lucam extractos conpulit, ut detrudendi Domitii causa consulatum alterum peterent, perfecitque †utrumque, ut in quinquennium sibi imperium prorogaretur.
But when Lucius Domitius, a candidate for the consulship, openly threatened that as consul he would effect what he had been unable to do as praetor, and would deprive him of his armies, Caesar compelled Crassus and Pompey, having drawn them out to Luca, a city of his province, to seek a second consulship for the purpose of thrusting aside Domitius, and accomplished †both (or through both of them)† that his command should be prolonged for five years.
qua fiducia ad legiones, quas a re publica acceperat, alias priuato sumptu addidit, unam etiam ex Transalpinis conscriptam, uocabulo quoque Gallico—Alauda enim appellabatur—, quam disciplina cultuque Romano institutam et ornatam postea uniuersam ciuitate donauit.
With this confidence, to the legions which he had received from the state, he added others at his own private expense, even one enlisted from the Transalpines, with a Gallic name too—for it was called "Alauda" (The Lark)—which, having trained and equipped it in Roman discipline and habit, he afterwards gifted with citizenship as a whole.
nec deinde ulla belli occasione, ne iniusti quidem ac periculosi abstinuit, tam foederatis quam infestis ac feris gentibus ultro lacessitis, adeo ut senatus quondam legatos ad explorandum statum Galliarum mittendos decreuerit ac nonnulli dedendum eum hostibus censuerint.
Thereafter he abstained from no opportunity of war, not even of an unjust or dangerous one, provoking of his own accord both allied nations and hostile and wild ones, to such an extent that the senate once decreed that legates should be sent to investigate the state of the Gauls, and some even voted that he should be handed over to the enemy.
sed prospere cedentibus rebus et saepius et plurium quam quisquam umquam dierum supplicationes impetrauit.
But as his affairs turned out successfully, he obtained thanksgivings more frequently and for more days than anyone ever had before.
§25gessit autem nouem annis, quibus in imperio fuit, haec fere.
In the nine years during which he held command, he performed approximately the following.
Omnem Galliam, quae saltu Pyrenaeo Alpibusque et monte Cebenna, fluminibus Rheno ac Rhodano continetur patetque circuitu ad bis et tricies centum milia passuum, praeter socias ac bene meritas ciuitates in prouinciae formam redegit, eique cccc in singulos annos stipendii nomine inposuit.
He reduced to the form of a province the whole of Gaul, which is bounded by the Pyrenees forest, the Alps, and Mount Cevenna, and by the rivers Rhine and Rhone, and extends in circumference to thirty-two hundred thousand paces, with the exception of allied and deserving states, and imposed upon it forty million sesterces annually in the name of tribute.
Germanos, qui trans Rhenum incolunt, primus Romanorum ponte fabricato adgressus maximis adfecit cladibus; adgressus est et Britannos ignotos antea superatisque pecunias et obsides imperauit; per tot successus ter nec amplius aduersum casum expertus: in Britannia classe ui tempestatis prope absumpta et in Gallia ad Gergouiam legione fusa et in Germanorum finibus Titurio et Aurunculeio legatis per insidias caesis.
He was the first of the Romans to build a bridge and attack the Germans who dwell beyond the Rhine, inflicting upon them the greatest disasters; he also attacked the Britons, previously unknown, and having defeated them, imposed tribute and demanded hostages; amid so many successes, he experienced an adverse fortune three times and no more: in Britain, when his fleet was nearly destroyed by the violence of a tempest; in Gaul, when a legion was routed at Gergovia; and in the territory of the Germans, when his legates Titurius and Aurunculeio were slain in an ambush.