and
Sulla, and proscribe all his opponents. But these fears were perfectly
groundless. A love of cruelty was no part of Caesar's nature; and, with a
magnanimity which victors rarely show, and least of all those in civil
wars, he freely forgave all who had borne arms against him, and declared
that he should make no difference between Pompeians and Caesarians. His
object was now to allay animosities, and to secure the lives and
property of all the citizens of his empire. As soon as the news of his
African victory reached Rome a public thanksgiving of forty days was
decreed in his honor; the Dictatorship was bestowed upon him for ten
years; and the Censorship, under the new title of "Praefectus Morum," for
three years. Caesar had never yet enjoyed a triumph; and, as he had now
no farther enemies to meet, he availed himself of the opportunity of
celebrating his victories in Gaul, Egypt, Pontus, and Africa, by four
magnificent triumphs. None of these, however, were in honor of his
successes in the civil war; and consequently his African triumph was to
commemorate his victory over Juba, and not over Scipio and Cato. These
triumphs were followed by largesses of corn and money to the people and
the soldiers, by public banquets, and all sorts of entertainments.

Caesar now proceeded to correct the various evils which had crept into
the state, and to obtain the enactment of several laws suitable to the
altered condition of the commonwealth. He attempted, by severe sumptuary
laws, to restrain the extravagance which pervaded all classes of
society. But the most important of his changes this year (B.C. 40) was
the reformation of the Calendar, which was a real benefit to his country
and the civilized world, and which he accomplished in his character as
Pontifex Maximus. The regulation of the Roman calendar had always been
intrusted to the College of Pontiffs, who had been accustomed to
lengthen or shorten the year at their pleasure for political purposes;
and the confusion had at length become so great that the Roman year was
three months behind the real time. To remedy this serious evil, Caesar
added 90 days to the current year, and thus made it consist of 445 days;
and he guarded against a repetition of similar errors for the future by
adapting the year to the sun's course.

In the midst of these labors Caesar was interrupted by intelligence of a
formidable insurrection which had broken out in Spain, where the remains
of the Pompe