Julius Caesar Triumphant Part One

One would have thought that Caesar would have hurried back to Rome at this point. Mark Antony's incompetence as an administrator was causing widespread dissent in Rome. Cato and Metellus Scipio were putting together new armies in Africa. And in Asia, King Pharnaces, Mithridates' son had proven the apple doesn't fall far from the tree by invading Pontus. Amazingly, Caesar did no such thing and lingered by Cleopatra's side for two more months in Egypt. This is probably when Cleopatra's allure and abilities at seduction began to be seen by some Romans as almost demonic. We can wonder if Cleopatra's royal presecence in his life also put some ideas of monarchy in his mind. In the late spring of 47 BC the happy duo began a cruise down the Nile in a flotilla of 400 ships. Cleopatra was recognized as the living incarnation of the goddess Isis. Did the idea of not only sleeping with a living divinity-but that very same goddess incarnate carrying his child also put royal pretensions in Julius Caesar's mind?

Caesar finally left Egypt in June 47 BC to deal with a revolt in Asia Minor a few weeks before Cleopatra gave birth to his son-Ptolemy Caesar or Caesarion. Then in October he was back in Rome. He had been away now for nine months-absent largely from the results of a conflict he started. Now he needed to move fast, first he dismissed Antony, under whose leadership Italy was in disarray and the legions were becoming mutinous. Then in a dashing act of brilliant theater he faced down his troops. The devotion of Caesar's men to their leader was almost like a love affair. There would be quarrels from time to time, but in the end his soldiers truly adored him and Caesar in his turn was utterly loyal to them. Once again the bond of trust and affection of thousands of men was the most important factor of political power in Rome. Another interesting fact about Caesar's men is that many of them did not come from Roman Italy but the provinces of Gaul. To a large degree they weren't Roman citizens (as in principle they should have been) and had no emotional or patriotic ties that would keep them from fighting Romans. In April 46 BC in Utica, twenty miles away from the ruins of what had been Rome's most hated enemy, Carthage, Cato realized the Republic was lost. Caesar and his men had defeated Metellus Scipio's army in a huge rout despite being greatly outnumbered. Africa was now under Caesar's control and there was no possible way Cato could hold Utica against him.

Cato had supplied the bloody remnants of Scipio's army with ships to make their escape-but he had no intention of joining them. On this particular evening, as Cato was eating supper, the talk had turned to the subject of philosophy. The idea of freedom had been mentioned and along with it the notion that only the good can truly be free. Surprisingly, Caesar was not mentioned during this discussion. Later that night, after reading the Phaedo, which was Plato's great dialogue about the last days of Socrates, Cato stabbed himself. He was discovered by his attendants on the floor and still alive. But while desperate measures were made to dress the wound, Cato ripped off the bandages and tore out his intestines and quickly bled to death. Caesar found the whole city in mourning and his old enemy put in a grave by the sea like Pompey had been. Caesar addressed his old enemy saying, "Just as you envied me the chance of sparing you, Cato, so I envy you this death." (Plutarch, Cato the Younger, 73.). Cato, in not accepting a Caesarian pardon and instead choosing death, became an even more powerful symbol, as he was the man most identified with the spirit of Roman freedom and the constitution. In July 46 BC Caesar returned to Rome. His fellow citizens were invited to watch his victory parades and Caesar put on a show the likes of which not even Pompey had ever done to rival.

The image is a painting of Antony and Cleopatra together on her boat. I hope I haven't already used this one and will check. For a time period where there are so many fascinating people and events it seems like I have the hardest time finding images for these posts! I do think it is good to use marble busts and coinage in particular-as the inscriptions and images on coins really tell a great deal about the mood and psychology of the times -but I also get bored with constantly using these. In the book I am going to use for a guide to the twelve Caesars -I should say ten because we will have already looked at Julius and Augustus in great depth-the author tells a great deal about the meanings and symbols on coinage of the different reigns and what it said of the politics of the times in each different reign-really interesting info. I hope to have the next post here soon as the information is written out and just needs to be typed but I won't make any promises as this seems to always get me in trouble! Peace and be well to anyone stopping by!