Evelyn Shirley Shuckburgh

“ Macedonia was continually subject to invasion by Getæ, Bessi, and other barbarians ; the Dalmatians and neighbouring tribes made Illyricum an uncertain member of the Empire ; in Syria, Cæcilius Bassus an old officer of Pompey's was defying Roman armies, and inviting the aid of the Parthians always ready to cross the Euphrates into the Roman province. ”

“ But affairs in Africa had been complicated by the formation of a new province from the dominions of Iuba, called sometimes New Africa, sometimes Numidia (B.C. 46) . Of this new province the first proprætor was the historian Sallust, succeeded in B.C. 45 by T. Sextius with three legions. On Cæsar's death, therefore, there were two men in Africa who might possibly take different views of the situation. Cornificius indeed friend and correspondent of Cicero shewed at once that he meant to stand by the Senate. ”

“ Marcus Brutus was named by Cæsar to succeed him in B.C. 43, and Hortensius did, in fact, hand over the province to him at Thessalonica at the beginning of that year. But meanwhile Antony had induced the Senate to nominate himself (June, B.C. 44) . He withdrew five of the legions and then managed to get the province transferred to his brother Gaius. When Antony was declared a hostis, the Senate revoked the nomination of Gaius and restored the province, along with Illyricum, to M. Brutus, who was in fact already in possession, having defeated and captured Gaius Antonius.
(9) Greece. ”

“ There had been, therefore, a double need for a strong man in Syria, and Cæsar had nominated C. Cassius, the former defender of it against the Parthians. After Cæsar's death, however, Dolabella secured the passing of a law transferring Syria to himself with the command against the Parthians. But some irregularity in the auguries taken at the comitia gave Cassius a plausible excuse for ignoring this law. Consequently when Dolabella entered the province from the north, Cassius did so from the south. ”

“ At Cæsar's death he was already at the head of a considerable fleet which enabled him to control Sicily and re-occupy Bætica, when its last Cæsarean governor the famous C. Asinius Pollio left it to join Antony in Gallia Narbonensis in the summer of B.C. 43. The upper province had meanwhile been governed by the legates of Metellus, who was about to return to it and Galiia Narbonensis with four legions when Cæsar's death introduced new complications. ”

“ Sicily for eight years after Cæsar's death was practically separated from the Empire. In B.C. 49 it had been easily won over to Cæsar's authority by C. Curio, and after his success in Spain against Pompey's legates Cæsar had nominated Aulus Allienus [22] as its proprætor. In B.C. 46 Allienus was succeeded by M. Acilius [23] (afterwards sent to Achaia) , who in his turn was succeeded by T. Furfanius Postumus (B.C. 45) . Finally, among Cæsar's arrangements for B.C. 44 was the appointment of Pompeius Bithynicus to Sicily. His father had served under Pompey and had perished with him in Egypt ”

“ In B.C. 51-50, while Cicero was in Cilicia, it was ruled by Bibulus ; and in B.C. 49 Pompey secured it for his father-in-law, Q. Cæcilius Metellus Scipio, who collected troops and went to the aid of Pompey in Thessaly, and after Pharsalia escaped to Africa. It was then put in the hands of the quæstor, Sextus Iulius, a connection of the Dictator, with some legions, one of which had been left there by Cæsar in anticipation of the coming Parthian war. ”

“ Macedonia.
The victory at Pharsalia put Macedonia under Cæsar's control, and he apparently continued to govern it till B.C. 45 by his legates. While in Egypt (B.C. 48-7) , fearing, it seems, that it might be made a centre of resistance, [34] he directed Gabinius to go there with his legions, if the state of Illyricum allowed of it. [35] We have no farther information as to its government till the autumn of B.C. 45, when a large military force was stationed there ; and in that, or the following year, Q. Hortensius son of the famous orator was made governor. ”

“ Mars impius orbe.
- Virgil, Georgics I 510-511.
Natural boundaries of the Roman Empire.
At the death of Caesar the Roman Empire had been for the most part won. Egypt was indeed annexed by Augustus, though on a peculiar tenure, but subsequent additions were in a manner consequential, the inevitable rectifications or a long frontier. Such were the provinces of the Rhine, the Alps, and the Danube as far east as Moesia ; and to a certain extent the province of Galatia and Lycaonia (B.C. 25) . ”

“ In the autumn he went home and was rewarded by the consulship for the rest of the year. But in B.C. 46, Cæsar appointed Serv. Sulpicius Rufus governor of Greece, and his authority seems to have extended throughout the Peloponnese and as far north as Thessaly. [38] Sulpicius returned to Rome at the end of B.C. 45, or beginning of B.C. 44, and does not seem to have had a successor. ”

“ At the death of Iulius Spain was also a source of great danger and difficulty. Since B.C. 197 it had been divided into two provinces—Citerior and Ulterior—separated by the Saltus Castulonensis (Sierra Morena) each governed by a prætor or pro-prætor. ”