Julius Caesar- Fame and Fate Part Eleven

Oddly, Caesar himself spent the remaining part of the day as if he didn't have a care in the world. He had a bath and attended a banquet where he talked with guests in a light-hearted way, as it nothing important was happening at all. He rose at dusk and hurried to a carriage along dark and less traveled roads. At last he was reunited with his troops on the banks of the Rubicon. Before crossing the Rubicon Caesar is reported to have said "Let the dice fly high!"-there are actually several different historical variations of the same theme of Julius Caesar and the "dice" at this point. Besides spinning tops when they were very young, dice were also a favorite pastime of Roman men when they got a bit older, so he could very well have said something to this effect-as though destroying the constitution and ignoring ancient laws were just a game of chance. When Caesar began to cross the Rubicon's waters into Italy no one at the time could know it but 460 years (not including Sulla of course) of the free Republic were coming to an end.

Caesar continued south unopposed and news of his onslaught was carried into Rome by waves of refugees-who sent yet more waves of people fleeing Rome. Pondering Caesar's progress with terror, Cicero asked, "Is it a general of the Roman people we are talking about, or Hannibal?" Thoughts that a Pompeian victory over Caesar would be an easy accomplishment were now turning to thoughts of terror. Senators and others who had opposed the proconsul were wondering if their names might be soon appearing on proscription lists in the Forum, as had been the case in Sulla's day. As a whole, the Senate confronted their would-be savior Pompey. One senator accused him of having deceived the Republic, and Favonius, a close friend of Cato, mocked him openly asking him to stamp his foot and produce the legions and cavalry he had promised. Pompey, however, had already given up on Rome and the Senate was issued an evacuation order. Pompey warned that anyone staying behind would be branded as a traitor. He then fled south and left the capital to its fate. Civil wars always slice through family and friendships in a cruel fashion. Many citizens, even now found the choice of backing Caesar or Pompey as hard a decision to make as ever. Many found the decision especially cruel and hard to make. Marcus Junius Brutus was such a man. He was a serious thinker and earnest in his beliefs. He was also deeply committed to both Caesar and Pompey. Brutus's mother, Servilia, had been the great love of Caesar's life and it was said that Brutus was their love-child. Whatever the truth of this may have been, one fact was that Brutus's legal father had been one of the young Pompey's many victims during the horrors of the first civil war. Brutus, however, was an intellectual of rare depth and honor, and Pompey was now the savior of the Republic.

In the end, Brutus could simply not support Caesar. He was too dedicated to the cause of legitimacy. Also, no matter how close to Caesar he may have been, he was even more bound to Cato, who was both his uncle and his father-in-law. In the end not only Brutus, but most of the Senate obeyed Pompey's orders and left Rome. There were many good strategic reasons behind the surrender of the capital. However, this soon turned out to be a tragic miscalculation. The great majority of citizens could not afford to leave. The idea of the Republic could not survive as an intellectual construct outside the gritty confines of Rome. Its streets, temples and marketplaces had provided the lifeblood of its vitality over the course of the centuries. The flight of the aristocracy cut the ties and ideals that bound them to the poorest citizens of Rome. This would not have mattered as much if it were to be a short conflict. Very soon though, it became clear that only Caesar had hopes of achieving a quick victory. Some thought that Pompey's forces could suffer the same fate as Spartacus's army over twenty years earlier-trapped in the heel of the peninsula. Such a disaster would have to be prevented at all costs and the Senate began to ponder what once would have seemed absurd-that it should reconvene in the provinces. Certain provinces had already been given to its key leaders: Spain went to Pomey, Syria to Metellus Scipio and Sicily to Cato. This wasn't a good time for any of them. Cato, thinking of the outcome of his greatest gamble, put on mourning clothes and grieved over the news of every battle, whether it was a victory for the Republican side or not.

The image is a Roman coin (denarius I believe-will check) of Julius Caesar as "Pereptual Dictator." I hope to have the next post here very soon, perhaps this afternoon. I have to take a small break for a bit -my back is killing me!