[41] Cæsar hastened to Rome. He found the people shuddering with recollection of the horrors of Marius and Sulla and he cheered them with the prospect and promise of clemency. In proof of his kindness to his enemies, he said that he had taken Lucius Domitius prisoner and allowed him to go away unharmed with his money. Nevertheless, he broke the bolts of the public treasury, and when Metellus, one of the tribunes, tried to prevent him from entering, threatened him with death. He took away money hitherto untouched, which, they say, had been deposited there long ago, at the time of the Gallic invasion, with a public curse upon anybody who should take it out except in case of a war with the Gauls. Cæsar said that he had subjugated the Gauls completely and thus released the commonwealth from the curse. He then placed Æmilius Lepidus in charge of the city, and the tribune, Mark Antony, in charge of Italy and of the army guarding it. Outside of Italy he chose Curio to take command of Sicily in place of Cato,1 and Quintus Valerius for Sardinia. He sent Gaius Antonius to Illyria and intrusted Cisalpine Gaul to Licinius Crassus. He ordered the building of two fleets with all speed, one in the Adriatic and the other in the Tyrrhenian sea, and appointed Hortensius and Dolabella their admirals while they were still under construction.
1 The preceding section says that Asinius Pollio was sent to take command of Sicily. Cæsar himself says (i. 30) that he sent Curio to Sicily with three legions and ordered him, when he had recovered that island, to transport his army immediately to Africa. He adds that Cato was energetically preparing for war by land and sea, but that when he was advised of Curio's approach he fled from his province.
The Civil Wars. Appian. Horace White. London. MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD. 1899.
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