ABSTRACT
Whilst this turmoil was raging in the streets of Rome, Cæar was crossing the Alps on his way back to Cisalpine Gaul. His natural impetuosity, the serious condition of his party, and the sheer impossibility of the task which he had set himself were driving him on to blunder after blunder. Thus, to gain a short respite for interference in Italy he had ventured upon measures of repression in Gaul which had only consolidated and intensified the hatred of the natives; and he had then left the country without awaiting their effects. Shortly after he had set out, probably while he was still on the road, he heard from Labienus that his old friend and supporter Commius was himself conspiring against him. For once he lost all patience. He gave instructions to Labienus to inveigle the Atrebatian chieftain to his camp and put him to death. Labienus obeyed, but Commius, though wounded, succeeded in making his escape; and the only result of the perfidy was to turn Commius into an implacable enemy of Cæsar and of Rome. Cæsar seemed to be involved in a very labour of Sisyphus; no sooner had he finished in one direction than fresh efforts were required in another, where he had thought that all was secure. These brutal and treacherous expedients bear witness to the strain at which he lived. For the moment, however, Commius, who escaped into the forests of Northern Gaul, caused him less anxiety than Italy, where serious events were once more in progress.
