Roman civil war (49-30 bc). The final bout of the civil wars of the 1st century bc began as a conflict between Caesar and Pompey, previously allies, and between those who clung to the ideal of collective senatorial rule and others who liked the smack of firm government in the form of a dictator. It ended with a duel between Caesar's surviving political heirs, Octavian and Mark Antony, to decide who should be emperor. These aristocratic struggles were possible because, for many thousands of Italians, service in the army of one or other of the military dynasts was very greatly more profitable than agrarian pursuits. Ominously, in the Roman army there was now more to be gained through loyalty to individual generals than to the state.
The foundation for civil war was laid with the formation of the unofficial first Triumvirate in 60 bc, in which Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus agreed to pool their wealth and influence to dominate Roman politics for their own ends. Julius extended the provinces of Gaul to include all of modern France and Belgium, and built up a superbly efficient army entirely responsive to his will. Meanwhile, Pompey and Crassus controlled domestic politics in Rome, and had their own armies in Spain and Syria respectively. But while Pompey remained just outside Rome and governed his province through deputies, Crassus went east, invaded the Parthian empire, and met with defeat and death in 53 bc at Carrhae.
With Crassus gone, Pompey made a tactical alliance with diehard republicans and they instituted a series of manoeuvres to weaken Julius politically. Facing the threat of prosecution as soon as he lay down his command, Caesar crossed the river Rubicon (in northern Italy, precise location unknown) in January 49, and marched on Rome at the head of a single legion. Pompey was forced out of Italy and fled to Greece, but Caesar first dealt with his rival's military power base in Spain. Only after defeating Pompey's forces there did he cross to Greece in January 48. After an unsuccessful siege of Dyrrhachium (now Durrës, Albania), he was able to rout Pompey, reinforced by the army of Syria, at Pharsalus in northern Greece on 9 August. Pompey fled to Egypt, where he was murdered on 28 September by the followers of the boy-king Ptolemy XIII. Caesar advanced through Asia Minor to Alexandria, where he dallied with Ptolemy's sister Cleopatra while affirming his control over Egypt.
He now faced a dual threat, from the republicans, regrouped in Africa under Metellus Scipio and Cato, and from Pharnaces, ruler of the Crimea, in Asia Minor. He defeated Pharnaces at Zela in August 47 (the occasion of his famous despatch to the senate: ‘I came, I saw, I conquered’) before marching through Greece and Italy to invade Africa in October. Cato was besieged at Utica and Metellus Scipio defeated at Thapsus on 6 April 46. Both committed suicide, and the remnants of the republican army withdrew to Spain under Pompey's sons, Cnaeus and Sextus Pompeius. Caesar followed them there and on 17 March 45 won a final victory at Munda. Cnaeus was executed but Sextus escaped.
Caesar returned to Rome, but his assumption of the dictatorship for life and rumours that he was aiming at kingship led to his assassination on the Ides (15th) of March 44. While the assassins and their republican supporters tried to re-establish control, Caesar's lieutenants Mark Antony and Lepidus gathered their own forces. His 18-year-old nephew, Octavian, adopted as his son in Caesar's will, now entered the fray. Having collected a small army of his political father's veterans, he was attached to the republican army sent to northern Italy to deal with Antony. But when both consuls were killed defeating Antony near Mutina (now Modena), Octavian took command, marched on Rome, and demanded the consulship for himself. He then changed sides and formed the legally ratified Second Triumvirate with Antony and Lepidus, effectively a triple dictatorship.
While Lepidus held Rome, Antony and Octavian invaded northern Greece to confront the republican forces of Brutus and Cassius in two battles at Philippi in October/November 42, after which both republican leaders took their own lives. Antony took control of the east, with its opportunities for amassing wealth and military glory fighting the Parthians, while Octavian received the west, with the difficult task of settling tens of thousands of veterans on confiscated land in Italy and dealing with Sextus Pompeius, who had seized Sicily and Sardinia and was raiding the Italian coast. Lepidus, always the junior partner, was confined to Africa. Octavian then survived an armed uprising against him in Italy, misguidedly led by Antony's wife and brother, in part because of the reluctance of Caesar's veterans to fight each other. He emerged from the peace agreement at Brundisium (now Brindisi) in 40 a much more equal partner with Antony.
Octavian then turned his attention to Sextus Pompeius and, with the aid of his lieutenant Marcus Agrippa, defeated him at sea after many setbacks and captured Sicily in 36. Lepidus' vain attempt to take over Sextus' forces only led to his removal from power. Meanwhile, Antony had only limited success against the Parthians, losing 32, 000 men to the Armenian winter in 37/6, and alienated popular support in Italy when he distributed Roman possessions to his mistress Cleopatra and their children in 34. After an intensive propaganda war, Octavian declared war on Cleopatra in 31, and on 23 September, his fleet, under Agrippa, defeated Antony and Cleopatra off Actium in western Greece. The lovers were pursued to Egypt and committed suicide the next year. Having settled the veterans of both sides, Octavian became Augustus in 27, basing his lasting power on the standing, professional Roman army that his adoptive father had brought to a peak of efficiency.
Bibliography
- Brunt, Peter A., The Fall of the Roman Republic and Related Essays (Oxford, 1988).
- Cambridge Ancient History, vols.
9 and10 (Cambridge, 1994 and 1996). - Gruen, Erich S., The Last Generation of the Roman Republic (Berkeley, 1974).
- Syme, Ronald, The Roman Revolution (Oxford, 1939)
— N. Boris Rankov
