and Appius, the governor of Sardinia, and Nepos, proconsul of Iberia, so that there were a hundred and twenty lictors there, and more than two hundred senators.  Their deliberations resulted in this:  it was agreed that Pompeius and Crassus should be made consuls, and that Caesar should have an allowance of money and five additional years in his province, which to all reflecting people seemed the most extravagant thing of all.  For those who were receiving so much from Caesar, urged the Senate to grant him money as if he had none, or rather compelled the Senate to do it, groaning as it were over its own decrees.  Cato, indeed, was not present, for he had been purposely sent out of the way on a mission to Cyprus; and Favonius, who affected to imitate Cato, finding he could do nothing by his opposition, hastily left the Senate and began to clamour to the people.  But nobody attended to him, some from fear of displeasing Pompeius and Crassus, but the greater part kept quiet to please Caesar, living on hopes from him.

XXII.  Caesar again returned to his troops in Gaul where he found much war in the country, for two great German nations had just crossed the Rhenus for the purpose of getting land; the one nation was called Usipes,[493] and the other Tenteritae.  Respecting the battle with them, Caesar says in his Commentaries,[494] that the barbarians, while they were treating with him during a truce, attacked on their march and so put to flight his own cavalry to the number of five thousand with eight hundred of their own, for his men were not expecting an attack; that they then sent other ambassadors to him intending to deceive him again, whom he detained, and then led his army against the barbarians, considering all faith towards such faithless men and violators of truces to be folly.  But Tanusius[495] says that while the senate were decreeing festivals and sacrifices for the victory, Cato delivered it as his opinion, that they ought to give up Caesar to the barbarians, and so purge themselves of the violation of the truce on behalf of the city, and turn the curse on the guilty man.  Of those who had crossed the river there were slaughtered to the number of four hundred thousand, and the few who recrossed the river were received by the Sugambri[496] a German tribe.  Caesar laying hold of this ground of complaint against the Germans, and being also greedy of glory and desirous to be the first man to cross the Rhenus with an army, began to build a bridge over the river, which was very broad, and in this part of the bed spread out widest, and was rough, and ran with a strong current so as to drive the trunks of trees that were carried down and logs of wood against the supports of the bridge,[497] and tear them asunder.  But Caesar planted large timbers across the bed of the river above the bridge to receive the trees that floated down, and thus bridling the descending current, beyond all expectation he accomplished the completion of the bridge in ten days.