The Twelve Caesars

Having now won all Pompey’s friends and most of the Senate to his side with loans at a low rate of interest or interest free, he endeared himself to persons of less distinction too by handing out valuable presents, whether or not they asked for them. His beneficiaries included even the favourite slaves and freedmen of prominent men. Caesar thus became the one reliable source of help to all who were in legal difficulties, or in debt, or living beyond their means, and he refused help only to those whose criminal record was so black, or whose purse so empty, or whose tastes so expensive, that even he could do nothing for them. He frankly told such people, ‘What you need is a civil war.’ (Location 819)