as far as the Indies. But Caesar deferred the settlement of the Parthian question.
In the summer of 29 B.C. he returned to Italy, where he was greeted by the senate and the people with an enthusiasm which was certainly not feigned. There was a general feeling of relief at the end of the civil wars, and men heartily welcomed Caesar as a deliverer and restorer of peace. The only note of opposition had come from a son of M. Emilius Lepidus, the triumvir. The father lived in peaceful retirement at Circeii, but the son was rash and ambitious, and formed the plan of murdering Caesar on his return. He did not take his father into the secret, but his mother Junia, a sister of Brutus, was privy to it. Maecenas discovered the conspiracy in good time, and promptly arrested Junia and her son. Young Lepidus was immediately despatched to Caesar in the East, and was there executed. But this incident was of little consequence; Caesar's position was perfectly safe. The honors which were paid to him would have been accorded with an equal show of enthusiasm to Antonius, if fortune had declared herself for him; but there is little doubt that Caesar was more acceptable. The senate decreed that his birthday should be included among the public holidays, and it was afterwards regularly celebrated by races. His name was mentioned along with the gods in the Carmen Saliare, and it is probable that, if he had really wished it, divine honors would have been decreed to him in Rome, such as were paid to him in Egypt, where he stepped into the place of the Ptolemies, and in Asia Minor, where he assumed the privileges of the Attalids. But though he had become a god in the East, Caesar wished to remain a man in Rome. He already possessed the tribunician power for life; but it was now granted again in an extended form. (The tribunician potestas was hallowed by religious sanctity‘sacro-sancta’; the tribune's person was Inviolable. As there was no means of opposing it except by the intercession of another tribune, or by an appeal(provocatio) to the comitia centuriata or tributa, it became the strongest kind of power in the constitution, and was adopted by the Caesars, both dictator and triumvir, as a support of their position). It was also decreed that every fourth anniversary of his victory should be commemorated by games; and that the rostra and trophies of the captured ships should adorn the temple of the divine Julius. Triumphal arches were to be erected in the Roman Forum and at Brindisi, to celebrate the victor's return to Italy; and a sacrifice of thanksgiving was offered to the gods by the senate and people, and by every private person.
The triumph of Caesar lasted three days (Aug. 13, 14, 15). The soldiers who had been disbanded returned to their standards in order to take part in it, and all the troops which had shared in his victories were concentrated close to Rome. Each soldier received 1000 sesterces as a triumphal gift; and the Roman populace also received 400 sesterces a head. The triumph represented victories over the three known continents. The first days were devoted to the celebration of conquests in Europe; the subjugation of Pannonia and Dalmatia, and some successes won in Gaul over rebellious tribes by G. Carrinas during Caesar’s absence in the East. The triumph for Actium, which took place on the second day, represented a victory over the forces of Asia. The trophies were far more splendid than those won from the poor prince of Illyricum. The poet Propertius describes how he saw “the necks of kings bound with golden chains, and the fleet of Actium sailing up the Via Sacra”. Among the kings were Alexander of Emesa, whom Caesar had deposed after the battle, and Adiatorix, a Galatian prince, who before the battle had massacred all the Romans he could lay hands on. Both these captives were executed after the triumph. But the third day, which saw the triumph over Africa, was much the most brilliant. Cleopatra had, by destroying herself, avoided the shame of adorning her conqueror's triumphal car, but a statue of her was carried in her stead, and her two young children, Alexander and Cleopatra, represented the fallen house of Egyptian royalty. Images of the Nile and Egypt were also carried in the triumphal procession, and the richest spoils, with quantities of gold and silver coins, were exhibited to the gaze of the people. The result of the great influx of money into Italy was that the rate of interest fell from 12 to 4 per cent. In one respect the order of Caesar's triumph departed from the traditional custom. His fellow-consul M. Valerius Messalla Potitus, and the other senators who took part in the triumph, instead of heading the procession and guiding the triumphator into the city, according to usage, were placed last of all. This innovation was significant of the coming monarchy.
On this occasion the buildings, which Julius Caesar had designed and begun, and which had been completed since his death, were dedicated, and his own temple was consecrated by his son with special solemnity. The game of "Troy" was represented in the Circus Maximus by boys of noble family, divided into two parties, of which one was commanded by Caesar's stepson, Tiberius Nero, the future Emperor. A statue of Victory was set up in the Senate-house. The occasion was further celebrated by games and gladiatorial combats, in which a Roman senator did not disdain to take part.
But these festivities were less significant for the inauguration of a new period than the solemn closing of the temple of Janus, which had been ordained by the senate, probably early in the same year (Jan. 11). The ceremonies instituted for such an occasion by King Numa had not been witnessed for more than two hundred years, for the last occasion on which the gates of Janus had been shut was at the conclusion of the First Punic War. Strictly speaking, peace was not yet established in every corner of the Roman realm. There were hostilities still going on against mountain tribes in northern Spain, and on the German frontier. But these were small matters, mere child's play, which shrank to complete insignificance by the side of the Civil War which had been distracting the Roman world for the last twenty years. Peace (the famous Pax Romana) had in every sense come at length, and it was fitting that the doors of war should be closed at the beginning of an empire, of which the saying that “Empire is peace”, was preeminently true.
The powers which Caesar possessed as a triumvir were unconstitutional, and were, by their nature, intended to be only temporary. Besides the ordinaryimperium domi of a consul and an extraordinary imperium (militiae) in the provinces, the triumvir had the power of making laws and of appointing magistrates, which constitutionally belonged to the comitia of the people. When peace was restored to the world, it might be expected that Caesar would at once restore to the people the functions which had been made over to him for a time.
It was quite out of the question to restore the state of things which had existed before the elevation of Caesar, the Dictator. The rule of the senate had been proved to be corrupt and incompetent, and annual magistrates were powerless in the face of a body whose members held their seats for life. The only way out of the difficulty was to place the reins of government in the hands of one man. This had been done directly in the case of Caesar the father; and it had been the indirect result of the triumvirate in the case of Caesar the son. But the latter resolved to establish his supremacy on a constitutional basis, and harmonize his sovereignty with republican institutions. A dictatorship could be created only to meet some special crisis; and a "triumvir to constitute the state" was clearly absurd when the state had once been "constituted". Neither the office of a dictator nor the powers of the triumvirate were theoretically suitable to form the foundation of a permanent government; and the logically-minded Caesar was not likely to leave the constitutional shape of his rule undefined or to be content with an inconsistent theory.
He did not, however, at once lay down the triumviral powers which had been conferred on him by the Lex Titia (43 B.C.). For a year and a half after his triumph he seems to have remained a triumvir—or at least in possession of the powers which belonged to him as triumvir—but it is not clear how far during that time he made use of those unconstitutional rights. He was consul for the fifth time in 29 B.C. and again in 28 B.C., and it is probable that he acted during these years by his rights as consul, as far as possible, and not by his rights as triumvir. There was, however, much to be done in Rome and in Italy, that might truly come under the name of "constituting the state". Two of the most important measures carried out in these years were the increase of the patriciate and the reform of the senate. In 30 B.C. a law (Lex Senia) was passed, enabling Caesar to replenish the exhausted patrician class by the admission of new families; and he carried out this measure in the following year. In 28 B.C. he exercised the functions of the censorship, in conjunction with Agrippa, who was his colleague in the consulship. They not only held a census, but performed a purgation of the senate, and introduced some reforms in its constitution. Caesar also caused all the measures which had been taken during the civil wars to be repealed; but the compass and the effect of this act are not quite clear (28 B.C.). In the same year he marked his intention to return to the constitutional