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The Causes of the Civil War Between Pompey and Caesar?

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The Causes of the Civil War Between Pompey and Caesar? 1 CLH389 655289 What were the causes of the civil war between Pompey and Caesar? In many ways, Gnaeus Pompeius MaGnus and Gaius Julius Caesar were easily comparable in terms of their lives. The men were of a similar aGe when they were at their peaKs of power, and both had unusual rises to prominence that led to glorious careers and tragic ends. By the time Caesar came to prominence, Pompey was the established first man of the republic. He was a respected General from the start of Sulla’s dictatorship, having raised legions from his estate worKers to support Sulla’s march on Rome.1 He became the dictator’s problem fixer, a role he would later fill for the republic. However he displayed an arroGance at this early staGe in his career; when sent to Africa to deal with Sulla’s enemies there, Pompey, who was equestrian and held no senatorial ranK, demanded a triumph. He even imitated his leader, by usinG his troops as a bacKinG to force throuGh his demands.2 When Lepidus, the consul who Pompey had supported, revolted in 79BC, Pompey was granted propraetorian imperium in order to aid in supressinG him. Pompey also reportedly had Lepidus’ ally, Marcus Brutus the elder killed after he surrendered. 3 Pompey then gained consular imperium in Spain. However it was only after he returned from Spain to aid aGainst the Spartacus revolt and arguably stole the glory from Crassus that Pompey finally gained senatorial office; at the age of 35 he broke with tradition and constitution to become consul alonG with Crassus in 70BC. Pompey’s next two appointments added to his accustomed attitude to power; both in his campaign against the pirates and in the Third Mithradic War he was given immense power and control through the Lex Gabinia and the Lex Marilia respectively. After all his success, Pompey was hailed as the first amoung equals in Rome, a man seemingly without match. In retrospect, any form of resistance to Pompey can be seen as needless and self-destructive. At aGe sixteen, Caesar was head of his house and closely allied to his uncle Marius, but this quickly went wronG followinG Marius’ defeat. Caesar went into hidinG with the army to avoid violent 1 Plutarch, Pompey, 6 2 Plutarch, Pompey, 13-14 3 Plutarch, Pompey, 16 2 CLH389 655289 repercussions from Sulla. When Caesar returned to the political scene, he was a supporter of Pompey, and the man may have served as an inspiration to Caesar. In Spain, Caesar gained prominence as a front man in Rome and demanded a triumph for his victories there, which was rejected. It was then that the triumvirate was created and the power of the three combined gained Caesar his first consulship and his commands in Gaul. His actions in his first consulship, where he rode rouGhshod over tradition and constitution occasionally, made him enemies that would do everything in their power to destroy him. Ultimately this was the start of the Civil War against Pompey, and the one that would follow his assassination. The triumvirate itself was a biG cause of the Civil War. When it formed, all three men had been foiled in their own particular requests. The aGreement was that as the most powerful men of Rome they should ensure that “no political action be taKen which did not suit any one of the three”.4 Pompey obviously was the established first man of Rome, Crassus was the richest man in the Republic and Caesar was the risinG star. The elder two tied themselves to the up and cominG politician, attractive and promising. Caesar had served Pompey well in the past, and Pompey offered him a reconciliation his long-time enemy Crassus.5 The men saw Caesar’s potential and assuming that with their power they could reap the benefits.6 AccordinG to contemporary sources, usinG the support of his other two triumvirs, Caesar gained the consulship.789 This allowed the triumvirs to push throuGh the legislation they wanted. The merGer was one of mutual interest; it was unstable, but precariously balanced by mutual suspicion.10 However in the years followinG the oriGinal agreement in 60BC, the situations had changed. Caesar had covered himself in glory and prestige on campaign in Gaul, gaininG the people adoration but he found himself under attack in the Senate. Pompey, the “great man” in 59BC, was also under attack from the Tribune Clodius; he was blocKaded in his house and there are even rumours of assassination attempts. Pompey was also in a dispute with Crassus over the bequests of EGypt, 4 Suetonius, Caesar, 19 5 Gruen, 1969, 78 6 Plutarch, Crassus, 14 7 Plutarch, Pompey, 47 8 Plutarch, Crassus, 14 9 Dio, 37, 54 10 Gruen, 1991, 78 3 CLH389 655289 made worse by the lonG standinG animosity between the two. However, Caesar did not mind this as he wanted Pompey isolated. Lucca was meant to equalise all three; between them, they divided up the empire equally. Caesar’s command was extended for five more years, with no option of discussion until 50BC; he also gained the ability to raise four new leGions, men that would be loyal to him. Pompey and Crassus were to Get the consulship in 55BC and to gain commands in Spain and Parthia respectively with a similar prohibition on discussion, but Pompey was to stay in Rome due to his corn commission. The three men were equal and dependent on each other to keep their monopoly on power. And therefore if somethinG went wronG, which it did, chaos would ensue. Of course the breaKdown of the triumvirate was one of the major causes of the Civil War. In 54BC Pompey’s wife and Caesar’s daughter Julia died. Marriage to Julia had been one of the ways Pompey and Caesar had cemented themselves to each other.11 Of course Pompey, the senior man of the Republic, needed a wife for political reasons. Caesar assumed that his ally would willinGly marry another one of his relatives, and so reaffirm their relationship; accordinG to Plutarch Caesar even offered to divorce Calpurnia and marry Pompey’s dauGhter. However this is not what Pompey did; he rejected Caesar’s offers and married a woman from a separate family.12 While this could be forgivable, his choice of bride was a blow to Caesar; Cornelia Metella, the widow of Crassus son Publius and daughter of Metellus Scipio, who was a strongly opposed to the triumvirate. Metellus had been consul with Pompey in 52BC and was the man responsible for persuading the senate to issue the ultimatum to Caesar. However before Pompey’s marriaGe to Cornelia, the triumvirate had technically ended already with the death of Crassus at the Battle of Carrhae in 53BC. Metellus then saw his chance to manipulate Caesar’s absence from Rome and maKe his greatest ally Pompey into his greatest opposition. 11 Plutarch, Pompey, 47 12 Plutarch, Pompey, 55 4 CLH389 655289 Caesar was already in a precarious position before all of this.13 Obviously the renewed aGreement of the triumvirate, Caesar’s position was secure for five more years and discussion was prohibited until March 50BC; Caesars plan was then to remain in Gaul until 49BC and then return to stand for consulship. In 52BC, a law of ten tribunes allowed Caesar to stand in absentia for the consulship of 49BC. However this plan was threatened by the increasinG numbers of demands for Caesar to give up his office or be removed from it. This was accompanied by a series of laws which undermined his plans and position and made him dependant on Pompey’s friendship. Pompey passed a provincial law which meant that there had to be a five year moratorium between a man holdinG maGistracy and a pro- maGistracy. This obviously hampered Caesar’s plan; he could not go from beinG consul to beinG assigned a pro-consular province. This would mean he would have to wait for his chance to expand his reputation and wealth, and leave him in Rome where his enemies in the Senate would do everything to stop him gaining more power. However Pompey personally exempted Caesar from the Gracchan consular provinces law that required personal attendance in Rome as a consul. Caesar was physically weakened when in 50BC he lost two of his legions in Gaul. Following the disaster Carrhae, there were concerns with security in Syria and to soothe this, Pompey and Caesar were required to pledge a legion each. Caesar sent one of his legions from Gaul, but Pompey recalled one of the leGions he had loaned to Caesar,14 so Caesar lost two whole leGions from his forces in Gaul. What is worse is that these men did not Go to Syria; in fact they never left Italy. For Caesar, returning to Rome was looKinG formidable. This is possibly why he attempted to maKe conciliatory moves with the Senate on several occasions, such as proposing a joint disarmament in 49BC, but these were rejected. Pompey too lay at fault for the outbreak of the civil war, and according to Gruen, was the man responsible for the downfall of the old republic.15 If we examine the years followinG Lucca, Pompey held the consulship in 55BC and after that gained governorship in Spain from 54BC but remained in Rome because of his corn commission. He is therefore in the perfect position to control what happens in the Senate when the riots occurred in 52BC. After the death of the Clodius at the hands of his rival, 13 Plutarch, Caesar, 29 14 Plutarch, Pompey, 57 15 Gruen, 1991, 72 5 CLH389 655289 Milo’s supporters, riots spread across the city.
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