Caesar returned from Spain, and had the adroitness, as has already been
explained, to extinguish these feuds, and reconcile these apparently
implacable foes. He united them together, and joined them with himself
in a triple league, which is celebrated in Roman history as the first
_triumvirate_. The rivalry, however, of these great aspirants for power
was only suppressed and concealed, without being at all weakened or
changed. The death of Crassus soon removed him from the stage. Caesar
and Pompey continued afterward, for some time, an ostensible alliance.
Caesar attempted to strengthen this bond by giving Pompey his daughter
Julia for his wife. Julia, though so young--even her father was six
years younger than Pompey--was devotedly attached to her husband, and he
was equally fond of her. She formed, in fact, a strong bond of union
between the two great conquerors as long as she lived. One day, however,
there was a riot at an election, and men were killed so near to Pompey
that his robe was covered with blood. He changed it; the servants
carried home the bloody garment which he had taken off, and Julia was so
terrified at the sight, thinking that her husband had been killed, that
she fainted, and her constitution suffered very severely by the shock.
She lived some time afterward, but finally died under circumstances
which indicate that this occurrence was the cause. Pompey and Caesar now
soon became open enemies. The ambitious aspirations which each of them
cherished were so vast, that the world was not wide enough for them both
to be satisfied. They had assisted each other up the ascent which they
had been so many years in climbing, but now they had reached very near
to the summit, and the question was to be decided which of the two
should have his station there.



CHAPTER VI.