+Context.+ On Lentulus Crus and Claudius Marcellus, the Consuls for 49 B.C., must rest the immediate blame of the Civil War. On Jan. 1st Caesar’s tribune Curio once more presented proposals from Caesar, which startle us by their marvellous moderation (cf. Suet. _Caesar_, 29, 30), but Lentulus would not allow them to be considered. On Jan. 7th the _Senatus consultum ultimum_ was decreed, and a state of war declared. Caesar crossed the Rubicon, the narrow brook which separated his province from Italy, to pass which at the head of an army was high treason to the State. --W. F.
[Linenotes: 214. +puniceus+ = _dark red_: +Rubicon+, as if from _ruber_. 216. +limes+, i.e. until the time of Augustus, by whom Italy was extended to the R. Varus, the boundary between Gallia Narbonensis and Italy. 218. I.e. prob. the third night after the change of moon; +gravido+ = _surcharged with rain_. --Haskins. 219. +Alpes+ = _mountains_, not _the_ Alps. 225. +temerata+, i.e. by Pompeius and the senatorial party. 229. +verbere+ = the _thong_, i.e. of the sling (+fundae+). 231. +Ariminum+ (Rimini), at this period the frontier town of Italy.]
+The Passage of the Rubicon.+ ‘When after nine years’ absence he trod once more the soil of his native land, he trod at the same time the path of revolution. Alea iacta est.’ --M.
_Caesar defends himself before the Senate, April 49 B.C._
His rebus confectis Caesar, ut reliquum tempus a labore intermitteretur, milites in proxima municipia deducit; ipse ad urbem proficiscitur. Coacto senatu iniurias inimicorum commemorat. Docet se nullum extraordinarium honorem appetisse, sed exspectato { 5} legitimo tempore consulatus eo fuisse contentum, quod omnibus civibus pateret. Latum ab x tribunis plebis contradicentibus inimicis, Catone vero acerrime repugnante et pristina consuetudine dicendi mora dies extrahente, ut sui ratio absentis haberetur, ipso { 10} consule Pompeio; qui si improbasset, cur ferri passus esset? qui si improbasset, cur se uti populi beneficio prohibuisset? Patientiam proponit suam, cum de exercitibus dimittendis ultro postulavisset; in quo iacturam dignitatis atque honoris ipse facturus { 15} esset. Acerbitatem inimicorum docet, qui, quod ab altero postularent, in se recusarent atque omnia permisceri mallent, quam imperium exercitusque dimittere. Iniuriam in eripiendis legionibus praedicat, crudelitatem et insolentiam in circumscribendis { 20} tribunis plebis; condiciones a se latas, expetita colloquia et denegata commemorat. Pro quibus rebus hortatur ac postulat, ut rem publicam suscipiant atque una secum administrent.