§33atque ita traiecto exercitu, adhibitis tribunis plebis, qui pulsi superuenerant, pro contione fidem militum flens ac ueste a pectore discissa inuocauit.
And having thus crossed with his army, and having admitted the tribunes of the plebs who, having been expelled, had come over to him, he appealed to the loyalty of his soldiers at a public meeting, weeping and with his clothing torn from his breast.
existimatur etiam equestres census pollicitus singulis; quod accidit opinione falsa.
He is also thought to have promised to each of them the equestrian property census; which happened through a false opinion.
nam cum in adloquendo adhortandoque saepius digitum laeuae manus ostentans adfirmaret se ad satis faciendum omnibus, per quos dignitatem suam defensurus esset, anulum quoque aequo animo detracturum sibi, extrema contio, cui facilius erat uidere contionantem quam audire, pro dicto accepit, quod uisu suspicabatur; promissumque ius anulorum cum milibus quadringenis fama distulit.
For when, in his speech and exhortation, pointing rather frequently to the finger of his left hand, he asserted that to satisfy all those through whom he was to defend his dignity, he would even cheerfully part with his own ring, those at the edge of the assembly, for whom it was easier to see the speaker than to hear him, took what they conjectured by sight for what was said; and the rumor spread that the right of the rings, with four hundred thousand sesterces, had been promised.
§34Ordo et summa rerum, quas deinceps gessit, sic se habent.
The order and sum of the affairs which he next performed are as follows.
Picenum Vmbriam Etruriam occupauit et Lucio Domitio, qui per tumultum successor ei nominatus Corfinium praesidio tenebat, in dicionem redacto atque dimisso secundum Superum mare Brundisium tetendit, quo consules Pompeiusque confugerant quam primum transfretaturi.
He occupied Picenum, Umbria, and Etruria; and having reduced to submission and dismissed Lucius Domitius, who in the confusion had been named his successor and was holding Corfinium with a garrison, he hastened along the Upper Sea to Brundisium, whither the consuls and Pompey had fled, intending to cross the sea as soon as possible.
hos frustra per omnis moras exitu prohibere conatus Romam iter conuertit appellatisque de re publica patribus ualidissimas Pompei copias, quae sub tribus legatis M. Petreio et L. Afranio et M. Varrone in Hispania erant, inuasit, professus ante inter suos, ire se ad exercitum sine duce et inde reuersurum ad ducem sine exercitu.
Having attempted in vain to block their departure by all kinds of delays, he turned his march to Rome, and having addressed the senators concerning the commonwealth, he attacked the strongest forces of Pompey in Hispania, which were under three legates, Marcus Petreius, Lucius Afranius, and Marcus Varro, having previously declared among his friends that he was going to an army without a leader, and would return thence to a leader without an army.
et quanquam obsidione Massiliae, quae sibi in itinere portas clauserat, summaque frumentariae rei penuria retardante breui tamen omnia subegit.
And although he was delayed by the siege of Massilia, which had shut its gates against him on his way, and by an extreme scarcity of provisions, he nevertheless subdued all in a short time.
§35hinc urbe repetita in Macedoniam transgressus Pompeium, per quattuor paene menses maximis obsessum operibus, ad extremum Pharsalico proelio fudit et fugientem Alexandriam persecutus, ut occisum deprehendit, cum Ptolemaeo rege, a quo sibi quoque insidias tendi uidebat, bellum sane difficillimum gessit, neque loco neque tempore aequo, sed hieme anni et intra moenia copiosissimi ac sollertissimi hostis, inops ipse omnium rerum atque inparatus.
Having returned thence to the city, he crossed into Macedonia, and having besieged Pompey for nearly four months with immense works, he at last routed him in the battle of Pharsalus. Pursuing him as he fled to Alexandria, when he found that he had been slain, he waged a most difficult war with King Ptolemy, by whom he saw that plots were also being laid for himself. This war was conducted in a place and at a time that were far from favorable, but in the winter season and within the walls of a most wealthy and resourceful enemy, while he himself was destitute of all things and unprepared.
regnum Aegypti uictor Cleopatrae fratrique eius minori permisit, ueritus prouinciam facere, ne quandoque uiolentiorem praesidem nacta nouarum rerum materia esset.
As victor, he granted the kingdom of Egypt to Cleopatra and her younger brother, fearing to make it a province, lest at some time, having obtained a more headstrong governor, it might become the material for a rebellion.
ab Alexandria in Syriam et inde Pontum transiit urgentibus de Pharnace nuntiis, quem Mithridatis Magni filium ac tunc occasione temporum bellantem iamque multiplici successu praeferocem, intra quintum quam adfuerat diem, quattuor quibus in conspectum uenit horis, una profligauit acie; crebro commemorans Pompei felicitatem, cui praecipua militiae laus de tam inbelli genere hostium contigisset.
From Alexandria he crossed into Syria, and thence into Pontus, urged by pressing news concerning Pharnaces, who, being the son of Mithridates the Great and taking advantage of the times to make war, was already very insolent from manifold successes; him, within five days after his arrival, and within four hours from the moment he came into sight, Caesar defeated in a single battle, frequently recalling the good fortune of Pompey, to whom the chief glory of military service had fallen from so unwarlike a class of enemies.
dehinc Scipionem ac Iubam reliquias partium in Africa refouentis deuicit, Pompei liberos in Hispania.
After this he defeated Scipio and Juba, who were reviving the remnants of their party in Africa, and Pompey's sons in Hispania.
§36omnibus ciuilibus bellis nullam cladem nisi per legatos suos passus est, quorum C. Curio in Africa periit, C. Antonius in Illyrico in aduersariorum deuenit potestatem, P. Dolabella classem in eodem Illyrico, Cn. Domitius Caluinus in Ponto exercitum amiserunt.
In all the civil wars he suffered no defeat except through his legates, of whom Gaius Curio perished in Africa, Gaius Antonius fell into the hands of his adversaries in Illyricum, Publius Dolabella lost a fleet in the same Illyricum, and Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus lost an army in Pontus.
ipse prosperrime semper ac ne ancipiti quidem umquam fortuna praeterquam bis dimicauit: semel ad Dyrrachium, ubi pulsus non instante Pompeio negauit eum uincere scire, iterum in Hispania ultimo proelio, cum desperatis rebus etiam de consciscenda nece cogitauit.
He himself fought always with the greatest success, and never with even doubtful fortune except twice: once at Dyrrachium, where, having been repulsed and Pompey not pressing him, he said that Pompey did not know how to conquer; again in Hispania in the last battle, when, the situation being desperate, he even thought of ending his life.
§37Confectis bellis quinquiens triumphauit, post deuictum Scipionem quater eodem mense, sed interiectis diebus, et rursus semel post superatos Pompei liberos.
Having finished his wars, he celebrated five triumphs: four in the same month after the defeat of Scipio, but with some days intervening, and again one after the conquest of Pompey's sons.
primum et excellentissimum triumphum egit Gallicum, sequentem Alexandrinum, deinde Ponticum, huic proximum Africanum, nouissimum Hispaniensem, diuerso quemque apparatu et instrumento.
He celebrated his first and most magnificent triumph over Gaul; the next over Alexandria; then over Pontus; closest to this, over Africa; and the last over Hispania, each with a different pageantry and equipment.
Gallici triumphi die Velabrum praeteruehens paene curru excussus est axe diffracto ascenditque Capitolium ad lumina quadraginta elephantis dextra sinistraque lychnuchos gestantibus.
On the day of his Gallic triumph, while passing through the Velabrum, he was nearly thrown from his chariot by the breaking of an axle, and he ascended the Capitol by torchlight, with forty elephants on his right and left carrying candelabra.
Pontico triumpho inter pompae fercula trium uerborum praetulit titulum
"veni"
· vidi· vici non acta belli significantem sicut ceteris, sed celeriter confecti notam.
In his Pontic triumph, among the pageantry of the procession, he displayed a tablet with three words: "I came" I saw, I conquered, not signifying the actions of the war, as the other tablets did, but noting the speed with which it was concluded.