Cicero's Last Stand Part Three

Talk about quick changes of fortune! Just a matter of weeks prior Antony had been on the run-almost looking at certain defeat and the end of his political career-if not his life. The armies of the Senate had been reduced to nothing and now Antony with the help of Marcus Aemelianus Lepidus was more of a force to be reckoned with than ever. Octavian was all that stood between the alliance and Rome. Rome waited, with the optimates in the Senate and Cicero being the most nervous to see which course the young man would take now. They didn't have to wait long for an answer. In July 43 BC a centurion from Octavian's army came before the Senate and demanded, now that the consulships were vacant that Octavian be given one of the offices. The Senate refused. The centurion opened his cloak and put his hand on the hilt of his sword, saying: "If you do not make him consul, then this will." (Suetonius, The Deified Augustus, 26.). Octavian had eight legions at his disposal and there were no senatorial armies to oppose him. Cicero must have been horrified and completely flustered at the quick change in fortunes that ruined all of his hopes. Still he marched out of the Senate to greet its new master. He did make a number of proposals to Octavian. However, the young man who had ingratiatingly called Cicero "Father" didn't answer, except for the rather disdainful reply that "Cicero had been the last of his friends to come and greet him." (Appian, 3.92).

Cicero was either allowed or ordered to leave Rome. His feelings of loss and despair must have been total as he made for his favorite country villa. On 19 August 43 BC, Octavian-not even twenty years old was formally elected consul. After Octavian had the condemnation of Caesar's assassins as traitors made official he left Rome. Going north and directly for the advancing army of Lepidus and Antony there was to be no war this time. On an island near Medina the three rival Caesarian leaders met and carved up the empire. In effect they were for once and for all time burying any hopes for the Republic. Of course, they claimed otherwise-words along the lines of "rescuing it" and the like, but in reality they were crucifying it as surely as a common thief. They decided that a second triumvirate should be formed. There was to be some major differences with the first triumvirate, that had been established by Pompey, Caesar and Crassus. Instead of a loose alliance this triumvirate would be formally constituted and imbued with enormous power. Their pact made them able to wield proconsular authority over the whole empire. The men had the right to pass or deny laws at their pleasure without consulting the Senate or having to face the electorate. Rome's sacred space was to be put under martial law. More than four hundred years of Roman freedom was being brought to a close.

As if this were not enough, the second triumvirate decided to seal their dealings with a pact of blood. They were looking past the celebrated clemency of Caesar for this to an earlier dictator-Sulla. The proscription lists were coming back to Rome. One cynical factor that weighed into this decision was the fact that more than sixty legions needed to be paid, and the triumvirs were short on funds-far short to pay them. Like under Sulla, the symbols of wealth would become death sentences. An exile who had been enjoying his looted treasure from a governorship was even killed for his "Corinthian bronzes." (Pliny the Elder, 34.6). The three men haggled and bargained over the unfortunate names to be added to the lists. There was a variety of reasons-to remove political opponents, factional reasons and even personal dislikes. In a fearful testimony of proof of their loyalty and committment to the triumvirate each man had to sacrifice a man that they otherwise would have wanted alive-or at least didn't wish particular harm to. For Mark Antony it was the proscription of his uncle, for Lepidus his own brother and Octavian wrote down the name of the man he had once called "Father"-Cicero. Still Cicero could have escaped his fate. We will never know-but one thing I wonder is that if at this point in his life he subconsciously wished for death? He had lost the things most dear to him, the Republic and his beloved daughter.

In Rome he went from friend to friend wondering what he should do and perhaps melancholy at the thought of exile for the rest of his life. Finally, when the bounty hunters of the second triumvirate did catch up to him, he leaned out from his litter and presented his bare neck to the blade in the manner of the gladiators who he had so admired. Besides gladiatorial courage maybe in the last moments of his life he was also thinking of his friend Cato-who had believed that death was preferrable to living as a subject under an emperor's caprice. Cicero was born on 3 January 106 BC and died on 7 December 43 BC. He had died a martyr to freedom and his enemies knew that. When the executioners delivered Cicero's severed head and hands, Fulvia, Antony's new wife did her utmost to show her fury at her husband's old enemy. She spat on Cicero's head, tore out his tongue and stabbed it with a hairpin. When she was finished mutilating his remains, only then did she allow them to be shown publicly. The hand that had written so many brilliant and flourishing speeches was nailed up too.

The image is a gold aureus depicting Augustus Caesar (Octavian). I need to find out what the image on the reverse of the coin depicts. I should know it-yet another thing to try to find out. I have much more information ready to go and in fact am going to try to take a small break and do one more post, as I got so much further along than I realized and would like to get the information here.

Cicero's Last Stand Part Two

Mark Antony's taste in women left a lot to be desired in Cicero's mind also. After years in hot pursuit of Clodius's foul-mouthed, ambitious widow, Antony had finally married Fulvia-a force to be reckoned with by herself. Cicero knew a lot about political intrigue, but in targeting Mark Antony, he was not declaring war on a rebel like Catiline-but a consul and thus a head of state. For Cicero this was do or die time and in his speeches to the Senate attacking Antony he was trying to wake a benumbed assembly to what the Republic had once been and could be still. Some quotes are in order here: "Life is not merely a matter of breathing. The slave has no true life. All other nations are capable of enduring servitude-but our city is not." "So glorious is it to recover liberty, that it is better to die than shrink from regaining it." (Cicero, Phillipics, 2.1.). Cicero had felt himself restrained for far too long and if this was to be his swan song he was now speaking openly and without restraint. He knew that to win the Caesarian heavies would have to be turned against each other and poisoned against Mark Antony. Hirtius and Pansa were already suspicous of Antony which was good. But Cicero hoped to hook an even brighter star and bring it down from the heavens to join his cause. Just a few months previously he had rejected the flattery of Octavian. Now in the last days of 44 BC he needed the young man on his side.

The first time Octavian had entered Rome (besides being born there-more on this later) a halo had appeared around the sun in a cloudless sky. An even more amazing portent had occurred in the heavens a scant three months later when Octavian was staging games in honor of his murdered adoptive father. At this time a comet had blazed through the Roman sky. This was viewed by the awestruck spectators as the soul of Julius Caesar being accepted into the heavens. Note here-this comet appears to have been confirmed by comparitively recent Chinese archaeological discoveries. But for Octavius this wonder meant even more; for if Caesar was now a god then who could try to deny his choice of heir? Not a bad start at all in political life for a young man who suffered from ill health, as a matter of fact Octavian was almost the victim of infanticide. Luckily for him, his family did not follow the astrologer's advice who had seen a bad future in the infant's stars. Antony, of course, was not amused: "You boy, owe everything to your name," he sneered. (Cicero, Phillipics, 13.24-5.). However, it had to have been to Antony's chagrin that Octavian was already exploiting his inheritance with finesse. Antony was being outwitted in a game of political chess that had developed between him and the young man from Velitrae. Antony had obstructed Octavian in his efforts to receive what was his from Caesar's will.

Octavian had auctioned off some of his own estates and paid Caesar's soldiers and Roman citizens part of what Julius Caesar had desired them to receive out of his own pocket and he was rewarded with great popularity. It should be said here that even though he did not have access to Caesar's estate, Octavian may have been able to get some of Caesar's money from his war chest collected for the Parthian campaign or received or seized tax receipts going from Asia to the Roman treasury. Roman citizens also received some of the money that Caesar had intended to go to them, but Antony was sitting on out of Octavian's largesse. Octavian had also recruited a private and illegal bodyguard of two thousand men. For a brief time he occupied the Forum with these men saying, "Heap as many insults on me as you like, Antony, but stop plundering Caesar's property until the citizens have received their legacy. Then you can take the rest." Octavian was eventually forced to retreat because of Antony's much larger army. Antony's term of the office as a consul was coming to an end and he was supposed to go and be the governor of the province of Macedonia. He needed a closer power base if he were to be able to keep an eye on events in Rome. In the end Antony exchanged Macedonia for a five year term as the governor of Cisalpine Gaul.

Here Antony was blunted by Decimus Brutus, who also claimed the post. Brutus chose to barricade himself in Modena rather than give his province to Antony. The new civil war had finally begun, as Antony and his army surrounded the city to starve him out. Back in Rome, Octavian continued to seek out Cicero's support. Wary at first, Cicero finally gave in. The crisis was becoming so desperate that he had little else to lose by taking a gamble on the young man. Before a packed Senate House, Cicero claimed Octavian was an asset to the Republic before many surprised onlookers: "I guarantee it, Father's of the Senate. I promise it and I solemnly swear it!" In April 43 BC Aulus Hirtius and Vibius Pansa-the two consuls of the Roman people finally made war with Mark Antony. Octavian, with his two legions, marched with them as their lieutenant. Antony was forced to retreat across the Alps, after being defeated in two battles. For awhile it looked like Cicero's high-risk, high-stakes gamble had paid off and the Republic was saved. Again, like he had been in the year of his consulship in 63 BC, after the Catiline conspiracy was put down, Cicero was hailed as a savior of the country and Antony declared a public enemy. Then in one of the major power struggles in Roman history where reversals of fortune happened at a breathtaking pace, sad news arrived in Rome. The two consuls were both dead. One had died in battle and the other from wounds sustained during battle. Now Mark Antony had escaped in the confusion.

Antony was heading towards the province of Caesar's "Master of Horse"-Marcus Lepidus who had seven legions and governed Narbonese Gaul (southern France) and Hither (northern Spain). In letters to the Senate, Lepidus had assured its leaders of his continuing loyalty. The men Lepidus commmanded, all committed Caesarians-changed his mind for him, to go against the Senate. On 30 May 43 BC, sfter days of fraternization between the armies of Lepidus and Antony a formal agreement was reached. The two generals and their armies were now united. Brutus, who was now hopelessly outnumbered attempted to run for his life. However, the unlucky man was betrayed by a Gallic chieftain and killed.

Thanks again to anyone following or commenting on this blog! I hope to have the next post here very soon and have a lot more information ready to go. I do not know if my "offline" day will be tomorrow or the next couple of days after that-so there will be at least one day with no new posts and that is of course barring any other problems, which net connection wise has been pretty good lately-my back pain and insomnia not so good-but under control. The image is an ancient Roman cameo of Augustus Caesar's (Octavian's) wife, Livia who we will hopefully hear a lot more about soon. Peace and be well to anyone stopping by!

Cicero's Last Stand Part One

Cicero had hailed the Ides of March conspirators as heroes but Brutus and Cassius, even though they had managed to get rid of Julius Caesar had not destroyed his regime. It was true what Cicero had said about the conspirator's plans and actions had brought, "the spirits of men, but the foresight of children." (Cicero, To Atticus, 14.21). Cicero himself had not been brought into the conspiracy because they were afraid he was too weak with age. Now that Brutus and Cassius had already been forced to flee Rome by pro-Caesarian forces it seems that they could have used Cicero's political foresight and acumen. Increasingly the man from Marius's hometown of Arpinum, who eventually scaled the heights of political power in Rome without the aid of legions of warriors or bribes was seen as an elder statesman. One of few men living from what had seemed an age of giants. Cicero was even sought out by some Caesarians. A handsome young man, fair haired, bright eyed and well-proportioned physically came to see him. The man was about eighteen years old and Cicero's most surprising visitor. The young man had also been born in a small town, Velitrae, about twenty-five miles southeast of Rome. His name was Gaius Octavius, Julius Caesar's great-nephew (we will hopefully be talking a lot more about this person from here on out, as he will become a very important figure-both historically and in this blog).

Octavius had learned of his adoption by his famous relative after his murder. By the terms of the will he was now to be known as Gaius Julius Caesar Octavius. The cheers of support and affection from Caesar's men must have had quite an effect for such a young man-who pretty much out of the blue was now a VIP. Even so, he didn't rush straight to Rome to claim his inheritance. First he had called on and consulted with different pro-Caesarian men around the Bay of Naples-I think this lack of typical youthful impetuousness helped Octavian immensely during his rise to power-the ability to wait and think things out-although like I have said, I don't even know if I would consider myself at the level of an amateur historian, much less a big-shot. I hope anyone reading this blog will chime in when they can as the story progresses to see whether they agree with me or not. The reason these men and Cicero were not in Rome at this time was that the well-to-do left the smelly and cramped city for awhile when spring arrived. After talking with the important Caesarians, Octavian had decided to see Cicero. For once, the egotistical (yet lovable in many ways-at least I think so) old republican had not been taken in by flattery. Cicero would have known that it was now Octavian's sacred duty, as Caesar's heir, to have his vengeance on his adoptive father's murderers.

Nonplussed, Cicero could not see how the heir of Caesar could be a good citizen. He even refused to call the young man by the name he now preferred-Octavian and referred to him by his birth name Octavius. It would be a good time to mention that for the purposes of this blog-for quite some time anyway-I will refer to him as Octavian to avoid needless confusion. During his lifetime, Octavian or Augustus Caesar went through four changes of name. Cicero in all likelihood felt very little need of alarm for Octavian's chances of becoming a new Caesar overnight. From Puteoli Octavian was going to Rome armed with nothing more than the weight of his adoption by Caesar, which in many of Caesar's mens eyes counted for a lot, and it must be said a steely determination to claim his full inheritance. What was the probability that such a young man, a novice-who suffered from poor health in addition could survive in the constant backstabbing and alliance shifting that was Roman politics? Caesar may have named Octavian as his legal heir, but there were other tougher, older men who also wanted the prize of their dead leader's legacy-of course the question is we know they were tougher and older than Octavian-but were they wiser? The "unintended consequences" of Brutus and Cassius and the other Ides of March conspirators was probably best summed up by Cicero: "Freedom has been restored, and yet the Republic has not." (Cicero, To Atticus, 14.4.). By the summer of 44 BC the political games being played didn't bode well for a bright future.

Some men toured the colonies where Caesar had settled his veterans trying to woo them and offering bribes. Brutus and Cassius even attempted this, but needless to say they didn't exactly receive a warm welcome from Caesar's veterans. Indeed the men came to the decision that their current status in Italy was too fraught with danger. The would-be liberators went into exile in the east, supposedly to endure what must have been a terrible sense of defeat and loss. With Brutus and Cassius gone eyes turned to Cicero to make a stand for the Republic. However, Cicero getting on in years, nervous and a lifelong civilian had planned to leave Rome also, after much painful deliberating. His plan was to sail to Athens where his surviving child and son, Marcus, was supposed to be studying the great philosophers. Instead Marcus was going through a great inheritance and becoming one of the university's well known drunks. Cicero had hoped to get his son back on the right path. His journey had hardly begun though when he was sent back to port because of bad weather. In port he learned of the painful way his trip was being played out in Rome. Even his best friend, Atticus, said, "Fine! Abandon your country!" (Cicero, To Atticus, 16.7.3.). Cicero could not have been more vexed.

A combination of shame, idealism and vanity-and maybe most of all that it was his duty as a citizen to fight for the Republic's hopes, no matter how dim, made him change his mind about the trip to Athens. Setting his son right would have to wait for (hopefully) a later time. Cicero's life has always fascinated me, a life of ups and downs, failures and triumphs, and this decision must have been the most courageous ever taken in his life. This was not a decision made like a reckless romantic blinded by higher ideals. Cicero had no legions to back him up in this final struggle, but he did have his superlative oratory, political acumen and prestige. When he arrived back in Rome cheering crowds welcomed him. There were two men: Aulus Hirtius and Vibius Pansa, that Cicero hoped to woo over to the republican cause. These men were both Caesarian officers and had been appointed by Caesar as the consuls for the next year-43 BC. Of course the very nature of their pre-determined appointments without elections was an outrage to Cicero, but he couldn't pick and choose right now. Both men were comparitive moderates and had even asked Cicero himself for speaking lessons! The most dangerous man targeted by Cicero was Mark Antony. Antony was now serving as consul, had an army and Julius Caesar's treasure by his side, which he was trying to keep Octavian from getting. Even the nicer aspects of Antony's character-courage, charm, affability and generosity made his seem that much more of a danger to Cicero.

Thanks again so very much to anyone reading, following and commenting on this blog! I have about 22 to 23 pages of handwritten material ready to be typed, of course for me as my handwriting is so large it will probably amount to four to six posts! I will be trying to stay ahead of the game, especially as I have never been so far ahead. I do try to have a no electronic media day once a week but I doubt this affects getting information here as much as my awful typing. I am starting to think something along the lines of a glossary or "background" posts about ancient Roman life on literally every aspect of it would be a good thing to start doing here and there. I may wait until we get past the Battle of Actium before I start doing these. I had always intended to do things about other times, people and places also here, somehow I think it would be a good idea to have much more information ready to go than I normally do before I start other topics and at least until we are through with the reign of Augustus Caesar, which will be quite awhile. If I can think of any way at all to present other interesting historical themes in here before then I will. Peace and be well to anyone stopping by! After all that I forgot-the image is a marble bust of Cicero done when he was about 60 years old.

Julius Caesar and The Ides of March

Had Caesar been taken with the ancient cultures of the East, where he was worshipped as a living god to the point that he would now apply his godlike status to Rome? The answer came in late 45 BC when the Senate proclaimed that from this time forward Caesar was to be honored as Divus Iulius or Julius the God. Early in 44 BC, Caesar was seen wearing the high red boots once worn by kings in Italy's ancient past. Who could doubt now that he was about to perform the sacrilege of having himself declared a king? There is evidence that Caesar realized that he had gone too far, for on 15 February 44 BC he twice refused the offer by Mark Antony of a crown. The second time Antony offered the crown "a groan echoed all the way round the Forum." (Cicero, Phillipics, 2.85.). In Caesar's mind this certainly couldn't have been of much consequence. As Cleopatra was known as both a pharaoh to the Egyptians and a Macedonian queen to the Greeks, so Caesar would also be a living god in the East and a dictator in Rome. What indeed was the point of formally abolishing the Republic when the dictator himself was said to have uttered that the Republic had been brought to "nothingness, a name only, without body or substance." (Suetonius, The Deified Julius, 77.). Julius Caesar appeared to have felt very secure in his new position, as he dismissed his guard of two thousand men and appeared in the Forum with only the lictors that came with his office.

When Favonius, who was Cato's most enthusiastic supporter said, "Better an illegal tyrant than a civil war." (Plutarch, Brutus, 12.), Caesar probably felt that most people in Rome-even the most republican leaning senators were more terrified about what would happen without him. And sure enough, though he hadn't been in Rome long at all he was preparing to leave for to fight the Parthians on 18 March 44 BC, and take revenge for Crassus's disastrous campaign in 53 BC. A soothsayer or astrologer-perhaps a person with a combination of fortune telling talents had warned Caesar about the Ides of March, which by our calendar today would be the thirteenth or the fifteenth of the month. In public anyway, Caesar scorned superstitions and warnings of death. To be afraid was to be emasculated. Interesting also-and I am thinking of this in relations to dreams and warnings of other political leaders down through the ages-all the way up to Abraham Lincoln and John Kennedy; Caesar's wife Pompeia, had terrible nightmares and begged him not to attend the Senate the next day. Caesar laughed at her worries and as he was being carried in his litter, he is said to have sighted the prognosticator who had warned him of the Ides, the following exchange is reported to have taken place: "The day which you warned me against is here, and I am still alive," said Caesar, to which the soothsayer replied, "Yes, it is here-but it is not yet past." (Cassius Dio, 44.18.).

On that morning the Senate had arranged to meet in Pompey's great assembly hall. Pompey's statue had been removed after Caesar's victory at Pharsalus but Caesar had ordered it put back, along with all of the other Pompeian statues. Cicero had held this action of Caesar's in a kind of contempt and said it was nothing more than an insurance policy that nobody would take Caesar's statues down in the future. It must have seemed like business as usual when Julius Caesar came into the hall and the senators rose to greet him. A crowd of them approached him with a petition as he sat down in his gilded chair. Suddenly, he felt his toga being pulled down from his shoulders. Caesar, startled, yelled, "Why this is violence!" (Suetonius, The Deified Julius, 82.). 60 men now crowded around him with daggers pulled out from under their togas. Every one of the men was known to him. Some were his former enemies who had accepted his pardon but -many more of the men were his friends. Some of the men had even served with him in Gaul, Decimus Brutus, the commander of the fleet that had routed the Venetians was among them. The final, most terrible and stunning betrayal of Caesar was the one that made him stop fighting for his life. Julius Caesar had seen his own supposed son (by his mistress Servilia) among the knife wielders-another Brutus-Marcus. This is the betrayal that caused the famous words to be echoed down through the ages as either: "You too, Brutus?" or "You too, my boy?" (Suetonius, The Deified Julius, 82.). Caesar did not want to be seen in the throws of his death agony, so he covered his head with the tatters of his toga. He had fallen in a pool of blood at the base of his old rival, Pompey's statue.

Some of the conspirators had also wanted the deaths of Mark Antony, Lepidus and the downfall of the whole regime. However, Marcus Junius Brutus, Caesar's reputed son and the conscience of the conspiracy would not agree to this. In his eyes they were executing a traitor against the Republic and not dabbling in the less noble ideals of political infighting. This turned out to be a problem, however, as the men-or some of them anyway-seemed to think the people would rally around the saviors of the Republic. Instead as news spread of the dictator's death, the spectator's at Pompey's theater began rioting and Rome's Jews were wailing in their grief at the death of the man they had always thought of as a friend. Cicero was one who got caught up in the aftermath of the Ides of March. Previous to this his much beloved daughter, Tullia had died following childbirth. It would be an understatement to say that Cicero was devastated by her loss. She had been a loving and intelligent daughter. In fact, in a society where men ruled over everything, she had been her father's dearest companion. Even his friends had thought his extremely emotional reaction to her death was a bit unmanly and told him he should put his duties as a citizen first. However, these old values which had once been such an inspiration to him only made him feel a deeper sadness. He explained his feelings to a friend: "There was a time when I could find in my home a refuge from the miseries of public life. But now, oppressed by domestic unhappiness as I am, there is no doing the opposite-no taking refuge in the affairs of state, and the comforts they once offered. And so I stay clear of both the Forum and of home." (Cicero, To Friends, 4.6.).

An important note here-commenter Xdell had made me wonder to check back through some posts to see if I had the actual date of Julius Caesar's being made dictator here. As far as I can tell I don't. Julius Caesar was made "Dictator in Perpetuity" or dictator for life by the Senate between 9 and 15 February 44 BC. The idea of a "dictator" was an actual office in ancient Rome. There is a bit about this in the "Sulla" posts-and not just a name like we refer to tyrants now. The fact that I didn't have such an important piece of information here (all the time I thought I was going into too much detail) makes me wonder if I should stop doing the majority of the work I do for both of my blogs in between the hours of 11pm and 4 am. I will look through tonights (hopeful) post and see if I am missing anything important.

The image is an artist's rendering of the assassination of Julius Caesar on the Ides of March-only problem is -I have no idea which artist-haha! I had picked out another rendition done in 1800 by Camenucci but when I posted the image it was too small, so I will try to find out who did this one-shouldn't be too hard-even for me. I hope to have the next post here soon. Peace and be well to anyone stopping by!

Julius Caesar- Fame and Fate Part Ten

Thus the wrangling and escalation continued. Curio vetoed anything that would cause Caesar to lose his command. Now more voices were heard that Pompey had better be ready to make good on his threat to make Caesar obey. Once again many men could not decide what to do or what might happen. Pompey seemed very assured that he could take on Caesar's legions, should the need arise. Caelius, writing to Cicero, believed that Caesar's well trained and experienced army was far more likely to win over anything Pompey could put together, "In peacetime, while taking part in domestic politics, it is most important to back the side that is in the right-but in times of war, the strongest." (Cicero,To Friends, 8.14.). Caelius was hardly the only man to be thinking along such cynical lines. In the years after Sulla's dictatorship there was a generation of young men who didn't want to take the usual path to power, and the chasm between this set of fast living, high rolling men and the senior statesmen of the Senate, with their gravitas and dignitas was getting wider every day. The great orator Hortensius died in the summer of 50 BC leaving a vacancy in the augural college. This office was very prestigious and it involved determining if the right way had been chosen to placate the gods by those who studied portents in the natural world.

The arrogant old-line aristocrat Domitius Ahenobarbus was going up against the young upstart Mark Antony to fill the vacancy. Ahenobarbus had the complete support of the senatorial establishment behind him and was favored to win. However, Mark Antony, who had come a long way since the wild days of his youth was elected to the augurate. The gulf between the two factions opened up further and many wondered if a civil war was once again on the horizon. The great majority of people who didn't like either side or liked certain men who represented both factions increasingly found themselves in a funk and didn't know what to do. Cicero said, "I'm fond of Curio, I wish to see Caesar honored in the manner which is his due, and as for Pompey, I would lay down my life for him-all the same, what really counts with me is the Republic itself." War-like sentiments were in the air, those who would make peace were thought of as appeasers and the discussion in Rome was all about war. Deep in the winter, in 50 BC, Gaius Marcellus, one of the two consuls went to Pompey's villa in the Alban Hills. The other consul had begun his term of office on the anti-Caesar side, but had changed his decision like Curio had, and probably for similar reasons. Marcellus had remained unmoving in his opposition to Caesar and with just days left in his term of office, he wanted to appeal to Pompey to oppose Caesar with all his might and once again save the Republic.

A great number of senators and a crowd of worried, yet excited onlookers watched the exchange between the two men. A solemn Marcellus told Pompey, "We charge you to march against Caesar and rescue the Republic." In reply Pompey said, "I will do so, if no other way can be found." (Appian, 2.36). Pompey took the sword and the command of two legions at Capua. Pompey also began to raise fresh levies, which was unconstitutional, and also hypocritically denounced by Caesar's supporters. Curio brought this news to Caesar, who by this time was threateningly stationed at Ravenna with his 13th legion. Curio's term of office had ended and he had no desire to stay in the capital to be targeted with prosecution or even worse. Mark Antony had taken his place as tribune and through the month of December launched a series of vicious attacks on Pompey and used his veto power to stop any anti-Caesarian legislation. Antony again made himself useful to Caesar on 1 January 49 BC, when, despite the stern opposition of the new consuls, who were extremely anti-Caesar, he read a letter to the Senate. This letter had been delivered by Curio himself. In the letter, Caesar, the powerful and war-like proconsul said he wanted peace. He listed his many great achievements and proposed that both he and Pompey end their commands simultaneously. The Senate was anxious about the effect this letter would have on public opinion and suppressed it. Metellus Scipio then stood up and delivered the final knock-out punch to hopes of peace and a compromise solution. He named a date by which Caesar should surrender command of his legions or be considered an enemy of the Republic. This motion was voted on and only two senators opposed it-Curio and Caelius. Mark Antony with his power as a tribune then vetoed the bill. This was the straw that broke the camel's back for the Senate. On 7 January 49 BC a state of emergency was declared. Pompey moved troops into Rome, and the tribunes were told that their safety could no longer be guaranteed. Antony, Curio and Caelius desguised themselves as slaves, hid in a wagon and fled north toward Ravenna. The news of Pompey's emergency powers reached him by 10 January. Caesar immediately sent a detachment of his troops south to seize the nearest frontier towns inside Italy.

The image is a fresco, done in 1464, that is an interpretation of a young Cicero reading. Peace and be well anyone stopping by!