Their expectations had not been
fulfilled; and when they supposed that their labors were over, they
received orders to prepare for a campaign in Africa. Sallust, the
historian, was in command of their quarters in Campania. They mutinied,
and almost killed him. He fled to Rome. The soldiers of the favored 10th
legion pursued him to the gates, and demanded speech with Caesar. He bade
them come to him, and with his usual fearlessness told them to bring their
swords.
The army was Caesar's life. In the army lay the future of Rome, if Rome
was to have a future. There, if anywhere, the national spirit survived. It
was a trying moment; but there was a calmness in Caesar, a rising from a
profound indifference to what man or fortune could give or take from him,
which no extremity could shake.
The legionaries entered the city, and Caesar directed them to state their
complaints. They spoke of their services and their sufferings. They said
that they had been promised rewards, but their rewards so far had been
words, and they asked for their discharge. They did not really wish for
it. They did not expect it. But they supposed that Caesar could not
dispense with them, and that they might dictate their own terms.
During the wars in Gaul, Caesar had been most munificent to his soldiers.
He had doubled their ordinary pay.
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