---
title: "The Deified Julius · Divus Julius"
author: "Suetonius"
translator: "John C. Rolfe"
languages: [la, en]
shelf: "Classical Latin"
section: 30 of 89
url: https://scriptura.si/works/suetonius-divus-julius-rolfe-1914/30/
cite: "Suetonius, tr. John C. Rolfe, The Deified Julius · Divus Julius, section 30. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/suetonius-divus-julius-rolfe-1914/30/"
---

# The Deified Julius · Divus Julius

*Suetonius, tr. John C. Rolfe*

## 30. Chapter 30

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/suetonius-divus-julius-rolfe-1914/30/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/suetonius-divus-julius-rolfe-1914/30/#p-N

[¶0] But when the senate declined to interfere, and his opponents declared that they would accept no compromise in a matter affecting the public welfare, he crossed to Hither Gaul, and after holding all the assizes, halted at Ravenna, intending to resort to war if the senate took any drastic action against the tribunes of the commons who interposed vetoes in his behalf.

> Latin: Verum neque senatu interveniente et adversariis negantibus ullam se de re publica facturos pactionem, transiit in citeriorem Galliam, conventibusque peractis Ravennae substitit, bello vindicaturus si quid de tribunis plebis intercedentibus pro se gravius a senatu constitutum esset.

*Note: When the senate passed a decree that Caesar should disband his army before a given date, the tribunes Mark Antony and Quintus Cassius exercised their privilege and vetoed it (Caesar, B.C. 1.2.6-7); not only did the senate disregard the veto, but the tribunes were obliged to seek safety in flight (id. 1. 5, 1-2).*

[¶1] Now this was his excuse for the civil war, but it is believed that he had other motives.Gnaeus Pompeius used to declare that since Caesar’s own means were not sufficient to complete the works which he had planned, nor to do all that he had led the people to expect on his return, he desired a state of general unrest and turmoil.

> Latin: Et praetextum quidem illi civilium armorum hoc fuit; causas autem alias fuisse opinantur. Gnaeus Pompeius ita dictitabat, quod neque opera consummare, quae instituerat, neque populi expectationem, quam de adventu suisui, MGX'; suo, T. fecerat, privatis opibus explere posset, turbare omnia ac permiscere voluisse.

[¶2] Others say that he dreaded the necessity of rendering an account for what he had done in his first consulship contrary to the auspices and the laws, and regardless of vetoes; for Marcus Cato often declared, and took oath too, that he would impeach Caesar the moment he had disbanded his army. It was openly said too that if he was out of office on his return, he would be obliged, like Milo, to make his defence in a court hedged about by armed men.

> Latin: Alii timuisse dicunt, ne eorum, quae primo consulatu adversus auspicia legesque et intercessiones gessisset, rationem reddere cogeretur; cum M. Cato identidem nec sine iure iurando denuntiaret delaturum se nomen eius, simul ac primum exercitum dimisisset; cumque vulgo fore praedicarent, ut si privatus redisset, Milonis exemplo circumpositis armatis causam apud iudices diceret.

[¶3] The latter opinion is the more credible one in view of the assertion of Asinius Pollio, that when Caesar at the battle of Pharsalus saw his enemies slain or in flight, he said, word for word: They would have it so. Even I, Gaius Caesar, after so many great deeds, should have been found guilty, if I had not turned to my army for help.

> Latin: Quod probabilius facit Asinius Pollio, Pharsalica acie caesos profligatosque adversarios prospicientem haec eum ad verbum dixisse referens: Hoc voluerunt; tantis rebus gestis Gaius Caesar condemnatus essem, nisi ab exercitu auxilium petissem.

[¶4] Some think that habit had given him a love of power, and that weighing the strength of his adversaries against his own, he grasped the opportunity of usurping the despotism which had been his heart’s desire from early youth. Cicero too was seemingly of this opinion, when he wrote in the third book of his De Officiis that Caesar ever had upon his lips these lines of Euripides, of which Cicero himself adds a version: If wrong may e’er be right, for a throne’s sakeWere wrong most right: — be God in all else feared.

> Latin: Quidam putant captum imperii consuetudine pensitatisque suis et inimicorum viribus usum occasione rapiendae dominationis, quam aetate prima concupisset. Quod existimasse videbatur et Cicero scribens de Officiis tertio libro semper Caesarem in ore habuisse after habuisse the mss. have the gloss, est in Phoenissis: εἴπερ γὰρ ἀδικεῖν χρή, τυραννίδος πέρι κάλλιστον ἀδίκημα· τὰ δ᾽ ἄλλα εὐσεβεῖν χρεών.Euripidis versus, quos sic ipse convertit: Nam si violandum est ius, regnandiregnandi, supplied by ς gratiaviolandum est; aliis rebus pietatem colas.

*Note: 3.82 · Eur. Phoenissae 524-525. · Way.*