the mean time in Spain. Leaving
Rome about the middle of April, he found, on his arrival in Gaul, that
Massilia refused to submit to him. He besieged the place forthwith, but,
unable to take it immediately, he left C. Trebonius and D. Brutus, with
part of his troops, to prosecute the siege, and continued his march to
Spain. On the approach of Caesar, L. Afranius and M. Petreius, the
lieutenants of Pompey in Spain, united their forces, and took up a
strong position near the town of Ilerda (_Lerida_, in Catalonia), on the
right bank of the Sicoris (_Segre_). After experiencing great
difficulties at first and some reverses, Caesar at length reduced
Afranius and Petreius to such straits that they were obliged to
surrender. They themselves were dismissed uninjured, part of their
troops disbanded, and the remainder incorporated among Caesar's troops.
The conqueror then proceeded to march against Varro, who commanded two
legions in the Farther Province; but, after the victory over Afranius
and Petreius, there was no army in Spain capable of offering resistance,
and Varro accordingly surrendered to Caesar on his arrival at Corduba
(_Cordova_). Having thus subdued all Spain in forty days, he returned to
Gaul. Massilia had not yet yielded; but the siege had been prosecuted
with so much vigor, that the inhabitants were compelled to surrender the
town soon after he appeared before the walls.

During his absence in Spain Caesar was appointed Dictator by the Praetor
M. Lepidus, who had been empowered to do so by a law passed for the
purpose. On his return to Rome Caesar assumed the new dignity, but laid
it down again at the end of eleven days, after holding the Consular
Comitia, in which he himself and P. Servilius Vatia were elected Consuls
for the next year. But during these eleven days he caused some very
important laws to be passed. The first was intended to relieve debtors,
but at the same time to protect, to a great extent, the rights of
creditors. He next restored all exiles; and, finally, he conferred the
full citizenship upon the Transpadani, who had hitherto held only the
Latin franchise.

After laying down the Dictatorship, Caesar went in December to
Brundusium, where he had previously ordered his troops to assemble. He
had lost many men in the long march from Spain, and also from sickness
arising from their passing the autumn in the south of Italy. Pompey
during the summer had raised a large force in Greece, Egypt, and t