The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters - PREVIEW： Epochs #192 ｜ Pompey & Caesar： Part XVII

00:00:00.080 Hello and welcome back to this episode of Epochs, where once again I shall be continuing my narrative of the decline and fall of the Roman Republic.

00:00:07.400 Now, last time, if you remember, we're getting to the most juicy bit, the start of the actual Civil War itself.

00:00:13.100 In fact, it has basically kicked off at the end of last episode when I talked about Caesar crossing the Rubicon.

00:00:18.640 So, let's continue straight from there.

00:00:21.440 In Plutarch's life of Pompey, he says this,

00:00:23.680 A few days later, Caesar entered and occupied Rome. He did what he could to calm people's fears and behaved with great moderation to everyone, except in the case of Metellus, one of the tribunes, who tried to prevent him taking money out of the public treasury.

00:00:39.800 Caesar badly needed money at this point.

00:00:41.980 Caesar threatened to have Metellus put to death and followed up with the threat with language of even greater truculence.

00:00:48.500 It was much easier for him, he said, to do this than to say it, i.e. I could order you killed quicker than it takes to actually kill you. 0.99

00:00:57.340 So, with Metellus overruled in this way, Caesar took what he wanted from the treasury and then set out in pursuit of Pompey, since he wanted to drive him out of Italy before his forces in Spain could come to join him. 0.99

00:01:08.680 Meanwhile, Pompey had occupied Brundisium.

00:01:11.160 He found plenty of transports there and immediately put the consoles and 30 cohorts of soldiers on board the ships and sent them across before him to Dyrrhachium.

00:01:20.560 He sent his father-in-law Scipio and his son Gnaeus to Syria to raise a fleet.

00:01:25.300 He himself barricaded the gates and stationed the most likely armed soldiers on the walls.

00:01:30.220 He told the citizens of Brundisium to stay quiet in their houses and then dig up all the ground inside the city, cutting trenches across the streets and filling them with stakes sunk in the earth, all except for two streets, by which in the end he made his way down to the sea.

00:01:46.680 He spent two days in embarking the main body of his troops in a quiet and orderly manner and on the third day suddenly gave the signal to men who were guarding the walls.

00:01:56.100 They hurried down quickly, were taken aboard and brought across to Dyrrhachium.

00:02:01.580 Caesar, seeing the walls unguarded, realised that Pompey was making his escape and in following closely after him, he nearly got his own troops entangled in the ditches and stakes.

00:02:10.540 The people of Brundisium, however, warned him about them and so he kept clear of the city and wheeled around it to the harbour, where he found that all the transports had put to sea, except two which had only a few soldiers on board.

00:02:23.560 End quote. So Pompey gets away there by the skin of his teeth, was very nearly caught at Brundisium before jumping across the Adriatic, but he did escape and he has got the word out to everyone in the east and west that it's on now, that he is at war with Caesar.

00:02:39.740 So, you know, he gets messages to his legions stationed in Spain and if you remember last time he'd sent word out to everyone in the east, all his clients and client kingdoms in the east, to start raising and mustering men on his behalf.

00:02:54.840 Plutarch goes on saying, quote, most people hold the view that this withdrawal of Pompey can be considered among his most remarkable military achievements.

00:03:04.180 Caesar himself, however, was astonished that he abandoned and surrendered Italy when he was based on a strong city, was expecting his forces from Spain and had complete control of the seas.

00:03:15.360 Cicero also finds fault with him, Pompey that is, for following the strategy of Themistocles rather than that of Pericles, when the position in which he found himself was like that of Pericles and not like that of Themistocles.

00:03:29.560 And Caesar certainly showed by his actions that he very much feared the idea of a long war.

00:03:35.600 For after he had captured Numerius, a friend of Pompey, he sent him to Brundisium with an offer of peace and reconciliation on fair and equal terms.

00:03:46.040 Numerius, however, sailed away with Pompey.

00:03:49.240 Caesar, who without bloodshed had in 60 days become the master of the whole of Italy, would have liked to have followed after Pompey at once.

00:03:56.780 But there were no transports available.

00:03:59.220 And so he turned back and marched into Spain, wishing to bring over to himself the soldiers of Pompey who were stationed there.

00:04:06.060 End quote.

00:04:06.540 So that's actually quite a big, important strategic decision Caesar makes there.

00:04:11.780 He sees that Pompey, the senior Pompey, because Pompey's sons become important later, but the main Pompey, the Pompey Magnus, just escapes from him at Brundisium.

00:04:23.760 He escapes across to what would be Epirus or modern day Albania, Greece.

00:04:29.460 Instead of attempting to follow him as quickly as he possibly can, he makes the, as I say, strategic decision to actually abandon that chase and go west into Spain and take out Pompey's armies there.

00:04:44.380 You know, because fighting on two fronts is always a nightmare.

00:04:48.160 It's always the last thing you want is to be in a pincer, is to be being attacked from two sides at once.

00:04:54.660 So Caesar made the calculation, and you can only say correctly, that he needed to do away with the Spanish armies first and foremost. 0.94

00:05:01.780 And then he can turn his full attention back to Pompey Magnus without fear that he might have to turn around at one point.

00:05:10.160 Appian tells us this at this point, quote,

00:05:13.440 Some of Pompey's army had sailed with the consuls to Dyrrhachium, but he assembled the rest at Brundisium to wait for the return of the ships, which had taken the consuls across.

00:05:24.260 He beat off Caesar's attacks on the walls and dug trenches in the streets until his fleet came back.

00:05:30.700 He then put out to sea in the early evening, leaving his bravest men on the walls, who themselves sailed out with a fair wind when the night fell.

00:05:39.100 In this way, Pompey left Italy and crossed to Epirus with his entire army.

00:05:44.440 Caesar was baffled as to which way to turn and from what point to start the campaign.

00:05:49.100 He saw that support was flowing to Pompey from all quarters.

00:05:52.280 Men, materiel, money, Pompey and the Senate's influence and resources were vast, obviously much bigger than Caesar's.

00:05:58.780 And he was afraid that Pompey's army in Spain, which was large and well-trained through long service, would attack him from the rear if he pursued Pompey.

00:06:07.540 So he decided to march to Spain and destroy it first, but divided his force into five.

00:06:13.840 To protect Italy, he left one detachment in Brundisium, one in Hydrantum and one in Tarentum.

00:06:20.300 He sent another force under Quintus Valerius to take possession of the grain-producing island of Sardinia and Asinius Polio to Sicily.

00:06:28.960 Here Cato was in charge, and when Cato inquired whether it was from the Senate or the people that he had authority to trespass in another man's sphere,

00:06:38.520 Polio replied,

00:06:39.400 So Cato ousted from his little bolt hole in Sicily quite easily there.

00:06:58.840 He obviously realised Caesar wouldn't just leave him alone, wouldn't allow him just to be governor quietly there for a year or two.

00:07:05.120 So he realises he has to fully Cato, this is, he realises he has to sort of fully side with Pompey, completely be in Pompey's military camp, basically.

00:07:16.260 There's no, you can run, but you can't hide from Caesar if he decides he's not going to leave you alone.

00:07:21.420 Appian continues, Caesar made haste to Rome, where with a variety of hopes and promises he reassured the people who were terrified by the recollection of their sufferings at the hands of Sulla and Marius,

00:07:33.140 and signalled his generosity towards his enemies by pointing out that he had captured and dismissed even Lucius Domitius, one of Caesar's worst enemies really.

00:07:43.260 He had dismissed Lucius Domitius unharmed and with his money.

00:07:49.160 He broke open the locks of the state treasury and when Metellus, one of the tribunes, tried to prevent him, threatened him with death.

00:07:57.420 He also removed some of the untouchable money, which is said to have been deposited a long time ago for use against the Gauls,

00:08:04.440 with a public curse against its disturbance for any other reason than the outbreak of a Gallic war.

00:08:10.220 So a special fund in a temple there, special big cash of money meant for defending themselves in extreme cases against the Gauls.

00:08:21.700 But Caesar says, you don't really need that anymore after what I just did to the Gauls.

00:08:26.300 Appian continues, Caesar, however, claimed that he had himself neutralised the Gauls and released Rome from the curse.

00:08:33.180 Therefore, he could just take that money.

00:08:35.500 He put Marcus Emelius in charge of the city and the tribune Marc Antony in charge of Italy and its military forces.

00:08:44.680 Overseas, he appointed Curio governor of Sicily in place of Cato.

00:08:48.880 Quintus, governor of Sardinia, sent Gaius Antonius to Illyria and entrusted Cisalpine Gaul to Licinius Crassus.

00:08:56.340 He also gave orders for two fleets to be built as quickly as possible on the Adriatic and Tyrrhenian coasts and appointed as admirals Hortensius and Dolabella while the ships were still under construction.

00:09:09.580 So now we enter a period, a fairly brief period, a few months, a year or so, where both sides are sort of getting everything together for a big confrontation.

00:09:19.300 Both sides are fairly feverishly working to build up the biggest army they possibly can for what's sure to come.

00:09:25.960 Appian goes on to saying, quote,

00:09:27.480 After a sudden flood had swept away the bridge, Petrarius's men killed a large number of Caesar's soldiers.

00:09:57.460 troops who were cut off on the other side, and Caesar himself, along with the rest of his army, suffered intense hardship from the difficult terrain and hunger and enemy action and the fact it was still winter.

00:10:10.780 The operation was indistinguishable from a siege until, with the arrival of summer, Afranius and Petrarius started to march to the interior of Spain to recruit more soldiers.

00:10:22.240 Caesar always anticipated them, blocking off the parties with entrenchments, preventing them from going on and actually surrounding a detachment of theirs, which had been sent ahead to occupy a site for a camp.

00:10:34.840 These raised their shields above their heads in token of surrender.

00:10:39.020 But Caesar neither took them prisoner nor put them to death.

00:10:42.240 Instead, he bid for popularity with his enemies everywhere by letting them go back safely to Afranius's army. 0.98

00:10:48.940 As a result, there was constant fraternization between the camps, and among the rank and file, talk of an understanding.

00:10:56.620 So it's important to note there, Caesar constantly playing the propaganda game or the battle for the hearts and minds.

00:11:04.180 He is constantly letting people go.

00:11:07.340 He's constantly not executing people and letting them have their freedom.

00:11:11.420 Remember, he did it to Domitius straight away.

00:11:14.960 As soon as the war kicked off, the Senate sent Domitius up to relieve Caesar of his command.

00:11:20.780 Caesar captured him, remember, and then just let him go and even let him keep his money.

00:11:24.620 So a fairly extreme clemency, really.

00:11:27.780 Very, very, very merciful for the ancient world, for a civil war. 0.99

00:11:32.320 You would at least detain certain people until the war is over.

00:11:37.900 But Caesar's just letting people go, whole armies go, really.

00:11:42.660 Like in Spain here, for example, there was, you know, he's basically bested a couple of Pompey's generals there,

00:11:50.220 sort of out-generalling them, as usual, cutting them off and making sure they haven't got enough water and things,

00:11:58.000 bringing them to heel quite quickly, but just letting them go.

00:12:01.240 And it's the exact opposite of what Pompey's doing.

00:12:04.600 Pompey and the Senate faction, quite often when they get hold of pro-Cesarean officers or something,

00:12:12.360 they will just execute them, like it's the old school Marius Sulla days.

00:12:17.320 So, I mean, the juxtaposition there of Caesar being extremely clement and Pompey being relatively,

00:12:25.080 well, not even cruel, just par for the course in the ancient world, really.

00:12:29.040 Still, if you were undecided, or you were thinking about changing sides,

00:12:34.600 you're much more likely to go with someone like Julius Caesar, right,

00:12:39.100 who's almost certainly going to let you live, maybe even not punish you whatsoever,

00:12:44.220 rather than Pompey, who may, not Pompey himself, but Pompey's faction, may treat you extremely harshly.

00:12:50.900 But it is a bit of a double-edged sword, Caesar's clemency,

00:12:54.200 because you could forgive someone and let them go and then find months or a year or two down the line,

00:13:00.940 or whatever, that they're back on the battlefield standing against you again.

00:13:05.680 Not just officers, but just normal rank-and-file men as well.

00:13:08.580 They can promise that they'll never raise arms against you ever again,

00:13:12.460 but if you just completely let them go, then they might do.

00:13:15.720 And many did. Many, many did.

00:13:17.700 Also, Tom Holland in Rubicon talks about, and he's not the only one to have noticed this,

00:13:22.020 but there is something fairly sharp-edged with Caesar's clemency.

00:13:26.040 It's not sort of pure altruism.

00:13:28.920 It's not just because he's a completely nice guy.

00:13:32.020 It is a calculated political thing.

00:13:35.120 Because, you know, particularly in this period of ancient Rome,

00:13:40.660 it was disgraceful to owe your life to somebody else's good graces.

00:13:45.860 You know, if Caesar pardons you for crimes, which you, by rights, probably should be exiled or executed for,

00:13:53.420 if Caesar just waves a hand of clemency, you're allowed to live.

00:13:57.300 Well, there is something a bit humiliating in that.

00:14:00.420 You know, it still shows that your life is just a plaything, a toy for him to discard as he sees fit.

00:14:08.440 So whilst you might get away with your life and even your freedom,

00:14:11.640 you don't get away with your honour, really, in tact.

00:14:14.460 Tom Holland talks about that, Domitius being diminished after being pardoned by Caesar,

00:14:20.380 being humbled and humiliated, really.

00:14:23.880 Caesar's playing a ruthless game with his mercy.

00:14:27.800 So Appian left off saying that there was fraternisation among the Pompeian and Caesarian troops.

00:14:33.500 Because, remember, these people would have known each other,

00:14:36.640 or some of them would have known each other.

00:14:38.460 They were certainly on the same side until just a few months ago.

00:14:41.620 So, of course, there will be fraternisation.

00:14:43.980 It's fraternisation between national enemies which don't know each other's language sometimes.

00:14:49.060 So amongst Romans, even brothers in arms, some of them,

00:14:53.080 some Caesarian troops would have fought alongside some Pompeian troops in the past.

00:14:57.780 So there's fraternisation.

00:14:59.340 Appian says, quote,

00:15:00.100 As for the senior officers, Ephranius and others thought they should abandon Spain to Caesar

00:15:05.700 and get away unscathed to join Pompey.

00:15:08.660 But Petrarius disagreed and raced through the camp,

00:15:11.900 killing any of Caesar's men he could find fraternising

00:15:14.680 and personally putting to death one of his own officers who tried to stop him.

00:15:19.880 Consequently, again, so Pompey's side,

00:15:22.800 getting a reputation for bloodthirstiness and executions.

00:15:25.880 Consequently, the soldiers were still further angered by the grimness of Petrarius

00:15:31.180 and their sympathies turned towards Caesar and his generosity.

00:15:35.600 Yeah, no kidding.

00:15:36.680 Then, in a place where Caesar had prevented his opponents even from getting water,

00:15:43.040 Petrarius, who was at his wits' end,

00:15:45.600 came with Ephranius to negotiate with Caesar in full view of the two watching armies.

00:15:50.800 The agreement was that they, for their part, would abandon Spain to Caesar 0.52

00:15:54.380 while Caesar would escort them unharmed to the river Var

00:15:58.100 and allow them to make their way from there to join Pompey.

00:16:01.560 So he's even letting some of the senior people that murdered some of his men,

00:16:06.580 deliberately letting them get back to Pompey.

00:16:08.980 When he reached the river,

00:16:10.560 Caesar called a meeting of those of them whose homes were in Rome or Italy

00:16:14.860 and addressed them as follows.

00:16:17.260 Enemies, I still use the word to make my point clear to you,

00:16:20.720 I did not kill either those of you who were sent ahead to Caesar's site for a camp

00:16:26.240 and surrendered to me,

00:16:27.860 or the rest of your army after I had blocked your access to water,

00:16:32.060 in spite of the fact that Petrarius had previously slaughtered some of my men

00:16:36.400 who were cut off on the opposite side of the Sikoris. 0.93

00:16:39.660 If you feel any gratitude to me for these actions,

00:16:42.560 let all Pompey's soldiers know about them.

00:16:45.160 With these words, he dismissed them

00:16:46.860 and appointed Quintus Cassius to govern Spain, end quote.

00:16:50.660 So he's saying, look, you can go,

00:16:52.480 but my main stipulation in letting you free

00:16:54.780 is that you spread the word that I let you go.

00:16:57.100 So Caesar knows that there's many levels to this civil war, right?

00:17:00.640 There's fighting battles,

00:17:02.680 which are, of course, the key,

00:17:04.580 arguably the most pivotal thing,

00:17:06.180 but not necessarily the most pivotal thing.

00:17:08.580 If you keep having indecisive battles or something,

00:17:12.380 or if the enemy kept refusing battle,

00:17:14.880 then there's whole other aspects to this war, to most wars.

00:17:19.060 Again, that battle for the hearts and minds of the people.

00:17:23.360 Public opinion.

00:17:24.560 He wants the establishment in Rome

00:17:26.560 and the wider Roman world

00:17:28.140 to know that he's not a Sulla, 0.99

00:17:30.900 that he's not this bloodthirsty, crazy tyrant 0.96

00:17:34.660 that Cato and the Senate have painted him to be. 0.94

00:17:38.900 That's sort of his main PR objective.

00:17:42.460 The optics of being a good and generous ruler

00:17:45.460 and not some blood-soaked monster.

00:17:48.540 Okay, Appian goes on.

00:17:50.520 So much for Caesar's operations.

00:17:53.180 In Africa, Attius Varus 0.95

00:17:55.240 was the Pompeian commanding officer

00:17:57.560 and allied with him was the Numidian king, Juba.

00:18:01.160 On Caesar's side, Curio sailed from Sicily

00:18:04.360 to attack them with two legions,

00:18:06.960 12 warships and a large number of merchantmen.

00:18:10.160 Putting in at Utica,

00:18:11.620 he routed a new Numidian cavalry

00:18:13.740 in a brief engagement near the town

00:18:16.280 and consented to accept a salutation

00:18:18.700 as imperator from his troops

00:18:20.900 while their weapons were still in their hands.

00:18:23.420 Bit presumptuous, that from Curio.

00:18:25.400 I wouldn't suspect Caesar would like that.

00:18:27.880 And Appian reminds us,

00:18:28.880 it is a great honour for a general

00:18:31.040 to be so saluted by his army

00:18:32.840 as though his men are certifying

00:18:35.240 that he is a commander worthy of them.

00:18:37.520 In the past, this honour was accepted by generals

00:18:40.000 for any great success,

00:18:41.640 but I am informed that the qualification

00:18:43.620 is now 10,000 enemy dead.

00:18:47.120 While Curio was still on his way across from Sicily,

00:18:49.880 his opponents in Africa,

00:18:51.460 expecting that his ambition

00:18:53.000 would make him occupy Scipio's camp

00:18:54.980 because of the splendour of Scipio's great achievements,

00:18:57.880 poisoned the water there.

00:18:59.700 Nor were they disappointed

00:19:00.760 as Curio took up his position there

00:19:03.220 and his troops immediately fell sick.

00:19:05.720 When they drank the water,

00:19:07.280 their vision became fogged

00:19:08.480 and a deep, torpid sleep ensued,

00:19:11.340 which was followed by frequent vomiting

00:19:13.140 and spasms affecting the whole body.

00:19:16.380 Because of this,

00:19:17.340 Curio moved his camp alongside Utica itself,

00:19:20.780 leading his army, weakened by ill health,

00:19:23.440 through a formidable and extensive marsh.

00:19:25.360 When the news of Caesar's victory in Spain reached them,

00:19:28.420 their morale recovered

00:19:29.280 and they were drawn up for battle

00:19:31.280 in a restricted space by the sea.

00:19:34.200 In the fierce fight which ensued,

00:19:36.320 Curio lost one man to Varus's 600 dead

00:19:39.600 and an even greater number of wounded.

00:19:42.020 So we can see that there's theatres going on,

00:19:45.680 obviously in the east,

00:19:46.700 we're just going to talk about Greece

00:19:48.020 and Thrace and Epirus,

00:19:50.940 but also in Spain, also in North Africa.

00:19:52.920 So when Caesar crossed the Rubicon,

00:19:56.000 it really started a type of

00:19:57.920 ancient Mediterranean world war.

00:20:01.500 There's not just going to be one battle

00:20:02.940 between Caesar and Pompey,

00:20:04.600 it's across the entire Roman world.

00:20:06.960 Pompey's faction is much bigger than Pompey.

00:20:09.800 I mean, you can argue that Caesar's faction

00:20:11.560 is sort of Caesar.

00:20:13.440 Obviously, there's lots more people to it

00:20:14.880 and it survives after his own death.

00:20:17.400 But it is a much smaller clique of faction

00:20:20.340 and more based around the name Caesar.

00:20:24.060 Whereas Pompey's side of the equation

00:20:26.080 is sort of the entire Roman state.

00:20:29.160 Of course, it's not a modern state as we have them,

00:20:31.380 but you know what I mean by that.

00:20:33.200 The institutions of the entire Roman world

00:20:36.100 can and were, it seems,

00:20:37.900 brought to bear against Caesar

00:20:39.380 from the Atlantic to the Euphrates.

00:20:42.640 So Caesar's got to put out fires

00:20:44.620 all over the place.

00:20:46.480 Hunting down and defeating Pompey himself

00:20:48.500 is only the first head of the Hydra.

00:20:51.800 And more than once,

00:20:52.480 Caesar has to put out fires

00:20:53.780 all over the Roman world.

00:20:55.640 If you would like to see the full version

00:20:57.320 of this premium video,

00:20:58.680 please head over to lotuseaters.com

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The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters - January 03, 2025

PREVIEW： Epochs #192 ｜ Pompey & Caesar： Part XVII

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