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Home , 75 BC, Battle of Munda, Caesarism

HISTORYHISTORY — The Rise of

The weakened was crushed by , a charismatic military leader who exploited his popularity with a Roma n people who desired security above all else.

by Steve Bonta and had spread their depredations over the som of 20 talents. He told them they had entire . By 75 B.C. they appar - no idea whom they had captured and in- This is the seventh installment in a se- ently enjoyed the sponsorship of Rome’s structed them to ask for 50 talents instead. ries of articles on the rise and fall of the sworn enemy Mithridates, king of Pontus, The pirates readily agreed to his bold de - Roman Republic. who, having already lost one debilitating mand, and Caesar dispatched most of his war with Rome, still sought to undermine entourage back to to round up the he Cilician pirates in the early first Roman power any way he could. Some - ransom money. In the meantime, Caesar century B.C. were the scourge of time in that year, a group of Cilicians cap - more or less took command of the pirates’ T the eastern Mediterranean. They tured a vessel carrying a young Roman camp, insisting on preferential treatment, commanded huge fleets and immense aristocrat named Julius Caesar. writing letters and essays, and deriding the amounts of wealth from their strongholds According to the story, the young Caesar illiterate pirates as ignorant savages. He along the southeast coast of Asia Minor laughed at his captors’ demand for a ran - also laughingly promised the pirates that he would crucify every last one of them. The Cilicians, unsure what to make of this cheerful, powerfully built young man with the emotionless eyes, played along with what they assumed were foolish jests by a spoiled socialite who hadn’t grasped the full peril of his situation. After a lapse of little more than a month, Caesar’s friends returned with the ransom money, and the Cilician pirates set him free. It was the last mistake they were to make. Julius Caesar went directly to the nearest port, in Asia Minor, and assembled a small fleet of mercenaries. He then sailed back to the island where his erstwhile captors were still encamped. His forces quickly defeated and captured the pirates, and Caesar ordered them all crucified. However, in a fit of magnanim - ity to the condemned, he ordered their throats to be cut, to spare them the full agony of death by crucifixion. After all, he reminded them, they had treated him well in captivity. This was the personality of the man who dominated his age like no other before or since, saving only One who came into the world a few decades later to preach the coming of a very different kind of king - dom from that espoused by Caesar and his confederates, and who had nothing in com - mon with Julius Caesar except his initials. Gaius Julius Caesar — military genius, charismatic leader of men, author, dema - gog ue, consummate politician — was one Adoring fans: Julius Caesar basking in the admiration of his soldiers. Caesar’s rise to power of the most contradictory characters ever owed much to the fierce loyalty of the fighting men who served under him. to occupy the stage of history. He shared

34 THE NEW AMERICAN • ANUAR 10, 2005 Sulla’s lust for dominion, but lacked his in Asia Minor. While there, bloodthirsty vindictiveness. Capable of he is said to have developed In an age that produced a constellation of ruthlessness beyond measure, Caesar also an indecent relationship with frequently displayed calculated clemency. the king of , a pow- luminaries — , , and many He understood, where Marius, Sulla, and erful kingdom in northern others — Caesar outshone all the rest. Yet Cinna had not, that the path to supremacy Asia Minor. Homosexuality lay in patronage and flattery, not in po- at the time was still taboo in in spite of his extraordinary assets, Julius groms. His personal assets — a keen wit, Rome (in stark contrast to Caesar was a tragic man who, more than powerful intellect, decisiveness, and an ancient Greece), and Cae- athletic physique hardened by years of sar’s political enemies were any other Roman leader, was responsible discipline — won him instant allegiance quick to amplify the rumors for the downfall of the republic. among the men he commanded and al- of Caesar’s moral miscon- lowed him to ingratiate himself with the duct. masses. In an age that produced a constel- In spite of the scandal, Caesar, return- between the rival despots Marius and lation of luminaries — Cicero, Brutus, ing to Rome after Sulla’s death, was able Sulla, was rewarded by the latter with his Cato, Pompey, Crassus, and many others to build a creditable career as an advocate daughter’s hand in marriage. Pompey was — Caesar outshone all the rest.Yet in spite and gained a reputation as an unusually only too happy to divorce his first wife to of his extraordinary assets, Julius Caesar powerful and persuasive orator. become the ’s son-in-law. was a tragic man who, more than any Caesar had two great rivals in Rome After his marriage, he was dispatched to other Roman leader, was responsible for for power and prestige: one, Pompey, Sicily to quell the remnants of the Marian the downfall of the republic. eclipsed him in military exploits and the resistance there. In Sicily, Pompey earned other, Cicero, in rhetorical skill. Although a reputation as a capable but ruthless mili- Early Life friends from youth, Pompey and Cicero tary leader noted for his severity in dealing Caesar was born in 100 B.C. and as a were completely different in background with opposition. Sicily was a major source young man married Cornelia Cinnilla, the and temperament. Pompey came from a of Roman grain, and its strategic position daughter of Cinna, the leader of the Mari- wealthy, well-connected family, whereas in the mid-Mediterranean made it an asset an faction. He found himself on the wrong Cicero came from what would now be that could not be squandered. “Stop quot- side of Rome’s first civil war when the vic- styled the middle class, lacking the pedi- ing laws,” Pompey reputedly told the re- torious Sulla began his purge of all of Mar- gree for automatic promotion and patron- fractory Sicilians, “we carry weapons.” ius’ supporters. Caesar fled from Rome age. Pompey, who sided with the Sullan Following his success in bringing Sicily and enlisted in the military to campaign faction in the great civil war that arose to heel, Pompey was dispatched to North

59 B.C. Julius Caesar 55 B.C. 63 B.C. elected consul Caesar 49 B.C. Exposure of and First invades Caesar’s Catilinarian Triumvirate Britain for forces invade Conspiracy formed rst time Italy 42-31 B.C. 509 B.C. From Founding of Republic to the Republic Empire

CONSPIRACY AND THE RISE OF CAESARISM

753 B.C. Founding of Rome 58 B.C. 53 B.C. 62 B.C. Caesar’s Crassus’ 48 B.C. 44 B.C. Defeat and Gallic defeat and Defeat of Assassination death of campaigns death at Pompey at of Julius Catiline begin Carrhae Pharsalus Caesar

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He was then elected consul timated by his enemies. He recognized The Senate ordered Caesar to disband his for the first time, in 70 B.C. Pompey and Crassus, two of Rome’s Pompey’s profile grew wealthiest men and most celebrated mili- army. He chose instead, to the everlasting still further during the next tary leaders, as indispensable allies. In regret of history, to risk all for the sake of decade. In 67 B.C., in spite 59 B.C., Caesar, having managed to get of bitter debate in the Senate, himself elected consul for the first time, his ambition and cast aside forever the Pompey was given unprec- forged an informal, semi-secret political brittle husk of the old republic. On January edented power — absolute alliance with these two men. This, the so- authority over the Mediter- called , was very much a 10, 49 B.C., Caesar led his army across ranean Sea and all coastal marriage of convenience. Pompey needed the Rubicon River and marched on Rome. territory extending 50 miles Caesar’s political support for his project of inland — in order to conduct conferring state lands on veterans who had a campaign against the Cili- served under his command, and Crassus cian pirates. The campaign coveted the authority to launch a military was brief and exterminated expedition against Parthia, a powerful the pirates as a military Persian state in Mesopotamia. Pompey threat. Instead of returning and Caesar agreed to set aside their quar- to Rome, however, Pompey rels, and the former even married Caesar’s departed for Asia Minor, daughter Julia to cement the alliance. where he helped another The following year, 58 B.C., Caesar was general, Lucullus, defeat made proconsul over Roman Gaul, where Mithridates for the second he promptly launched his famous war of and final time. He then led conquest in Gaul and Britain. The Gallic Roman forces into Arme- campaigns, generally considered the great- nia, Syria, and Palestine, est military feat since the conquests of Al- including Jerusalem itself, exander the Great, were a turning point in all of which he annexed for the history of Rome and of the Western Rome. He returned to Rome world. They not only brought most of what in late 61 B.C. to wild ac- is now France and the Low Countries, as claim and a sumptuous two- well as a part of Britain, under the Roman day in honor of his yoke, they transformed Caesar into a mili- exploits. His popularity at tary hero whose popularity, at least with an all-time high, Pompey’s the masses, eclipsed even that of Pompey. stock rose still higher after Caesar, a tireless chronicler of his own several large personal dona- exploits, disseminated accounts of his vic- tions to the Roman treasury. tories over the various Gallic and British tribes. His history, designed to appeal to The Road to Power the general public rather than to the liter- In the meantime, Caesar’s ati, was written in the terse, straightfor- other rival, Cicero, had got- ward language familiar to every second- ten the better of the Catiline year Latin student. affair, in which a monstrous In addition to his undeniable qualities as conspiracy to overthrow both a military leader and rhetorician, Ju- the Roman Republic was lius Caesar was blessed with extraordinary exposed and dismantled, charisma. Endowed with a hardy physique largely through Cicero’s and uncommon stamina, he earned the Victors and vanuished: The once-proud Gauls submit to diligence. Caesar, who had slavish devotion of his soldiers through Caesar and the Roman yoke. defended Catiline’s confed- his willingness to share their hardships erates in the Senate, was and risks on the battlefield, often plung- Africa and eventually to , where the oratorically worsted by both Cicero and ing into the thick of combat heedless of last remnants of the Marians, led by a ca- Cato; suspicions of his involvement in the mortal danger. pable general named Sertorius, held out Catilinarian conspiracy tainted him in the After three years of Caesar’s spectacu- until 71 B.C. Immediately after his vic- eyes of many. By all appearances, in the lar success in Gaul, Pompey and Crassus, tory in Spain, Pompey returned to Italy in late 60s, Caesar’s star was declining, and elected consuls in 55 B.C., honored their time to assist Crassus in suppressing the those of his rivals were ascending. agreement with him and extended his pro- uprising of Spartacus — and lay claim to Julius Caesar, however, had the good consular authority. They, like many others, a piece of the credit for the Roman victory. fortune of being consistently underes- appear to have underestimated Caesar and

36 THE NEW AMERICAN • ANUAR 10, 2005 put too much faith in the strength of their with his Tenth Legion, reputedly uttering had seen during the wars between Marius alliance with him. But in the years imme - the phrase that has become synonymous and Sulla, or perhaps Caesar’s swiftness diately following, fate took a hand in two with irreversible, all-or-nothing decisions: and resolution dismayed him, but Pompey crucial events that none had foreseen. “Alea jacta est” (“The die is cast”). the invincible found himself needing to The first blow to the Triumvirate was With his battle-hardened veterans, regroup to prepare to meet Caesar’s chal - the death of Julia in 54 B.C. Both Caesar Caesar stormed southwards, prompting lenge. Caesar may have sought reconcili - and Pompey were heartbroken, and Pom - Pompey, Cato, and others of the so-called ation with his rival, but the mask was now pey soon began to have second thoughts “Optimates” (the party opposed to Caesar) off, and Pompey wasn’t having any. Their about his alliance with Caesar. He spurned to flee Rome. Perhaps Pompey wanted to forces collided first at Dyrrachium in Caesar’s offer to marry one of his nieces, spare the Eternal City the bloodbaths it Greece, where Pompey’s experience and choosing instead one Cornelia Metella, the daughter of one of Caesar’s political enemies. The following year, catastrophe struck the Roman expeditionary forces in Parthia. Crassus and his son, leading a huge Roman army, allowed themselves to be lured deep into the burning desert by the wily Par - thian general Surena, where they were cut off and slaughtered to a man. This, the bat - tle of Carrhae, was one of Rome’s worst military defeats ever. It set the stage for centuries of warfare between Rome and her greatest imperial rival, Parthia/Persia, whom Rome never completely defeated. Crassus himself was taken prisoner by the Parthians, where he met a gruesome end peculiarly apt for Rome’s wealthiest citizen: the Parthians poured molten gold down his throat. Crassus’ defeat and death provoked outrage in Rome and calls for military re - prisals, but Rome was in no position mili - tarily or politically to avenge the setback. The rivalry between Caesar and Pompey had hardened and, with the dissolution of the First Triumvirate, Rome trembled at the prospect of another civil war.

The Fall of the Republic In 52 B.C. Caesar cemented his military reputation with a decisive victory over a coalition of Gauls led by Vercingetorix. In 50 B.C., his five-year extended consulship expired, and the Senate ordered Caesar to disband his army and return to Rome. Cae - sar recognized that the time had come for decisive action. Compliance with the Sen - ate mandate would mean the end of his po - litical career, given the hostility of most of his senatorial colleagues, Pompey in par - ticular. He chose instead, to the everlasting regret of history, to risk all for the sake of his ambition and cast aside forever the brittle husk of the old republic. On January No escape: Pompey, shown here fleeing Rome before Caesar’s arrival, wanted to avoid 10, 49 B.C., Caesar crossed the Rubicon bloodshed in the capital city. After nearly defeating Caesar at Dyrrachium, his army was River, which marked the Italian frontier, overwhelmed at Pharsalus.

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equipment. Caesar, as was ness to capture him as prelude to one of his his trademark, was mag - famous reconciliations. But Cato, idealist, nanimous with captured courageous patriot, and unshakeable par - enemy leaders. He par - tisan of the old republic, wanted no part of doned them all, judging the new order that Caesar was ushering in. that he would do better Seeing that the republic was lost beyond to win allies by showing recovery, he denied Caesar any personal mercy. triumph in the only way he knew how: by Pompey, Cato, and a committing suicide. number of others eluded Pompey’s sons escaped to Spain, where capture, however. Pompey they decided to make a last stand against set sail, along with his wife Julius Caesar. Now in his fourth term as and a substantial entou - consul, Caesar hurried to Spain, the last rage, hoping to reach Af - of Rome’s dominions to defy his rule, and rica and regroup. Reach - destroyed the last opposing army at the ing the coast of Egypt, in 45 B.C., in which more Pompey was lured onto than 30,000 Romans perished. Caesar the beach by emissaries himself, now in his fifties, is said to have of the Egyptian monarch led his reluctant men in an all-out charge. Ptolemy, who had decided This time, however, he may have pushed to have Pompey murdered his luck too far, for in the total victory at to ingratiate himself with Munda he wiped out all the remaining Caesar. As his horrified family and confederates of Pompey, save wife and friends watched only one son who escaped the carnage. from the boat, the treach - This, tells us, displeased large erous Egyptians cut down numbers of Romans who still held Pom - Pompey on the beach. pey in very high esteem. Not only that, Caesar, pursuing Pom - Caesar arrogantly celebrated this victory pey to Egypt, appeared with a colossal triumph in Rome, which A monarch uncrowned: Caesar, understanding the distasteful to be genuinely upset at stirred up even more antagonism. symbolism of a coronation, publicly refused a crown that Mark the latter’s assassination, Nevertheless, he managed to get himself Antony tried to give him. It was probably a cynical publicity since it denied him yet appointed dictator for life and elected to a stunt, since Caesar had made himself a monarch in everything another opportunity to put 10-year term as consul. He shrewdly cur - but name. his self-serving victor’s ried favor with the masses by publicly re - magnanimity on display. pudiating calls for him to be crowned king. able generalship carried the day in July, As Plutarch noted, without a trace of irony, In one incident — probably staged — his 48 B.C. “in his letter to his friends at Rome, [Cae - political ally and fellow consul Marcus At this point, Pompey was seized with sar] told them that the greatest and most Antonius (Mark Anthony) attempted to reluctance to prosecute the war further, signal pleasure his victory had given him place a diadem on Caesar’s head during distressed at the prospect of shedding was to be able continually to save the lives a major religious festival. Caesar ostenta - more Roman blood. Cato the Younger, of fellow-citizens who had fought against tiously declined the honor, to the delight according to Plutarch, wept bitter tears at him.” In Egypt, Caesar supported Cleopa - of onlookers. However, as noted the sight of thousands of dead Romans on tra in a civil war that had lately broken out somberly, “the people hoped that [Caesar] the battlefield after Dyrrachium. But most and installed her as ruler. He also had an would also give them back democracy, just of Pompey’s other associates urged him to affair with that produced his as Sulla had done, who had achieved a po - pursue Caesar, to finish him off while his only known son. sition of equal power. However, they were forces were reeling. Tormented by premo - After a brief interlude in Asia Minor, disappointed in this.” nitions of disaster, Pompey bowed to the where he defeated the latest upstart king According to Appian, Caesar’s person demands of his men and led them to the of Pontus, Pharnaces II, the son of Mith - was made inviolate, and he began conduct - place where all would be hazarded, Phar - ridates, Caesar returned to Africa to deal ing business from a throne of ivory and salus in northern Greece. with the remnants of the forces represent - gold. Temples were dedicated to him, and Only about a month had elapsed since ing Pompey and the Senate. Another char - the priests and priestesses were instruct - Dyrrachium, and Pompey’s forces greatly acteristically decisive victory followed, ed to offer public prayers on his behalf. outnumbered those of his determined ad - which saw most of the remaining opposi - Magistrates were placed under oath not to versary. Yet Julius Caesar’s army carried tion leadership killed. Cato the Younger, oppose any of Caesar’s decisions. Even a the day, routing Pompey’s 45,000-man who was also in Africa, was informed of month of the , Quintus, force and capturing all of his tents and the defeat and of Caesar’s great anxious - was renamed Julius in his honor.

38 THE NEW AMERICAN • ANUAR 10, 2005 Caesar used his dictatorial powers to to more than twenty knife wounds. Rome now craved peace, luxury, and secu - redistribute wealth and land. He began After the assassination, the senators rity. But with the permanent rise of Cae - planning grandiose public works and even fled in confusion, and Rome descended sarism, Rome lost not only her liberty but reformed the Roman calendar. His most into turmoil. The man who had dealt the also her peace and security. Her opulence ambitious dream was a grand military republic its death blow was dead in his and fearsome military machine guaranteed campaign into Parthia and Scythia, and turn, but contrary to the expectations of his yet a few generations of imperial domi - thence north and west into Germania, to assassins, few Romans rallied now to the nance, but for Rome’s unhappy citizens, bring under Roman dominion all of the na - cause of the republic. Instead, the mass - the years to come would bring a nightmar - tions to the north and east that still defied es mourned the passing of a charismatic ish pageant of bloodshed and oppression Roman arms. leader who had kept them entertained and that in the end would undo the civilizing who had never hesitated to raid the public work of centuries and bring to a close the Death of a Dictator treasury on their behalf. Instead of liberty, first flowering of Western civilization. ■ But the recently expired republic still had its champions. Cicero maintained a low profile, opting to play the survivor rather than the martyr. Other senators, however, led by Marcus Junius Brutus and , were dismayed at the Caesarian dictatorship. Brutus and Cassius had both been pardoned by Caesar after the defeat of Pompey, and young Brutus was even alleged by some to have been Caesar’s illegitimate son. Brutus, Cassius, and their senatorial confederates now de - cided that only drastic action could restore the republic. They formed a conspiracy to assassinate Julius Caesar. The date chosen for the assassination was March 15 in 44 B.C. According to tradition, Caesar had ample warning of the plot against him. His associates warned him that trouble was brewing, and a sooth - sayer advised him to beware of the , as the Romans referred to that fateful day. On the eve before his assassi - nation, his wife Calpurnia dreamt that he had been murdered and begged him to stay at home the next day. Yet in spite of all these portents, Caesar made his way to the Forum the next day. Plutarch records that he met the soothsay - er along the way and told him jestingly, “The Ides of March are come;” to which the soothsayer, unruffled, replied, “Yes, they are come, but they are not past.” On that day, the Senate had chosen to meet in a building where a great statue of Pompey stood. It was at the very foot of this statue, as Caesar was surrounded by a knot of senators, that the assassins, bear - ing daggers concealed under their togas, made their move. As soon as he realized what was happening, Caesar fought fe - rociously against his assailants, but soon sank to his knees. Seeing Brutus among Thus ever to tyrants: Caesar’s assassins wanted to restore the republic by killing a usurper, but the assassins, he is supposed to have said, only made matters worse. Many Romans loved Caesar for his generosity with public monies and “Even you, my child?” before succumbing for his military prowess, and had lost interest in self-government.

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