30/34 The people had no choice; and long before the time of Caesar, nothing remained of republican government but the name and the abuse. In the 'Life of Caesar,' and not three pages before the crossing of the Rubicon, he paints the ruined state of the elections,--shows that all elective government was gone,--that the hereditary form had become a necessary relief from the contests of the corrupt,--and that in choosing between Pompey and Caesar, many preferred Pompey, not because they thought him republican, but because they thought he would make the milder king. Even arms were but a small part of Caesar's reliance, when he crossed the Rubicon. Gold, still more than the sword, was his dependence; and he sent forward the accumulated treasures of plundered Gaul, to be poured into the laps of rotten politicians. |