The History of the Roman Empire: 27 B.C. – 180 A.D.. John Bagnell Bury
to his self-control and his simple manner of life that he lived to be an old man.
The successes of Caesar had not been achieved without the aid of others. Two remarkable men, devoted to his interests, stood by him faithfully throughout the civil wars, and helped him by their counsels and their labors. These were M. Vipsanius Agrippa and C. Cilnius Maecenas. As they helped him not only to win the empire, but also to wield it after he had won it, it is necessary to know what manner of men they were.
Of Agrippa we know strangely little considering the prominent position he occupied for a long and important period, and the part, he played in the history of the world. From youth up he had been the companion of Caesar, and he was always content to take the second place. His military ability stood Caesar in good stead, notably in the war with Sextus Pompeius, and on the day of Actium. He had first distinguished himself at the siege of Perugia (41 B.C.), and, subsequently, his victories over the Germans beyond the Rhine established his military fame. His success was due to his own energy, for he had no interest, and, belonging to an obscure gens, he was regarded by the nobility as an upstart. He was not, perhaps, a man of culture, but his tastes were liberal. His interest in architecture was signalized by many useful buildings; and Gaul owed him a great debt for the roads which he constructed in that country. In appearance he is said to have been stern and rugged; in temper he was reserved and proud. He was ambitious, but only for the second place; yet he was the one man who might have been a successful rival of his master.
Maecenas resembled Agrippa in his unselfish loyalty to Caesar; but his character was very different. Like Agrippa, he did not aspire to become the peer of their common master; but while the heart of Agrippa was set on being acknowledged as second, Maecenas preferred to have no recognized position. Agrippa's excellence was in the craft of war; while Maecenas cultivated the arts of peace. Agrippa had forwarded the cause of Caesar by his generalship; Maecenas aided him by diplomacy. It will be remembered how the latter negotiated the treaties of Brindisi andMisenum. During the campaigns which demanded the presence of Caesar, Maecenas conducted the administration of affairs in Italy, and watched over the interests of the absent triumvir. Until his death, (8 B.C.) he continued to be the trusted friend and adviser, in fact, the alter ego of Caesar; and he had probably no small share in making the constitution of the Empire. But he always kept himself in the background. He was content with the real power which he enjoyed by his immense influence with Caesar; he despised offices and honors. It is characteristic of the man that he refused to pass from the equestrian into the senatorial order. He could indeed afford to look down upon many of the nobles; for he came of an illustrious Etruscan race. In his tastes and manner of life he was unlike both Agrippa and Caesar. He was neither rough nor simple. A refined voluptuary, he made an art of luxury; and it was quite consistent that ambition should have no place in his theory of life. When affairs called for energy and zeal, no one was more energetic and unresting than Maecenas; but in hours of ease he almost went beyond the effeminacy of a woman. Saturated with the best culture of his day, he took an enlightened interest in literature. Of the circle of men of letters which he formed around himself there will be an occasion to speak in a future chapter.
Such were the men who helped Caesar to win the first place in the state; and who, when he had become the ruler of the world, devoted themselves to his service without rivalry or jealousy. Agrippa became consul for the second time in 28 B.C., with the triumvir for his colleague; and his friendship with Caesar was soon cemented by a new tie. He married Marcella, the daughter of Octavia, Caesar's sister, by her first husband, C. Marcellus.
The battle of Actium decided between Antonius and Caesar. But it also decided a still greater question. It decided between the East and the West. For the Roman world had been seriously threatened by the danger of an Oriental despotism. The policy of Antonius in the East, his connection with Cleopatra, the idea of making Alexandria a second Rome, show that if things had turned out otherwise at Actium, Egypt would have obtained an undue preponderance in the Roman State, and the empire mighthave been founded in the form of an Eastern monarchy. Caesar recognized the significance of Egypt, and took measures to prevent future danger from that quarter. It was of course out of the question to allow the dynasty of Greek kings to continue. But instead of forming a new province, Caesar treated the land as if he were, by the right of conquest, the successor of Cleopatra, and of Ptolemy Caesarion, whom he had put to death. He did not, indeed, assume the title of king, but he appointed a prefect, who was responsible to himself alone, and was in every sense a viceroy; and, as the lord of the country, he enacted that no Roman senator should visit it without his special permission. The first prefect of Egypt was C. Cornelius Gallus, with whose help Caesar had captured Alexandria. The inhabitants of Egypt were debarred from the prospect of becoming Roman citizens, and no local government was granted to the cities.
The treasures of Cleopatra enabled Caesar to discharge many pressing obligations. He was able to pay back the loans which he had incurred in the civil wars. He was able also to give large donatives to the soldiers and the populace of Rome. The abundance of money which the conquest of Egypt suddenly poured upon Western Europe helped in no small measure to establish a new period of prosperity. After many dreary years of domestic war and financial difficulties, men now saw a prospect of peace and plenty.
But, above all, the booty of Egypt enabled Caesar to satisfy the demands of 120,000 veterans. Immediately after Actium he had discharged all the soldiers who had served their time, but without giving them the rewards which they had been led to expect. These veterans belonged both to Caesar's own army and to that of Antonius which had capitulated. Seeing that they would be of little importance after the conclusion of the civil wars, they made a stand as soon as they reached Italy, and demanded that their claims should be instantly satisfied.
Agrippa, who had returned with the troops, and Maecenas, to whom Caesar had entrusted the administration of Italy, were unable to pacify the soldiers, and it was found necessary to send for Caesar himself, who was wintering in Samos. The voyage was dangerous at that season of the year, but Caesar, after experiencing two severe storms, in which some of his ships were lost, reached Brindisi safely. He succeeded in satisfying the veterans, some with grants of land, others with money; but his funds were quite insufficient to meet the claims of all, and he had to put off many with promises. He thus gained time until the immense Egyptian booty gave him means to fulfill his obligations.
The greater number of the veterans were of Italian origin, and wished to receive land in their native country. As most of the Italians had supported the cause of Caesar, it was impossible to do on a large scale what had been done ten years before, and eject proprietors to make room for the soldiers. But the veterans of Antonius, who had on that occasion been settled in the districts of Ravenna, Bononia, Capua, &c, and sympathized with his cause, were now forcibly turned out of the holdings which they had forcibly acquired. They were, however - unlike the original proprietors - compensated by assignments of land in the provinces, especially in the East, where the civil war had depopulated many districts. But the land thus made available was not nearly enough, and Caesar was obliged to purchase the rest. In B.C. 30 and B.C. 14, he spent no less than 600 million sesterces in buying Italian farms for his veterans. We find traces of these settlements in various parts of Italy, especially in the neighborhood of Ateste (Este). After the conquest of Egypt, the Antonian troops were transferred to the south of Gaul, and settled there in colonies possessingius Latinum, for example, in Nemausus (Nimes).
The wholesale discharge of veterans, as well as the losses sustained in the wars, rendered a reorganization of the legions necessary. The plan was adopted of uniting those legions which had been greatly reduced in number with others which had been similarly diminished, and thus forming new ‘double-legions’, as they were called by the distinguishing title of Gemina. Thus were formed the Thirteenth Gemina, the Fourteenth Gemina, &c.
The greater part of the year following the death of Cleopatra (Aug., B.C.. 30) was occupied by Caesar in ordering the affairs of the Asiatic provinces and dependent kingdoms. Herod of Judea was rewarded for his valuable services by an extension of his territory, and several changes were made in regard to the petty principalities of Asia Minor. There was probably some expectation at Rome that Caesar, in the flush of his success, would attempt to try conclusions with the Parthian Empire, and retrieve the defeat of Carrhae, before he returned to Italy. Virgil addresses him at this time in high-flown language, as if he were the arbiter of peace