on her naked arm, and died immediately of the bite
which it inflicted.

CHAPTER X.

CAESAR IMPERATOR.

[Sidenote: Caesar again at Rome.]
[Sidenote: Combinations against him.]
[Sidenote: Veni, vidi, vici.]

Although Pompey himself had been killed, and the army under his
immediate command entirely annihilated, Caesar did not find that the
empire was yet completely submissive to his sway. As the tidings of his
conquests spread over the vast and distant regions which were under the
Roman rule--although the story itself of his exploits might have been
exaggerated--the impression produced by his power lost something of its
strength, as men generally have little dread of remote danger. While he
was in Egypt, there were three great concentrations of power formed
against him in other quarters of the globe: in Asia Minor, in Africa,
and in Spain. In putting down these three great and formidable arrays of
opposition, Caesar made an exhibition to the world of that astonishing
promptness and celerity of military action on which his fame as a
general so much depends. He went first to Asia Minor, and fought a great
and decisive battle there, in a manner so sudden and unexpected to the
forces that opposed him that they found themselves defeated almost
before they suspected that their enemy was near. It was in reference to
this battle that he wrote the inscription for the banner, "_Veni, vidi,
vici_" The words may be rendered in English, "I came, looked, and
conquered," though the peculiar force of the expression, as well as the
alliteration, is lost in any attempt to translate it.

[Sidenote: Caesar made dictator.]

In the mean time, Caesar's prosperity and success had greatly
strengthened his cause at Rome. Rome was supported in a great measure by
the contributions brought home from the provinces by the various
military heroes who were sent out to govern them; and, of course, the
greater and more successful was the conqueror, the better was he
qualified for stations of highest authority in the estimation of the
inhabitants of the city. They made Caesar dictator even while he was
away, and appointed Mark Antony his master of horse. This was the same
Antony whom we have already mentioned as having been connected with
Cleopatra after Caesar's death. Rome, in fact, was filled with the fame
of Caesar's exploits, and, as he crossed the Adriatic and advanced
toward the city, he found himself the object of universal admiration
an