BOOK9 the Time of the Consuls of Rome
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BOOK9 The Time of the Consuls of Rome 1. (214) The Roman state was administered formerly by consuls, for 464 years until Julius Caesar the dictator. He was not born normally but, after his mother had died in the ninth month, they cut her open and delivered the baby. So he was called Caesar, for in the Roman language Caesar means "dissection", 2. After growing up and proving his courage, he was appointed triumvir with Pompeius Magnus and Crassus. The Roman state was administered by these three. After the murder of Crassus when he had been captured by the Persians in battle in Persian territory, Caesar the dictator remained fighting with his army in the western regions. When he was dismissed from the consulship, that is, the triumvirate; after a kind of scrutiny by the senate of Rome (215) and his father-in-law Pompeius Magnus, Julius Caesar was displeased and rebelled against the Romans. Winning over the Romans' enemies, he began a campaign against the senate of Romeand Pompeius Magnus. He reached Rome, captured it and killed all the senators. Pompeius set out against him but saw that he was unable to fight him, so he abandoned the western regions and went off to the East, intending to secure this region. Julius Caesar the dictator became absolute master of Rome and all the western regions, and began a campaign against Pompeius Magnus, Whenhe caught up with Pompeius, he killed him in the land of Egypt, as the most learned Lucan has written about him. This Caesar was the first to win sole control over the Romans amid great fear, and he laid claim to all authority. For after Seleukos Nikator the Macedonians were feeble and neglected the land of Babylonia, permitting the Persians to set up an emperor for themselves. Likewise they allowed the Jews to accept the tetrarchic empires from the senate of Rome. At that time lived Livy, the learned Romanhistorian, who wrote much 1. Bo 214.1-4; CP 353.15-354,3, LG 275.5-7 (53.21-54.3), GH 293,1-6, Ke 289.11-16, Sk 24.12-14, JN 64,1-2; Slav: Soph 84. 464 (214.2): cf '465' Slav, '364' Ke, GM, '393' CP. delivered the baby (214.4;corr, cf Dind) CP: 'delivered him as a baby' Ba. for (214.5;corr Dind) CP: om Ba. 2. Bo 214.4-215.20: CP 354.3-16; Slav: 1st 11.1-·12.3. See Lucan, 8.456. a kim of scrutiny by the senate (214.12): 'scrutiny by the whole body of the senate' CP, cf Slav. captured it (215.5): cf 'captured them' Slav. fight him (215.6): Slav adds 'or resist him', written about him (215.12): Slav adds 'and later Eusebios Pamphilou wrote of the same events in his work'. 114 Book 9 about the Romans. 3. After this, Julius Caesar the dictator, that is, monarch, controlled everything arrogantly and as a usurper for 18 years. He devised the intercalary day and (216) laid down laws for the Romans and he named months for them. He appointed those whomhe wanted each year as consuls. 4. At that time Vergil, the learned Romanpoet, wrote the story of Aineias and of Dido, who was originally from Phoenice, the wooden horse and the capture of Troy. 5. News was sent immediately of the arrival of Julius Caesar, the dictator, that is, monarch, the rebel who captured Rome, murdered the senate and became monarch. The edict reached the city of Antioch on 12th Arlemisios-May, of the following indiction. The city's freedom (from when it had become subject to Rome), sent by the Caesar Julius, was proclaimed in Antioch on 20th Artemisios. The edict was proclaimed, and went as follows, "In Antioch, the sacred, inviolate, autonomous metropolis ruling and presiding over the East, Julius Gaius Caesar, and so on". Julius Caesar, the dictator, entered Antioch on 23rd Arlemisios. He built a basilica, which he named the Kaisarion, opposite the temple of Ares which was renamed the Macellum, and set up there a bronze statue of the tyc/Jeof Rome. Equally he built, up on the place known as the acropolis, on the mountain of Antioch the Great, a public bath for the inhabitants of the acropolis, (217) bringing the water from what are known as the waters of the road to Laodikeia through the aqueduct built by him. He. also built up there a monom,_u:/Je.ionand a theatre, He restored the Pantheon since it was on the point of collapsing, and re-erected the altar. 6. Going off to Alexandria the Great, caesar built buildings there in the name of the son whomhe had by Cleopatra, whomhe loved as she was a beautiful woman. He found that she had been exiled to the Thebaid by her brother Ptolemy, who was displeased with her. caesar seduced her and made her pregnant; she bore a son whomshe called Kaisarion. Julius, the Caesar, built the Kaisarion in Alexandria the Great, and so named it after his son. After expelling Cleopatra's brother, Ptolemy, from the empire of Egypt, he gave her the empire of Egypt and executed the two eunuchs who had induced Ptolemy to banish her into the Thebaid, The son of Cleopatra and Caesar died in childhood. 3. Bo 215.21-216.2; CP 354.17-18, GM293.9-15, PsS 75r, Ke 303.21-22, JN 64.4-5; Slav: 1st 12.2-3, Soph 84. 18 years (215.22) Slav, GM: '4 years and 7 months from the 4th day before the Ides of May of the 1st indiction' CP, Sk, but unlikely to reflect Malalas. 4. Bo 216.3-6; PsS 75r, Ke 303.22-23; Slav: 1st 12.4-6, Soph 85, Dido (216.4): cf 'Elisa' Slav. 5. Bo 216.7-217.4; CP 354.19-355,4; Slav: 1st 12.6-23. entered Antioch (216.18): 'entered Antioch the Great' CP, Slav. t,he Pantheon (217.3): Slav adds 'in Antioch'. 6. Bo 217.5-17; JN 64.6-8; Slav: 1st 12.23-13.1, Soph 85, KVI.(Pol Pal) 126-128. eunuchs (217.14): cf 'sons' Slav. .