He called his tribunes and centurions together. "I could wish," he said, "that certain persons would have remembered for themselves parts of their past conduct which, though I overlooked them, were known to me; I could wish they would have atoned for these faults by special attention to their duties. As they have not chosen to do this, I must make an example of them as a warning to others. "You, Caius Avienus, instigated soldiers in the service of the State to mutiny against their commanders. You oppressed towns which were under your charge. Forgetting your duty to the army and to me, you filled a vessel with your own establishment which was intended for the transport of troops; and at a difficult moment we were thus left, through your means, without the men whom we needed. For these causes, and as a mark of disgrace, I dismiss you from the service, and I order you to leave Africa by the first ship which sails. "You, Aulus Fonteius [another tribune], have been a seditious and a bad officer. I dismiss you also. "You, Titus Salienus, Marcus Tiro, Caius Clusinas, centurions, obtained your commissions by favor, not by merit. You have shown want of courage in the field; your conduct otherwise has been uniformly bad; you have encouraged a mutinous spirit in your companies. You are unworthy to serve under my command. You are dismissed, and will return to Italy." The five offenders were sent under guard on board ship, each noticeably being allowed a single slave to wait upon him, and so were expelled from the country. This remarkable picture of Caesar's method of enforcing discipline is described by a person who was evidently present;[6] and it may be taken as a correction to the vague stories of his severity to these officers which are told by Dion Cassius. [1] _To Atticus_, xi. 7. [2] Citizens. [3] Where the African coast turns south from Cape Bon. [4] "Animum enim altum et erectum prae se gerebat."--_De Bello Africano_. [5] Between Carthage and Utica. [6] _De Bella Africano_, c. 54. This remarkably interesting narrative is attached to Caesar's _Commentaries_. The author is unknown. CHAPTER XXV.