After the defeat at Dyrrhachium, Caesar and Pompey are back at it again in the Battle of Pharsalus. This time, however, Caesar's army is much stronger and the enemy is much weaker, making it much more difficult for Pompey to hold his advantage.
00:00:15.700And so the next big battle is Pharsalus, which is really the big battle between Pompey and Caesar.
00:00:22.640So let's jump straight in and let the main sources, Appian and Plutarch, tell us about how it all went down.
00:00:31.100OK, so carrying straight on from that victory at Dyrrhachium, which Pompey, if you remember, really should have won if he'd followed up.
00:00:40.180He could well have defeated Caesar entirely.
00:00:43.360If you remember, Caesar had said, today my enemies would have finished the war if they had a commander who knew how to win a victory.
00:00:49.760Ooh, cutting, cutting there, Caesar against Pompey.
00:00:54.100Yeah, some people said Pompey was, he was always, I mean, sluggish is a bit unfair, but he was never particularly decisive.
00:01:02.280You know, we've said many, many times, Caesar's thing is to be fast and quick and turn up where people wouldn't expect.
00:01:10.660Pompey was never, that was never Pompey's bag.
00:01:14.280But as he's got older now, he has begun to become sluggish.
00:01:18.260So on top of never being particularly decisive, they throw on top of that a little bit of caution and you're left with a type of commander who might not follow up a victory.
00:01:29.680OK, so now Appian tells us then, quote,
00:01:31.980Pompey wrote to the kings and to all the cities, largely of the east, that is, exaggerating the extent of his victory and believed that Caesar's army would immediately desert to him because it was suffering from famine and demoralized by defeat.
00:01:46.580And particularly so its officers, because they feared retribution for their own mistakes, but they were divinely inspired to repent and feel ashamed for their failure.
00:01:57.960And when Caesar was lenient in his criticisms and offered to pardon them, they became still more angry with themselves.
00:02:04.880And in a paradoxical reversal of attitude, told him to make them draw lots according to the ancestral custom and put a tenth of them to death.
00:02:15.260They're asking to be decimated out of shame.
00:02:18.320They agreed that they had done him wrong and without good reason, because remember, they basically fled to the field at Dyrrachia.
00:02:25.680They couldn't be rallied, which is, you know, quite shameful.
00:02:29.160And clamored, they had done him wrong without good reason and clamored for the standard bearers to be put to death, blaming the standard bearers,
00:02:36.060alleging that they themselves would never have fled if the standards had not already been thrown away.
00:02:42.340But when Caesar would not consent even to this, he refuses to decimate them, and reluctantly punished a few men,
00:02:49.520such a wave of enthusiasm swept over them there and then in response to his self-restraint that they asked him to lead them immediately against the enemy.
00:02:58.200They pressed him with intense eagerness, pleading with him and promising to redeem their failure by winning a splendid victory.
00:03:05.840They turned to each other unprompted and swore an oath by individual companies in front of Caesar himself that they would not return from battle unless they were victorious.
00:03:15.740So many of Caesar's men, particularly the men responsible for breaking and running away at Dyrrachium,
00:03:22.180are mortified with themselves, absolutely mortified with themselves, and sort of pleading with Caesar to punish them, to give them another chance.
00:03:30.760You know, just give me another chance, coach. I can make it good.
00:03:34.240And Caesar, I mean, most people say that Caesar didn't really have much choice.
00:03:38.900He might have pretended that he might have decimated them, but he wasn't in a position to, he hasn't got enough men as it is.
00:03:46.000So there was probably no way he was going to do that.
00:03:48.440He was like, OK, I'll let you fight for me again, OK.
00:03:52.740But he actually needed every man jack of them, you would have thought.
00:04:08.240His companions accordingly encouraged him to put such a change of heart and such eagerness on the part of the army to good use.
00:04:16.640However, to the rank and file, he said that he would lead them against the enemy where more propitious, i.e. the reality is, I can't really attack Pompey anymore.
00:04:26.880I want a big engagement, but I kind of need him to attack us.
00:04:31.200It's not going to be good, tactically speaking, if we just go and attack him immediately now.
00:04:44.580And told them not to forget their eagerness.
00:04:47.400And to his companions, he made the point that he must first eradicate the fear of defeat that was widespread among the troops and destroy the surging confidence of the enemy.
00:04:58.760He further admitted that he had changed his mind about camping near Dyrrachium, where all Pompey's suppliers were, when the right course was to lure them elsewhere to suffer the same difficulties as themselves.
00:05:10.720With these words, he immediately set out for Apollonia, and from there retreated to Thessaly, slipping away under cover of night.
00:05:18.800Gomphie, a small town, shut him out, and in anger he took it and handed it over to his soldiers to sack.
00:05:26.020As one would expect of men who had been starving, they stuffed themselves endlessly with everything and became disgracefully drunk, particularly the Germans, who were quite ridiculous when they were under the influence.
00:05:38.360One could only guess what Appian really meant by that.
00:05:40.720I think that an attack by Pompey then would have achieved a notable result, if out of contempt for Caesar, he had not completely neglected to follow him until he encamped near Pharsalus after seven days' rapid marching.
00:05:53.620It is said that at Gomphie, among notable tragedies, there were to be seen in a doctor's surgery the corpses of the distinguished elders of the town, with drinking cups laying beside their unhurt bodies.
00:06:06.180Twenty of them lay on the ground as if they had succumbed to drunkenness, and one who had surely been giving them the poison was sitting beside them on a chair like a doctor.
00:06:17.160So the leading people of this small town poisoned themselves, rather than be subject to a sacking.
00:06:26.480Meanwhile, Pompey himself should rapidly lead the land forces to Italy, which was sympathetic to him and clear of enemy, and after making himself master of it, and Gaul and Spain, launch another attack on Caesar.
00:06:56.480Caesar from a base in his own native land, the country which was the mistress of the world.
00:07:02.200But Pompey disregarded this advice, which would have been the best, says Appian, and listened to those who said that hunger would soon make Caesar's army desert to him, or that what remained to be done after the victory at Dyrrachium would give them little trouble.
00:07:16.120So there's disagreement in Pompey's camp over the strategy.
00:07:58.320But at this stage, Pompey decides that sort of, you know, the starving out option is best.
00:08:05.780Most people, most historians and scholars and even, you know, sort of real military people that look back on this and comment on all this sort of thing, most people say that's probably the right decision.
00:08:16.220Attacking Caesar, letting Caesar meet you in open battle, that's almost certainly not a good idea, despite what just happened at Dyrrachium.
00:08:23.300That's probably not going to be a good idea.
00:08:25.700And then this much, much long-term view, that may or may not work, that might blow up in your face, ultimately.
00:08:31.900So the safest thing to do, and probably tactically, the best thing to do would be to sort of starve him out or, you know, make them extremely thirsty.
00:08:41.680And they'll just desert, they'll just give, the men will just give in.
00:09:35.860And from a wish not to risk any disaster from Lucius Scipio, who was still in Macedonia.
00:09:42.160Intending to exploit his army's keenness for battle, he came close up with Caesar and took up a position opposite him near Pharsalus, with nearly four miles between the camps.
00:09:52.900Pompey had suppliers coming from every direction.
00:09:55.180The roads and harbours and strong points had been so organised beforehand that he had a continuous supply by land, and by sea every wind brought him something.
00:10:05.840Caesar, on the other hand, was suffering and had only what he could with difficulty find and seize.
00:10:11.960Even under these circumstances, no one deserted him, and his men longed with supernatural enthusiasm to come to grips with the enemy.
00:10:20.960I mean, that speaks volumes, doesn't it?
00:10:22.400The degree to which Caesar's men are loyal to him is famous, isn't it?
00:11:06.860Otherwise, you know, you're just a deer in the headlights, which is no good to anybody.
00:11:10.000Pompey realised this and thought it risky to stake everything on a single engagement against men who were well-trained and desperate, and against Caesar's famous good luck.
00:11:20.380It would be more effective and less dangerous to wear them down through lack of suppliers, as they were neither in control of productive territory, nor did they have the use of the sea, nor did they possess ships to make a speedy escape.
00:11:35.220On the basis of this excellent analysis, he decided to conduct a war of attrition and reduce his enemies from victims of hunger to victims of disease.
00:11:49.800But he had around him a great number of senators of equal status to himself.
00:11:54.060Well, not quite equal, but still of the senatorial order.
00:11:57.360Some of them lacked experience, some were unreasonably elated by the success at Dyrrachium, some also by their superiority in numbers, and some were thoroughly tired of the war and keen to put an unduly rapid end to it.
00:12:17.440They all urged Pompey to fight, constantly drawing his attention to Caesar, who kept on forming up his army and offering battle.
00:12:25.420But from that very fact, he drew the lesson for them that Caesar was forced to do this because of his shortage of suppliers, and precisely for this reason, it was the right moment for them to do nothing, because Caesar was driven to act by necessity.
00:12:39.500All the troops protested against this decision, because they were over-elated by the events at Dyrrachium, and so did the men of rank, who mocked him for his love of office, and said that he was deliberately delaying so that he could give orders to so many men of equal status to himself.
00:12:56.500They also called him king of kings and Agamemnon, because Agamemnon too had kings under his command in war.
00:13:03.200Pompey therefore abandoned his own analysis, and gave in to them, a victim of divine malice, both on this occasion and on the others throughout the war.
00:13:13.440Indeed, he was unnaturally slow and sluggish about everything, and prepared unwillingly for battle, to his own detriment, and that of those who were misleading him.
00:13:22.820So this is a key, key thing. Perhaps the most key thing. Perhaps the seed, well, it is really sort of the seed of Pompey's ultimate defeat, is that Caesar needed a battle.
00:13:35.060It was the only way out for Caesar, really, was for Pompey to accept battle, and then, hopefully, fingers crossed, to win that battle against the odds, against the numbers.
00:13:46.640But that was Caesar's only way out. If Pompey had just sort of blockaded him, mirrored him, and blockaded him, and starved him out, and as Appian says, turned hunger into disease,
00:13:57.100then there wouldn't have been a great deal Caesar could have done about it, and it was just a matter of time.
00:14:02.440But the key, key thing is that everyone, if you believe the account, nearly everyone around Pompey doesn't want to do that.
00:14:10.440They find that disgraceful on some level. It's like, wrap this thing up. You've already broken Caesar's back at Dyrrachian.
00:14:17.460You've already shown that you can beat him. He's just there to be wiped out. He's there to be mopped up and finished off.
00:14:24.400Do it. Why aren't you doing it? You know, what are you, a coward? What are we, men or mice? Come on, get this thing over and done with.
00:14:30.900The quicker this civil war is over and done with, the better. The quicker any war is over and done with, the better.
00:14:36.040So why are you drawing this out? And they even accuse him of just, you know, wanting to be in command over them,
00:14:43.380wanting to draw that out for its own sake. That seems like nonsense to me.
00:14:47.660I mean, who knows what was actually in Pompey's mind, what his actual motivations were.
00:14:52.680But I, personally, just personal opinion alert, I doubt that was a big factor in his mind.
00:14:57.760He's already the most eminent man in Rome. Why would he particularly care about this one command,
00:15:05.900drawing it out for a few extra weeks or months for its own sake? That doesn't really ring true to me.
00:15:11.360But anyway, who knows? Appian says that's what they accused him of, trying to be an Agamemnon,
00:15:16.340trying to draw that out for as long as possible. But so, Pompey gives in to them.
00:15:20.820If he was a really strong leader, a strong, strong leader, you know, like an Alexander or a Napoleon type person,
00:15:28.320he would have swept that aside. You know, he would have said to them, look, who's in command here?
00:15:33.480You or me? It's me. Thank you very much. So we're going to do it my way.
00:15:36.600The Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, would sometimes pull that card on senior officers under him
00:15:42.340who tried to do the tiniest thing for themselves, who showed the tiniest amount of initiative.
00:15:47.580You know, who's in control of the army? You or me? Right. I issue all the orders and that's the end
00:15:53.460of the story. That's it. So don't tell me about tactics or strategy. That's not for you to worry
00:15:58.160about. Don't worry your pretty little heads about all that sort of thing. I am in complete 100%
00:16:04.680command of the strategy. So thanks for your input. Now go away and let me do my job. But he didn't do
00:16:11.780that. But, you know, people have always asked the question, was he capable of doing that? Was he
00:16:17.980that type of leader? You know, why did he succumb to this pressure? He was doing the right thing.
00:16:25.500Well, you know, it's easy to say in hindsight, isn't it? It's always very easy with 2020 hindsight,
00:16:31.080say, ah, there, put your finger on it there. That was the problem. That was the mistake. But,
00:16:36.120you know, we never know at the time what will or won't prove to be a mistake. If he had just won
00:16:41.680the Battle of Pharsalus, it would have, you know, everyone would be saying, you know, Pompey was
00:16:46.920better than Caesar. Caesar would be more of the footnote from history. And Pompey would have gone
00:16:53.180down as one of the greatest military commanders of all time. But, you know, that's not how it went.
00:16:59.900But yeah, any Pompey fans out there always disappointed by the fact that he sort of gave in to that
00:17:05.360pressure. When if he just kept on doing what he was doing, he would have won. He almost certainly
00:17:10.780would have won, it seems, to my mind. Most people agree. People like Mopson, scholars and historians
00:17:16.680who've looked at this over the centuries, all agree that Caesar had no real way out. You can only
00:17:22.060imagine when Caesar realised that Pompey was going to meet him in battle. He must have thought, thank God.
00:17:28.420Thank God. Now we've actually got to win this thing against the odds. But thank God, that was the
00:17:32.520lifeline I needed. Otherwise, we were just going to get starved out here. Okay, I'll let Appian continue.
00:17:38.040He says this, quote, that night, three legions of Caesars were going out to forage. Caesar sent them
00:17:45.100out to bring in food in the belief that Pompey was correct to hang back and thinking that under no
00:17:51.060circumstances would the latter change his plan. But when he was informed of the preparations, he was
00:17:57.140delighted at the pressure which he guessed the army had applied to Pompey and very quickly recalled all
00:18:02.800his own forces and made counter preparations. So Caesar's like, oh God, that is the moment. Caesar's
00:18:08.220like, thank God he gave in. All the men around Pompey, I mean, Caesar correctly infers that all the men
00:18:15.180around Pompey are like, we don't want to stay in Thessaly, in Greece for months on end. We don't want to sit
00:18:22.220here waiting this out. That's sort of beneath our dignity, if nothing else. He offered sacrifice in
00:18:28.420the depth of the night, invoking Mars and his own ancestress, Venus. The Julian family is believed to
00:18:35.080descend with an alteration in the name from Aeneas and vowed, if he was successful, to make a thank
00:18:41.880offering by building a temple to her in Rome as bringer of victory. When a meteor flashed across from
00:18:47.760Caesar's camp to Pompey's and was extinguished, Pompey's companions said something brilliant would
00:18:53.360accrue to them from the enemy, while Caesar said he would descend on and extinguish the Pompeian cause.
00:19:00.160The same night, some of Pompey's sacrificial animals escaped and were not recaptured, and a swarm of bees,
00:19:06.680which are a sluggish form of life, settled on the altar. A little before dawn, a panic seized his army,
00:19:12.540and after going round himself and quieting it, he fell into a deep sleep. When his companions roused
00:19:18.820him, he kept repeating that he had just dreamed he was dedicating a temple in Rome to Venus, the
00:19:25.420bringer of victory. Because they were ignorant of Caesar's prayer, Pompey's friends and his whole army
00:19:31.040received this as welcome news. In other ways too, they went into battle with unreasonable enthusiasm
00:19:37.640and contempt for the enemy as though victory was already won. Overconfidence, you see, hubris.
00:19:45.140Again, easy to identify in hindsight. If they'd won, people would say, you know, they were right to be
00:19:51.800that enthusiastic, or even that enthusiasm helped them to victory. Many of them had already actually
00:19:57.820adorned their tents with laurel, the symbol of victory, and their slaves were preparing a splendid
00:20:03.920banquet. These are the rich, the magnates and members of the senatorial order he's talking about
00:20:09.920here. Some were even quarrelling with each other over Caesar's high priesthood, i.e. who should get
00:20:15.720Caesar's offices once he's defeated. Pompey, with his experience of war, turned away, and although his
00:20:21.960feelings of anger were justified, he nevertheless concealed them, and from hesitation and fear held his
00:20:27.940tongue, like a man no longer giving the orders, but receiving them, and forced to act in every
00:20:33.400respect against his better judgment. Again, weak, really. That's not what you want in a CO, a
00:20:39.180commanding officer. The commanding officer must command. You know, it sounds obvious to say that
00:20:44.320out loud, but he can't allow himself just to be swayed by people below him. Like a director or a
00:20:52.400novelist, it nearly always has to be one mind, one vision. Doing these things by a committee is almost
00:20:59.980certainly going to be an inferior way of doing it, if not a really bad way of doing it. Okay, so Pompey
00:21:06.040acting against his better judgment. Such was the extent of the despondency that overwhelmed this man,
00:21:11.960whose record was outstanding, and who had enjoyed the best of fortune in every undertaking until that
00:21:18.260day. Again, Pompey was undefeated. Caesar wasn't undefeated. Caesar had suffered various reverses and
00:21:24.780defeats over the years. Obviously no critical ones, fatal ones, but still, Pompey's record on paper was
00:21:32.440better than Caesar's at this point. Remarkable as that is to say. Perhaps it was because he had failed
00:21:38.700to convince them of his view of what needed to be done, and was gambling with the lives of so many
00:21:44.240men, and with his own reputation for being hitherto undefeated. Or perhaps some more supernatural
00:21:50.340foreboding of the imminent disaster troubled him, as he was about to be totally deprived of his great
00:21:56.100power that day. After simply saying to his friends, whichever Syed wins, today will see the start of
00:22:02.440terrible and unending troubles for Romans. He drew his forces up for battle. Some people believed that
00:22:08.620this extremely revealing remark slipped out under the influence of fear, and thought he would not have
00:22:14.040surrendered his supreme power, even if he had been victorious.
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