The government had accordingly every reason not to encourage by its fostering action the spread of Hellenism at least in the west.

If Sicily was not simply relieved of the pressure of the -decumae- but had its communities invested with Latin rights, which was presumably meant to be followed in due time by full equalization with Italy, it can only have been Caesar's design that this glorious island, which was at that time desolate and had as to management passed for the greater part into Italian hands, but which nature has destined to be not so much a neighbouring land to Italy as rather the finest of its provinces, should become altogether merged in Italy.

But otherwise the Greek element, wherever it existed, was preserved and protected.
However political crises might suggest to the Imperator the demolition of the strong pillars of Hellenism in the west and in Egypt, Massilia and Alexandria were neither destroyed nor denationalized.
Latinizing On the other hand the Roman element was promoted by the government through colonization and Latinizing with all vigour and at the most various points of the empire.

The principle, which originated no doubt from a bad combination of formal law and brute force, but was inevitably necessary in order to freedom in dealing with the nations destined to destruction--that all the soil in the provinces not ceded by special act of the government to communities or private persons was the property of the state, and the holder of it for the time being had merely an heritable possession on sufferance and revocable at any time--was retained also by Caesar and raised by him from a democratic party-theory to a fundamental principle of monarchical law.
Cisalpine Gaul Gaul, of course, fell to be primarily dealt with in the extension of Roman nationality.

Cisalpine Gaul obtained throughout-- what a great part of the inhabitants had long enjoyed-- political equalization with the leading country by the admission of the Transpadane communities into the Roman burgess-union, which had for long been assumed by the democracy as accomplished,( 90) and was now (705) finally accomplished by Caesar.