§7Quaestori ulterior Hispania obuenit;
Further Spain fell to his lot as quaestor.
ubi cum mandatu praetoris iure dicundo conuentus circumiret Gadisque uenisset, animaduersa apud Herculis templum Magni Alexandri imagine ingemuit et quasi pertaesus ignauiam suam, quod nihil dum a se memorabile actum esset in aetate, qua iam Alexander orbem terrarum subegisset, missionem continuo efflagitauit ad captandas quam primum maiorum rerum occasiones in urbe.
When, by order of the praetor, he was traveling through the district to hold court and had come to Gades, he noticed a statue of Alexander the Great at the temple of Hercules, and groaned; and as if filled with disgust at his own lack of achievement, because nothing memorable had yet been done by him at an age at which Alexander had already subdued the world, he immediately demanded his dismissal, in order to seek as soon as possible in the city opportunities for greater deeds.
etiam confusum eum somnio proximae noctis—nam uisus erat per quietem stuprum matri intulisse—coiectores ad amplissimam spem incitauerunt arbitrium terrarum orbis portendi interpretantes, quando mater, quam subiectam sibi uidisset, non alia esset quam terra, quae omnium parens haberetur.
He was also troubled by a dream of the following night—for he had seemed in his sleep to commit incest with his mother—but the soothsayers excited him to the highest hopes, interpreting that the dominion of the whole world was portended for him, since the mother, whom he had seen subject to himself, was none other than the earth, which is regarded as the parent of all.
§8decedens ergo ante tempus colonias Latinas de petenda ciuitate agitantes adiit, et ad audendum aliquid concitasset, nisi consules conscriptas in Ciliciam legiones paulisper ob id ipsum retinuissent.
Leaving therefore before his time, he visited the Latin colonies which were agitating for the citizenship; and he would have incited them to attempt some bold enterprise, had not the consuls detained for a short time, for this very reason, the legions that had been enrolled for Cilicia.
§9Nec eo setius maiora mox in urbe molitus est: siquidem ante paucos dies quam aedilitatem iniret, uenit in suspicionem conspirasse cum Marco Crasso consulari, item Publio Sulla et L. Autronio post designationem consulatus ambitus condemnatis, ut principio anni senatum adorirentur, et trucidatis quos placitum esset, dictaturam Crassus inuaderet, ipse ab eo magister equitum diceretur constitutaque ad arbitrium re publica Sullae et Autronio consulatus restitueretur.
Nevertheless, he soon attempted greater designs in the city. For a few days before he entered upon his aedileship, he fell under suspicion of having conspired with Marcus Crassus, a man of consular rank, and also with Publius Sulla and Lucius Autronius, who after their election to the consulship had been condemned for bribery, to attack the senate at the beginning of the year, and after slaughtering whomsoever they pleased, Crassus should seize the dictatorship, he himself should be named master of the horse by him, and having organized the state according to their pleasure, the consulship should be restored to Sulla and Autronius.
meminerunt huius coniurationis Tanusius Geminus in historia, Marcus Bibulus in edictis, C. Curio pater in orationibus.
Tanusius Geminus mentions this conspiracy in his history, Marcus Bibulus in his edicts, and Gaius Curio the elder in his speeches.
de hac significare uidetur et Cicero in quadam ad Axium epistula referens Caesarem in consulatu confirmasse regnum, de quo aedilis cogitarat.
Cicero also seems to refer to this in a certain letter to Axius, stating that Caesar in his consulship had established the royal power which he had contemplated when aedile.
Tanusius adicit Crassum paenitentia uel metu diem caedi destinatum non obisse et idcirco ne Caesarem quidem signum, quod ab eo dari conuenerat, dedisse; conuenisse autem Curio ait, ut togam de umero deiceret.
Tanusius adds that Crassus, either from repentance or fear, did not appear on the day appointed for the massacre, and therefore Caesar did not give the signal which had been agreed should be given by him; and Curio says that the agreement was that he should let his toga slip from his shoulder.
idem Curio sed et M. Actorius Naso auctores sunt conspirasse eum etiam cum Gnaeo Pisone adulescente, cui ob suspicionem urbanae coniurationis prouincia Hispania ultro extra ordinem data sit; pactumque ut simul foris ille, ipse Romae ad res nouas consurgerent, per †Ambranos et Transpadanos; destitutum utriusque consilium morte Pisonis.
The same Curio and also Marcus Actorius Naso are authorities for his having conspired also with Gnaeus Piso, a young man, to whom, because of suspicion of a conspiracy in the city, the province of Spain had been given out of the ordinary course; and that it was agreed that they should rise for a revolution, Piso abroad and Caesar at Rome, through the Ambrani and the Transpadanes; but the plan of both was frustrated by the death of Piso.
§10Aedilis praeter comitium ac forum basilicasque etiam Capitolium ornauit porticibus ad tempus extructis, in quibus abundante rerum copia pars apparatus exponeretur.
As aedile, besides the comitium, the forum, and the basilicas, he decorated also the Capitol with colonnades temporarily constructed, in which, owing to the abundance of material, a part of his equipment might be exhibited.
uenationes autem ludosque et cum collega et separatim edidit, quo factum est, ut communium quoque inpensarum solus gratiam caperet nec dissimularet collega eius Marcus Bibulus, euenisse sibi quod Polluci: ut enim geminis fratribus aedes in foro constituta tantum Castoris uocaretur, ita suam Caesarisque munificentiam unius Caesaris dici.
He also gave wild beast hunts and games both jointly with his colleague and separately, whereby it came about that he alone got the credit even for their common expenses, and his colleague Marcus Bibulus did not conceal that what happened to him was the same as to Pollux: for just as the temple erected in the forum to the twin brothers was called only by the name of Castor, so his own and Caesar's munificence was called that of Caesar alone.
adiecit insuper Caesar etiam gladiatorium munus, sed aliquanto paucioribus quam destinauerat paribus; nam cum multiplici undique familia conparata inimicos exterruisset, cautum est de numero gladiatorum, quo ne maiorem cuiquam habere Romae liceret.
Caesar added moreover even a gladiatorial show, but with somewhat fewer pairs than he had intended; for having terrified his enemies by gathering a large troop from all sides, a regulation was made concerning the number of gladiators, so that no one should be allowed to keep more than a certain number in Rome.
§11Conciliato populi fauore temptauit per partem tribunorum, ut sibi Aegyptus prouincia plebi scito daretur, nanctus extraordinarii imperii occasionem, quod Alexandrini regem suum socium atque amicum a senatu appellatum expulerant resque uulgo inprobabatur.
Having won the favor of the people, he attempted through some of the tribunes to have the province of Egypt given to him by a plebiscite, having found an opportunity for an extraordinary command, because the Alexandrians had expelled their king, who had been named an ally and friend by the senate, and the matter was generally disapproved.
nec obtinuit aduersante optimatium factione: quorum auctoritatem ut quibus posset modis in uicem deminueret, tropaea Gai Mari de Iugurtha deque Cimbris atque Teutonis olim a Sulla disiecta restituit atque in exercenda de sicaris quaestione eos quoque sicariorum numero habuit, qui proscriptione ob relata ciuium Romanorum capita pecunias ex aerario acceperant, quamquam exceptos Cornelis legibus.
But he did not obtain it, owing to the opposition of the faction of the optimates; and in order to diminish their authority in turn by every means in his power, he restored the trophies of Gaius Marius over Jugurtha and over the Cimbri and Teutones, which had once been thrown down by Sulla; and in conducting trials for murder, he counted among the murderers those also who had received money from the treasury during the proscription for bringing in the heads of Roman citizens, although they had been exempted by the Cornelian laws.