Is Rome Worth One Good Man's Life?-A Roman TL

Chapter X:prelude To Civil War


The news from the west that Antonius was concerned about, was essentially a declaration of war. Fully collaborating after their new marriage alliance, Marcus Agrippa and Sextus Pompeius had consolidated their joint control of the west. By now it had become clear that Agrippa was Pompeius’s junior colleague. Pompeius had grown a strong respect for the dashing general, and Agrippa reciprocated. From their various encounters grew a warm friendship, despite Agrippa being weary at first due to him having once upon a time been an enemy of his late friend and patron, Octavian.

While Antonius was busy with his hands full in the east, the other two triumvirs had been conspiring to gain full control of the west. Marcus Antonius’s brother, Lucius, was the Caesarion governor of Transalpine Gaul. Left on his own, he posed little threat to their interests. With civil war imminent however, Agrippa and Pompeius felt it was nice to have their backdoor secure before barging out the front. Otherwise, they would be inviting disaster, no matter how unlikely said disaster stemming from Lucius could seem.

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Coin depicting Lucius Antonius

At this point, they had few worries about the implications of invading Transalpine Gaul from both Hispania and Cisalpine Gaul, un-provoked. Popular opinion of Antonius in Rome might be equated with that of the Parthian King. If that isn’t a testament to how loathed he was in the capital, then I don’t know what is. Whatever objections Antonius would have from it wouldn’t need to be considered either. They had no illusions of keeping some eternal peace, and felt they were in as good a position as any to take on Antonius’s juggernaut.

It still helped however, to at least make it seem there was a valid reason for them to just march into Transalpine Gaul and overthrow it’s governor, other than, “Oh yeah, we are about to start a civil war, so we need to clear this up first.” Lucius Antonius needed to provoke the action, which wouldn’t have been hard on a normal day anyway, and even easier now that there was a complete breach between his brother and the other two triumvirs. Their method was blunt and straight forward-mass on the borders and order Antonius to resign and retire to seclusion, forever out of the public eye.

This was exactly why Pompeius had installed Ventidius Bassus in Hispania. He intended to pincer Lucius from two sides-Bassus and himself from Spain, and Agrippa from Cisalpine Gaul. He knew Bassus outclassed him in the art of land warfare judging from his brilliance in the east, and his eagerness to extract revenge on Marcus Antonius, made him the perfect candidate.

Agrippa amassed five legions on the Italian border with Transalpine Gaul, and Pompeius did likewise in Hispania, amassing five legions poised to march through the pass in the Pyrenees. With their armies ready, they casually sent an ultimatum to Lucius: Lay down his command and province and stand trial or go into forced retirement. The words, “Or we’ll force you out” were cleverly not placed in there, but they might as well have been. Instead, they added their reason, amped up charges of corruption and incompetent governance, and just about any negative charge about his conduct as governor they could bring up.

They had no reason to believe he would actually stand down and return to Rome without an army. To do so would be to sign over his own death warrant. Instead, they were backing him into a corner and forcing him to provoke the conflict. Sure enough, played right into their hands. His reply was short, yet powerful. Paraphrasing Leonnatus’s famous words at Thermopylae, Lucius’s replied with, “Come and get me.” The justification Agrippa and Pompeius had been waiting for was now presented clearly in front of the Roman people, who were outraged.

After Lucius signed his own death sentence, the invasion was launched. He banked on concentrating on crushing on Agrippa first (for he woefully underestimated the man’s martial abilities), Antonius rushed his army in that direction. Fortunately for all the armies involved, and unfortunately for Lucius, he would never get to join in battle. Falling from his horse on the march (though some say this was a cover up by his troops who they say killed him), he died two days later from injuries suffered from said fall. His army thusly seeing no reason to bring on their own deaths by continuing the now pointless war, sent envoys out to the respective Pompeiian (as they shall be referred to now) armies, asking for peace. Peace was quickly accepted, and the men were integrated into the Pompeiian army, swelling their numbers for the inevitable war with Marcus Antonius.

The invasion had gone better than either Agrippa and Pompeius could have hoped for. Without a single sword being un-sheathed, or a single spear tossed, Lucius Antonius was dead and Transalpine Gaul was theirs. Not only that, but their forces were now bolstered by the same troops they had planned on crushing in battle. Though their loyalties were certainly in question, soldiers were soldiers, and they were welcome manpower. Even if they remained defending Transalpine Gaul, they would be freeing up the troops that would be needed to guard the province anyway. The stage was now set, for the final, climactic ending to the seemingly un-ending civil wars that plagued the republic, and would bring it to an end.
 
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With what authority are Pompeius and Agrippa commanding Lucius Antonius to step down? I'm not sure such blatant aggression toward Antony's brother would go down well in Rome - especially not with a parvenu like Agrippa involved. By moving against their fellow Triumvir and unnecessarily bringing civil war upon the Republic (as well as leaving the East to foreign attack) Pompeius and Agrippa might end up shooting themselves in the foot, so to speak. Even Octavian (OTL) did not dare move against Antony directly - the war was officially against Cleopatra. And even OTL Antony had the support of the two consuls and many prominent senators. Without Octavian actively campaigning against him and himself messing up re: his treatment of Octavia, I dare say Antony's dithering as regards Parthia would not make his popularity with the people and legions wane.
 
With what authority are Pompeius and Agrippa commanding Lucius Antonius to step down? I'm not sure such blatant aggression toward Antony's brother would go down well in Rome - especially not with a parvenu like Agrippa involved. By moving against their fellow Triumvir and unnecessarily bringing civil war upon the Republic (as well as leaving the East to foreign attack) Pompeius and Agrippa might end up shooting themselves in the foot, so to speak. Even Octavian (OTL) did not dare move against Antony directly - the war was officially against Cleopatra. And even OTL Antony had the support of the two consuls and many prominent senators. Without Octavian actively campaigning against him and himself messing up re: his treatment of Octavia, I dare say Antony's dithering as regards Parthia would not make his popularity with the people and legions wane.

He treated Octavia similarly in this TL as he did in OTL. I should have made it a little clearer, but the oprdering of Lucius to step down was sent through the Senate, and it was mostly Pompeius's doing, and his support is such in the Senate and in Rome that this would do little to his reputation methinks.

Antonius is about to do what he did OTL and basically make Cleopatra quee fof kings. They won't declare was on Antony per say, and will take Octavian
's route as far as that goes.
 
If you still find it to be implausible however, I can cut it out. It won't effect what I have in store too much if Lucius is still at large come the civil war.

edit: Also, Octavian had been struggling to gain support for years, and had really just solidified control and support he needed when he declared war on Cleopatra. In this case however, Pompeius has enjoyed strong support from both the masses in Rome as well as the Senate ever since Caesar died.
 
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Chapter XI: The Final War of The Republic Part I: The Donations of Alexandria and the Declaration of War


To say the actions taken by Agrippa and Pompeius went without any protest in Rome would be a lie. Even though they disliked Antonius and were happy to see his influence in the west gone, the senators felt a little snubbed that the two men had made war on a Roman governor on their own accord. Although it had been passed through the Senate, it was more for formalities sake than giving the actual decision to the Senate. Still, it had little effect on Pompeius’s standing-he was still riding high on the god-like popularity he had piled up from the past. Having such an influential supporter as Cicero helped of course.

The damage was slightly more damaging to Agrippa’s reputation however. The senate still did not take kindly to a new man acting so unilaterally as if he ran Rome, and not them. It made him well aware of where exactly the boundaries were, and removed any dreams he may or may not have had of increasing his standing of much more than Pompeius’s junior colleague. Cicero took sympathy on him, knowing full well the hardships of being a novus homo, and tried to mitigate the damage done, and the aristocrats in the senate didn’t go much further than expressing their general distaste.

All that would be overshadowed and soon forgotten by what Marcus Antonius did next in 34 BC. The “Donations of Alexandria”, as they were called, shocked everyone, including Agrippa and Pompeius. In Alexandria, a spectacular procession and display was put on, with Antonius parading his captives including the King of Armenia. He himself made his way into the city in true hellenistic fashion, making offerings in the temple of Serapis. Though Pompeius and Agrippa were quick to capitalize on this and portray it as Antonius mocking Rome by staging a triumph in Alexandria, this was not the case. Other than the fact that it would be an insult to the Alexandrians, he was not about to go out of his way to purposelly mock Rome and any support he would have had left in it. Rather, it was a purely hellenistic display. The next day, as the crowd gathered for his big announcement, Antonius gave Cleopatra rulership over the whole east, “from the Hellespont to India” and she became the queen of kings, and Caesrion the King of kings. All eastern territory was distributed amongst her children, including many not yet even under their control, like it was already his to give away. Caesarion gained of Koile-Syria, Cyprus and Egypt; Ptolemaios Philopator was made ruler of Syria, Phoenicia, Kilikia and the rest of Asia Minor; Alexandros Helios of Armenia, Mesopotamia and the Upper Satrapies; Kleopatra Selene of Cyrenaica, with Caesarion and Cleopatra ruling over everything.

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Ancient Alexandria​
Although this provided Pompeius and Agrippa with more than enough justification to prove to the Roman people that Antonius had “gone native” and to make war on Cleopatra, and by extension Antonius, it is important to realize that this actually didn’t change anything. The fact that Antonius still portrayed himself as having control over Cleopatra and Caesarion , showed that the east was still controlled by the Romans. .Everyone who had been in power in those areas remained in power, including the client kings who’s kingdoms were among the lands given to Cleopatra in the donations.

The area under Cleopatra’s control was no different than it had been prior to the donations. Everything that was actually given to her, was already hers. The importance of the donations are what was Antonius and herself claimed to gain for the future, namely the whole of the Parthian Empire to India. They were in essence, laying claim to all of the former Seleucid Kingdom, the heart of Alexander’s former empire. Instead of giving all of the east to Egypt, the donations was an attempt to show the unity between all the people’s of the east.

Regardless of the actual reasons for the Donations, Pompeius and Agrippa were quick to capitalize on the astonishment of the Roman people. They heaved personal attacks on Antonius and Cleopatra, and launched a full blown propaganda campaign, banging the drums of war. Cicero himself hurled attack after attack, insult after insult, on Antonius, relishing every moment of it. Like it was all a bad dream, the Senate and the Roman people would not be goaded into war just yet. They still had a sour taste in their mouths from Pompeius and Agrippa’s quasi illegal invasion/seizure of Transalpine Gaul, and despite their best efforts, continued to hold off.

Frustrated, Pompeius and Agrippa finally got what they needed to convince the Senate and People of Rome to go to war. It was then that Antonius married Cleopatra, sparking even more outrage in the eternal city. Sensing the time was right, Pompeius either forged Antonius’s will or stole it from the Temple of Vesta, and handed it to Cicero to read aloud on the senate floor. In the will, along with leaving his possessions to his children by Cleopatra, he wanted to be buried in Alexandria with Cleopatra. Although they could care less about who inherited what, the senate was outraged and in utter disbelief at his desire to be buried somewhere other than Rome, least of all Alexandria.

That was the last straw. Instead of declaring war on , Pompeius shrewdly convinced the senate to declare war on Cleopatra, knowing full well Antonius would join her. When he inevitably did, he was stripped of all power by the senate, and declared a traitor to the Roman people. The final war Rome would ever fight as a republic, had begun.

 
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Very well written.

Very detailed

Very good:cool:

Subscribed

Truly Antonius has made an enormous mistake in giving between other provinces all Hispania, this has provided to Sextus Pompeius an important source of revenues and men.

It has been a very bad miscalculation. Personally if I have been Antonius I have given to Sextus or any Hispania or only the Hispania Ulterior with Hispania Citerior remaining on the hands of Antonius.

He has provided to Sextus with important bases for his fleets (he has a lot of ports, in Africa, Sicilia, Sardinia and Hispania) he has the wheat in Sicilia and Africa and the population source for his armies in Hispania and also a lot of mineral resources in Hispania.

Antonius is only receiving the effects of his dangerous mistake.
 
Very well written.

Very detailed

Very good:cool:

Subscribed

Truly Antonius has made an enormous mistake in giving between other provinces all Hispania, this has provided to Sextus Pompeius an important source of revenues and men.

It has been a very bad miscalculation. Personally if I have been Antonius I have given to Sextus or any Hispania or only the Hispania Ulterior with Hispania Citerior remaining on the hands of Antonius.

He has provided to Sextus with important bases for his fleets (he has a lot of ports, in Africa, Sicilia, Sardinia and Hispania) he has the wheat in Sicilia and Africa and the population source for his armies in Hispania and also a lot of mineral resources in Hispania.

Antonius is only receiving the effects of his dangerous mistake.
Indeed. Antonius's biggest mistake was not finishing off Pompeius while he had the chance, and then placing Pompeius in an extremely favorable position to boot.
 
Indeed. Antonius's biggest mistake was not finishing off Pompeius while he had the chance, and then placing Pompeius in an extremely favorable position to boot.
Well, even if he does realise this, it's too late now. Personally, I can't see Cleopatra and Antonius getting out of this one, except by taking the ultimate way out, as in OTL.
 
Well, even if he does realise this, it's too late now. Personally, I can't see Cleopatra and Antonius getting out of this one, except by taking the ultimate way out, as in OTL.

I don't want to give away any spoilers, so I'll just say you'll have to wait and see. :p
 
I don't know if I speak for anyone other than myself, but it would be a refreshing change to see an ATL in which Marc Antony and Cleopatra are victorious.

Great yarn BTW!

Hero of Canton
 
Could be interesting, but having a TL where Sextus Pompeius is the victorious ruler of Rome is certainly more fascinating than one where Antonius and Cleopatra are the winners.
 
Chapter XII: The Final War of The Republic Part II

Both sides brought to the forefront, massive armies. Pomepeius and Agrippa had around 200,000 land forces between them, and a formidable veteran navy that was unrivaled by any of its time. Antonius also managed to muster around 200,000 men, thanks to being heavily supplemented by Ptolemaic soldiers. With him was a large and mostly newly raised navy, again created and staffed by Egyptian gold and manpower for the most part. Antonius had two distinct disadvantages in the naval theater however, and that was he was going up against the most experienced navy in the Roman world, and had was lacking in naval command ability himself.

Despite being outclassed in the naval department, Antonius maneuvered his army to Greece. He first landed at Ephesus, and then set up shop in Athens. There, Publius Canidius Crassus disembarked with the remainder of the army. He intended to pre-empt Pompeius’s arrival by invading Italy himself in 32, but Pompeius’s fleet, not yet under his command but under that of his talented freedman, Maenas, made him think twice. Instead, he contented himself on the Actium promontory[1] and his navy docked in the Ambracian Gulf.

Pompeius and Agrippa gathered their forces while Maenas did his best to distract Antonius with coastal raids across Greece. Soon in 31, (when war was actually declared) Pompeius took command of the fleet and ferried over Agrippa and Bassus with the army from Italy to Greece. Fortunately the two talented land commanders got along well, and they did their best to coax Antonius into moving out onto a more favorable battleground. Antonius stayed put however, still waiting for the majority of his troops to arrive from the east.

Still, Agrippa was besting him in various cavalry engagements and skirmishes. He succeeded in forcing Antonius to abandon the north side of the strait, confining his entire army to the south side. All the while, Pompeius stepped up his raids, and was causing serious problems for Antonius. Cleopatra, clearly worried this expedition would cost her all of Egypt’s military and resources poured into it, began in earnest to convince Antonius to leave strong city garrisons, and evacuate the main fleet back to Alexandria in Egypt, to prevent it’s destruction.

Crassus pleaded for Antonius to reject the idea altogether, and instead pick a fight on land. Thanks to Crassus’s pleading, for a welcome change, Antonius shot down this proposal. It was himself, not her, that was the commander. While he had years of military experience, she had very little to none. She protested, but he became angry with her, accusing her of jeopardizing the whole campaign. Pompeius’s navy was too strong, and they were liable to get their entire fleet wiped off the map if he got wind of the movements. The idea just had too many holes in it and it negated any chance at sea they had, no matter how slim.

With Cleopatra humbled, Antonius prepared for a confrontation on land. If he could defeat Agrippa and Bassus on land, Pompeius would be in a very sticky situation, though it’s not like he hadn’t been in worse. The preparations were set, and he retired to his tent, ready to give battle the next day. Cleopatra however, had other things in store. With a small party of her fastest ships, she slipped through the gulf and beyond Pompeius’s navy during the night-and a fair amount of the rest of the Egyptian navy soon followed. Antonius awoke the next morning to the disheartening news that Cleopatra, along with a chunk of the Egyptian navy, had made a beeline for Alexandria. Pompeius was equally perplexed, not that he had let her get by, which was another matter, but that she had left in the first place. All it did was weaken Antonius’s position.

Betrayed by Cleopatra, Antonius had to completely re-think his plans. There was an effective stalemate on land, neither side willing to commit their forces to assaulting the other on their strong position. At sea however, Pompeius had absolute command of the waters, but could do little with it, except raid the coastline. Antonius thought about moving around inland, where Agrippa would follow, and battle would commence. For now however, he held off, and the two sides stared each other down, waiting for the other to flinch first.
 

Deleted member 67076

Well now this is interesting. Keep it coming. Question: How do you crank out updates so fast?
 
Well now this is interesting. Keep it coming. Question: How do you crank out updates so fast?

Well for the civil war I already had a general idea of where I was going with it and just had to put it into words. Plus I had a lot of free time over spring break. I'm not sure how long the daily updates will be coming though as I am back in school now.
 

Deleted member 67076

Well for the civil war I already had a general idea of where I was going with it and just had to put it into words. Plus I had a lot of free time over spring break. I'm not sure how long the daily updates will be coming though as I am back in school now.
Wish I had that free time. Anyway how far do you plan on continuing this TL?
 
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