ET TU Part Three Cruentum terebro

 

I know little about the soldier Crastinus, except that he died on 7 June, 48 B.C.E. of a sword wound to the mouth. I know that on that day, as he was about to face the 45,000 of his fellow Romans who were serving in Pompey's army,  Crastinus swore an oath to his own general. “General, I will act in such a manner today that you will feel grateful to me, living or dead.”  

This is not to say that Crastinus was happy to be on the plain that day, just north of the central Greek town of Pharsalus (modern Farsala). But we can be certain he had already proven his bravery and his ability to inspire men, else he would not have achieved the rank of Centurion, entrusted this day with directing 80 of the men in a 22,000 man army. The men in his Century or company, depended upon Crastinus. He was the second most important man in their lives, after Julius Caesar.

Caesar had crossed the Rubicon on 11 January,  49 B.C. with just 5,000 men. His primary opponent, Pompey the Great, had more than twice that many men defending the walls of Rome. But less than a week later, without even offering battle, Pompey, most of his army and most of the Senate aristocrats fled Italy, sailing for Epirus, in north western Greece. That left the Roman stage to Caesar. First he got his hands on the treasury. Then, what remained of the obedient Senate voted him dictator for a year.  Caesar ordered all government posts abandoned by the aristocrats to be filled with his allies. That gave him political control of Rome. Still, he was caught between Pompey's Spanish legions and Pompey himself, gathering new legions and allies in Greece.

The Latin word for a Roman soldier, “legionnaire”, meant a military conscript, who was drafted under the Republic to serve for 6 years. The professionals, who were beginning to dominate the Roman Army, signed 25 year contracts. For non-Romans, such as the Gauls in Caesar's army, an honorable discharge meant Roman citizenship and a plot of farmland upon which they could retire. And most who signed up, made it to retirement - for every hour a legionary spent on a battlefield like Pharsalus he spent years drilling. It was said of Caesar (but could have been said of any good general) that his drills were bloodless battles and that his battles were bloody drills.

In late March of 49 B.C. Caesar left Rome and crossed the Alps. In Gaul he met up with three of his own legions.  Without pausing, he now forced the passes through the Pyrenees mountains, and outside of the Spanish village of Illerda confronted the Spanish legions loyal to Pompey.  Caesar had covered the 800 miles so quickly – just 27 days – that the troops loyal to Pompey were caught unprepared and were defeated.  On 2 August all five of Pompey's Spanish legions surrendered, and rather than being disbanded were integrated into Caesar's forces.

The core formation of the Roman Army was always the squad of 8 men, called a contubernium, who shared a barracks room or a tent, and a mule to carry their supplies. Ten such groups, or 80 men, formed a century (a company) , six centuries formed a cohort (a battalion), and a legion (a division) was made up of 10 cohorts. Everything they did was a standardized drill. They even ended each day's march by building a standardized camp. A legionary could walk into any camp from Judea, to Britain, to Africa, and walk directly to the armory, the barracks, or the stables. The basic plan for European and American cities grew out of the standardized design of Roman Army camps.

By early 48 B.C. Caesar had gathered three legions in Brundisium, at the heel on the Italian boot. He still lacked enough ships to carry all his men across the Adriatic to Greece, but so eager was he to come to grips with Pompey, that Caesar sailed with just half his force. For once, Pompey moved quickly. His ships cut Caesar off from reinforcement, and his larger army forced Caesar’s men into battle at Dyrrhachium, in what is today Albania. Caesar lost 1,000 men and would have been destroyed, had Pompey not suddenly become cautious. While he paused, Mark Anthony slipped the rest of Caesar’s legions through Pompey's blockade. The two opposing armies now began a dance, southwestward, down the Greek peninsula, until, by late May they had reached the plain of Pharsalus, where Caesar’s men grew so hungry, they would march no further.

At Pharsalus Caesar’s legionaries were facing fellow legionaries and neither side had a technological advantage. Pompey's larger army held the high ground, which meant Caesar’s hungry men would have to attack uphill.  Pompey formed each of his legions as usual, three ranks deep, with three feet between each man. But Caesar thinned out his men to add a fourth line. It was a minor alteration.

After throwing their spears, each Century battered into the enemy with their shields, strapped to their left forearm. The overlapping shield walls pushed and shoved the enemy, the enemy pushing and shoving back. A Roman battle was mostly a brutal shoving match, both sides looking for an opening to thrust in their 2 foot long gladius (sword) with their right arms. Every 90 seconds the Centurion would blow his whistle. The front rank would sidestep right and backward. The fresh second rank would surge forward, pushing and shoving. The exhausted rank would then fall back to the third line, to rest. As long as both armored sides maintained their discipline, the causalities in ancient battles were few. But the instant either side broke formation, showing their backs, the slaughter would begin

On Caesar’s right, Pompey's cavalry scattered their weaker opponents. But this uncovered Caesar’s fourth line of legionaries. Caesar's incessant drilling allowed his men to smoothly swing to their right, and thrust at the enemy cavalry.  And here Caesar displayed a new tactic, developed to deal with the Gaelic cavalry. Instead of throwing their spears, Caesar’s legionaries used them as five foot long spikes. The enemy's horses would not hold formation against the advancing spikes, and were scattered and driven off the field.  Caesar’s fourth line swung to their right, outflanking Pompey's troops. Now the fourth line threw their spears and pulled their gladius. Now the slaughter began.

Pompey saw what was happening and panicked. He rode back to his camp, gathered up his wife and servants. urged his soldiers there to resist Caesar to the death, and then rode for the coast, some say dressed as a peddler. Meanwhile, on the battlefield, Caesar’s 22,000 man army lost just 200 legionnaires killed, and 30 Centurions – including the brave Crastinus. Another 800 legionaries were wounded. But because Pompey's 45,000 man army's formation had broken,  the field was littered with 15,000 of their dead.

Once again, Caesar chose to be magnanimous. He separated Pompey's soldiers from their Centurions. He put his officers in command of Pompey's legions, and he transferred Pompey's officers to positions in his legions, where superior and junior officers could keep watch over them.  Caesar learned that Pompey had sailed for Egypt, intending to quickly move on to his allied forces in Tunisia and what is today Libya. And with each step Caesar took in following Pompey, he took one step closer to his own murder.

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ET TU Part Two alea

 

I have no doubt there were spies in Ravenna on 11 January, 29 BCE. There are always spies in border towns.  And traveling north out of Roman territory, the first town you reached in Cisalpine Gaul was the little fishing village of Ravenna, a quarter way down the western boot of Italy.  A man could be a dictator here.  

But just fifteen miles to the south in Ariminum, he would command no soldiers. He would be governed by the politicians 200 miles to the southwest, in the self described center of the civilized world, in Rome.  And the man the spies from Rome were watching this winter day was the governor of both CisAlpine and TransAlpine Gaul - Julius Caesar.

Caesar's stated reason for being in Ravenna was to check up on his investment in a gladiator's school (above).  That was logical - given that the tens of thousands of slaves Caesar had captured in his conquest of TransAlpine Gaul (i.e. France) and during his recent invasion of Britain. Those human beings now had be converted into cash. Laborers and house servants could quickly be sold, but Gladiators always sold at a premium. So, of course, Caesar was here to inspect the construction of his Gladiator School, and to witness a display of his gladiators in training. Then, after a light lunch, Caesar went to the baths -  another public appearance for a Roman politician.

And in the evening he sat down for a banquet, the kind of thing public officials are still expected to do.  And, according to Plutarch,  as the sun set, “...he left the company, having desired them to make merry till his return, which they would not have long to wait for."  It was enough to lull most spies to sleep. But the Romans were about to learn what the Gauls had learned before them - if you want to know what Caesar is about to do, you did not watch Caesar. You watch his troops.

Three years earlier, in December of 53 B.C., a member of the ruling First Triumvirate, the primary ally of Caesar, Crassus (above), a had been killed in Parthia. At about the same time another Caesar supporter, Tribune Publious Clodius Pulcher, had been killed in a staged brawl – something which had become common in the dying Roman Republic. 

The Tribune's angry supporters had built Plucher's funeral pyre in the Senate House, which resulted in the Senate House burning down. The Senate aristocrats used this act of vandalism as justification to elect the second member of the Triumvirate, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (above), as Sole Counsel, with powers to put down what was described as an insurrection. When some nervous Senators hinted that there were few soldiers in Rome to protect them, Pompey reassured the nervous Nellies, “I have only to stomp my foot to raise an army”  And while he began to arrest Caesar's supporters, on 7 January,  49 B.C.E.,  the Senate voted to order Caesar to disband his own legions and return to Rome for trial. That law was vetoed by the two Tribunes who were were still loyal to Caesar, Mark Antony and Quintus Cassius Longinus. They were promptly driven out of the Rome at sword point.

Caesar (above), was just across the border, in CisAlpine Gaul.  When informed of the Senate's move against him,  he offered a compromise.  He was willing to give up  command of his army and return to Rome, if Pompey gave up his post as Sole Counsel.   Caesar also requested the Senate allow him to stand for re-election as Counsel while he was still in Gaul, with, presumably, Pompey standing for re-election as co-Counsel at the same time.  It seemed a fair compromise. If elected both men would have immunity from prosecution in the courts, and would jointly rule the city of Rome for a year. 

Pompey and the aristocrats in the Senate rejected the deal out of hand. Caesar's ten year term as Governor of both Gauls was about to run out, and as soon as he was no longer legally protected by his legions, the Senate could deal with him. So Caesar's enemies in the Senate thought they could afford to wait and watch

Caesar could not, and did not.  His 6,000 veterans of the 12th legion had been in winter barracks near present day port of Trieste, Serbia, at the head of the Adriatic. Early in January, before the Senate had even rejected his compromise, Caesar had ordered these men to sail for Ravenna. The advance elements had arrived at the little fishing village a week later. And on the afternoon of the 11 January,  5,000 infantry and 300 cavalry marched out of the “Rimi” gate, headed south.

After dusk, having slipped out on his dinner party, Caesar made his way on foot to a mill on the outskirts of the Ravinna.  Here his aides had a hired carriages, which were waiting for Caesar.  Pulled by four mules he followed a back road across the surrounding marshes.  In the dark he got lost, and his carriage got stuck in the mud. Dawn found the great Caesar on foot, asking for help from a lowly farmer. By mid morning he had joined his men, on the banks of the River Rubicon (or the red river),

the traditional northern border of Rome. 

Beyond, in the village of Rimi, was the end of the 200 year old great “Northern Road”, the Via Flaminia (above), which wound its way across the Apennines, the central mountain spine of Italy, through narrow gouges and bridging rushing torrents, to the Field of Mars, then through the Flaminia gate in the city's walls, right to the base of Capitoline Hill, the central citadel of Rome itself. Crossing this border at the head of an army had been forbidden for a Roman general for two hundred years. Crossing this border would brand Caesar and his soldiers as outlaws, subject to execution by any citizen at any time. So this called for a bit of theatre.

The veterans of the 12^th legion  had followed Caesar from conquest to triumph across Gaul, had even crossed the Rhine and invaded Germania. But this was something different, this was an assault on the Senatus, Populusque, Romanus - the Senate and the People of Rome, symbolized by the S-P-Q-R atop every banner the soldiers followed, on the very coins they were paid with. Nervously the legionaries awaited the stirring speech they expected Caesar to give before asking them to commit an act of treason.

Instead, a common soldier suddenly grabbed a trumpet from one of the musicians, raced across the shallow stream blowing “the advance”.  Caesar turned to his officers, and said, “We can still retreat. But once we pass this little bridge, there is nothing left but to fight..”  Then he turned toward the bridge, and called out, “Let us go where the omens of the Gods and the crimes of our enemies summon us”   As he crossed the stream  himself, he is supposed to have said, almost to himself, "Alea iacta est”, the Latin phrase usually translated as “The die is now cast!”

He did not look over his shoulder. He knew his men were following him.

On the southern shore waited Mark Anthony and Cassius Longinus, physical evidence of the arrogance of the Senate.  Here Caesar drew the troops into a square, tore his robes in a show of humility, and led the soldiers in a personal pledge of fidelity to himself, to Caesar.  The Roman Republic was now dead. The only thing required was to bury it. According to Suetonius, his legion now “marched so fast the rest of the way that he reached Ariminum before morning and took it.”

Rome was electrified by the news.  And it quickly became clear that the Senate's arrogance had turned Caesar's march down the Via Flaminia into a triumphal parade. So great was the frustration with the Senate that city after city threw their gates open to Caesar. Forces sent to stop him, went over to his side.

Senator Favonius suggested it was high time that Pompey (above) stomped his foot. But Pompey's own legions were in Spain. The city had raised two legions and was assembling a third, but they were new recruits, and Pompey was not interested in matching them against Caesar's veterans from Gaul. Pompey did not increase his popularity when he informed the aristocratic members of the Senate that they should get out of town. Many denounced Pompey as a coward. But they still followed Pompey and their fellow aristocrats when they grabbed their wealth, and ran for Brundisium, the traditional exit port at the heel of the Italian boot. In their haste they left behind the treasury of Rome, the horde of gold and silver looted from Carthage, stolen from Egypt, taxed from Spain and Macedonia. It was the first place Caesar went, when he got to town.

They couldn't find the keys to the vaults. Caesar sent for locksmiths. A Tribune reminded Caesar he was violating the law. Caesar suggested, “If what I do displeases you, leave.” The doors were forced open, and Caesar had enough money to pay his soldiers.  But murder stepped through that door, right next to him.

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ET TU Part One Velum surgit

 

I believe the murder was set in motion far from the scene of the crime, in modern day Turkey, in a patch of desert about ten miles north of the border with Syria. In 53 B.C.E., this spot of what was then emptiness was called Carrhae (above), and in Roman history that name is synonymous with shame. 

It was on the plain at Carrhae that 20,000 Legionaries died (above), and worse, 10,000 were captured, and even worse, it was here that the aristocrat’s aristocrat, the greedy bloodthirsty Marcus Licinius Crassus, was killed. 

Few who did not depend on Crassus for their financial security had reason to mourn his demise. But within ten years of his death, what was left of the Roman Republic would collapse, and the cause of democracy would be set back two thousand years – and all that occurred because Crassus got what he deserved. I would label all that the horrible unintended consequences of a good thing.

Marcus Licinius Crassus (above), the richest man in Rome, who also saw himself as a hero. He led the right wing at the battle of Coline Gate, which made Sulla dictator of Rome. He had defeated the slave armies of Spartacus, and lined the Appian Way with 6,000 crucified slaves. Then he had turned to running the finances of Sulla' s brutal regime. But now, at 60, he wanted to be a hero again. 

His plan to achieve this was to invade Parthia, the empire centered upon present day Iran. But age had not made Crassus more intellectually flexible or humble of spirit. When offered assistance from the King of Armenia, Crassus chose to keep all the plunder for himself.

So, in the spring of 53 B.C., at the head of seven veteran legions and 8,000 cavalry commanded by his son, Publius, Crassus crossed the Euphrates river at Zeugma, and almost immediately started making mistakes. 

He hired a guide who led him deep into a treeless desert near Carrhea (above), and then vanished. And once the legions were ankle deep in sand and desperately short of water, only then did the Parthian army appear - 10,000 cavalry armed with powerful bows.

Arrows showered upon the massed legions, wounding men and sapping moral. The Roman tactical response was to form the infantry into turtles (testudos) (above), closing ranks tightly, with the center ranks marching beneath their shields, and the soldiers on the edges presenting the enemy with a moving wall. 

But so strong were the Parthian bows that some arrows even penetrated the turtle's shell. It went on for hours. The turtles could only march in a straight line, and not very quickly under a baking desert sun. Eventually, reasoned Crassus, the Parthian bowmen would run out of arrows. But then he spotted large camel trains approaching, each dromedary carrying a fresh supply of arrows.

In desperation Publius's cavalry charged the camels, but the Parthian's proved adept at shooting while retreating - the famous Parthian shot (above), the sting in the scorpion's tail. 

Publius was killed and his cavalry scattered. The Parthians closed in again on the turtles and the arrows continued to shower down,  as did the merciless heat. Eventually Crassus was forced to retreat into the village of Carrhea.  After a night without water his officers forced Crassus to parlay with the Parthian commander. The meeting was a disaster. 

The deaf Crassus perceived an insult in some Parthian translation, and moved to remount his horse. A Parthian officer grabbed the horses' bridle. A proud Roman officer pulled his gladius to defend his commander's honor, and the Parthian generals slaughtered the Roman officers, including Marcus Licinius Crassus. After that, the Parthians fell upon the leaderless legions, and effectively wiped them out.

The legend is that after the slaughter, the Parthians poured molten gold into the severed head of the greedy Crassus. It sounds like a terrible waste of a precious metal, but then the war had been a terrible waste of seven irreplaceable Roman legions. But the two men in all the world who understood intuitively what a disaster Crassus' death really was for Rome, were his two greatest competitors.

The sardonic Sulla had nicknamed Gnaeus Pompeius, as Pompey the Great (above). But Sulla had meant it as a joke - whatever else he was, Sulla was a ruthless judge of character. Sent by Sulla to secure the Roman grain supplies in Sicily, the young Pompey had earned another nickname, 'the adolescent butcher'. 

When the citizens of one small Sicilian village argued his attack upon them was illegal, Pompey responded bluntly, “Stop quoting laws. We carry weapons!” Returning home, Pompey demanded a triumphal parade, usually reserved for military victories. After Sulla's death, the Senate dispatched Pompey to crush a rebellious general. Pompey bribed one of the rebel officers to kill the general, and then eliminated the traitor. His justification was typically blunt. “A dead man cannot bite”. And he claimed another triumph. Sent to crush pirates who were raiding Roman grain fleets, Pompey bought them off, and again, claimed a triumph - Pompey Maximus, indeed.

As the two richest and most ambitious men in Rome, Pompey and Crassus had initially cooperated to strengthen the tribuni plebis.

This was not out of some faith in the Senate, but to use the tribunes as a buffer between them. For four hundred years these 'Tribunes of the Plebs' had been a counter-balance to the aristocrats in the Senate. Elected by the whole male population, tribunes could not make laws, but they could veto any law passed by the Senate (above).  Sulla had reduced the tribunes to a ceremonial post. But Pompey and Crassus, increasingly driven apart by suspicion, paranoia and envy, used the tribunes to prevent their opponent from enacting policies they did not like. And one of the men supported by Crassus for tribune of the people had been Gaius Julius Caesar.

Sulla had taken one look at the smart, ambitious young Caesar (above), and marked him down for elimination. Julius avoided Sulla's assassins by joining the army. Once Sulla died, Julius returned to Rome, where Crassus backed his election as a Tribune and then sent him to Spain. While there Caesar had defeated two small tribes. This earned him the right to a triumph. Instead, Caesar asked Crassus for help, meaning money, to run for Tribune of the people.

Romans were so afraid of someone wanting to rule over them as a  king, that the Tribune term of office was just one year long, and there were two equal Tribunes  elected each year. Each had the power of veto over any action by the other or the Senate. This was a system designed to ensure deadlock.  As a result of the election in  60 B.C., Caesar (Crassus' man) was elected. 

But the other consul elected that year, Marcus Calpurnius Bilbus , was Pompey's man, meaning every law Crassus backed, Bibulus vetoed, and every law Pompey pushed, Caesar vetoed. And it was Caesar’s political genius that he saw the way to use this deadlock to increase his own power.

In 59 B.C., Pompey pushed for a land reform act that would give farms to veterans of his legions . Bibulus tried to veto the bill, but thugs hired by Caesar dragged Bilbulus out of the forum, threatened him and dumped a dung bucket on his head. The shaken man withdrew from public life.  Then quickly, Caesar moved to grant Pompey's veteran's equal lands. And that quickly power in Rome was changed, from a deadlocked confrontation between two men, into a more balanced government ruled by three - The First Triumvirate. As a reward for bringing peace between Crassus and Pompey, Caesar was appointed Governor of Trans-alpine Gaul, what today is France, for ten years.

Thus Caesar went seek his future in conquering and plundering Gaul with four legions. Pompey, who left his legions in Spain,  stayed in Rome to plunder the Republic. And the financier Crassus had turned eastward, to conquer and plunder Parthia with seven legions. 

But in 53 B.C.E. Crassus (above) had gotten himself killed, and the Roman Republic, was abruptly reduced to a direct confrontation between two men. It was a contest which must result in the death of one of them, and the Republic.

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