Caesar’s Civil War: A Tale of Julius Caesar
By Anne Spackman
Copyright 2014 by Anne Spackman
All Rights Reserved.
Winter 49 B.C. – 48 B.C.
Caesar stood in reflection by the edge of the railing as the fleet carrying his soldiers sailed from Spain towards Greece. The rough chop of the waves never bothered him, but many of his men seemed affected by nausea as their ship lurched in the rough waters.
“No telling how long the weather will stay fair. Storms come up quickly at this time of year,” remarked one of Caesar’s subordinates. The sky was now clear, after a cloudy morning. Caesar was beginning to think that luck—the goddess Fortuna—was on his side.
Earlier that year Caesar had been ordered to disband his army and recalled to Rome by the Senate. Instead, he had brought his army with him, crossed the river Rubicon, and marched on Rome herself in defiance of the Senate and the law. Much of the Senate and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, or Pompey the Great, who was the general in charge of Rome’s defense, had fled from the city in fear of Caesar’s arrival. Caesar had pursued Pompey south, but Pompey had taken every boat his men could find and he and his army had fled to Greece where he had hoped to conscript enough recruits to fight Caesar.
Caesar had too small a fleet at that time to follow Pompey. Caesar had three other choices before him: he could return to Rome and wait, he could march his army around the Adriatic to Greece to confront Pompey, or he could go to Spain where Pompey had been governor and had stationed seven of his Legions. Caesar had decided to go to Spain and had declared, “I am going to go and fight an army with no leader, and then I will go and fight a leader with no army.”
Caesar had gone to Spain with six legions and, since Pompey’s legions there surrendered easily, he quickly established his control over the territory. Returning to Italy, Caesar knew that he only had enough ships to transport about half of his army to Greece to attack Pompey. Caesar also knew that Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus was in charge of Pompey’s fleet of warships and had set up a blockade to keep Caesar from getting to Greece. Bibulus was a former co-consul with Caesar and had been a formidable opponent of Caesar’s for many years.
In order to outwit Bibulus and escape his blockade Caesar was now sailing with his ships across the Adriatic in the middle of winter. On the deck, Caesar pulled his cloak more tightly about him. The sun may have been shining for a while, but the winter wind was harsh as the boat sailed across the Adriatic Sea. The sonorous slapping of the waves against the ship seemed to go on forever. Caesar was hungry, and went below deck for a meal and some wine before retiring.
* * * * *
Caesar had been right about the Goddess Fortuna being on his side; most of Bibulus’ ships were in port because of the winter storms, and Caesar’s fleet slipped past them. Caesar soon landed his army near Epirus in Greece. But now Caesar was worried; Bibulus had finally got his ships to sea and had destroyed most of Caesar’s fleet on their return journey. Now he had no way to bring the other half of his army and no way to get supplies to feed his men, and with Greece under Pompey’s control few were willing to risk assisting Caesar and his armies.
“Any luck with buying food?” Caesar demanded of the envoy he had sent to the nearest town.
“No one will help us, Caesar. The city is loyal to Pompey.”
Caesar did not take this news at all well. “Then we must forage,” he said, turning to one of his Legates. “Get as many men out hunting and fishing as we can spare, and have some men scour the area; buy or plunder whatever can be found.”
Caesar was annoyed, but not daunted. Although Pompey’s army greatly outnumbered his own, it was comprised mainly of young and raw recruits, while his own army by contrast were seasoned soldiers who had remained loyal to him since Gaul, where they had campaigned for ten years. The only thing that worried him was the possible starvation of his army. But his men were hardy and resourceful; they would obtain food any way they could.
“Our course is clear. We shall forage as much as we can, then return to Italy,” Caesar said again at last. This was a temporary measure, of course. He simply could not feed his army adequately, and had to acknowledge a setback—for now.
“Yes Caesar,” returned the Legate, and he left to issue orders to the men.
That night, Fortuna sent her own message to Caesar. There would be no turning back, just as there had been no turning back at the river Rubicon. A winter storm struck ferociously, and Caesar knew that there was no way to travel in such foul weather. He was, however, patient. He and his army would wait out the winter months in Greece.
* * * * *
Fortuna then sent Caesar a miracle. Pompey had also decided to wait out the winter and did nothing to attack Caesar despite having a much larger force. Meanwhile Marc Antony, Caesar’s faithful ally, had strengthened the legions left behind in Italy during the winter, then managed to fight his way past Bibulus’ fleet, and had finally reunited Caesar with the rest of his army.
“Antony, you are most welcome,” Caesar said, in good spirits as Marc Antony entered his tent.
“What news of Pompey?” asked Antony.
“Pompey has camped to the south of Dyrrhachium,” said Caesar. “We shall meet him there.”
Pompey, realizing his danger, rushed his army towards Dyrrhachium where the two armies met at either side of a small river; Pompey’s army on the south side and Caesar’s on the north side with Dyrrhachium on his side.
Caesar, seeing that Pompey had the sea behind and hills around him, called upon his experience in Gaul and declared, “We shall build a wall.”
Antony wondered at this. “Caesar, a wall?”
“We shall pin him in. We shall cut off the water supply to his army, and we shall keep his horses from the fields and have them starve.”
Caesar’s wall was no sooner was being built, when news reached Caesar that Pompey’s forces were also building a wall around their position to defend themselves. For four months skirmishes between the two sides were fought constantly, but Pompey’s situation was becoming ever more desperate. Then one day the Goddess Fortuna turned against Caesar; Pompey’s army advanced through the weakest area of Caesar’s wall where the work had not been completed, and forced his army to retreat.
Caesar realized then that one of his own must have had betrayed him and that the news of his wall’s weakness had somehow reached Pompey. With his own army in panic, Caesar, unable to prevent the army’s collapse, instead organized its withdrawal. But, as Caesar’s army retreated, there was no sign of Pompey’s army coming after them. Pompey, suspecting some ruse or elaborate trap by Caesar, had ordered his army to halt.
At the head of his army, Caesar looked back towards the place where Pompey’s army remained. “The enemy would have won, if they had a commander who was a winner,” he said, shaking his head in wonder at Pompey’s mistake.
* * * * *
For some time, Pompey and Caesar remained at a stalemate and had no conflicts between their armies. Many movements of their armies brought them within close range of one another, until finally Pompey trapped Caesar’s army at Thessaly in northern Greece. Pompey’s army, among them some notable Senators, clamored for a decisive victory in battle. And though, with more caution to his nature, Pompey considered it would be better to starve Caesar’s army out and defeat them with hunger rather than open battle, he was in the end swayed by the will of his advisers and supporters. Pompey at last gave in to the Senators’ demands.
* * * * *
9 August, 48 B. C.
The Battle on the field of Pharsalus near the town
of Driskoli began on the afternoon of August 9th, in the sweltering heat of summer. The men were sweaty, hot, but used to all manner of weather in their marches. Caesar waved away some flies that were buzzing by his face. His commanders were assembled in his tent. They broke camp for the final time and amassed for battle.
Julius Caesar led his armies against those of the Roman republic, led by Pompey. Caesar’s legions were completely outnumbered by the armies of Pompey, who commanded almost twice as many men as Caesar. Caesar had 80 cohorts, or 22,000 men. Pompey had 110 cohorts, or 45,000 men, and had 7,000 cavalry to Caesar’s 1,000.
Pompey’s army had been delaying the battle for some time, hoping to starve and weaken Caesar’s army, who were, as usual, low on supplies and provisions. Pompey had to be sure of himself and his victory, for he had several advantages; he had the high ground on the slopes of a mountain, and he had a much larger and well supplied army.
Pompey’s army moved first, heading forward in a traditional attack formation. Pompey deployed three lines with a depth of ten men, flanking the advance with his most experienced soldiers. The first and third legions were on the left of the advancing army, with Pompey commanding them. The second legion was in the middle, led by Scipio. The Sicilian legion and Spanish cohorts were on the right. On the right of Pompey flowed the River Enipeus, which meant that Pompey’s army was protected on that side. For this reason, Pompey sent all of his cavalry towards Caesar’s right. Pompey intended to draw Caesar’s infantry to advance, so that he could have his own cavalry attack and push Caesar’s smaller army back. Then, Pompey planned to attack Caesar’s infantry from behind.
Caesar was resigned to battle. He knew that he had nothing to lose, since defeat seemed imminent, but he hoped to win; the goddess Fortuna seemed to have been on his side thus far. In truth, Caesar’s army had no way to survive if they did not win the battle today, for they were starving, outnumbered, and had no line of retreat back home.
Caesar gave the order to match Pompey’s three lines with three lines of his own, but with each being only 6 men deep. Caesar and his army were also against the river on their left, so he too could put all of his men away from it.
Caesar took a look across the field, thinking hard. At once, he came to a tactical decision, but as usual, his decision might have been considered by some to be a gamble.
“Make a fourth line,” he instructed. “We’ll help the cavalry with a fourth line to even the odds against Pompey’s bigger cavalry. I will command the cavalry.” Caesar looked over to Marc Antony, who would be on his left, leaving general Domitius Calvinus in the center. “Order the three lines to advance.” And with that, Caesar’s men began to march forward.
The two armies were spaced far apart.
“Do not charge,” Pompey ordered his legions. “We wait for Caesar’s army to advance.” Pompey stood in satisfaction, contemplating victory. He hoped that Caesar’s army would be tired and in disarray as the battle started. Strangely, however, Caesar’s men although separated from Caesar, seeing that Pompey’s army was not advancing, halted mid-field without orders and rested to regain their strength before they advanced again.
When the armies finally met, Titus Labienus, who had been Caesar’s second in command in Gaul but had defected to Pompey, ordered Pompey’s cavalry to attack Caesar, which pushed back Caesar’s cavalry. Unexpectedly then, Caesar’s fourth line ran up and threw their javelins into Pompey’s cavalry, stopping their advance. Then Caesar’s cavalry wheeled around and joined the legionnaires of the fourth line to attack Pompey’s cavalry and put them to flight. They then rushed forward and attacked the left flank of Pompey’s army from behind. At that point Caesar ordered 6 cohorts from his left flank, which so far had been not been engaged, to join the attack of the front of Pompey’s army. Seeing their left flank in disarray and facing fresh troops in front, Pompey’s army lost heart and gave way.
Pompey was in shock. “It can’t be! How ye gods could this be?” Pompey the Great had been defeated. Without a word to his men, Pompey suddenly fled the field and returned to his camp. There his family waiting together for him expectantly.
“The battle is lost,” Pompey informed them. “We must retreat to safety,” and with that, Pompey took off his cloak of general and went into hiding, taking refuge with his family. “We must go now. Hurry!” They gathered some money, and a few belongings, and fled as fast as they could on horses.
In a few hours, Caesar and his men arrived to attack Pompey’s camp. Seven cohorts of Pompey’s army remained in the camp, but they could not defend themselves against Caesar’s seasoned soldiers who were already advancing. Most were granted clemency, for they surrendered to Caesar and his victorious army rather quickly.
Against all the odds, Julius Caesar had won the victory of the Battle of Pharsalus, having lost only 1,200 soldiers and 30 centurions.
“Any news of Pompey?” Caesar demanded.
“Nothing, though the entire Pompey family has fled.” One of the men informed Caesar. It would be some time before Caesar had any further news of Pompey.
* * * * *
Pompey and his family fled to Cyprus, then to Alexandria, in Egypt. The family was afraid and demoralized, but Pompey hoped to find allies in Egypt. He tried to remain hopeful for this sake of his children, but he knew that he had lost almost all.
However, Ptolemy XIII the boy pharaoh of Egypt was in no way in favor of Pompey. In fact, he was only capable of supporting the strong, or the victorious, and since reports had already reached Egypt of Caesar’s victory at Pharsalus, Ptolemy planned to support Caesar against Pompey.
Fate had not been kind to Pompey the Great. In the end, before he could reach the shore safely, Pompey was killed by Ptolemy’s assassins on a small boat. Pompey’s two sons escaped this fate, but Pompey the Great was dead.
When Julius Caesar arrived some time later in Alexandria, Ptolemy sent Caesar a gift to try to gain favor with Caesar. It was a gift that Caesar did not expect. Caesar opened his gift and discovered to his horror the severed head of Pompey the Great, who had been his great enemy. Yet Pompey had also once been a friend in better times, back when Pompey was married to Caesar’s daughter, Julia.
Caesar stared at the head of Pompey and felt a great wave of disgust that a Roman general had been treated so barbarically by the Egyptians—by Ptolemy XIII—here in Alexandria. He had been prepared to grant amnesty to Pompey to enable him to return to Rome. Now, of course, that was not possible.
It was not known whether or not Caesar shed a tear over the death of his enemy, fallen from power, and from fortune.
Thus ended Pompey the Great, General of Rome, far away from his native land.
It would be some time before Caesar could return home.