While on his way home Caesar learnt that four legions, which he had sent on ahead to Placentia, were restless. On his arrival a mere threat to decimate the Ninth and the execution of a dozen ring-leaders sufficed to quell this incipient mutiny. Shortly before this he had heard that Lepidus, as praetor, had failed to get special permission to hold the consular elections for 48, and in default had carried a law appointing Caesar dictator. As Caesar’s main need was to secure the consulship (this being the issue on which his dispute with the Senate had hinged), his dictatorship was perhaps more limited in scope than that of a ‘dictator rei publicae constituendae’ as Sulla, and may only have authorized him to hold the elections (comitiorum habendorum causa) and the Latin Festival: in the fourth and third centuries dictators had often been appointed for such special non-military duties. When he reached Rome he held the elections, at which he won his second consulship, celebrated the Festival, and then, relying perhaps on the imperium maius inherent in a dictator’s office, he carried some necessary legislation, helping debtors (by methods which involved creditors in an average loss of a quarter of the principal), forbidding hoarding large sums of cash, and recalling exiles.12 Then having held his first dictatorship for eleven days, he abdicated.
6. WAR IN GREECE, EGYPT AND ASIA (48–47 B.C.)
Meanwhile Pompey had gone to Thessalonica, and by drawing upon the resources of the eastern provinces and client kings he was able to build up a force of some 36,000 legionaries, together with at least 300 ships which were commanded by Bibulus. He had with him, however, some 200 senators, and although he had been chosen commander-in-chief, he found it difficult to impose unity of purpose on these Roman nobles. To prevent these forces increasing still further Caesar had to act quickly. He hastened to Brundisium and despite the risk of winter navigation he got seven legions across the Adriatic early in 48, but Bibulus attacked his transports on their return and blockaded Brundisium. Caesar had occupied Apollonia, but he was prevented from winning Dyrrhachium through the sudden appearance of Pompey who had been hastening to the west. He was in fact in a very difficult position, but at last in the early spring M. Antony managed to slip across with four more legions, eluded Pompey and joined forces with Caesar, who then took up a position just south of Dyrrhachium. Pompey, who had avoided a pitched battle, camped a little south of Caesar, and secured himself by establishing fortified lines on a semicircle of hills that ran behind the coast and thus enclosed his whole position. Caesar then built an outer line of fortifications some fifteen miles long; these cut Pompey completely off by land, but not by sea. As the weeks went by, Caesar found his own supplies diminishing, and after he had repulsed at heavy cost a full-scale attack by Pompey on his lines, he was compelled to try to break away. This he managed successfully; he reached Apollonia and then made eastwards for Thessaly and its corn-fields.
Pompey followed and when he camped on higher ground opposite Caesar near Pharsalus13 he outnumbered his opponent very considerably. At first he declined to engage, but then decided to fight on the very day that Caesar determined to move off. He hoped that the superiority of his cavalry would give him the victory, but Caesar thwarted this by posting obliquely behind his own line a reserve of eight cohorts who used their pila as stabbing spears. Caesar then threw in his third line with devastating effect. Pompey quickly rode off the field: his losses numbered some 6000 dead and 24,000 captured. As Caesar surveyed the stricken field and the Optimate dead, he cried, ‘They would have it thus’ (hoc voluerunt).
Pompey fled with a few friends to Egypt, but as he stepped ashore he was murdered on Ptolemy’s orders. His death at least smoothed the path of Caesar, who arrived three days later: it is unlikely that he would have felt able to show the same generosity to him as to lesser opponents or that, if he had, Pompey would have chosen to have survived as a living example of his conqueror’s clementia. Pompey was widely mourned. Cicero, who had been so drawn to him and yet disappointed in him, wrote: ‘non possum eius casum non dolere: hominem enim integrum et castum et gravem cognovi’. His private life commanded respect in a period of increasing licence, and he won the affection of Julia and Cornelia, whom he had married for political reasons. In political life he had shown lack of understanding and of sureness of touch: the puzzled frown seen on his portraits reflects a frequent hesitation, arising in part from an innate moderation. Ambitious he was, but he sought glory before power: the violence of his earlier days and his great military gifts secured for him immense authority, both official and private. This, at the moment of inescapable decision, he placed at the service of an unworthy Senate, whose control his own earlier career had done so much to weaken, in an attempt to uphold constitutionalism and his own dignitas alike. His gifts as soldier and administrator raised him high above his contemporaries and made him a worthy opponent of Caesar; he lacked only that final spark of genius that set Caesar apart.14
The political scene in Egypt was disturbed. Ptolemy Auletes, who had finally been restored to his throne by Gabinius at Pompey’s instigation, had died in 51 and left his kingdom to his son Ptolemy, aged about ten, and his daughter Cleopatra, aged about eighteen, whom he commended to the care of the Roman People. Around the young joint-rulers, who married one another, gathered a motley crowd of advisors and adventurers, including some Roman troops whom Gabinius had left behind. One court faction soon succeeded in driving Cleopatra out of Alexandria, but she had just returned at the head of an army when news came of Pompey’s approach: the young king’s advisors bid for Caesar’s support and treacherously effected Pompey’s murder. Three days later Caesar arrived with a small force of some 4000 men. When he decided to settle Egypt and collect the money which Auletes had promised to pay the triumvirs for his recognition, his autocratic manner soon enabled Ptolemy’s supporters to rouse the royal guard and the Alexandrian mob against him: he was besieged in the palace quarters of the city through the winter (48/7), while he awaited reinforcements from Asia. Meantime Cleopatra, who wanted to put her claims before the would-be Roman arbitrator, had been smuggled by a boatman into the city and palace. She was, like all the Ptolemies, a Macedonian not an Egyptian; of unbounded ambition and energy, she was highly cultured and amusing, charming rather than beautiful. Caesar was captivated, and Cleopatra stayed on in the palace as his mistress.
During the winter one legion reached Caesar, and there was some stiff fighting by sea in and around the harbours: at one moment Caesar had to swim for his life. But in the spring a force, which a certain Mithridates of Pergamum had raised for Caesar in Syria, arrived; Caesar managed to join hands with it and together they defeated the army of young Ptolemy in the Nile Delta. Ptolemy fell in battle, and his crown was transferred to a younger brother, Ptolemy XIV, but Cleopatra remained the effective ruler. Caesar is said to have spent the next two months with her on a tour up the Nile, but he had to hurry off to Asia Minor where Pharnaces, the son of Mithridates and ruler of the Bosporus, had overrun Cappadocia and Armenia Minor, defeated at Nicopolis Cn. Domitius Calvinus whom Caesar had sent against him, and then occupied Pontus.15 Caesar left three legions in Egypt and set off to deal with Pharnaces, whom he defeated in a brilliantly swift campaign of five days at Zela, after the king had rashly launched an attack up-hill; later at his triumph in Rome Caesar displayed his famous message summing up the campaign: ‘veni, vidi, vici’ He rewarded Mithridates of Pergamum by granting him the eastern part of Galatia and the vacant realm of Bosporus, but in trying to occupy the latter Mithridates was killed. Now at last, in the course of the summer (47) Caesar was free to return to Italy.
7. THE END OF THE CIVIL WAR
Caesar was badly needed in Italy. In 48 B.C. attempts by the praetor Caelius Rufus to obstruct the working of Caesar’s debt-law had caused such rioting that the consul Servilius, fortified by the senatus consultum ultimum, deposed him from office. Caelius was joined by Milo, who returned from exile, and both caused further disturbances in Italy until they were killed. Soon came the news of Pharsalus, and the return of Anton
y with some of the victorious troops. Servilius then named Caesar in his absence dictator for a second time, probably ‘rei gerundae causa’ and for a year from October 48; Antony was appointed his Magister Equitum.16 No consuls were elected for 47. Antony’s task was to keep order in Italy. This was made difficult by Cicero’s unprincipled son-in-law, Cornelius Dolabella, who as tribune in 47 agitated against the debt-law with such virulence that the Senate empowered Antony to keep troops within the city. More serious was the dissatisfaction of some of Caesar’s veterans in Italy who were awaiting his arrival for their rewards and discharge. They even marched on Rome, but Caesar was back just in time: he suddenly appeared on the tribunal in the Campus Martius and addressed them as ‘Civilians’ (Quirites, or ‘citizens’) unworthy any longer to serve under him. Rebuked, they returned to their allegiance.
Caesar then had much to do in a short time, short because the survivors of all the Pompeian forces were mustering in Africa in such menacing numbers that he must go there himself. Consuls were elected for the last three months of the year (47), Caesar’s dictatorship probably ended in October, but he retained proconsular imperium (possibly maius), and he was elected to his third consulship for 46. To ease the tense economic situation he released tenants from the payment of small rents for a year and remitted interest that had accrued since the start of the war. He rewarded his followers, many of whom were made senators, and he pardoned many Pompeians who submitted. His generosity is illustrated by his first meeting with Cicero after his return: ‘when Caesar saw him coming to meet him, he dismounted and embraced him and walked several furlongs talking with him alone. Thereafter he treated him consistently with respect and good will’. Cicero could now return in peace to his literary life. Caesar sailed for Africa.
The Pompeians who had held Africa since the defeat of Curio, had gathered ten legions, while king Juba brought four more; their cavalry numbered 15,000. The Roman forces were commanded by Pompey’s father-in-law, Q. Metellus Scipio, whose most competent legate was T. Labienus, the only officer of the Gallic wars to have deserted Caesar for Pompey’s camp.17 So urgent was the need to grapple with these forces that Caesar took the risk of shipping his troops over by detachments during the winter (47/6). After landing with the first group on the east coast of Tunisia, he was taken partly off guard by Labienus and Petreius at Ruspina but saved the day by a bold manoeuvre. When the rest of his troops arrived he had eight legions and was ready to face the enemy. While he was besieging Thapsus, which lay on the coast and was approached by two corridors of land on either side of a large lagoon, he managed to tempt Scipio into the western corridor and force him to stand and fight. Caesar quickly broke and rolled up his line, but in the moment of victory his men got out of hand and spared none of the enemy. Few escaped: Labienus and Pompey’s son Sextus managed to reach Spain, where his brother Gnaeus Pompeius was trying to establish himself. Cato, who was holding Utica, on finding the position hopeless committed suicide: ‘victrix causa deis placuit, sed victa Catoni’. His death symbolized the death of the Republic, which he had loyally if short-sightedly sought to uphold with unbridled vigour all his life: under the Principate he was idealized as the martyr of Republican liberty and a paragon of Stoic virtues.18
When news of Thapsus reached Rome in the spring (46), fresh honours were voted for Caesar. He was appointed praefectus morum for three years and dictator (for the third time) for ten years (with perhaps a formal annual designation), the dictatorship being more probably ‘rei publicae constituendae’ than ‘rei gerundae causa’. On his return Caesar at last celebrated a fourfold triumph of unparalleled magnificence over Gaul, Egypt, Pontus and Africa. He gave cash bounties to his troops and 100 denarii to every citizen; they were also entertained by feasts and shows. He pardoned more of his enemies, including M. Marcellus (who had flogged the Transpadane: cf. p. 103) and Q. Ligarius (who, already pardoned after Pharsalus, had again fought against Caesar at Thapsus); Cicero spoke in public on behalf of both men, praised Caesar’s generosity and urged the need for social reform.19 This task Caesar now began to undertake: his measures are discussed in the following section. Less popular was his treatment of Cleopatra: he enrolled her among the Friends of the Roman People, put her statue in the temple of Venus Genetrix, and installed her with her infant son Caesarion (of whom he was almost certainly the father) in his suburban house on the Janiculum. But he could not continue uninterrupted with his measures of reconstruction: one more campaign must be fought. Pompey’s sons had built up a formidable force of thirteen legions in Spain and Caesar himself must now follow the legates whom he had sent on ahead. He left Lepidus, who was both his fellow-consul and his Magister Equitum, together with eight praetorian prefects, to look after Italy, while his agents Balbus and Oppius kept an eye on affairs less officially. When finally Lepidus held the consular elections for 45, Caesar was elected consul, for the fourth time, without a colleague. Before the end of 46 he had left for Spain.
Although the Pompeians had the help of Labienus and were in control of most of the Baetis (Guadalquivir) valley, the campaign was brief. The decisive battle was fought at Munda, between Seville and Malaga, where the Pompeians had the advantage of a slope: it was touch-and-go during a long grim struggle until at last Caesar’s Tenth legion pushed back the enemy’s left wing, which was then assailed by the cavalry of the Mauretanian king, Bogud. The slaughter of the Pompeians was heavy: of the leaders only Sextus Pompeius escaped. After occupying Corduba, Hispalis (Seville) and Gades, Caesar punished severely the districts that had supported the Pompeians, and made some preliminary arrangements for the colonies that he planned to settle in Spain.
At news of Munda the Senate voted fresh honours to Caesar, including the title Liberator. On his return he celebrated another triumph. His dictatorship had been automatically renewed, but in October he resigned his (sole) consulship, and two of his nominees were elected consules suffecti. One of them, however, died on the last day of the year and Caesar gave offence to the nobles by having another suffect appointed for the day, thus cheapening the office. He now remained in Rome until his death. He was elected to his fifth consulship for 44, with Antony as his colleague; he received further excessive honours (see below); and finally, probably about mid-February 44 (perhaps when his ten-year dictatorship was due for its formal annual renewal), he was made instead Dictator Perpetuus. The Ides of March soon followed.
8. REFORM AND RECONSTRUCTION
Over thirty years earlier another dictator had tried his hand at reform after a civil war, but Caesar’s task was easier in at least one respect: he had not to face recriminations arising from proscriptions or confiscations in Italy, but rather he had readily pardoned his enemies, both individual leaders and bodies of troops. All men were impressed by his clemency, and Cicero had openly urged him in 46 to restore the Republic to health by social reform, a plea that was re-echoed in a pamphlet attributed to Sallust.20 Caesar responded to the need with restless energy in the intervals between his campaigns abroad: in view of the short time that he spent in Rome the amount and variety of legislation that he sponsored is amazing and its incompleteness understandable.
A whole series of measures was designed to improve administrative efficiency and to benefit Rome and Italy. One of the best-known was his reform (in 46) of the calendar, which kept getting out of gear with the solar year: this was both inconvenient and, because priests could intercalate months at will, often led to political trickery. With the advice of an Alexandrian astronomer Caesar added three (instead of the normal one) intercalary months to 46 B.C. and introduced a reformed calendar: this Julian calendar, with some slight adjustments by Pope Gregory XIII which were introduced into Britain in 1752, is still in use. Caesar carried a less effective sumptuary law to check extravagance. He suppressed all collegia, except genuine old trade guilds and the gatherings (synagogues) of the Jews who had helped him in Alexandria. He excluded the tribuni aerarii (p. 82) from the quaestiones, which were now shared equally by senators and Equit
es. He even planned to codify Roman civil law, a huge task not accomplished for 500 years. His measures to relieve debt have already been mentioned. He cut down the list of recipients of free corn from 320,000 to 150,000 because he was planning colonies for some of the surplus city population.20a He improved the city itself by new buildings, which included a new Forum (Forum Iulium) to relieve congestion and a basilica; he planned a public library in charge of Varro, together with schemes to prevent the Tiber flooding the city; in his new Forum he dedicated a temple to Venus Genetrix, the goddess from whom the Julian gens claimed descent. He also drafted measures to provide for the unkeep of roads, the regulation of traffic, and the use of open spaces. In Italy he planned to build a new road over the Apennines and to extend the area available for agriculture by draining the Pomptine Marshes and the Fucine Lake. To mitigate the danger of brigandage and to help unemployment he enacted that at least one-third of the pastores on the large ranches should be free men. He re-imposed harbour-dues (portoria) which had been abolished in 60 B.C., to help Italian industry. He planned to construct a harbour at Ostia to facilitate imports, especially corn. He introduced a new gold coinage, the first regular issue in this metal. Though he did not carry a general law to standardize the municipal administration of all Italy, he did draft some regulations that were carried a few months after his death by Antony. These established qualifications for local magistrates and membership of local senates: undesirables, such as gladiators or bankrupts, were excluded, but not apparently freedmen; municipal censuses were also regulated.21
During his first consulship in 59 Caesar had shown his regard for the provinces by his lex de repetundis (p. 98). He now saved some of them from the worst exactions of the tax-gatherers: he had fixed the tribute which Transalpine Gaul was to pay, and in 48 he abolished the tithe system in Asia for which he substituted a land-tax of fixed amount, thus eliminating the middlemen; the same system was also applied to Sicily. A measure, however, which limited proconsular governorships to two years and propraetorian to one year, may have had less regard for the interests of the provincials than for the potential danger arising from longer terms of office: Augustus later provided for longer governorships in the interests of the provincials.22 More important, however, was the fact that by indirect methods Caesar began to break down the barriers between Italy and the provinces, through the number of Romans that he settled in the provinces and by his liberal grants of Roman citizenship to provincials.
From the Gracchi to Nero: A History of Rome from 133 B.C. to A.D. 68 Page 21