352
Cæsar's Dictatorship.
[46 B.C.
shedding blood except on the battle-field; his wise and noble clemency predisposed all hearts in his favour; even Republicans were not anxious for his defeat in the last struggle in Spain, and Jan. 45 B.C.preferred, as Cassius said to Cicero, "the old kindly master to an untried and angry one."[1] The Romans were willing to accept any tolerable compromise at his hands. But of compromise Cæsar would not hear a word. He seems to have been utterly blind to the evils of a despotism, and utterly indifferent to the preservation of the dignity and manliness of the Romans. With relentless and foolish consistency he pushed the doctrine of his own supremacy to its uttermost conclusions. The first act of this so-called democratic leader was to deprive the popular assemblies of the little power that had remained to them under the later Republic. In legislation, the assent of the people had already become merely formal, and so it remained; but in elections some power of choice had hitherto really lain with the voters. This was now taken away by the Dictator, who granted letters of recommendation to his candidates, and so had them returned without opposition. The elections indeed might as well not have been held at all. Cæsar lost no opportunity of degrading the Republican magistracies in the eyes of the people. Sometimes the State was left for
- ↑ Ad Fam., xv., 19, 4. The reference is to Pompey's son Cnæus, who was killed in Spain. Cassius was much in dread of him. "You know how foolish he is, and how apt to mistake cruelty for manliness. He always thought we were laughing at him, and I few repartees delivered in boorish fashion at point of sword.
