The first century BC was a time of great men in Rome.
Great, but destructive.
Men such as Sulla, Marius, Cicero, Cato, Crassus, Pompey and Caesar, whose military or political
careers would be studied for centuries to come.
Individually, each of these men had the skills and abilities to bring glory and prosperity
to Rome.
However, when put in conflict with each other, they would lead to the destruction of the
Republic which had lasted for almost 450 years.
This is the story of the Great Roman Civil War.
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In order to fully understand how the Great Roman Civil War, also known as Caesar’s
Civil War, began, we need to grasp the cultural and historical background.
Since the mid-2nd century BC the Roman Republic had started fracturing with the assassination
of the Gracchi brothers, Tiberius and Gaius, two revolutionary and popular politicians.
Their deaths underlined the growing social divide between the upper and lower classes
in Rome, and the instability carried on into the following decades with revolts in Sicily,
the Social war with Italian allies, and ultimately the civil wars of Sulla and Marius at the
start of the first century BC.
Those two showed the political rift between those who believed power came from the plebs,
the Populares like Marius, and those who believed power came from the Senate, the Optimates
[optimits], such as Sulla.
Moreover, their war had exposed flaws in the Roman Republican system, proving that political
and military power could be easily subverted.
Though after his victory Sulla had, as Dictator, introduced legislation to try and stop anyone
following in his footsteps, the precedent had already been set; a general could march
on Rome, take it by force, and impose his own will on the Republic.
If enough soldiers were personally loyal to an individual general, the Senators could
do little to curtail that man's power.
Furthermore, the Republic’s constitution, with its numerous checks and balances, was
proving to be one of the crucial factors in its destruction: powerful politicians were
able to paralyze the government by blocking the legislation they disagreed with.
Often it took either a dictatorship or martial law to break the stalemate.
It was in this political environment that the first triumvirate had emerged.
Consisting of Crassus, Pompey and Caesar the triumvirate dictated political life for the
majority of the era.
Crassus was an established politician and the richest man in Rome, bankrolling the triumvirate
and paying bribes as necessary.
Pompey was Rome’s most accomplished general.
Following the Social War, he fought alongside Sulla in his Civil War and later led campaigns
in Sicily, Africa, Pontus and Syria.
This brought him large amounts of wealth, numerous political allies, and the loyalty
of thousands of veterans.
Caesar, at 41 years old, was the youngest and least established of the 3.
He had held the positions of quaestor and aedile [eedayyl], and had shown promise as
a praetor in Spain.
However, Caesar was pontifex maximus, the highest religious official in Rome.
Through this office, Caesar had the power to pass divine laws and to postpone elections
due to signs from the gods.
Additionally as one of the leaders of the Populares, Caesar had already established
himself as a populist, and had significant clout with the masses.
By 59 BC the Triumvirate was established.
Caesar was already indebted to Crassus, and his alliance with Pompey was solidified by
marrying his daughter Julia to Pompey.
Though never an official coalition, these three men controlled almost every aspect of
the Republic.
Crassus influenced the Senate and aristocracy, the Optimates, with bribes.
Pompey's military prestige effectively gave him control of the veterans and the way they
would vote.
And Caesar could control the masses.
With the support of Pompey and Crassus, Caesar was elected to the consulship in 59 BC, and
immediately passed land reform legislation to provide land to Pompey's veterans, and
ratified Pompey’s Eastern conquests.
Initially, following Caesar’s consulship, the Senate made him an overseer of woods and
pastures in Italy rather than a governor of a province as was the norm for an ex-consul.
However, the Triumvirate was able to overturn this decision: Caesar was given the governorship
of Illyria, Cisalpine Gaul and Transalpine Gaul, along with four legions, for the extent
of 5 years as opposed to the usual one.
Though it is clear that the Triumvirates did abuse their power to achieve their own means,
it did benefit Rome in some ways, pushing through much-needed laws, such as the settling
of veterans, without risk of the Senate creating a stalemate.
In this same year, Clodius Pulcher became Tribune of the Plebs.
Clodius had given up his patrician status to hold the position, and used it to push
a number of populist reforms with the support of the Triumvirate, such as the establishment
of a grain dole.
Clodius had also learned how effective violence could be in politics and had put together
trained gangs who would harass and assault any politicians who got in his way, and he
was even able to force the influential Cicero into exile.
After just one year of Clodius and his gangs ruling the streets of Rome, it became clear
that the Triumvirate would not be able to control him.
Clodius had even gone so far as to attempt to assassinate Pompey when the latter suggested
recalling Cicero from exile.
In response, Pompey allowed another tribune, Milo, an Optimate, to raise his own gangs
to counter Clodius’.
No weapons were meant to be allowed in Rome, but each side secretly armed themselves with
daggers and swords, employing thugs and even gladiators.
For the next few years, the two tribunes and their gangs battled regularly in the streets.
Rome was in chaos.
The Triumvirate was reaffirmed in 56 BC, after which Pompey and Crassus extended Caesar’s
term as governor by another 5 years, while Caesar sent veterans from Gaul back to Rome
to ensure that Pompey and Crassus would be elected consuls for the year 55-54BC.
However, soon after, the Triumvirate began to fracture.
In 54 BC Julia died in childbirth, severing the personal connection between the two triumvirs.
In 53 BC Crassus embarked on his disastrous Parthian campaign, subsequently dying at the
Battle of Carrhae.
Moreover, the following year, Clodius was killed by Milo.
With Clodius dead and the Triumvirate broke, Pompey and Caesar were left as the two most
powerful men in Rome.
Chaos in the city only increased, as during Clodius’ funeral, his supporters started
a riot.
His body was taken to the Senate house to be burnt on a pyre, and the Senate building
itself was destroyed.
In desperation, the Senate turned to Pompey.
In 52BC Pompey was named sole Consul and given extraordinary powers.
Soldiers were marched into the capital, trials held under armed guard, and executions made.
This was ruthless but effective, and order was restored.
The Senate awarded Pompey with an extended term of governance of Hispania, as well as
powers similar to those that Caesar held in Gaul.
Pompey decided to leave the governance of his provinces to lieutenants.
His quelling of the riots had bought him the adoration of the Senate and Optimates, and
he was not willing to give up such power and influence by leaving Rome.
The Senate had their own ambitions.
With Clodius dead, Caesar was left as the leader of the Populares.
Cato and other Senators were becoming increasingly worried that Caesar might choose to exploit
his popularity and march on Rome.
He was, in the Senate’s mind, a threat to the Republic.
The more this was said, the more Pompey agreed.
When the Triumvirate was first formed, Pompey had little to fear from Caesar.
However, Caesar's Gallic Wars allowed him to accumulate wealth, popularity with the
masses, and a core of loyal, battle-hardened veterans.
Caesar had grown his army to around 10 Legions, approximately 50,000 men, more than double
what he had originally been assigned.
Moreover, the majority of these legions had been raised by Caesar personally, led by Caesar
in battle, and thus would undoubtedly be loyal to him.
It had taken Sulla only six legions to march on Rome, and there was every chance that Caesar
could do the same.
As a result, the Senate, and in particular the prominent Cato the Younger, begun rallying
an anti-Caesar alliance in the Senate, mainly consisting of Optimates.
With Pompey and Caesar already positioned to confront each other as the two most powerful
men in Rome, the Senate turned to Pompey to lead the Optimates and remove Caesar as a
threat.
The problem that the Senate faced was that Caesar was simply too powerful.
His army was too large to be confronted head-on, and his popularity was too great for him to
be defeated in an election.
At this time in 52 BC Caesar was still governor of Gaul, and had applied to run for the office
of consul in absentia for the year 48BC, his term as governor ending in 49BC.
With 52BC being such a chaotic year with riots in Rome, Caesar’s application had been allowed
with little thought, but now presented a problem.
Holding the office of governor or consul gave Caesar legal immunity.
If he ran in absentia for the consulship, he would certainly win due to his vast popularity,
and his legal immunity would continue.
Moreover, he would be able to use this term as consul to push legislation to protect himself.
It was undeniable that Caesar had committed crimes as consul, including stirring political
violence against a fellow consul, as well as crimes as a governor by instigating wars
in Gaul and Britain that were not authorized by the Senate.
The Senate could not defeat Caesar militarily, nor could they defeat him in the voting booths.
A solution was needed.
Cato had already made it clear that given an opportunity, he would put Caesar on trial
himself.
All that was needed was for Caesar to be a private citizen.
As a result, through some cunning, yet ultimately contrived, readings of the law, the Senate
insisted that Caesar’s governorship would end in 52 BC and not 50 BC, and that he should
resign command of his army.
Caesar refused.
He understood that as soon as he lost his legal immunity the Senate would have him put
on trial.
He also knew that his governorship was, in fact, legal, and that he had the right to
continue his governorship in command until the previously agreed date at the end of 49BC.
The 52BC deadline passed without issue, and Caesar’s command continued.
For the next two years, the Pompeiian faction in the Senate, headed by Cato, increasingly
demanded Caesar’s resignation, whilst the Caesarean faction, headed by Curio and Mark
Antony, both Plebeian Tribunes, continually blocked and vetoed such legislation.
In December 50BC, Pompey himself offered to resign his command if Caesar would first.
The Caesareans vehemently opposed this, insisting that Pompey be first to resign.
Neither side was willing to be exposed and undefended.
That same month, Caesar marched with one Legion to Ravenna, and wrote a letter to the Senate
attempting to negotiate, again insisting that if Pompey resigned his command first, so would
he.
Whether Caesar marched his Legion to Ravenna simply to winter there, or if he meant it
as an actual threat, is not clear.
However, rumours spread that Caesar, in fact, had 4 Legions with him, not just one.
To the Senate, it appeared Caesar was attempting to threaten and blackmail them.
In response, they again ordered him to step down immediately, and authorised Pompey to
start amassing legions to defend Rome.
Caesar, once again, attempted to negotiate.
He offered to resign his governorship of Transalpine Gaul, Cisalpine Gaul and the majority of his
Legions, but requested to keep governorship of Illyricum, along with two Legions, until
the original deadline - the end of 49BC - and that he be allowed to run for consul for 48BC,
hoping to extend his legal immunity.
However, this was still a reasonable deal for the Senate, and it would achieve their
aim of severely limiting Caesar’s power and influence.
Cicero acted as a mediator for the deal and negotiated Caesar down to just one Legion
and two provinces.
Pompey was willing to accept.
However, key Optimate Senators, including Cato and the consul Lentulus, refused the
deal.
While Pompey was not as ardently devoted to the Senate, the hard-line Optimates like Cato
and Lentulus hated the notion that the Senate might be forced to negotiate.
On the 7th of January, the Senate voted again to immediately strip Caesar of all his powers
and armies.
Once again, Caesar’s Tribunes in the Senate, Curio and Antony, vetoed the legislation.
The Senate had expected as much and passed the Senatus Consultum Ultimum, the Final Act,
an un-vetoable act that suspended all laws and gave all powers to the Consuls, effectively
declaring a national emergency, and they declared Caesar an enemy of the state.
The Consuls for the year, Lentulus and Marcellus, both hard-line Optimates, immediately passed
all their powers to Pompey, effectively giving Pompey full control of the Roman Republic.
That same night, Caesar’s allies in Rome fled to Ravenna to join him.
The stage was now set.
After years of attempted negotiations, a complete impasse had been reached.
The division between the two parties, the Populares and Optimates, was the same division
that had led to the deaths of the Gracchi, and the wars of Sulla and Marius.
The Populares largely consisted of younger men from less established families, such as
Mark Anthony, Trebonius and Curio, or lesser members of noble families, such as Decimus
Brutus.
The Pompeiian Optimates, on the other hand, were mainly aristocrats of noble families,
including Pompey's two sons, Gnaeus and Sextus, Ahenobarbus, Metellus Scipio, a descendant
of the famous Scipio Africanus, Cato the Younger, and Cicero.
The societal rift between these two groups, which had first become apparent almost 100
years ago with the deaths of the Gracchi, was about to plunge the Republic into chaos
once again.
On the 10th of January 49BC, Caesar left Ravenna with the 13th Legion and his allies from Rome.
They halted at a small river that marked the border of the province of Italy; the Rubicon.
It was forbidden for any general to cross this boundary with arms or an army; to do
so would be a clear declaration of war.
Caesar spent a long time weighing his options.
Caesar’s own family had been persecuted and hunted in the aftermath of Sulla’s Civil
War, he knew well how destructive such wars were.
However, he also knew that if he disbanded his army, he would be likely exiled or executed.
After almost a day’s deliberation, Caesar made his choice.
Alea iacta est - the die is cast.
The Great Roman Civil War had begun.
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