He had been created dictator in 49 and 48, with the tribunician power in perpetuity; and on his return to Rome in 45 he was made consul for ten years, dictator, and _praefectus morum_, with the title of _imperator_ for life. In the intervals between his campaigns he carried out numerous reforms, including the rectification of the calendar, B.C. 46 (see p. 110). His assassination by Brutus and Cassius and the other conspirators took place on 15th March, B.C. 44. (2) WORKS. 1. _De Bello Gallico_, in seven Books. The title used by Caesar himself was probably _Commentarii rerum suarum_ (as in Cic. _Brut._ 262, and Sueton. _Iul._ 56; cf. Strabo, iv. 1, 1 ὑπομνήματα), although this does not appear in the best MSS., which give variously _libri_, _historiae_, or _ephemeris rerum gestarum belli Gallici_. The work describes Caesar's operations in Gaul, Germany, and Britain during the years B.C. 58-52, the events of each year occupying a separate Book. It was written and published as a whole, not in parts at the end of each year's campaign. Otherwise it is difficult to see why Cicero should not have heard of it from his brother Quintus or his friend Trebatius, both of whom were with Caesar; or why Hirtius should have spoken of the rapidity with which the work was composed (_B.G._ viii. praef. 6, 'Ceteri quam bene atque emendate, nos etiam quam facile atque celeriter eos perfecerit, scimus'). This view is corroborated by the statement of Asinius Pollio, that there were mistakes in the work due to defective memory (Sueton. _Iul._ 56, 'quae ... memoria lapsus perperam ediderit'); and by some expressions in the earlier Books pointing forward to events mentioned later (i. 28 compared with vii. 9, and iv. 21 with vii. 76). The time of composition was probably the winter after the last campaign narrated in the Book (B.C. 52-51). It was certainly published before B.C. 46, the date of Cicero's _Brutus_, and probably before the rupture with Pompey, of whom Caesar speaks with approbation (vii. 6, 'Cum iam ille urbanas res virtute Cn. Pompei commodiorem in statum pervenisse intellegeret').