Let the Dice Fly High! (yet another Julius Caesar timeline)

[Jobiwan7]

Let the Dice Fly High! (yet another Julius Caesar timeline)

"Alesia," Gaius Julius Aristarchus, c. 1550 AUC

Hello! This is basically a reboot of the Roman TL I tried to do a while back. That one was a little dry, and I eventually lost the will to continue it. Now I’m more informed and feeling more creative, so hopefully I’ll be able to keep this one going. This time around, I’m going to try for a more history book style, as opposed to something like “c. AD 500 – introduction of the stirrup to European armies.” The POD is, just like last time, Caesar’s daughter Julia not dying in childbirth, leading to a very different Roman civil war. Comments are, of course, very much appreciated. Enjoy!

Unless otherwise noted, all entries will be “translated” from the alternate Latin volume Historia Romana by Maschmanus Iosephus Michaelis.

End of the Triumvirate and the Road to Civil War

Upon his return to Gaul from his second expedition to Britannia, Caesar received the pleasant news that his daughter Julia had given birth to a healthy daughter, Pompeia Caesaris. In addition to his joy at the birth of a granddaughter, Caesar had the comforting reassurance that his alliance with Pompeius was secured for the foreseeable future.[1] The new father Pompeius, who had remained in Rome to care for his young wife, soon took up his command in the Spains once it was clear mother and daughter were doing well.[2] Both Caesar and Pompeius were soon overtaken with more pressing concerns from the Gauls and Cantabrians, respectively (see sections Caesar’s Gallic War: the Revolt of Vercingetorix and Pompeius’ Cantabrian War), while events in Rome and distant Syria served to further complicate the triumvirs’ prospects.

In 53 BC Marcus Crassus, the third triumvir, met with disaster on his campaign against the Kingdom of the Parthians. A traitorous guide led the Roman army into a trap near the town of Carrhae, where the Parthian general Surena surrounded and annihilated them. Crassus, his son Publius, and several legates were killed during the battle or its aftermath. Only Crassus’s quaestor Gaius Cassius and 10,000 men managed to escape death by deserting Crassus during the retreat from Carrhae.[3] Cassius returned to Antioch and served as de facto governor of the province until the Senate sent a replacement for Marcus Crassus. Though Carrhae was the Republic’s greatest defeat in decades, most Romans were more concerned with the danger closer to home.

Rome had been consumed by gang violence. Publius Clodius and Titus Annius Milo were candidates for praetor and consul, respectively, and neither could tolerate the idea of the other being elected. Thus, the two marshaled their gangs and battled it out in the streets of Rome. The consuls of the year were powerless to stop the fighting or hold elections and thus, New Years’ Day of 52 BC arrived with no consuls or other senior magistrates. At this point, the boni faction of senators, the bitter opposition to Caesar and Pompeius led by Marcus Porcius Cato and Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus, decided Milo was the lesser of two evils and gave him their support. Within weeks, Clodius was dead, murdered on the Appian Way, though whether there is any connection between these two events cannot be determined. Clodius’ supporters were livid and used the senate house as a pyre for their beloved patron. As the embers of the Curia Hostillia cooled, so too did the tempers of Clodius’ former followers, and elections could at last be held. Sure enough, Metellus Scipio, one of the boni, and Titus Annius Milo were returned as the consuls for 52 BC.[4]

The boni support of Milo proved to be a double-edged sword. While their main goals were to strip Caesar from Pompeius of their commands as soon as possible, Milo had other priorities. It was fairly clear that Milo was responsible for the murder of Clodius, and his focus was to stifle former Clodians and protect himself from prosecution. Not wanting to be implicated themselves, the boni were forced to go along with Milo for their own sakes. While Milo’s alleged crimes may have served as an unfortunate distraction for the boni, his street gangs did prove useful for their attempts to discredit Caesar and Pompey among the people of Rome, as well as to “encourage” voters to support the die-hard boni candidates in the next elections. Cato himself was elected senior consul for 51 BC,[5] and proposed several laws designed to weaken Caesar and Pompeius. Despite a recent law specifically permitting Caesar to run for the consulship from Gaul, Cato’s legislation banned candidates from standing for election in absentia, which would require Caesar or Pompeius to return to Rome itself to gain any new office and thus open themselves to prosecution.

As Caesar and Pompeius dispatched their agents to stall proceedings as long as possible, the boni grew more impatient and, in 50 BC, planned to strip the two proconsuls of their provinces and armies early rather than wait for time to run out. Unfortunately for the boni, Gaius Scribonius Curio, a tribune of the plebs and supporter of Caesar’s, used his tribune’s veto to halt any further discussion of the topic for the remainder of the year. The boni were convinced Caesar and Pompeius had designs on overthrowing the state, and thus instead spent the year strengthening themselves militarily by a devious means. Ostensibly out of fear of an invasion by the Parthians, but in actuality in preparation for a civil war, the Senate voted that Caesar and Pompeius should each give up two of their legions to help defend the East. In addition, funds and military support were forced from the various Roman client-states to “better protect themselves from Parthian attack.” With Curio’s term as tribune set to expire at the end of the year, the boni needed only to wait for the new year to renew their crusade to bring down Caesar and Pompeius.

When New Year’s Day arrived, the situation had grown critical. Respected consular Marcus Tullius Cicero presented a desperate compromise: Caesar and Pompeius would each disband most of their legions, but still be able to serve the remainder of their proconsular terms, albeit in a more limited fashion. The assembled Senators were nearly convinced until Cato had the floor. He launched into a vicious tirade condemning any attempt at compromise as cowardly submission. By speaking until sunset he prevented a vote on the proposal (a textbook example of the “Cato speech,” named for him).[6] In a cautious move, Caesar crossed the Alps into Italian Gaul to monitor the delicate situation in Rome. Back in the city, this innocuous event was inflated into the rumor that Caesar was massing his armies for a march on Rome, and the senators were uneasy. The boni took advantage of the confusion, and the new consuls moved that the Senate pass the Ultimate Decree, the Senatus Consultum Ultimum, to empower the consuls to “take care that the state should come to no harm” from Caesar, Pompeius, or the “obstructionist” tribunes of the plebs. When a newly-elected tribune, Marcus Antonius, tried to veto the motion, he was ejected violently from the meeting of the Senate and fled to join Caesar. The decree was passed and Caesar and Pompeius were stripped of their commands and declared public enemies. When Antonius, still bruised and disheveled, reached Caesar in Italian Gaul, Caesar wrote to update Pompeius and mobilized the three legions stationed in Italian Gaul. With his famous cry of, “Let the dice fly high!” Caesar crossed the Rubicon River into Italia. The Catonian War[7] had begun…

Notes:
[1] Of course OTL, Julia died, Pompey married the daughter of Metellus Scipio, one of Caesar’s fiercest enemies, and ultimately led the fight against Caesar when civil war broke out.
[2] As he’s neither caring for a pregnant Julia nor mourning her death as in OTL, Pompey can actually govern in his provinces, and thus the final conquests in Hispania are done by in the 50s BC rather than during the age of Augustus.
[3] Cassius escaped in OTL, but in this TL is it perceived as less heroic.
[4] OTL, the boni allied with Pompey, but without him, Milo is the best option available.
[5] He was never consul in OTL: Milo’s gangs proved useful.
[6] TTL’s name for the filibuster
[7] When the war is over, blame for the entire war will be laid at the feet of Marcus Porcius Cato, hence the name.

[Geekhis Khan]

Nice! Keep it coming!

[Dante]

This is a cool idea, keep it coming

[Wolfhound]

I love it! Keep it up!

[CaptainAmerica]

I like, please do continue

[Jammy]

I like it as well - lets have some more please

[Solitarius Valentinus]

Good sir, this is a piece of art. I look forward to read more.

[Basileus Giorgios]

What everyone else said...

[Jobiwan7]

Thank you so much for the postive comments! I really do appreciate them. I'm making progress on the next chapter, but in the meantime, here's a little visual dramatis personae to help you keep all of those Roman names straight.

Gaius Julius Caesar, Proconsul of Gaul and Illyricum

Julia Caesaris, daughter of Caesar and wife of Pompey
(hypothetical portrait)

Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, Proconsul of Nearer and Further Spain

Marcus Licinius Crassus, Proconsul of Syria
(believed to be Crassus, but unconfirmed; sorry, no sketch for him)

Gaius Cassius Longinus, Quaestor of Syria
(not so "lean and hungry," is he now?)

Publius Clodius, former Tribune of the Plebs, demagogue
(hypothetical portrait)

Titus Annius Milo, Consul
(Sorry - there are no confirmed portraits of him, nor do I have a hypothetical image.)

Marcus Porcius Cato, Consul

Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus, Consul
(hypothetical portrait)

Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio Nasica, Consul
(known as "Metellus Scipio" for brevity's sake; hypothetical portrait)

Gaius Scribonius Curio, Tribune of the Plebs
(hypothetical portrait)

Marcus Tullius Cicero, Consul, Orator, Pater Patriae

Marcus Antonius, Tribune of the Plebs

[CaptainAmerica]

when might the next update happen

[Jobiwan7]

The new chapter should be up within the next few days.

[Jobiwan7]

First, a quick map showing the loyalties of the Roman world

The Catonian War – Opening Stages

At the war’s commencement, Caesar possessed an army nine legions strong (formerly eleven, until the Senate had stripped two away). He entered Italia at the head of only three legions, with the remainder of his veteran army, an additional six legions, still camped across the Alps in Further Gaul. Pompeius commanded three legions in the Spains (down from five), and could scarcely afford to remove them from the only recently-pacified lands of the Cantabrians. He thus made his return to Italy with only a single legion. The boni could draw upon greater resources, but they were spread over a larger area. In Italia were eight legions, a mixture of two legions of former Pompeians, two of former Caesareans, and four of new recruits, all under the command of Marcus Bibulus.[1] Two legions in Macedonia under Milo, two in Asia Province under Lentulus Crus, one in Cilicia, and two in Syria under Metellus Scipio constituted the rest of the boni force. As a result of their harsh crackdown on Roman client-states, they further had the advantage in cavalry, in auxiliary troops, and at sea. The only client kingdom not to provide aid was the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt. When the boni came knocking and attempted to mobilize Roman veterans settled in Egypt, the ex-legionaries mutinied and killed the two older sons of the boni governor of Syria, at that time Marcus Bibulus. Knowing boni vengeance would come sooner or later, Queen Cleopatra VII openly declared for Caesar and Pompeius.[2]

Correspondence between Caesar and Pompeius reveals their agreement to spare Italia the horrors of another civil war as much as was possible.[3] Accordingly, when Caesar crossed the Alps in early January, 49 BC, he wasted no time in seeking out the enemy. Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, with three legions, was sent north to contain Caesar as he marched south along the east coast of Italia. The armies met at Asculum, where the boni army surrendered almost without a fight and declared for Caesar and Pompeius. Stunned, the boni leadership prepared to march the rest of their army south. With the exception of Cato, who drew parallels to the Sack of Rome in 387 BC by an army of invading Gauls and advocated fortifying Rome itself against “the new Gallic invaders,” most of his colleagues accepted that a defense of Italia was no longer a feasible option. Instead they hoped to ship the five remaining legions across the Adriatic and combine forces with other boni governors. Caesar, hoping to stymie such an effort, flew south, but was slowed by delaying attacks from Titus Labienus,[4] his former lieutenant, and was unable to prevent the boni army crossing into Macedonia. With the boni navy further preventing a swift pursuit, Caesar turned his army around and stationed it in Capua while he and Pompeius, who had just arrived from the Spains, returned to Rome.

The transition was surprisingly smooth, considering the boni’s efforts to discredit Caesar and Pompeius. The knights, the aristocratic businessmen who controlled Rome’s commerce, were placated when Caesar’s clemency indicated neither he nor Pompeius would proscribe them, kill them, or confiscate their property. A number of Senators remained in Rome, both ardent Caesareans and Pompeians as well as moderates who, though they may have voted for some boni proposals in a vain hope to avoid conflict, were not convinced by the boni’s arguments that Caesar and Pompeius presented a dire threat to the Republic.[5] There was therefore very little difficulty in the two “rebel generals” gaining official recognition as the legitimate magistrates of the Republic. The particular magistracy they were granted is historically unique. Strong leadership was called for, but the dictatorship, though an old, completely lawful institution, had seen its reputation tarnished by the brutal regime of Lucius Cornelius Sulla thirty years prior and was an office not well-regarded by many Romans. An additional problem was that there were two men in command; never before had co-dictators been appointed. The Senate was thus forced to invent an entirely new office: Caesar and Pompeius were voted Duumviri Rei Publicae Constituendae Consulari Potestate, Duumvirs for Confirming the Republic with Consular Power. It was a deceptively humble-sounding title granting imperium maius for a term of five years.[6] The newly-elected Duumvirs quickly acted to expand their military forces: Caesar summoned another four of his Gallic legions, Pompeius (victor over the Mediterranean pirates) supervised the building of new ships and recruitment of men to crew them, and both Duumvirs began recruiting heavily throughout Italia and Italian Gaul to form several new legions.

Caesar’s lightning victory at Asculum wrought a profound change in the boni leadership. The smugness and confidence had disappeared, and they were faced with the harsh reality of conflict with Caesar and Pompeius, two of the greatest commanders in Rome’s history. Against their better judgment, the boni signed an alliance with Orodes II of the Parthians, a move that has been described as evidence of their desperation or of simple pragmatism. In exchange for Parthian suzerainty over several Roman client-states in Anatolia, Orodes pledged an army commanded by his son, Pacorus, to aid Metellus Scipio’s Roman forces in Syria. The remainder of the boni legions and auxiliary troops were to be transferred to Macedonia, where they would reinforce the main army that had fled across the Adriatic from Italia. From their stronghold at Dyrrhachium, they hoped to repel any attempted Duumvir offensives and were in a strong position to invade Italia should the opportunity arise.

Once the boni dispositions were understood by the Duumvirs, they developed their own strategy. Pompeius was to take his portion of the army to wrest Africa from boni control and ensure Rome’s grain supply would be in Duumviral hands. Once Africa was secured, he was to resupply in friendly Egypt and then invade Syria. Caesar, once his troops were prepared, would cross the Adriatic and drive the boni from Macedonia. In June of 49 BC, Pompeius and eight legions set sail for the Roman Africa Province. The boni governor, Publius Attius Varus, had only one legion supplemented by an unknown number of locally-recruited troops, as well as the forces of King Juba of Numidia, who contributed the Numidians’ famed light cavalry. Varus theoretically had the support of Bocchus and Bogud of Mauretania, but they were far more interested in harrying Juba’s defenses in western Numidia than in aiding the boni resistance. Pompeius’s African campaign was a short one, an opportunity to blood the new recruits of the Duumviral legions. Juba and Varus were swiftly dispatched at Utica, electing to die in battle and avoid capture, and the breadbasket of the Roman Republic was in the hands of the Duumvirs.[7] The Kingdom of Numidia was dissolved, divided between Roman Africa and the dual Kingdoms of Mauretania under Bocchus and Bogud.

By late August, Pompeius had Africa’s affairs in order and was prepared to depart. His eight legions were loaded back into their transports and sailed east for resupply in Egypt. Shortly afterward, at the beginning of September, Caesar and his army of eight legions sailed across the Adriatic. They disembarked at Lissus, north of the main boni force in Dyrrhachium, and began to March south. On the other side of the sea, Pompeius’s fleet arrived in the harbor of Alexandria on September 15. He and his eldest son, Gnaeus, were met by emissaries of King Ptolemy XIII, who informed them that the former Queen Cleopatra had been deposed by her people and that her brother Ptolemy was now the sole ruler of Egypt. The two Pompeii were told that much had changed in Egypt, but it was only when they reached the shore that they fully grasped what these changes truly entailed. There would be no royal audience for the Roman Duumvir and his son…

[1] Each legion is 25% Caesarean, 25% Pompeian, and 50% raw recruits. The boni figured the risk of mutiny was lower in such “homogenized” legions.
[2] A very similar event happened OTL. ITTL, however, the boni are a little more draconian, and thus Cleopatra sees Caesar and Pompey as her only hope against boni retribution.
[3] In OTL, this opinion would cause Pompey to immediately move his anti-Caesarean army to Greece.
[4] Some may be surprised to see Labienus on the boni side. Many assume he chose them OTL out of loyalty to Pompey, but I espouse the theory that Caesar was less than fond of Labienus after some of his conduct in the Gallic Wars. Thus, Labienus goes to the boni as IOTL.
[5] One of these “moderates” is Marcus Tullius Cicero. His support of Caesar and Pompey was very helpful in their gaining legitimacy.
[6] Duumvir was, in fact, a title about the level of “mayor” in Italian cities. The new office, however, is the OTL second triumvirate, merely with trium- changed to duum-.
[7] In OTL, Curio was given the African command and defeated, leaving Africa as a boni rallying point. When Pompey is given command as part of the grand Duumviral pincer, things understandably go differently.

[Jammy]

Looks good keep it up.

Egypt looks very interesting, with Pompey going there instead of Caesar - if Cleopatra has been thrown off the throne yet she declared for the Caesar and Pompey. . . Really looking forward to where this goes