Cæsar did not destroy the town, nor was he guilty of any outrage against it; but the inhabitants had to give up their arms, and had long to suffer the loss of their freedom. The triumph over the Massilians is one of the most shameful things ever done, as they had always been the staunch allies of the Romans. Afranius and Petreius made a stand against Cæsar near Lerida in Catalonia, and he had to employ the whole of his art, the victory which he gained being properly speaking, a moral one: he caused such a desertion in their army, that they were obliged to treat. Afranius, a commonplace man, was for coming to terms, but Petreius spurned the very thought: he even inflicted heavy punishments on the soldiers who wanted to place themselves in communication with Cæsar. This was, however, of no avail: he saw that the legions would desert him altogether. The two leaders therefore made a capitulation for themselves, and for M. Varro, by which they agreed to evacuate the whole of Spain; and they were allowed to go free with those who did not wish to serve under Cæsar, which, however, most of the men did. Thus Cæsar became master of the whole of Spain. Cato had left Sicily, of which he had had the government as prætor, and Curio had taken the command there. The latter went from thence to Africa, where he was opposed by the Pompeian general Varus, and by Juba king of Mauritania, a client of Pompey. This expedition of Curio’s came to a sad end, partly owing to the desertion which broke out among his legions, partly owing to his unskilful generalship, and to various disasters. Curio at last was killed in a battle with Juba, and most of his soldiers were scattered and cut to pieces: some of them made their escape to Sicily. Cæsar had nominated himself dictator; in what form, cannot be made out with certainty, there being much discrepancy in the accounts which we have. He did everything as expeditiously as possible, and he passed several welcome and just laws. Among others was one concerning debts; a thing which is always necessary whenever there is an extraordinary fall in the value of every kind of property, so that a debt in money ceases to be what its nominal value expresses. A commission was appointed, before which all who had land in Italy might have it estimated, and thus made available to pay off their debts. This was often done under such circumstances; and no doubt the statement is also true that the interest was deducted. A number of other enactments were also made to meet the wants of the moment. And now that he had brought his army back to Italy, and considerably strengthened it by forming the troops which had gone over to him into legions, he marched forthwith to Brundusium. It was already about a year since Pompey had left Rome, and had gathered around him all the Romans whom he had been able to gain over: he had moreover an immense host of auxiliaries, and a fleet with which, as Cæsar had nothing to oppose to it, he might have