49 BCEthe Rubicon
2,074 years ago
49–44 BCE, Rome and its world. 25 posts and events, oldest first.
, the Rubicon
Caesar leads his army over the river that marked the edge of his province, which the law forbade. It starts a civil war with Pompey and the Senate.
Let the die be cast, he hastened to cross the river
“We may still retreat; but if we pass this little bridge, nothing is left for us but to fight it out in arms.”
Background: Crossing the Rubicon, Wikipedia (opens en.wikipedia.org)
Caesar puts the republic's dignity before life
What was going on: 49 BCE: civil war has begun between Caesar and Pompey's side. Go-betweens such as the praetor Roscius bring Caesar Pompey's proposals, and Caesar asks them to carry his reply back. This is Caesar's own account.
Why it matters: The crossing set off a civil war that eventually made Caesar dictator for life. It also gave us the idiom crossing the Rubicon, meaning passing the point of no return.
I have always put the honour of the state first, above my own life. I was angry that my enemies were snatching back what the people had granted me.
As for myself, he said, I have always reckoned the dignity of the republic of first importance and preferable to life. I was indignant that a benefit conferred on me by the Roman people was being insolently wrested from me by my enemies, and that, robbed of my six months’ command, I was being dragged back to the city, when the people had directed that I should be allowed to be a candidate in absence at the next election.
Caesar at the Rubicon, as Suetonius tells it
What was going on: As Suetonius tells it, over a century later: after the tribunes who spoke for Caesar fled Rome, he set off by night and got lost on the way. At the Rubicon, the edge of his province, he stopped. Crossing it with an army, which the law forbade, began a civil war with Pompey and the Senate.
Why it matters: The crossing set off a civil war that eventually made Caesar dictator for life. It also gave us the idiom crossing the Rubicon, meaning passing the point of no return.
At the river that bordered his province, he stopped to think, then said: we can still turn back, but once we cross this little bridge, we have to fight it out.
Coming up with his troops on the banks of the Rubicon, which was the boundary of his province, he halted for a while, and, revolving in his mind the importance of the step he was on the point of taking, he turned to those about him, and said: “We may still retreat; but if we pass this little bridge, nothing is left for us but to fight it out in arms.”
Caesar crosses the Rubicon, as Plutarch tells it
What was going on: Caesar reaches the Rubicon, the river between Cisalpine Gaul and the rest of Italy, and stops to argue it out with himself and his friends. Leading an army across was against the law and started a civil war. Plutarch tells it over a century later.
Why it matters: The crossing set off a civil war that eventually made Caesar dictator for life. It also gave us the idiom crossing the Rubicon, meaning passing the point of no return.
At last, as if giving up on calculation, he said what people say before a reckless plunge, let the die be cast, crossed the river and took Ariminum before dawn.
But finally, with a sort of passion, as if abandoning calculation and casting himself upon the future, and uttering the phrase with which men usually prelude their plunge into desperate and daring fortunes, Let the die be cast, he hastened to cross the river; and going at full speed now for the rest of the time, before daybreak he dashed into Ariminum and took possession of it.
, Pharsalus
In Greece, Caesar's smaller army routs Pompey's. Pompey flees to Egypt. Plutarch says Caesar groaned at the dead and blamed his enemies.
They would have it so; they brought me to such a pass that if I, Caius Caesar, after waging successfully the greatest wars, had dismissed my forces, I should have been condemned in their courts.
Background: Battle of Pharsalus, Wikipedia (opens en.wikipedia.org)
, Alexandria
Following Pompey to Egypt, Caesar finds him already killed. He backs Cleopatra against her brother, fights a war in Alexandria and makes her queen.
she stretched herself at full length inside a bed-sack
Background: Alexandrian war, Wikipedia (opens en.wikipedia.org)
Caesar on his speech before Pharsalus
What was going on: Pharsalus, 48 BCE, just before Caesar's army fights Pompey's. Caesar, writing about himself, says he reminded his men how hard he had tried to make peace. Then a veteran centurion, Crastinus, called on his old comrades to follow him into battle.
Why it matters: It was the decisive battle of Caesar's civil war. The historian Paul K. Davis writes that the victory took Caesar to the pinnacle of power, effectively ending the Republic.
I told my men I never wanted to waste their blood. They were eager to fight, and I had the trumpet sound the attack.
He had never, he said, wished to squander the blood of his soldiers or to deprive the republic of either of its armies. After delivering this speech, the soldiers clamouring for action and burning with zeal for the fight, he gave the signal with a trumpet.
Caesar on Pompey's killing in Egypt
What was going on: 48 BCE: beaten by Caesar at Pharsalus in Greece, Pompey has fled to Egypt. Caesar writes that the men running the kingdom for the young king publicly invited Pompey to visit, but secretly sent Achillas and Septimius to kill him.
Why it matters: Caesar, pursuing Pompey, reached Alexandria, learned of the murder there, and was then embroiled in a dynastic dispute between Ptolemy XIII and Cleopatra.
He was greeted politely, drawn in because he knew a man who had once served under him, stepped into a small boat with a few friends, and was murdered.
And he, being courteously addressed by them and being lured forth by some previous knowledge of Septimius, because he had been a centurion under him in the pirate war, embarked in a little boat with a few of his friends, and is thereupon assassinated by Achillas and Septimius.
Caesar's three words, as Plutarch tells it
What was going on: As Plutarch tells it, over a century later: in 47 BCE Caesar left Cleopatra on the throne of Egypt and went on through Syria and Asia. There he heard that Pharnaces, son of Mithridates, had beaten Domitius and was seizing Bithynia and Cappadocia.
He won a big battle fast and wiped out the enemy army. Writing home to a friend, he summed it up in three words: came, saw, conquered.
At once, therefore, Caesar marched against him with three legions, fought a great battle with him near the city of Zela, drove him in flight out of Pontus, and annihilated his army. In announcing the swiftness and fierceness of this battle to one of his friends at Rome, Amantius, Caesar wrote three words Came, saw, conquered.
, Utica
After Caesar beats the Republicans in Africa, Cato takes his own life at Utica. Plutarch says the first wound was not enough and he tore it open again.
But when Butas had gone out, Cato drew his sword from its sheath and stabbed himself below the breast.
Background: Cato the Younger, Wikipedia (opens en.wikipedia.org)
Cato's last night, as Plutarch tells it
What was going on: Utica, 46 BCE, after Caesar beat the Republicans in Africa. On his last night Cato embraces his son and friends more warmly than usual and goes to his room, leaving them suspicious. Plutarch tells it over a century later; Cato then takes his own life.
Why it matters: By choosing death over Caesar's pardon, Cato made himself a martyr for and a symbol of the Republic. Eulogies by Cicero and Brutus began to present him as a great Stoic philosopher.
In bed he read Plato's dialogue on the soul. Looking up, he saw his sword was gone (his son had taken it) and asked a servant who took it.
After entering his chamber and lying down, he took up Plato’s dialogue On the Soul, and when he had gone through the greater part of the treatise, he looked up above his head, and not seeing his sword hanging there (for his son had taken it away while Cato was still at supper), called a servant and asked him who had taken the weapon.
Cato's last night, as Plutarch tells it
What was going on: Utica, 46 BCE, Cato's last night, as Plutarch tells it, after Caesar beat the Republicans in Africa. Cato has told his philosopher friends Demetrius and Apollonides that when he decides what to do, the choice will be his. They leave in tears.
Why it matters: By choosing death over Caesar's pardon, Cato made himself a martyr for and a symbol of the Republic. Eulogies by Cicero and Brutus began to present him as a great Stoic philosopher.
A child brought the sword. He checked it was sharp and said: Now I am my own master. Then he went back to his book, said to have read it twice.
Then the sword was sent in, carried by a little child, and Cato took it, drew it from its sheath, and examined it. And when he saw that its point was keen and its edge still sharp, he said: Now I am my own master. Then he laid down the sword and resumed his book, and he is said to have read it through twice.
Cato's death at Utica, as Plutarch tells it
What was going on: Utica, 46 BCE, after Caesar beat the Republicans in Africa. As Plutarch tells it, Cato stabbed himself but the blow was weak; his son and friends ran in, and a doctor tried to put his wound back together.
Why it matters: By choosing death over Caesar's pardon, Cato made himself a martyr for and a symbol of the Republic. Eulogies by Cicero and Brutus began to present him as a great Stoic philosopher.
When he came to and saw what was happening, he pushed the doctor away, tore the wound open with his own hands, and died.
Accordingly, when Cato recovered and became aware of this, he pushed the physician away, tore his bowels with his hands, rent the wound still more, and so died.
Spoken of by Cicero, 44 BCE, written laterSpoken of by Julius Caesar, 46 BCE
Caesar on Cato's death, as Plutarch tells it
What was going on: As Plutarch tells it, over a century later: in 46 BCE, after Caesar beat the Republicans in Africa, Cato stayed in Utica, sent the others away, and took his own life. Caesar had been hurrying there with his army.
Why it matters: By choosing death over Caesar's pardon, Cato made himself a martyr for and a symbol of the Republic. Eulogies by Cicero and Brutus began to present him as a great Stoic philosopher.
We are told that on hearing Cato was dead, he said only this: Cato, I resent your death, because you denied me the chance to spare your life.
When, however, he heard of his death, he said thus much only, as we are told: O Cato, I begrudge thee thy death; for thou didst begrudge me the sparing of thy life.
, Rome (the Senate)
A group of senators led by Brutus and Cassius kill Caesar at a Senate meeting. Suetonius, writing over a century later, counts the wounds.
He was stabbed with three and twenty wounds, uttering a groan only, but no cry, at the first wound
Background: Assassination of Julius Caesar, Wikipedia (opens en.wikipedia.org)
Caesar on the best death, as Plutarch tells it
What was going on: Plutarch, writing over a century later, sets this the day before the Ides of March, 44 BCE, when Caesar was stabbed to death at a Senate meeting. He also passes on a story, told by many, that a seer had warned Caesar about that day. Now Caesar is at supper with Marcus Lepidus, signing letters.
Why it matters: The killing failed to restore the Republic. Instead it led to Caesar's deification and a civil war between his supporters and his killers, which became a stage in the Republic's collapse.
At dinner the talk turned to what kind of death is best. Before anyone else could answer, he said: the one you don’t see coming.
Moreover, on the day before, when Marcus Lepidus was entertaining him at supper, Caesar chanced to be signing letters, as his custom was, while reclining at table, and the discourse turned suddenly upon the question what sort of death was the best; before any one else could answer Caesar cried out: That which is unexpected.
Caesar and the soothsayer, in Suetonius
What was going on: As Suetonius tells it, over a century later: after bad omens and his wife Calpurnia's dream, Caesar nearly stayed home, but Decimus Brutus talked him into going to the Senate. A warning about the plot was pushed into his hand on the way. Inside, senators were waiting to kill him.
Why it matters: The killing failed to restore the Republic. Instead it led to Caesar's deification and a civil war between his supporters and his killers, which became a stage in the Republic's collapse.
Ignoring the bad omens, he walked in and teased the soothsayer: the Ides have come and nothing happened. The reply: they have come, but not passed.
Victim after victim was slain, without any favourable appearances in the entrails; but still, disregarding all omens, he entered the senate-house, laughing at Spurinna as a false prophet, because the ides of March were come, without any mischief having befallen him. To which the soothsayer replied, “They are come, indeed, but not past.”
The stabbing of Caesar, as Suetonius tells it
What was going on: 44 BCE, at a Senate meeting in Rome. Senators led by Brutus and Cassius crowd round Caesar as if to ask favours, then attack him with daggers. Suetonius, writing over a century later, describes it blow by blow.
Why it matters: Caesar's death precipitated the end of the Roman Republic, a result his killers did not foresee. The words some authors report here differ slightly from the more famous Et tu, Brute of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.
He was stabbed 23 times, groaning at the first blow without a cry. Some writers say that when Brutus attacked, he said: you too? You, my son!
He was stabbed with three and twenty wounds, uttering a groan only, but no cry, at the first wound; although some authors relate, that when Marcus Brutus fell upon him, he exclaimed, “What! art thou, too, one of them? Thou, my son!”
Antony at Caesar's funeral, in Plutarch
What was going on: Rome, 44 BCE: the funeral of Caesar, killed by senators led by Brutus and Cassius. As Plutarch tells it, Antony had just got the Senate to agree an amnesty for the killers, but he hoped to be first in the state if Brutus were overthrown.
Why it matters: When Antony showed the crowd Caesar's bloody toga, the funeral turned into a riot; buildings in the Forum burned and many of the killers fled Italy.
He gave the funeral speech for Caesar. Seeing the crowd moved, he mixed in grief and anger, and at the end held up Caesar’s bloody, slashed clothes.
Now, it happened that when Caesar’s body was carried forth for burial, Antony pronounced the customary eulogy over it in the forum. And when he saw that the people were mightily swayed and charmed by his words, he mingled with his praises sorrow and indignation over the dreadful deed, and at the close of his speech shook on high the garments of the dead, all bloody and tattered by the swords as they were,
On what we owe our country
What was going on: Cicero writes this in 44 BCE, the year senators stabbed Caesar to death. Here he is explaining how land becomes private property and what people owe each other, leaning on Plato and the Stoics. The next year Cicero himself was killed on Antony's orders.
Why it matters: The killing failed to restore the Republic. Instead it led to Caesar's deification and a civil war between his supporters and his killers, which became a stage in the Republic's collapse.
As Plato put it so well, we are not born just for ourselves. Our country has a claim on us, and so do our friends.
But since, as Plato has admirably expressed it, we are not born for ourselves alone, but our country claims a share of our being, and our friends a share;
On the fox and the lion
What was going on: Cicero wrote this in 44 BCE, the year senators killed Caesar. Here he is finishing his discussion of justice, right after examples of fair dealing with enemies in war and with slaves.
Why it matters: The killing failed to restore the Republic. Instead it led to Caesar's deification and a civil war between his supporters and his killers, which became a stage in the Republic's collapse.
Wrong is done by force or by trickery. Both are beastly: trickery seems the fox's way, force the lion's. Both are beneath us, but trickery is worse.
While wrong may be done, then, in either of two ways, that is, by force or by fraud, both are bestial: fraud seems to belong to the cunning fox, force to the lion; both are wholly unworthy of man, but fraud is the more contemptible.
On arms yielding to the toga
What was going on: 44 BCE, the year Caesar was killed. Writing to his son Marcus, Cicero argues that arms are of little value without wise counsel at home, and holds up his own past service to the state as proof.
Why it matters: The killing failed to restore the Republic. Instead it led to Caesar's deification and a civil war between his supporters and his killers, which became a stage in the Republic's collapse.
When I ran the state, didn't weapons give way to civilian rule? The republic was never in more danger, and never more at peace.
Not to mention other instances, did not arms yield to the toga, when I was at the helm of state? For never was the republic in more serious peril, never was peace more profound.
On Cato's choice to die
What was going on: Cicero wrote this in 44 BCE, the year Caesar was killed. He is arguing that people of different character can owe different things, and uses Cato, who killed himself at Utica in 46 BCE rather than accept Caesar's pardon.
Why it matters: The killing failed to restore the Republic. Instead it led to Caesar's deification and a civil war between his supporters and his killers, which became a stage in the Republic's collapse.
Cato was unbelievably stern by nature and never wavered from his purpose. For a man like him, dying was right rather than facing a tyrant.
But Cato had been endowed by nature with an austerity beyond belief, and he himself had strengthened it by unswerving consistency and had remained ever true to his purpose and fixed resolve; and it was for him to die rather than to look upon the face of a tyrant.
On the hatred of the many
What was going on: Cicero writes this in 44 BCE, the year senators stabbed Caesar to death in the Senate. He has just listed the reasons people submit to someone's power, and argues that love holds power fast while fear only breeds hate.
Why it matters: The killing failed to restore the Republic. Instead it led to Caesar's deification and a civil war between his supporters and his killers, which became a stage in the Republic's collapse.
We just learned that no amount of power can survive the hatred of the many. This tyrant's death shows it, though the state still obeys him.
And we recently discovered, if it was not known before, that no amount of power can withstand the hatred of the many. The death of this tyrant, whose yoke the state endured under the constraint of armed force and whom it still obeys more humbly than ever, though he is dead, illustrates the deadly effects of popular hatred;
What was going on: 44 BCE, the year Caesar was killed. Writing to his son Marcus, Cicero compares his own leisure with Scipio Africanus' chosen rest, and says his is forced on him: the senate, he writes, is abolished and the courts closed.
Why it matters: The killing failed to restore the Republic. Instead it led to Caesar's deification and a civil war between his supporters and his killers, which became a stage in the Republic's collapse.
Armed treason keeps me out of politics and the courts, so I have time on my hands. I have left the city and wander the country, often alone.
…for as I am kept by force of armed treason away from practical politics and from my practice at the bar, I am now leading a life of leisure. For that reason I have left the city and, wandering in the country from place to place, I am often alone.
