BOOK I. B.C. 49. Caesar crosses the Rubicon. Follows Pompeius to Brundusium and conquers Afranius in Spain. „ II. „ 49. Caesar takes Massilia. Submission of Varro in Further Spain. Defeat and death of Curio before Utica. „ III. „ 48. Caesar follows Pompeius into Illyria. The lines of Dyrrachium and the Battle of Pharsalus. The beginning of the Alexandrine War. (3) +OTHER WORKS.+--All Caesar’s other writings (Speeches, Poems, &c.) have been lost, with the exception of a few brief Letters to Cicero. 3. Style. Remarkable for brevity, directness, and simplicity. The simplest facts told in the simplest way. _Ars est celare artem._ ‘Caesar’s Commentaries are worthy of all praise; they are unadorned, straightforward, and elegant, every ornament being stripped off as if it were a garment.’ --CICERO. MARCUS PORCIUS CATO, 234-149 B.C. 1. Life. [Sidenote: CATO.] For his military and political career, his Consulship (195 B.C.), his famous Censorship (184 B.C.), and his social reforms, see some good history, e.g. Mommsen, vol, iii. 2. Works. His chief works are:-- (1) His treatise +De Re Rustica+ or +De Agri Cultura+ (his only extant work).--A series of terse and pointed directions following one on another, somewhat in the manner of Hesiod, and interesting ‘as showing the practical Latin style, and as giving the prose groundwork of Vergil’s stately and beautiful embroidery in the _Georgics_.’ --Mackail. (2) +The Origines.+--‘The oldest historical work written in Latin, and the first important prose work in Roman literature.’ --Mommsen. Nepos, _Cato_, 3, summarises the contents of the seven books. Cato struggled all his life against Greek influence in literature and in manners, which he felt would be fatal to his ideal of a Roman citizen. In a letter to his son Marcus he says _Quandoque ista gens suas litteras dabit, omnia corrumpet_. He was famous for his homely wisdom, which gained him the title of _Sapiens_, e.g. _Rem tene: verba sequentur_--‘Take care of the sense: the words will take care of themselves.’ GAIUS VALERIUS CATULLUS, circ. 84-54 B.C. 1. Life. [Sidenote: CATULLUS.] Born at Verona, of a family of wealth and position, as is seen from his having estates at Sirmio:-- _Salve, O venusta Sirmio, atque ero gaude_ (C. 31) and near Tibur: _O funde noster seu Sabine seu Tiburs_ (C. 44). His father was an intimate friend of Caesar. He went to Rome early, where he spent the greater part of his short life, _Romae vivimus: illa domus, Illa mihi sedes, illic mea carpitur aetas_ (C. 68),