Caesar

by Adrian Goldsworthy

  Alexandria was a young city compared with Rome. It was probably smaller-one estimate puts its population at something like half a million people – but still vastly bigger than any other city in the Greco – Roman world with the exception of Syrian Antioch. It was certainly more splendid than Rome, its deliberate foundation ensuring that it had been laid out neatly in the best traditions of Hellenistic architecture. The two main roads, which lay at right angles to each other, may well have been as much as 100 feet wide. The harbour was enormous, and on the island at its edge lay the massive Pharos lighthouse, one of the Wonders of the World. Facing the sea was the royal quarter, which consisted of numerous lavish palaces, since there was apparently a tradition of each new ruler building his or her own complex. This region of the city is now largely underwater, but in recent years archaeologists have begun a programme of investigation that has already revealed a good deal. One surprise was the number of ancient Egyptian monuments that had been moved and brought to decorate the city. Clearly many of the Ptolemies wished to emphasise the great antiquity of the country that they had come to rule. However, Alexandria was founded by a Macedonian king and most of its original colonists had been Macedonians or Greeks. Since then the population had become more mixed and the city contained the largest Jewish community outside Judaea itself. It was also a bustling port, and trade in spices, ivories and other luxuries from India seems to have increased during Cleopatra’s lifetime. However, for all this coming and going of peoples, in cultural terms Alexandria remained overtly Greek and had become one of the greatest centres of learning in the Hellenic world. Its Library was massive, filled not only with books, but also with curiosities and scientific wonders – a model able to move by steam power is mentioned in one source – and the Ptolemies had a long tradition of encouraging philosophers to come to the city to study and teach.10

  THE ALEXANDRIAN WAR

  There is no evidence that Caesar had ever visited either Alexandria or Egypt before he landed there in October 48 BC. He does seem to have been surprised by the hostility provoked by the sight of his lictors and the swagger with which he and his legionaries processed through the city. For the moment the weather prevented him from leaving and moving on, and he decided to keep himself busy. A great part of the money promised to him by Auletes over a decade before had never been paid, and Caesar announced that he intended to collect 10 million denarii of this debt. The victory at Pharsalus had only increased his already massive financial commitments, for he now had to provide for the tens of thousands of Pompeian soldiers who had surrendered to him. Around the same time he also announced that as the man who had secured recognition for Ptolemy Auletes, he would now arbitrate in the succession dispute. Pothinus the eunuch, acting as regent for Ptolemy XIII (who was still no more than thirteen or fourteen) made no public protest, but secretly sent orders summoning Achillas and the army to the city. The Commentaries claim that Achillas had 20,000 men, consisting mainly of a mix of Gabinius’ former soldiers, who had remained behind and taken local wives, and mercenaries, many of whom were runaway slaves from the Roman provinces. Caesar was seriously outnumbered and soon found himself blockaded in the walled palace compound and a number of other buildings that he had occupied in the royal quarter. At first there was an uneasy truce, but soon Achillas launched an all-out attack. In repulsing one assault Caesar’s legionaries set light to some buildings and the fire got out of hand, according to some sources spreading to the Library, although it is unlikely that this caused serious damage to its books and it remained a centre of learning for several centuries afterwards. Most of the population of the city supported the royal army or was neutral, and there was much talk of the need to stand up to the Romans if Egypt was not simply to be absorbed. Caesar sent messengers summoning aid and reinforcements, but it would be some time before any could arrive and it is clear that he was in serious danger of defeat and death.11At the beginning both Ptolemy XIII and his sister Arsinoe were within Caesar’s lines along with many of their attendants, including Pothinus. The latter was deliberately insulting, feeding the Romans poor food in rough vessels and brusquely telling them that all the gold and silverware was going to pay Caesar the money he demanded. At this point Cleopatra made her startling appearance on the scene, smuggling herself into the palace at dusk. She came with only a single member of her household, Apollodorus of Rhodes, who rowed her across the harbour in a small skiff. He then carried her into Caesar’s presence, not rolled up in a carpet in the best Hollywood tradition, but inside a laundry bag. The bag was untied and the queen revealed, perhaps standing up as it dropped down-it is hard to resist the analogy of a dancer appearing from a cake. Dio claims that the queen had learnt of Caesar’s womanising reputation and had dressed herself carefully to excite both his pity for the loss of her throne and his passion as a well – known rake. The two became lovers, and around this time Caesar decreed that the terms of Auletes’ will were clear and that Cleopatra and her brother should rule jointly. The boy was unimpressed and probably already aware that his sister was closer to the Roman consul than he could ever be. He spoke to a crowd of Alexandrians, who responded by rioting. Tension within the palace compound grew and there were rumours of plots to assassinate Caesar. In the past he had never been a heavy drinker, but now he took to staying with his officers after dinner and drinking well into the night. It was claimed that he did this for protection. One of Caesar’s personal slaves overheard Pothinus plotting and a watch was set on the eunuch, who was soon proved to be in communication with the besiegers and was promptly executed. At some point Arsinoe escaped and joined the Egyptian army, who promptly proclaimed her queen. With her former tutor, the eunuch Ganymede, she arranged the murder of Achillas and took control of the troops. The two men most responsible for killing Pompey had both suffered a similar fate within a short space of time.12

  The siege continued with renewed intensity. At one stage the besiegers contaminated the water supply to the area held by Caesar’s men, forcing the latter to order his legionaries to dig for wells. A third legion, the Thirty – Seventh, formed from surrendered Pompeians, managed to reach him by sea, bringing with it a convoy of supplies as well as artillery and other equipment. It was vital for Caesar to maintain his access to the harbour exits, since if he became cut off from the sea then it would be very difficult for any more aid to reach him. A series of small-scale naval battles were fought in and around the harbour between the small squadron of warships that had accompanied Caesar and an Egyptian navy hastily put together from the boats that policed the Nile and warships that had been discovered half-forgotten in the old royal shipyards. Beams were taken from the ceilings of great buildings to be turned into oars. In most of these encounters Caesar’s vessels gained the advantage and this encouraged him to launch an attack to secure all of Pharos island, named after the lighthouse that stood on it. This was connected to the mainland by a bridge almost a mile in length. Caesar already controlled a small section of the island, but he now launched an attack, landing ten cohorts by boats, while other warships made a diversionary attack on the far side of the island. On the next day a second attack was sent to secure the approach to the bridge. This began well, but ended in chaos when a party of sailors who had disembarked from their ships were panicked by an enemy counter-attack. The confusion spread and soon even the legionaries were fleeing for their lives, swarming aboard the closest boats in their desperation to escape. Caesar managed to keep some of the men fighting for a while, but soon realised that this small band would be overwhelmed and so joined the retreat. His own craft was swamped by panic-stricken soldiers so that it was impossible for the crew to push away from the shore. Seeing what was going to happen, the consul took off his cuirass and general’s cloak and dived into the sea. Then, holding his left hand above the water to preserve some important documents he was carrying, he calmly swam to safety. Suetonius maintains that he also managed to carry his famous cloak with him, but elsewhere it is claimed that the enemy captured and subseque
ntly paraded this trophy. By this time the boat he had left had foundered, but he was able to send other vessels back to save a few of the trapped men. It was the most serious defeat of the whole campaign and cost him some 800 casualties, just under half of which were legionaries and the remainder sailors. However, his men’s morale remained high and they continued to repulse any attacks on their positions.13

  Soon afterwards-it was probably by this time late January or early February 47 BC – a deputation came from the Alexandrians asking Caesar to release Ptolemy to them, claiming that they were weary of the despotism of Arsinoe and Ganymede. Caesar agreed, but first urged the boy to stop the attacks, which were not in the interest of his people, and remember his loyalty towards Caesar and Rome. The boy burst into tears and begged Caesar not to send him away, prompting the consul to say that if he truly felt that way then he should swiftly end the war and return. Once outside the Roman positions, Ptolemy cheerfully joined his sister and began inciting his soldiers to redouble their efforts to destroy the invaders. According to the author of the Alexandrian War, ‘a lot of Caesar’s legates, friends, centurions, and soldiers were delighted by this, because Caesar’s excessive kindness had been made absurd by the deceit of a boy’. Yet personally he doubted that Caesar had been naive, and in his account each of the parties felt that they were tricking the other in this episode. The renewed assaults against the Roman position made no headway, and things were beginning to turn in Caesar’s favour, for a relief army had come overland from Syria under the command of Mithridates of Pergamum. It was a force of allies rather than Romans, and included a contingent of 3,000 Jews contributed by the High Priest Hyrcanus II and led by Antipater, the father of Herod the Great, as well as various Syrians and Arabs. The involvement of Hyrcanus encouraged the Jewish population of Alexandria to become far more sympathetic to Caesar. Mithridates stormed the town of Pelusium, and news of this success prompted Ptolemy and the other leaders to shift the bulk of their forces eastwards to try and stop the enemy before they had completed crossing the waterways of the Delta. A messenger from Mithridates reached Caesar at about the same time. Taking some of his troops he sailed round the coast and was able to join up with the relief army before it came into contact with the Egyptians’ main force. In the ensuing battle Ptolemy’s army was utterly routed. He fled down the river, but was drowned when his boat was swamped by fugitives and capsized-an episode reminiscent of Caesar’s narrow escape some weeks earlier.14

  The war was over and now it was a question of settling Egypt. Arsinoe was a prisoner and would march in Caesar’s triumph before being permitted to live on as an exile. She would later be killed on the orders of Mark Antony, almost certainly with the encouragement of her older sister. Cleopatra now took her remaining brother, Ptolemy XIV, as co-ruler, although it was obvious that real power lay with her. In the early negotiations Caesar had granted Arsinoe and this same younger brother joint rule of Cyprus, which was a major concession given that it had recently been turned into a Roman province. This may have been a reflection of his military weakness at that stage, or perhaps was an attack on Cato, who had overseen the process. However, Cyprus was again included in the realm granted to Cleopatra and her brother. It is not entirely clear whether Caesar was able to secure the money he had demanded on arrival in Alexandria, but probable that he did so. The Alexandrian War implies that he left Egypt soon after the victory, but it is clear that this is incorrect and that he remained there for some time-perhaps as much as three months. He and Cleopatra took a cruise along the Nile in her luxurious royal barge. Appian claims that 400 vessels and most of the army accompanied them, which suggests that it was not entirely a pleasure cruise. Part of the purpose may well have been to parade through the country the newly confirmed ruler and the Roman might that supported her. The political dimension was rarely far from the mind of Caesar, or indeed of Cleopatra, but in itself it does not quite explain the episode. The situation in Egypt no longer truly required Caesar’s personal attention and there were many other issues that ought to have concerned him more. He had now been away from Rome for well over a year, and for the months of the siege itself he had been virtually cut off from events in the world outside Alexandria. Suetonius claims that Caesar would happily have kept on going ever further south along the Nile, had the army-probably most of all the senior officers-not refused to follow him. There is an echo in this story of the mutiny that brought Alexander the Great’s conquests to an end, but this does not necessarily mean that it was an invention.15

  None of the theories put forward to explain this trip have been entirely adequate, and in the end it is very hard to avoid the conclusion that Caesar simply wanted a rest. He had been almost constantly on campaign for over a decade, and since crossing the Rubicon had enjoyed no significant break from his labours. For all his restless energy, it is difficult to believe that he was not tired, and perhaps somewhat empty. In his view he had been forced to fight a civil war he had not wanted, and since Pharsalus and the death of Pompey his world had changed forever. His greatest rival, a man who had only been his enemy for a short time, had gone and there was no one now in the Roman world against whom he could compete. Fatigue and perhaps also depression, as much as fear of plots, might also explain the late-night drinking parties that had begun in the months at Alexandria. His fifty-third birthday was approaching in July 47 BC, while his hairline was rapidly receding, something that upset a man who had always been very conscious of his appearance. Looked at in this context, the attractions of a life of luxury and ease cruising along the Nile at a steady pace and not rushing on to the next task become more obvious. Added to these there was Cleopatra as companion and lover. She was young, which was surely especially attractive if Caesar was beginning to feel old age encroaching, and she was also clever, witty and well educated. As well as sexual pleasure, there was the joy of the affair, of conversation both frivolous and learned, and of simply being with a sophisticated woman. Many of these things he had enjoyed in the past with the aristocratic ladies of Rome, but Cleopatra added the glamour of royalty, the charm of Greek culture and probably some sense of Egypt’s exotic past. In many ways she was much like him, perhaps more his equal than many of his other mistresses. It was a heady mix, and from a personal perspective the Nile cruise was probably just what Caesar needed. Spending time with a Hellenistic monarch may even have revived memories of his first travels abroad. There is no reason to disbelieve sources that state that he was in love, although his past and future record make it clear that this never meant that he felt any obligation to be loyal to one particular lover. Cleopatra’s attitude can only be guessed. She owed her throne to Caesar, and had doubtless seen enough of Rome’s influence over the destiny of Egypt to know that it was wise to gain the favour of the most powerful Roman alive. Yet she may also have genuinely been in love. Caesar was much older, but he possessed the great attraction of wielding great power, added to the personal charm that had captivated so many women in the past. Some sources, and particularly the imagination of later generations, have tended to depict the court of the Ptolemies as rife with sexual intrigue and excess, and portray the queen as highly knowledgeable and experienced in all the sensual arts. Yet we really know so little about her early life that it is hard to confirm or deny any of this. It is equally possible, perhaps even rather more likely, that the affair with Caesar was her first romantic experience and that she was a virgin when she met him.16

  In the end news of a crisis in Asia persuaded Caesar to leave Egypt. There was surely an element of political thinking in his association with the queen, but in the long run his prolonged stay in Egypt was to cause him considerable problems. Three legions remained behind to ensure that Cleopatra was secure and also to prevent any surviving Pompeians from trying to occupy the country and make use of its wealth and resources. By this time he had received enough information to force him to accept that the Civil War was not yet over and that more campaigns would be needed. Interestingly he chose an officer named Ruf
io, who was the son of one of his freedmen, to command the three legions. It would later be the policy of Rome’s emperors to have an equestrian as governor of Egypt, and to forbid any senator even to visit the country without express permission. Caesar’s choice of a man who was not a senatorial legate has often been seen as foreshadowing this, but alternatively he may have thought this more tactful to the sensibilities of the Alexandrians. A senatorial legate could well have been seen as effectively a governor rather than simply the commander of troops of an ally eager to support the monarch. The legions were probably not the only thing that Caesar left behind, for by the time that he set out for Asia the sources suggest that Cleopatra was pregnant.17

  THE QUICKEST VICTORY – ZELA, 2 AUGUST 47 BC

  Caesar was now aware that the Civil War would go on, but the news that finally dragged him from Egypt concerned a foreign threat. King Pharnaces of Bosporus was a son of Mithridates of Pontus, but had managed to change sides and ally with Rome early enough not to share in his father’s defeat. In his Eastern Settlement, Pompey had left him monarch of just a small part of his father’s domains. Pharnaces saw the Civil War as a grand opportunity to reclaim the lost territories, and in a rapid offensive had soon overrun Cappadocia, Armenia, Eastern Pontus and Lesser Colchis. He was particularly cruel in his victory, ordering the castration of any captured Roman. The majority of these prisoners were probably civilians, since the whole region had been stripped of troops by the Pompeians, and there was little serious opposition until Caesar’s legate Cnaeus Domitius Calvinus moved against him in December 48 BC.His army was a motley collection of Roman and foreign legions, most of whom had originally been raised by the Pompeians and all lacking in experience. Some fought well, but two legions raised from his subjects by the Galatian king and organised and equipped in the Roman manner fled after very little fighting. Its line broken in the centre, Calvinus’ army was swiftly routed.18