CECILIA-CAEN. Hercules, Bacchus, Ceres, Venus, &c. Amongst the moderns, the C. is used as an emblem of commerce, over which Mercury was the presiding divinity. CÆCILIA (Lat. cæcus, blind), a genus of reptiles, formerly placed among serpents, on account of their form, although, in their anatomical structure, Si Two-banded Cæcilia. peculiarities were observed allying them to Batrachians, with which they are now ranked, the important fact having been ascertained of their breathing by gills when young, and undergoing a metamorphosis. The body is almost cylindrical or worm-like, the head small, the eyes very small, and nearly hidden by the skin; in some species, indeed, imperfect or wanting, upon which account the name C. was given to them, and an attempt has been made to transfer to them the English name Blindworm, commonly given to the Anguis fragilis. The skin is smooth, viscous, and annularly wrinkled, appearing naked, although, upon dissection, minute scales are found disposed between its wrinkles, at least in some species. The vertebræ are articulated as in fishes and in some of the other lower Batrachians, not as in serpents, and the skull is united to the first vertebra by two tubercles. The ribs are imperfectly developed, and much too short to encircle the trunk. The original genus C. has been subdivided, now forming a family, Cæciliada. The species are inhabitants of warm climates, and of marshy or moist places. CÆCUM (Lat. cæcus, blind), a blind sac; that is, a sac or bag having only one opening, connected with the intestine of an animal. In man, there is only one C., very small, and apparently not performing any important function, situated at the extremity of the small intestine, where it terminates in the large intestine or colon. In many of the mammalia, however, and particularly in most of those which are herbivorous, it is comparatively large, and is found to secrete an acid fluid resembling the gastric juice. It therefore appears that, where the nature of the assimilatory process is such as to require the detention of the food for a considerable time, this provision is made for it, in order that digestion may be more completely accomplished. The C. is entirely wanting in some quadrupeds, as in bats, and the bear and weasel families. Birds have two cæca, which are generally long and capacious in those that are omnivorous or granivorous, and the position of which is the only circumstance that marks the division of the intestine into two parts, the small and the large intestine, or the ileum and the colon. In reptiles, a C. is of very rare occurrence. Fishes have none in the position occupied by those of quadrupeds and birds, but many of them have cæca attached to the intestine at its uppermost part, and very generally regarded as appendages of the stomach. The number of these cæca is, however, extremely various; sometimes there are only 2, and sometimes more than 100. The number is different even in very nearly allied species of the same family; thus, there are only 6 in the smelt, but 70 in the salmon; 24 in the herring, and 80 in the shad. In some fishes, as the cod, the cæca consist of large trunks ramified into smaller ones.-The intestinal canal of some of the Infusoria is furnished throughout its whole length with numerous cæca, no other organ corresponding to a stomach appearing to exist. CÆDMON, the first Anglo-Saxon writer of note who composed in his own language, and of whom there are any remains. The date of his birth is unknown, but his death occurred about 680 A. D. He was originally a cow-herd, attached to the monastery of Whitby, and, according to Bede, 'even more ignorant than the majority of his fellows, so that in the evenings, when the domestics assembled in the hall to recreate themselves with music after the labours of the day, Cadmon was frequently obliged to retire, in order to hide his shame when the harp was moved towards him.' One night, however, as he was sleeping in the stable-loft, a stranger appeared to him, and commanded him to sing. C. declared his ignorance, but the stranger would take no refusal, and imposed on the poor cow-herd the sublime task of hymning the glories of creation. Suddenly, a poetic inspiration seized him, and he began to pour forth verses. When he awoke from his dream, the words remained fast-rooted in his memory, and were recited by him to others with new confidence. The Abbess Hilda, and the learned men who were with her in the monastery, immediately declared that he had received the gift of song from Heaven. He was now educated, became a monk, and spent the rest of his life in composing poems on the Bible histories and on miscellaneous religious subjects, many of which have been preserved, and are altogether in bulk nearly equal to the half of Paradise Lost, to parts of which some of them bear a striking resemblance. Satan's Speech in Hell is characterised by a simple yet solemn influenced at some period of his life the more greatness of imagination, which may possibly have magnificent genius of Milton. CÆLATU'RA. See CHASING. CAEN, the chief town in the department of Calvados, France-formerly the capital of Lower Normandy-is situated on the left bank of the Orne, about 9 miles from its mouth in the English Channel, and 122 miles west-north-west of Paris. C. is built in the middle of a fertile plain; its streets are wide and clean, it has several fine squares, and many noble specimens of ancient Norman architecture. Among the best examples are the churches of St Etienne, founded by William the Conqueror, and which contained his monument, erected by William Rufus, and destroyed by the Huguenots in 1562; La Trinité, called also Abbaye aux Dames, founded by Matilda, wife of the Conqueror; St Nicholas, now used as a shot-factory; St Pierre and St Jean. The castle, founded by the Conqueror, and finished by Henry I. of England, was partially destroyed in 1793. Little trace of the ancient defences of the town now remains. There are several beautiful promenades in the city, which has manufactures of lace, blonde, crape, cutlery, cotton-yarn, &c.; and breweries, dyeworks, wax-bleaching, and ship-building yards. Its Angora gloves, made from the unwashed, undyed fur of Angora rabbits, which are reared in great numbers in the district, are celebrated. Quarries in the neighbourhood produce an excellent stone, called Caen Stone (q. v.). Trade is facilitated by a canal, which intersects the city, and by a maritime canal connecting the port with the sea, and admitting larger ships than can enter the Orne. Nothing is known of C. before the 9th century. It was a place of importance in 912, when it came into the possession of the Normans, under whom it increased rapidly. William the Conqueror and his queen made it their residence, and greatly CAEN STONE CAERNARVON. It improved it. In 1346, it was taken and pillaged the Teify; E. by Brecknock; S. by Glamorgan by the English, who again captured it in 1417. It was held by them until 1450, when the French compelled them to surrender. During the revolution of 1793, several of the Girondist chiefs, proscribed by the Jacobins, went to C., and organised a revolt against the Mountain, which proved unsuccessful. Pop. about 33,000. CAEN STONE. The neighbourhood of the town of Caen, in Normandy, has been celebrated for its stone-quarries from a very early period. The excellence of the stone, and the facility of transport by sea, led to C. S. being very extensively used in England in the 15th and 16th centuries. In 1460, the Abbot of Westminster obtained a licence to import C. S. for the repairs of the monastery. Later, it became a regular article of importation, and in 1582 it is rated at the custom-house at 6s. 8d. the ton. Winchester and Canterbury cathedrals, Henry VII.'s Chapel at Westminster, and many country churches, are built of C. S., which is still frequently used in England. The stone is an oolite, resembling Stonesfield slate, but without its slaty structure. The quarries are subterraneous, and the stone is brought up through vertical shafts in blocks 8 or 9 feet long, and about 2 thick. and Caermarthen Bay; and W. by Pembroke. CAERLE'ON (Castle of the Legion), a small but ancient town in Monmouthshire, on the right bank of the Usk, 2 miles north-east of Newport. It is the Isca Silurum of the Romans, and is supposed to have been the capital of the Roman province Britannia Secunda, now Wales, and the residence of the famous King Arthur. It was the seat of an ancient archbishopric, which was removed to St Davids about 519 A.D. An abbey of Cistercian monks existed here before the Reformation. C. was an important place in the 12th c., but it was afterwards ruined by the frequent wars between the Welsh and Anglo-Saxons. Many Roman relics have been found here, as aqueducts, baths, pavements, altars, tiles, coins, inscriptions, and statues; many of the smaller antiquities are deposited in a museum in the town; besides halfmelted ore and cinders, and the remains of a fortress, with walls 12 feet thick and 1800 yards long, and of an amphitheatre, called King Arthur's Round Table, 222 by 192 feet in size. Pop. 1281, the chief CAERNA'RVON (Caer-yn-ar-Fon, Fort opposite occupation being the manufacture of tin-plates. Mon or Anglesea), a parliamentary and municipal CAERMARTHEN (Welsh, Caer Fyrddyn, the borough and seaport in North Wales, the capital of Maridunum of Ptolemy), a seaport town, capital of Menai Strait, on the right bank of the Seiont, Caernarvonshire, situated near the south end of the Caermarthenshire, South Wales, on the right bank 245 miles north-west of London. C. has a castle of the Towy, 9 miles from Caermarthen Bay. It lies in a picturesque situation, but the streets are of which was commenced by Edward I. in 1284. It situated at the west end of the town, the building irregular, steep, and often narrow. The Towy is navigable for vessels of 200 tons up to the town, and is one of the noblest ruins in the kingdom, the walls salmon and sewin are caught in the river. There being still entire, and enclosing an oblong of three are tin and iron works near the town. C. exports pierced by a covered gallery, with loopholes to disacres. The walls are 7 to 9 feet thick, and are tin-plates, cast iron, timber, marble, bark, slates, charge arrows. There are thirteen embattled towers, lead ore, bricks, grain, butter, and eggs. The Welsh with five, six, or eight sides, and surmounted by language is used in most of the churches. C. is a turrets. The gateway under the great square tower county borough, having a separate jurisdiction from has four portcullises. The town itself was the shire. It unites with Llanelly in returning one member to parliament. Pop. 10,524. There is a college for Welsh teachers. Near C. are the remains of two Roman camps. In the 5th C., Merlin, the Welsh prophet, is said to have been born here. It was long the residence of the native princes of South Wales. Caermarthen Castle often changed hands in the contests of the Welsh chiefs with each other, and in the subsequent wars of the Welsh with the Saxons and Normans. CAERMA'RTHENSHIRE, a maritime county in South Wales, on the Bristol Channel; bounded N. by Cardigan, from which it is separated by once These surrounded by walls and round towers. CAERNARVONSHIRE-CÆSAR. iron and brass foundry. C. is a bathing-place, and is much frequented by tourists, on account of its vicinity to the grandest scenery in North Wales. Many families of the upper ranks reside in and around the town. Pop. (1851) 8674. Half a mile from C. are the remains, covering seven acres, of Segontium, or Caer Seiont, a Roman station or city; Gold, silver, and copper coins and ornaments, and other Roman relics, have been found here. There is a Roman fort on the left bank of the Seiont, still almost complete, with walls 11 feet high, and 6 feet thick, and with parallel rows of holes 3 inches in diameter. C. was the seat of the native princes of North Wales down to 873. In 1284 was born here the first Anglo-Norman Prince of Wales, afterwards the unhappy Edward II. In 1294, the town and castle were burned, and the English inhabitants massacred by the Welsh under Madoc, the illegitimate son of Llewelyn, a native prince of Wales. From a rocky height near Uxbridge Hotel, there is a fine view of Snowdon and the island of Anglesea. CAERNA'RVONSHIRE, a maritime county in North Wales, bounded N. by the Irish Sea; E. by Denbigh, with the Conway between; S. by Merioneth and Cardigan Bay; and W. by Caernarvon Bay and the Menai Strait, the latter separating it from Anglesea. It is 51 miles long; greatest breadth, 22 miles; average, 9; area, 544 square miles, of which is in pasture, and only th in tillage. The surface is mountainous, and is traversed by the grandest and highest ranges in South Britain, and it is the highest and most mountainous county in North Wales. The Snowdonian or chief range runs through the middle of the greatest length of the county, from south-west to north-east, and is very bold and rocky. It attains its greatest elevation in Snowdon (q. v.), 3571 feet, in the centre of the county, and the highest mountain in South Britain. Caernarvon Bay is 30 miles across, 15 long, with 2 to 30 fathoms water, and communicates with the Irish Sea through the Menai Strait, which is 17 miles long, and to 4 miles broad. The rivers of C. are numerous, but small, from the nearness of all parts of the county to the sea. The Conway, navigable for 10 miles, which runs along the east border, is the chief. Almost all the streams flow through small lakes or tarns-of which there are 50 or 60 in the county-around the central or Snowdonian group of mountains. There are many fine cataracts on these streams. The mineral products of C. are copper, lead, zinc, coal, roofing and writing slates, slabs, chimney-piers, honestone. The slatequarries employ many thousands of workmen. The climate is mild in the peninsular part of C., but severe among the hills. The chief branch of rural industry in C. is the rearing of black-cattle for the dairy, and of small sheep. Wheat, oats, barley, and potatoes are raised in the valleys. Pop. (1851) 87,870. The chief towns are Caernarvon (the county town), Bangor, Pwllheli, Conway, Nevin, and Criccieth. In addition to the above boroughs, several flourishing towns have recently sprung into existence in the county-Llandudno, Tremadoc, and Bethesda being the principal. It returns two members to parliament-one for the county, and one for these six towns. Connected with C. is the Chester and Holyhead Railway, on the great route from London to Dublin, which crosses into Anglesea by the Britannia Tubular Bridge over the Menai Strait. C. contains the remains of British or Celtic camps and hill-forts, especially around Snowdon, several cromlechs and stone circles, and some ancient castles. The Snowdonian mountains were long the stronghold of the Welsh against the Romans, Saxons, and Normans in their efforts to subjugate Wales, and here the Welsh, under Llewelyn, were at last defeated in 1283 by Edward I. CÆSALPINIA, a genus of trees of the natural order Leguminosa (q. v.), the type of the sub-order Casalpinica. This sub-order is characterised by irregular flowers, which are not papilionaceous (q. v.), and contains upwards of 700 known species, properties, as Senna (q. v.); some produce eatable among which many are notable for their purgative fruits, as the Tamarind (q. v.), the Carob (q. v.), and the West Indian Locust Tree (q. v.); some yield resinous and balsamic products, as Copaiva (q. v.), Aloes-wood (q. v.), &c.; some produce important dye-woods, as Logwood (q. v.), Brazil Wood (q. v.), Camwood (q. v.), &c.; and some are trees of great size, and very valuable for their timber, as the Purple-heart (q. v.) and the Wallaba (q. v.), trees of Guiana. No species of the sub-order is British, and it generally belongs to warm climates.-The genus C. contains a number of species, trees with pinnate or bipinnate leaves, natives of the warm parts of Asia and America, which yield the Brazil Wood, Pernambuco Wood (see BRAZIL WOOD), and Sappan Wood (q. v.) of commerce, also the astringent pods called Dividivi (q. v.), used in tanning. CÆSAR, the name of a patrician family of the Julia Gens, one of the oldest in the Roman state, claiming to be descended from Iulus, the son of Eneas. When or from what cause the surname of C. was first acquired, is in the highest degree uncertain. Spartianus, in his Life of Elius Verus, mentions four different opinions respecting its origin: 1. That the word signified an elephant in the language of the Moors, and was given as a surname to one of the Julii because he had killed an elephant; 2. That it was given to him because he had been cut (casus) out of his mother's womb after her death; 3. Because he had been born with a great quantity of hair (cæsaries); or, 4. Because he had azure-coloured eyes (casi). The opinion to which we most incline is the third of these, but who was the original shock-head' of the gens we cannot say; the first, however, mentioned in history is Sex. Julius Cæsar, prætor in 208 B. C. The greatest individual of the family, and one of the greatest men the world has ever seen, was CÆSAR, CAIUS JULIUS, son of a Roman prætor of the same name, was born 12th July, 100 B. C. Two external circumstances conspired to determine his political sympathies in favour of democracy, and against a republican oligarchy: the first was the marriage of his aunt Julia with Caius Marius; the second, the marriage of C. himself, in 83 B. C., with Cornelia, daughter of L. Cinna, one of the principal enemies of Sulla. The anger of the dictator at this cost C. his rank, property, and almost his life itself. Feeling that he would be safer abroad for a time, he went to Asia, 81 B. C.; but on learning the death of Sulla (78 B. C.), he hurried back to Rome, where he found the popular party in a state of great ferment, and anxious to regain what it had lost under the vigorous despotism of the aristocratic dictator. C., however, took no part in the attempts of Lepidus to overthrow the oligarchy; but he shewed his political leanings by prosecuting (77 B. C.) Cn. Dolabella-a great partisan of Sulla-for extortion in his province of Macedonia. To improve his eloquence, he went to Rhodes to study under the rhetor Apollonius Molo. In 74 B. C., he returned to Rome, where he had been elected pontifex, and now for the first time threw himself earnestly into public life. In the year 70 B. C., he attached himself to Pompey, whose political actions at this time were of a decidedly democratic character. In 68 B. C., C. obtained a quæstorship in Spain. CÆSAR. On his return to Rome (67 B. C.), he married concluded two important wars, led his troops into Pompeia, a relative of Pompey, with whom he winter-quarters. was daily becoming more intimate. In 66 B. C. he SAITAL CAESAR Next year (57 B. C.) occurred the Belgic war, in which C. successively routed the Suessiones, Bellovaci, Ambiani, and Nervii, who, alarmed at the progress of the Roman arms, had entered into an alliance with each other against the invaders. When the senate received C.'s official dispatches, it decreed a thanksgiving of 15 days-an honour never previously granted to any other general. During the winter and the spring following, C. stayed at Lucca; and after spending large sums of money in hospitality, and in other less praiseworthy purposes, he departed for Gaul, where the flames of war had burst out in the north-west. The Veneti, a maritime people of Brittany, were the chief instigators of the insurrection. C.'s plans were laid with consummate skill, and were crowned with the most splendid success. The was elected to the curule ædileship, and lavished Veneti were totally defeated, and most of the other vast sums of money on games and public build- Gallic tribes were either checked or subdued. C. ings, by which he increased his already great popu- wintered in the country of the Aulerci and Lexovii larity. For the next few years, C. is found steadily (Normandy), having, in the course of three camskirmishing on the popular side. In 63 B. C. he was paigns, conquered Gaul. Next year (55 B. C.), elected pontifex maximus, and shortly after, prætor. Crassus went to Syria, and Pompey to Spain, while During the same year occurred the famous debate C.'s provincial government was prolonged for five on the Catiline conspiracy, in which the aristocratic years. He now undertook a fourth campaign against party vainly endeavoured to persuade the consul, two German tribes who were about to enter Gaul. Cicero, to include C. in the list of conspirators. He was again successful; and pursuing the fleeing In 62 B. C., Pompey returned from the East, and enemy across the Rhine, spent eighteen days in plundisbanded his army. Next year, C. obtained the dering the district inhabited by the Sigambri. He province of Hispania Ulterior. His career in Spain next invaded Britain, about the autumn; but after was brilliant and decisive. On his return, he was a brief stay in the island, returned to Gaul. The elected consul, along with M. Calpurnius Bibulus. Roman senate, astonished at his hardihood and his Shortly before the passing of the agrarian law (59 successes in regions where no Roman army had B. C.), Č., with rare tact and sagacity, had reconciled ever been before, accorded him a public thanksthe two most powerful men in Rome, who were then giving of 20 days. In 54 B. C., C. opened his fifth at variance, Pompey and Crassus, and had formed an campaign by a second invasion of Britain. On his alliance with them, known in history as the First return to Gaul, C. was compelled-on account of the Triumvirate. Both of these distinguished men aided scarcity of corn, arising from drought-to winter C. in carrying his agrarian law; and to strengthen his army in divisions. This naturally aroused the still further the union which had been formed, C. hopes of the Gauls, who thought the time had come gave Pompey his daughter, Julia, in marriage, for recovering their independence. An insurrection though she had been promised to M. Brutus; while broke out in the north-east of Gaul, which was at he himself also married Calpurnia, daughter of L. first partially successful, but was ultimately crushed. Piso, his successor in the consulship. On the expiry C. resolved to winter at Samarobriva (Amiens), in of his term of office, he obtained for himself, by the the vicinity of the malcontents. In 53 B. C., C. popular vote, the province of Gallia Cisalpina and commenced his sixth campaign. It was chiefly Illyricum for five years, to which the senate added occupied in crushing a second insurrection of the -to prevent the popular assembly from doing so- Gauls. C. now returned to Northern Italy, that the province of Gallia Transalpina. Nothing could he might be able to communicate more easily and have been more favourable for C.'s aims. He had securely with his friends at Rome. That city was now an opportunity of developing his extraordinary gradually becoming more anarchic, the evils of military genius, and of gathering round him an weak government more apparent; the hour for army of veterans, whom perpetual victory should decisive action seemed to be approaching, and doubtinspire with thorough soldierly fidelity and devotion less C.'s heart beat with expectation of the mighty to his person. This was the very thing he wanted future, when all at once the plot that Fate was to give him a reputation equal to that of his coad- weaving in his favour, appeared to be completely jutors, Pompey and Crassus, whom, in genius, he far marred by a tremendous rebellion over the whole surpassed. Leaving, therefore, the political factions of Gaul, headed by a young warrior named Verat Rome to exhaust themselves in petty strifes, C., cingetorix. It was in the dead of winter when the in 58 B. C., after the banishment of Cicero, repaired news came to C., who instantly saw that, at all to his provinces, and during the next nine years, hazards, he must preserve his fame and his army. conducted those splendid campaigns in Gaul, by Leaving, therefore, Pompey to succeed at Rome, which, had he done nothing else, he would have he hurried to meet the insurgent hordes. His great 'built himself an everlasting name.' C.'s first difficulty was to collect his scattered legions. First campaign was against the Helvetii, whom he totally crossing, with some Cisalpine and provincial troops, defeated near Bibracte (Autun). Out of 368,000 the mountains of Auvergne, though they lay six only 110,000 remained. These were commanded by feet deep in snow, he suddenly appeared among the C. to return home, and cultivate their lands. The Arverni, who, terrified at his unexpected approach, eyes of the Gauls were now turned upon the new sent for their chief, Vercingetorix, to come to their conqueror. His help was solicited, among others, assistance. This was what C. wished. After some by Divitiacus, an Aduan chief. This involved C. wonderful exhibitions of military skill, and numerin a second war with a German prince, named ous successes, Vercingetorix was shut up in Alesia Ariovistus, who was utterly overthrown; and now (Alise in Burgundy) with all his infantry. C. C., having in the course of one campaign successfully | besieged him, and though harassed by nearly 300,000 CÆSAR. Gauls without, who attempted, but in vain, to break through the well-defended Roman lines, forced Vercingetorix to capitulate. Many of the tribes now hastened to submit to C., who prudently determined to winter among the vanquished. The senate, of course, voted him another public thanksgiving. Next year (51 B. C.), C. proceeded to quell the tribes who still held out. This he successfully accomplished, and having in addition reduced the whole of Aquitania, passed the winter of his eighth campaign at Nemetocenna, in Belgium, where he spent the time both in a magnanimous and politic manner. The Gallic princes were courteously and generously treated; the common people were spared the imposition of further taxes, and everything was done to render it possible for him to visit Italy with safety in the spring. This he did, and took up his residence at Ravenna, where he was informed of everything that was going on by the tribune C. Curio. There can be no doubt that at this moment he was the most popular man in the state, while his soldiery were devoted to him with a loyalty as enthusiastic as that which Bonaparte inspired when fresh from his Italian victories. Meanwhile, Pompey, whose vanity could not endure the greatness of C., had been gradually veering round again to the aristocracy, whose dread of the new conqueror was hourly increasing. After much futile diplomatic finessing on all sides, the senate carried a motion that C. should disband his army by a certain day; and that if he did not do so, he should be regarded as an enemy of the state.' The tribunes, Mark Antony and Q. Cassius put their veto on this motion; but they were violently driven out of the senate-chamber, and fearing for their lives, they fled to C.'s camp. The senate, in the madness of their terror, now declared war, and intrusted the conduct of it to Pompey, whose pride in the invincibility of his military prowess hindered him from taking the necessary measures for the defence of the state. He fancied that his name would bring thousands to his standard, and he was even led to believe that C.'s troops were willing to desert their general: the result of which delusion was, that when hostilities formally commenced, he had hardly any soldiers except two legions which had recently been in the service of his rival. C., on the other hand, perceiving that the time for decisive action had at length come, harangued his victorious troops, who were willing to follow him anywhere; crossed the Rubicon (a small stream which separated his province from Italy Proper), and moved swiftly, amid the acclamations of the people, towards Rome. Pompey fled to Brundusium, pursued by C., but contrived to reach Greece in safety, 17th March, 49 B. C. The Italian cities had everywhere gladly opened their gates to the conqueror as a deliverer. In three months, C. was master of all Italy. C. next subdued Pompey's legates in Spain, who were at the head of considerable forces. On his return, he took Massilia, where he learned that he had been appointed dictator of the republic-a function which at this time he retained only for 11 days, but these were honourably distinguished by the passing of several humane enactments. Pompey, now thoroughly alive to the magnitude of his danger, had gathered in Egypt, Greece, and the East, a powerful army, while his fleet swept the sea. C., however, crossing the Adriatic at an unexpected season, made a rush for Dyrrhachium, where Pompey's stores were; but was nevertheless outstripped by his opponent. Pompey intrenched his army on some high ground near the city, where he was besieged by C. The first encounter was favourable to Pompey, who drove back C.'s legions with much loss. The latter now retreated to Thessaly, followed by his exulting enemies. A second battle ensued on the plains of Pharsalia, 9th August, 48 B. C. Pompey's army was utterly routed; Pompey himself fled to Egypt, where he was murdered. See POMPEY. No sooner had the news reached Rome, than C. was again appointed dictator for a year, and consul for five years. He was invested with tribunicial power for life, and with the right of holding all the magistricial comitia except those for the election of the plebeian tribunes. He did not, however, return to Rome after the battle of Pharsalia, but went to Egypt, then in a distracted condition on account of the disputes regarding the succession. Out of love for Cleopatra (who subsequently bore him a son), he entered upon the 'Alexandrine War,' in which he was successful, and which he brought to a close in March 47 B. C. He next overthrew a son of Mithridates, near Zela, in Pontus, August 2 of the same year, and arrived in Rome in September. He was once more appointed dictator, and the property of Pompey was confiscated and sold. Before the close of the year, he had set out for Africa, where his campaign against the Pompeian generals, Scipio and Cato, was crowned with victory at the battle of Thapsus, 6th April, 46 B. C. Cato committed suicide at Utica, and with such irresistible celerity was the work of subjugation carried on, that by the end of the summer, C. was again in Rome. Now occurred that display of noble and wise generosity which proves C. to have been possessed of a great magnanimous nature. He was not a man that could stoop to the vulgar atrocities of Marius or Sulla, and so he majestically declared that henceforth he had no enemies, and that he would make no difference between Pompeians and Cæsarians. His victories in Gaul, Egypt, Pontus, and Africa, were celebrated by four great triumphs, during which the whole Roman populace was feasted and fêted by the magnificent liberality of the dictator. He now proceeded to check, by wholesome enactments, as far as in him lay, the social evils which had long flourished in the city. During the year 46 B. C., also, he conferred a benefit on Rome and on the world by the reformation of the calendar, which had been greatly abused by the pontifical college for political purposes. After quelling an insurrection which now broke out in Spain, where Pompey's sons, Cneius and Sextus, had collected an army, he received the title of 'Father of his Country,' and also of imperator, was made dictator and præfectus morum for life, consul for 10 years; his person was declared sacred, and even divine; he obtained a body-guard of knights and senators; his statue was placed in the temples; his portrait was struck on coins; the month Quintilis was called Julius in his honour; and on all public occasions he was permitted to wear the triumphal robe. He now proposed to make a digest of the whole Roman law for public use, to found libraries for the same purpose, to drain the Pontine Marshes, to enlarge the harbour of Ostia, to dig a canal through the Isthmus of Corinth, and to quell the inroads of the barbarians on the eastern frontiers; but in the midst of these vast designs he was cut off by assassination on the Ides (15th) of March, 44 B.C. The details of this crime-the greatest disaster that could have befallen the Roman world, as subsequent events shewed-are too familiar to require narration. It is sufficient to say that, of the sixty aristocrats who were in the conspiracy, many had partaken of C.'s generosity, and all of his clemency. A few, like Brutus, out of a weak and formal conscientiousness, based on theory rather than insight, were probably offended by C.'s desire |