Cæsar’s government of Gaul was now drawing to its close. He had added to the Roman dominions a territory larger than the two original provinces assigned to him. The question now was, what next? The precedents on this point were clear enough; they were written large in the lives of other recent conquerors, Marius and Sulla. But the senatorial party had no intention of allowing Cæsar to return to Rome with a free hand; it was to be a struggle between the self-interests of a narrow oligarchy and a clear-headed effort to attain personal control of the machinery of the government. On neither side was regard for legality given much weight. Both Cæsar and the senatorial party used without scruple illegal means; both at the same time claimed hypocritically to represent the side of law and order.
As a matter of fact, the old governmental methods of the Republic were adapted only to the conditions of a city community with a homogeneous population. There had been a breakdown years before Cæsar’s time, and the question now was who should benefit from this chaotic situation. The senators meant to get Cæsar out of Gaul, reduce him to the ranks of a private individual, and then ruin him by some legal prosecution in connection with his eight years of provincial rule. The chief asset of the Senate was Pompeius’ jealousy of Cæsar as a rival of his military glory; he was soured because he could not get the position and the influence for which his early record had marked him out. Pompeius was proconsul of Spain, according to the arrangement made at the last meeting of the triumvirs. It was only carried out nominally; he had no intention of losing his control of Rome, a control which depended on his presence at the center of affairs. Contrary to all precedent, he governed his province by means of deputies. He was also in special charge of the corn supply, a position valuable as a means of propitiating the people with votes. He arranged to have a five-year extension of his proconsular power in Spain, and his influence on the Senate is shown by their willingness to allot him 100 talents a year for the maintenance of his troops. He used his patronage exclusively to advance his own personal interests, oblivious of the compact with Cæsar, showing altogether that, while he meant to stand outside the law, the chicanery of legislation could well be used to block the path of his rival.
Cæsar, who had not forgotten to retain the favor of the Roman populace by entertainments and benefactions, and who had all the skill of a party boss in retaining the allegiance of friends and followers, had three very strong allies back of him, leaving aside his natural superiority in capacity and in shrewdness to Pompeius. His conquest of Gaul, followed as it was by a very judicious treatment of the conquered tribes, gave him the support of a warlike population ready to act on his behalf. Moreover, the reduction of the country had unlocked a store of wealth, which was naturally in his hands; the slaves alone, collected from the captives, represented as capital a very large sum of money. Then there were the seasoned legions on whose loyalty he could depend.
The rival claims of the two leaders reached an acute stage when Pompeius, now Consul, passed legislation by which an interval of five years was required between service as a provincial governor and as a magistrate in Rome. Cæsar’s term of office expired in B.C. 49; he had received leave to stand for the consulship and had requested to be left in possession of his provinces till the end of 49. Now in Pompeius’ legislation there was required, unless special permission were given, personal candidature, and also the Senate was given authority to relieve provincial governors at any time during the last year of their service. Cæsar might find himself relieved of his proconsulship before he had been elected Consul. It would be a dangerous position for him to confront a rival armed with extraordinary powers, while he was only an individual citizen. There were further grounds of irritation because the senatorial party refused to recognize certain administrative acts of Cæsar, by which he had extended the franchise to various provincial towns. In arranging the question of provincial succession there was much delay. Pompeius hesitated to accept the Senate’s drastic measure, by which Cæsar would be relieved long before he could be elected Consul. He made a show of conciliation by shortening the interval and also by promising to resign his own command before the expiration of his term if the Senate so desired. Cæsar’s agent in Rome, the Tribune Curio, displayed much ingenuity in obstructing all measures aimed at his chief, and it was plain from the way the political game was being played that Cæsar’s minimum, service as Proconsul till the end of 49, and entrance into the consulship on January 1, 48, would be the watchword of his partisans. In all other respects he showed himself ready for conciliation and compromise. When two legions were asked for the Parthian war, they were promptly sent, and no protest was made at their being kept at Capua, when they were no longer wanted in the East. Curio, too, was ordered to cease blocking the vote of money to pay Pompeius’ troops.
But the senatorial party were not ready to make terms; it seemed to them that with the co-operation of Pompeius they could place Cæsar in an impasse. They miscalculated his personal popularity and his military strength, and now were all the more confident, because they were successfully intriguing with Labienus to detach him from his chief.
The weakness of the senatorial clique was its obvious insincerity in claiming to be the representative of the party of law and order. It was absurd to object to Cæsar stepping directly from the proconsulship to the consulship as an irregularity, when Pompeius had held both offices together; indeed he had been twice Consul within four years, entirely in contravention of the required legal interval of ten years between the holding by one individual of the highest magistracy.
Marcellus, one of the Consuls in B.C. 51, a determined opponent of Cæsar, brought matters to a climax by denouncing Cæsar in the Senate as a brigand and asking that he should be called a public enemy unless he gave up his province by a fixed date. These motions were made as a result of the debate whether a successor to Cæsar should be appointed; they were carried by an imposing majority. An equal majority rejected the motion that Pompeius should be required to resign.
Curio, who had as Tribune interposed his veto on the first motion, then offered a resolution by which both commanders should be required to resign. This was carried by 322 to 320, but no effect was given to it; probably it was vetoed by a Pompeian Tribune. Through private channels, efforts were being made to prevent a break between the two rivals; on account of Pompeius’ well-known indecision of temper, the senatorial clique resolved by a bold stroke to prevent further negotiations. Marcellus, on the 9th of December, using as a pretext the rumor that Cæsar was on his way to Rome with his army, tried in vain to get the Senate to declare Cæsar a public enemy and to authorize Pompeius to take command of the troops in Italy and protect the state. Indignant at the timidity of the senators, he took matters in his own hands, virtually declaring war on his own responsibility, for he handed over the two Italian legions to Pompeius, with the command to march against Cæsar. Pompeius, though this action of the Consul was unconstitutional, accepted the commission; at the end of the month he was still confident that Cæsar would drop his claim to the consulship and that so peace would be restored.
Cæsar acted cautiously; he sent for additional troops from Gaul and also despatched a message to the Senate offering to resign all his provinces and his army, provided Pompeius would do the same. In case of refusal, he said he would be compelled to take measures for asserting his own rights and the freedom of the Roman people. Curio was sent with this ultimatum to Rome; it was only with difficulty that the letter was read. A motion was passed that at a fixed date Cæsar should give up his army and that his non-compliance would be treated as an act of war. There was, of course, the usual obstruction from Marcus Antonius, a Cæsarian Tribune; the final decree by which martial law was introduced and the magistrates called upon to see “that the commonwealth took no harm,” was not passed till the seventh of January. (49 B.C.) Lentulus, the Consul, in the meantime had advised the obstructing tribunes to leave the city if they valued their personal safety. It was this verbal threat which put in Cæsar’s hands the very useful plea that he was acting as the defender of the freedom of the Roman people.
The military strength of the two parties was, from the senatorial point of view, altogether on their side; they had, they reasoned, the whole empire to draw upon for recruits, while Cæsar had only his own province. The difficulty of the senatorial position was, that their forces were not together when the war broke out. Of Cæsar’s original thirteen legions, two were now under Pompeius’ command; besides this, the latter had in Spain seven legions of well-seasoned troops; in Italy he had the two legions already mentioned, which originally belonged to the army of Gaul; and another in a state of creation.
Cæsar’s chance lay in prompt action, in administering a decisive defeat before Pompeius could get his scattered men together. While the negotiations were in progress, he had only one legion in northern Italy; but two had been sent for, and when they were at hand Cæsar had, with his allies, about 20,000 men, a force considerably superior to that of Pompeius, who was especially careful not to lead Cæsar’s old legions against their former commander. With one legion of newly recruited men he could do nothing; the consequence was that in Italy there was practically no resistance to Cæsar’s advance. When some of the newly created cohorts joined him, the senators with their commander fled to Greece.
The moral effect of the abandonment of Italy and the capital was a great asset for the Cæsarian party. The critics have condemned Pompeius because he failed to relieve the senatorial troops inclosed by Cæsar in the town of Corfinium in the Abruzzi. It was a discouraging blow at the very commencement of the struggle for the senatorial party to see their soldiers and one of their chief partisans, Domitius Ahenobarbus, left to their fate. But Pompeius was in no position to give help; if he had attempted to give aid, he would have been defeated and captured.
Instead of pursuing Pompeius across the Adriatic to Greece, Cæsar turned away to the conquest of Spain. Even if transports were lacking, he might have doubled round the Adriatic coast through Illyria, his own province. He might soon have got the control of the entire East before a sufficient force was collected to oppose him. But if he had done so, in the meantime Italy would have been exposed to an invasion from Pompeius’ Spanish veterans, for the senatorial commander would undoubtedly have betaken himself there and acted on the offensive. By the time Cæsar could reach Antioch, in Syria, Pompeius could have occupied Rome. Cæsar therefore consistently followed the principle of striking at the enemy’s force where it was concentrated and prepared for effective work.
Several of the legions newly formed from Italian recruits were sent to Sardinia, Sicily, and Africa as crucial points, from which a descent might be made on Italy; others were left in Italy itself. Of the veteran legions from Gaul, three were despatched to Marseilles, which had taken the senatorial side, and six were taken to Spain. There were seven Pompeian legions in the peninsula under three different commanders, Afranius and Petreius in the north, Varro in the south. Varro, the celebrated antiquarian and scholar, was not an enthusiastic partisan of Pompeius; there seems to be no reason, except his desire to be neutral, why he should have weakened the Pompeian forces in the north by keeping his legions in the south. In any case, the five legions near the Pyrenees, as if conscious of their weakness, remained on the defensive, although for a time they were opposed only by two legions of Cæsar’s.
Cæsar’s force was undoubtedly numerically superior, for there was a considerable contingent of allies, German and Gallic, both horse and foot. The plan of strategy adopted by the Pompeians was to keep Cæsar in check until Pompeius’ preparations in the East were completed, that is, to wait until he could come to Spain to direct the operations there in person, or could make a diversion by attacking Italy with the troops raised in the East. No attempt was made by Pompeius’ lieutenants to stop Cæsar’s passage through the mountain passes of the Pyrenees. This, in any case, would have been a questionable operation and apt to cause a division of strength in the opposing army.
The first point of conflict between the two armies was at Ilerda, 150 kilometers south of the Pyrenees and about forty north of the Ebro. There was a stream in front of the town, crossed by a stone bridge, and near this stream, on a height south of the town, the Pompeians placed their camp. They were well supplied with provisions; and they commanded the access to the bridge. As the stream had a strong current and was liable to the sudden changes of a mountain torrent it would be unsafe for Cæsar to make a temporary bridge to keep in contact two separated portions of an enveloping army. Cæsar could not afford to leave this strongly encamped force in his rear, for the way would be open to them to invade both Gaul and Italy. In case of defeat the Pompeians might make a further stand, with an advantageous position on the banks of the Ebro.
For some time the Cæsarian army under Fabius remained inactive before Ilerda. Two bridges had been built across the stream, but one of these the current had carried away, and at one time two of the legions were in considerable danger while they were foraging on the southern bank. When Cæsar took over the command both bridges had gone, and the Pompeians, by using the stone bridge, could prevent any further bridge building. Food supplies from the north were cut off, and the Cæsarians were hard-pressed for provisions, having exhausted all the food in the neighborhood of their camp. Cæsar managed finally to relieve this trying situation by building a bridge outside the range of the operations of the Pompeians, who never dared to get too far away from their camp. His next move was to try to cut them off from the city, their base of supplies, but this failed. They were secure where they were, but they grew alarmed when some of the native population joined Cæsar’s forces; there was also a prospect of a period of low water in the river, when Cæsar could use a ford and so completely envelop them.
Under such conditions they resolved to abandon their camp and retire to the Ebro to make there another stand. The retreat was accomplished without much difficulty, except from cavalry attacks, which delayed their progress toward the river, which they would have reached five miles south of Ilerda. They had covered most of this distance when Cæsar’s legions suddenly appeared ready for attack. In spite of the difficulty of crossing the stream at Ilerda, Cæsar’s men with great valor had braved the dangers of the swift current and had marched with such rapidity that they caught up with the Pompeians before sunset. Afranius and Petreius soon found themselves outmanœuvered by their opponents, the way to the river being closed to them. The only alternative now was to fight or surrender. After some hesitation, perhaps due to divided counsels in their own camp, they abandoned the attempt to reach the Ebro and returned to their original camping ground at Ilerda. (August, 44 B.C.)
Cæsar, in the meantime, held his hand, though his soldiers earnestly wished for a pitched battle under such favorable circumstances. It was a civil war, and Cæsar had no taste for the kind of butchery practised on the barbarians in Gaul on so many occasions. The Pompeian commanders soon capitulated; the best force of his opponents had now by Cæsar’s superior strategy been put out of action, as effectively as if it had been beaten on the battlefield. Such a victory is practically unique in military annals. The Roman army at Trasimene and at Cannæ, the Prussians at Jena, and the French in 1870-71 were annihilated as military units, but only after hard-fought battles.
Cæsar in this brilliant campaign of forty days deprived his antagonists of an entire and efficient army without striking a blow. He was all the time ready to fight, and the absence of a battle was due to the fact that the commanders on the other side were completely out-generaled. The operations followed one another with the system of moves on a chess board. The losing party saw the uselessness of a fight and the victor had no desire to shed blood needlessly.
Easy terms were imposed upon the vanquished; the only conditions made being that Afranius and Petreius should dismiss their troops on the way back to Italy. Varro, in southern Spain, who had none of the temperament for command, and who was waiting to see which was the winning side, soon found himself deserted by the provincials; even Gades, where he had contemplated making a resolute stand, declared for Cæsar. The most serious feature of the campaign in the West was due to the obstinate resistance of the people of Marseilles; they held out for several months and surrendered only when they were exhausted by pestilence and famine. With this siege ended, Cæsar was free to return to Italy.
In general, the first stage of the war was in favor of the Cæsarians; Sicily had been abandoned by Cato, and the only dark spot on the record was the decisive defeat in Africa of Curio, who had unwisely attacked the Pompeians near Utica while they were being aided by a Numidian king. On the way to Rome Cæsar had to handle a case of mutiny in one of the legions, the ninth. The soldiers complained of the strict discipline under which they were kept, as no plundering was allowed. A signal example was made of them, for the whole legion was disbanded and the men only taken back on condition that they gave up their ringleaders. Of these one in ten were taken by lot and executed.
During his residence in Rome, in the interval between the first and second stages of the war, Cæsar was returned as Consul for the coming year (48), after serving a few days in the extraordinary capacity of Dictator. Some new legislation was passed, extending the franchise to provincial populations, and an effort was made to relieve the financial situation produced by the civil war. Money was scarce, interest was high, there being, owing to the general uncertainty, a good deal of hoarding of specie; but nothing was done to encourage the wild rumors of a revolution after the Catiline model, under which there would be a general cancellation of debts. Practically the whole administration of civil affairs was in the conqueror’s hands. Only a few senators were left, most of them having fled to Pompeius’ camp in Greece, where their presence was a considerable annoyance to their leader, who found in them inveterate critics and grumblers, anxious to give advice on military matters of which they were supremely ignorant.
Cæsar’s undivided authority was useful to him; before he left Italy he had his consular powers enlarged and the city could be left without fear, as his own partisans were in control. Cæsar’s Spanish victory had given him, on land, decided superiority over his opponents. He had now, in addition to the eleven old legions, seventeen new ones, mostly composed of Pompeian troops, who had transferred their allegiance as the fortune of war had changed. Two had been lost in the disaster in Africa under Curio. About half of his whole strength, twelve legions and 1000 horse, he collected together at Brundisium, intending to sail from that port and meet Pompeius’ army in Epirus. The rest of his forces were scattered about in Italy, Sicily, Gaul, and Spain.
To oppose to the Cæsarian main army, the senatorial party had only eleven legions; two of them had originally served under Cæsar, the rest were recruited in the East or were old units filled out by fresh additional soldiers. Pompeius’ chief hope, after the defeat of his army in Spain, lay in the possession of a superior sea power. In this respect he had decidedly the advantage, for besides the Roman fleet there were the ships of the dependent Eastern states, while Cæsar’s ships in the Adriatic had been either captured or destroyed. Cæsar had, it is true, ordered new ones, but he had no seagoing population to draw from, to secure sailors. Marseilles, it will be remembered, had taken sides with Pompeius and had only been captured with difficulty.
When Cæsar reached Brundisium, he found there were not enough ships there to transport his army to the Greek coast. He adopted, however, the bold plan of using what transports there were, and so, taking advantage of a favorable wind, carried half his available force, seven legions and a corps of cavalry, to the other side. The whole operation took only from twelve to fifteen hours. Pompeius had not brought his land force to the coast of Epirus, and his fleet, as it was the winter season, had not counted on Cæsar’s making the passage at that time. Yet when Cæsar landed, the situation was anything but favorable for him; Pompeius’ army had reached the principal harbor of Epirus, Dyrrhachium, and his fleet had destroyed part of the transports and was keeping vigilant watch to intercept the rest, if they attempted to leave Brundisium with the legions which remained there. Cæsar was cut off from his base, but Pompeius dared not attack him, though his army was numerically superior. The two armies faced one another in inaction, Pompeius waiting for reinforcements, and Cæsar hoping that there would be a chance for the rest of his army to join him, although the way through Illyria was impracticable, the country being mountainous and the population of uncertain loyalty.
On the other hand, the attempt of the Pompeian fleet to blockade Brundisium failed. After waiting two months, Marcus Antonius succeeded in making the passage, at a time when weather conditions made it impossible for the enemy’s ships to interfere with the landing. With this accession of strength, four legions and additional cavalry, Cæsar’s force was now superior to that of his opponent; but Pompeius was strongly intrenched on the shore, close to a city well supplied with provisions, and by means of his fleet, in communication with the rest of the world.
The problem of supplies on Cæsar’s side was a difficult one, since the neighboring country was nearly exhausted. It was probably this reason which induced him to divide his force by sending some three and a half legions into the interior of the country, partly to intercept a Pompeian relieving army under Scipio, and partly to operate in Greece itself with a view of winning adherents for his cause. With the remainder he proceeded to inclose Pompeius’ camp, not so much to force a capitulation, which seemed hopeless because at any time they wished the Pompeian fleet could carry the army away, as to produce a moral effect on the Pompeians, who would be dispirited everywhere, when they learned that their leader was not acting on the offensive.
The siege operations proved calamitous; Cæsar’s veterans suffered a severe defeat, and in some places the lines of the inclosing fortifications were destroyed. The other side, elated by victory, were now prepared for a decisive battle. This hazard Cæsar declined to take; instead of this he gave his troops time enough to recover from the effects of their defeat and then moved off from the coast, taking the road to Thessaly in order there to join the other detachments of his army, who were occupied in trying to force Scipio to an engagement.
He was soon followed by Pompeius, and the great pitched battle of the year took place on the plains of Thessaly. The two sides were far from being evenly matched; probably Pompeius had 40,000 legionaries and 3000 cavalry, while under Cæsar there were 30,000 legionaries and 2000 horse. When the armies came in sight of one another, there was some preliminary manœuvering to get the advantage of a favorable position, but finally Pompeius advanced some distance from his camp on level ground, and Cæsar, who was about to march away rather than attack under unfavorable conditions, decided to give battle. Pompeius’ right wing rested near a brook with precipitous sides. Relying on this to protect his flanks, he placed the light-armed infantry and the cavalry, under the command of Labienus, on the left wing with directions to make a vigorous onslaught on the troops opposed to them. If the enemy gave way, they were then to attack the legionaries on the sides and rear; in the meantime, Pompeius’ own legions were ordered not to advance but to await, where they were, the attack from the other side. It was hoped that Cæsar’s men would be in confusion before the hand-to-hand conflict began, as the distance they would have to traverse was greater than was usual in the battles of this period.
Probably all of Cæsar’s cavalry were disposed in such a way that they faced the opposing cavalry. In order to compensate for his inferiority of numbers in this arm, he had trained some of his best legionaries to fight interspersed with the cavalry, after the practice among the Germans. The cavalry were separated, too, by a division of 3000 men, and behind his whole order of battle there was a considerable reserve force. It was to be supposed that, even without the assistance of this last support, his seasoned veterans would withstand the enemy for a long time. This expectation was all the more likely to be realized, just because of Pompeius’ orders that his own infantry were to be held back from engagement and should maintain their own ground, while his cavalry were at work.
The battle opened with the cavalry charge on the Pompeian side. Cæsar’s German and Gallic horse, as they were instructed, withdrew, and as soon as the Pompeian horse followed them, the 3000 men placed previously to support them, attacked the Pompeian cavalry in the flank. This manœuver was immediately followed by a quick action on the part of Cæsar’s cavalry. They swerved about, attacked in their turn those who had just been pressing them, and forced them back in confusion. There was not time enough for Pompeius now to get together a mass of infantry to protect his cavalry. The hand-to-hand conflict immediately began, Cæsar’s whole force of infantry throwing themselves on the opposing legionaries, who now no longer had the support of their cavalry. The pressure on the front and sides was too much for the Pompeians; first the left wing gave way and then the entire army. (August 8, 48 B.C.)
The crucial feature of the whole battle was Cæsar’s skilful disposition of the 3000 men, placed, as some authorities describe it, in a kind of ambuscade. It was this that upset the whole plan of Pompeius’ massive cavalry charge. The intelligent manœuvering of the Gallic and German horse, first giving way, then returning to charge superior numbers, is an illuminating illustration of the discipline prevailing in all arms of Cæsar’s force. The close of the battle was followed by the occupation of the Pompeian camp. The commander himself fled in deep dejection from Greece, and met his death by an assassin’s hands, when landing from a boat on the coast of Egypt. As a military leader he had proved himself in this war unimaginative and sluggish. He was a master of the technique of warfare, but failed to make use of his opportunities; he seemed to have worked out his own campaign in advance, and to have followed the scheme with deliberation, but in other respects he was resourceless, both when the advantage was his own and when the enemy made mistakes.
With two very much reduced legions and a few horse, Cæsar pursued his rival to Egypt, where he was too late to take him alive. But the factional contests in Egypt as to the royal succession and perhaps, too, the desire to get his hands on the Egyptian treasury, induced the conqueror to use this opportunity of asserting Roman sovereignty over the dependent kingdom. It proved to be a rash step, for the Egyptians were fanatically attached to their autonomous position, and Cæsar’s small force was in great danger, not only from the Egyptian army, but also from the turbulent Alexandrian populace, who tried and almost succeeded in shutting him up in part of the city, and in preventing supplies and reinforcements coming to him by sea. At times the Romans were in great danger; there were furious combats in the city and in the harbor, and it was not till many months had passed that Cæsar was master of the situation. It took all the resources of his versatile genius to hold out until large enough reinforcements came from the East to bring the Alexandrians into subjection.
The whole winter after the battle of Pharsalus was spent in this way, and when the war was over in March, there was three months more delay in Alexandria, owing, it was said, to the fascination exerted over the conqueror by the famous Egyptian queen, Cleopatra. During the summer preparations were made for an extensive expedition throughout the Farther East with a small body of men, the design being to pacify the Oriental provinces. This proved not very difficult; most of the problems were solved by diplomacy and only one battle was fought, that of Zela, in Pontus, with Pharnaces, king of Pontus, who had taken advantage of the civil war to try to set up an independent rule over a large part of Asia Minor.
While Cæsar was absent in the East, his cause in the West had been far from successfully handled by his lieutenants. The Pompeian fleet had given great trouble on the Italian coast and in the Adriatic Sea. Affairs in Spain had been hopelessly muddled by a corrupt and tyrannous governor, who angered the provincials and got into trouble with the native tribes. In Rome the victory at Pharsalus had been followed by great activity on the part of the Senate and popular assembly in heaping additional honors on Cæsar. He was made Dictator with virtually unlimited powers. The administration, so far as any semblance of legality was concerned, seemed to have gone to pieces, while Cæsar was having his troubled experiences in Alexandria. No provision had been made for filling up the magistracies, and the conduct of affairs fell into the hands of an irresponsible agitator, Dolabella, Cicero’s son-in-law, who prepared a social program containing, as its chief items, canceling of debts and remission of rents. There were serious riots in the city, the mob becoming so powerful that even the Cæsarian Senate had to call on Marcus Antonius, Cæsar’s chief local lieutenant, to suppress the violence by the use of military power.
When Cæsar arrived in Italy from the Orient, there was much to be done and not much time in which to do it, because all the irreconcilable partisans of Pompeius, trusting in the help of the Numidian king, Juba, had gathered in Africa, where, since the defeat of Curio, they met with no opposition in their control of the country. During Cæsar’s stay in Rome, there were various measures passed, some to relieve the financial crisis, others to provide against disturbances of public order, while political rewards had to be distributed to his followers in the way of nominations to the Senate, or by the creation of additional places among the magistracies. On account of the government’s embarrassments, there was a resort to the policy of forced loans, both from individuals and from communities. The private property of Pompeius and some of his adherents was sold at public auction, a questionable proceeding which gave rise to a good deal of unpleasant jobbery among Cæsar’s friends, who bought the property in, and then, depending on their influence with their all-powerful master, tried to evade payment. (47 B.C.)
More serious than these matters of local politics was the sullenness of Cæsar’s troops, which developed into open mutiny when they were ordered to make ready for the coming campaign in Africa. They refused to budge until the promises of money and land made them before the battle of Pharsalus were strictly carried out. Cæsar dealt successfully with the situation; he had no cash to give them, but he discharged them, calling them citizens and not soldiers, and assured them at the same time that all of their demands, with back interest, would be paid as soon as he returned from Africa to celebrate his triumph. The veterans were placed in a dilemma; they could not turn against Cæsar, for their hope of reward lay in his success. Most of them were taken back as volunteers for the African campaign. Before leaving Italy, Cæsar again arranged to become Consul for the year 46, at the same time making arrangements for the distribution of provincial charges. One assignment was especially noteworthy: a pardoned Pompeian senator, Junius Brutus, nephew of Cato, at the time in arms against Cæsar, was appointed to Cisalpine Gaul.
A year and a half had passed since Pompeius’ defeat at Pharsalus, but his cause was being energetically upheld in Africa, where his partisans were making a final stand. It was here that Scipio, Labienus, Cato, Afranius, and Petreius gathered together with the forces that remained, ten legions in all, no inconsiderable force in itself; but there were besides a large contingent of well-trained cavalry and heavy- and light-armed troops, supplied by Juba, king of Numidia, who was implacably hostile to Cæsar’s cause, and who meant to use the divisions of the Romans for the purpose of carving out for himself an independent kingdom. The only danger point, apart from an attack from Italy, lay further west, where the two Mauretanian kings, Bocchus and Bogud, acted together as a check to the power of the Numidians. They were able to carry out their policy intelligently, because they had the help of a Roman adventurer, Publius Sittius, suspected of being an accomplice of Catiline, and for this reason an enemy of the remnant of the senatorial party in Africa.
Cæsar landed in Africa in December with only a small force, and for a time he had to maintain himself in an intrenched camp on the coast. His six legions were made up of raw material, and it was impossible for him to take the offensive, until his veterans, who had been sent for, arrived. The situation was saved by Sittius, who made a diversion in the West, and so drew off Juba to the defense of his own kingdom. Among the provincials, the Cæsarian cause began to be popular, for they saw in it a protection against the nationalist schemes of Juba. Moreover, the Roman aristocratic commanders had treated the population of the province with scant consideration, so there were many desertions to Cæsar’s side. Owing to the incompetent strategy of his opponents, who do not seem to have known how to handle their fleet, communications with Italy were kept open. It was Cæsar’s purpose, after the veteran legions arrived, to compel Scipio to give battle. This he refused to do, until his hands were forced. When Cæsar began the siege of the important seaport town of Thapsus, Scipio was obliged to come to the rescue, and a pitched battle was fought early in April, in which the Pompeian force was completely routed. Cæsar’s troops occupied the enemy’s camp, and despite the entreaties of their commander, a wholesale butchery by the legionaries followed the fight.
The campaign was soon completed. Utica, where Cato commanded the garrison, surrendered, after their leader, seeing the ruin of his cause, had committed suicide. Scipio perished at sea, Varus and Labienus succeeded in making their escape to Spain. Even Juba was ruined by the misfortunes of his allies, for his own subjects rejected him on his return, and he and Petreius met deaths by suicide. After setting the affairs of Africa in order, and annexing the kingdom of Numidia as a province, Cæsar returned to Rome after an absence from the capital of 180 days. (46 B.C.)