Book 25: 36-37 CE
Book Twenty Five - Discord of the Wills
The sons of Germanicus (from left to right): Drusus, Tiberius Vopiscus, Gaius, Sextus (deceased), and Marcus
—In the consulship of Publius Cornelius Lentulus Scipio and Marcus Porcius Cato…
Cornelius Dolabella was elected to the suffect censorship on the death of Sextus Pompeius. Caesar was concerned with the grave confluence of these events, but he was advised that his direct presence be made, as the Illyrian legions had mutinied numerous times, and the austere presence of Caesar might instill the infantry therein with a sense of loyalty to the imperial personage. However, the agents of Caesar would be less capable of addressing the governing demands of the city in his absence. He thusly assembled a council of four wealthy freedmen into a formal body. This included Faustus, Paullus Fronto, Caeso, and a fourth named Tiberius Julius Trachalus. Each of these men would be tasked with wielding their wealth, influence, and clientele to ensure the stability and compliance of the city of Rome. The most senior among them, Faustus, would exercise indirect oversight over all elections, trials, and public business in the senate and the courts, whereas Caeso and Trachalus would oversee public correspondence and the treasuries respectively. Fronto would be given a wholly autonomous jurisdiction over a network of well-connected informants and ambassadors through which he might act as the eyes and ears of Caesar for the tenure of his absence.
On the morning of the Kalends of Martius, Caesar, Drusus, and their entourage departed Rome. Vopiscus protested his disinclusion among the staff of the endeavor, as he was well-respected among the praetorian cohorts. However, Caesar insisted that he and his brothers, Gaius and Marcus, remain in Italia and disperse gifts from the personal treasuries of the imperial largesse. In a span of time not exceeding one month, the legions of Caesar and Norbanus joined in ready order and disembarked northward to engage the forces of Fimbria in Noricum. Around the same time, Galerius had established himself as the undisputed governor of Macedonia and Greece, and had levied a force which included large numbers of Thessalian cavalryman. The amassing army in Illyricum numbered on the order of forty-five-thousand, including a number of Thracian cavalry whom had volunteered their services to the army of Surdinus. They had established a number of defensive fortifications in the perimeter of Pannonia by which they sought to repel the forthcoming onslaught of the legions from Italia, whom had been reinforced by the forces of Camillus Scribonianus.
At the outset of their departure, Caesar wished that Drusus might become learned as a commander of the legions, and as such delegated to him the staff of Aulus Plautius, the magister consilium thereof. Drusus was discontented at this, as he had previously served as a legatus during the Marcomannic campaigns, and was preferential to a direct hand in the course of a battle rather than one of oversight and meticulous preparation. The advance guard of the loyalist legion, commanded by Scribonianus, engaged with the Norican militia of Fimbria and drew the singular legion of Fimbria’s into battle order in a rescue effort to the vastly inferior Noricans. However, the inferior discipline and experience of the mutinous legion became their ruin, and a number of their cohorts elected to defect their loyalties to the auspices of Caesar. Fimbria himself fled to Pannonia on this development, and the rebellious cohorts were decimated on the order of Scribonianus, while those which had defected were given honors, although they would not receive any disbursements in that year. Upon receiving word of the fall of Noricum to Caesar, the Illyrian governors vigorously prosecuted several allies of Caesar whom they had arrested within their jurisdictions, including Livineius Regulus. His fallacious trial saw him banished to Rhodes, and they rallied their forces to defensible positions in central Dalmatia to await the sallies of Caesar and his allies. Caesar himself marched into Pannonia where the siege of Carnuntum by Domitius Calvinus had encircled the staff of Appius Silanus. The mutinous governor, whom had been joined by the remnants of Fimbria’s infantry, fled southward into Dalmatia near Delminium, whereafter they were pursued in some measure by the cohorts of the praetorians under the command of Rufinius Florus. The remainder of Caesar’s army remained encamped at Siscia in order to resupply their number, as Caesar had elected to abandon their heavy baggage train in Noricum and were in want for provisions.
At the same juncture, the legions of Germania had been engaged in punitive exactions of tribute from among the tribesmen on the further banks of the Albis and the vicinity of the Visurgis. However, Blaesus had been ordered by Caesar that his campaign there over might be de-escalated because the demands of the Illyrian campaign were increasing as Surdinus marshaled his forces.
Concurrently, at Rome, the government of Caesar held in a tenuous balance. The elder Drusus and his co-censor Dolabella upheld the will of Caesar among the senate by a number of continuous membership revisions thereof. In this effort, they were aided by Caeso and Fronto, whom each managed networks of informants both within Rome and throughout Latium and Italia. Agrippa had spent the previous year aiding in the preferment of designs of the elder Drusus, with whom he shared a particular kinship. Having achieved many of his political ends, including the trial and banishment of the obstinate praetor Lucius Nonius, the elder censor sought to accrue favors from the aspirant officeholders among the ranks of the youngest senators. This cohort of men, including Gaius Oppius, whom was aedile in the consulship of Saturninus and Postumus, and Memmius Regulus, whom had been praetor in the previous year, would be sponsored in their tracks up the cursus honorum in a manner such that a quid pro quo might be understood to exist between them and the censor. Likewise, the sons of Vibius Marsus, Pullo and Lamia, were elected to the peregrine and urban praetorships respectively, along with numerous of their allies and kinsmen. At this confluence of events, Agrippa recalled numerous of his magisterial allies from their estates in Picenum and Campania. Among these men were Fulcinius Trio and Lucius Cassius, the consuls of seven years hence, and the praetors of two years hence, Acceronius Proculus and Aelius Rufinius. With a great assemblage of allies within Rome, Agrippa became desirous toward the tangible possibility of greater influence within the regime of Caesar. He called upon Caeso to sequester the various correspondences routed through the circuit of roads surrounding Rome. He undertook this at the direction of Agrippa because of their kinship, as Caeso had been manumitted by Agrippa a number of years previously. At the same urgency, Asinius Celer began to quietly raise troops in Italia from among the discharged legions of Gaius Vipsanianus, which had been settled thereby at the conclusion of the Julian Schism.
The princes of the Julian house were not quiescent at the closure of the year either. Marcus Aquileanus acted as a great currier of gifts on behalf of the Vipsanian household while his sister, Postumia, entertained numerous guests in the household of her husband, Gaius Cassius. Marcus Rufus had traveled with Gaius Solus to Arpinium from which they held court with the sons of many freedmen to accrue favors from which they might achieve high office with the broad support of the nobles and people of Rome. The sons of Caesar, however, remained a short distance from Rome at Praeneste. Vopiscus sought that he might return to Rome, even at the refusal of his father. However, the consuls for that year, Cato and Scipio, advised him to the contrary, as they were conscious of an impending conflict of wills among the established senatorial order. The consuls themselves had departed the city before the Kalends of the next Januarius and the censors were left in sole control of the senate.
Agrippa, Apronius, and Vibius Lamia denounce Fabius Persicus, consul for the year (Apronius is seated between Agrippa and Lamia)
—In the consulship of Germanicus Julius Caesar Invictus for the Fourth Time as Augustus and Paullus Fabius Persicus…
Caesar intended that his grant of consular imperium would not exacerbate the imbalance brought about by his absence from Rome. In this year, Caesar sought that he might exact a swift campaign against Surdinus and return to Rome within a number of months. However, events began to unfold within the city as many of the allies of Caesar had been elected to provincial commands of all stripes or had accompanied him to Illyricum. A void existed among the number of the senate, as Dolabella displayed little interest in his office and Drusus became consumed with the care of his son Tiberius Gemellus, after sickness had claimed the life of his brother, also named Drusus. The censors, being periodically absent from sessions of the senate, deferred their roles to the princeps senatus, an office which had once been one of magnanimous public service but which now possessed only the appearance of dignity. At this time, the princeps senatus was the senior-most consular from among the senate, whom at this time was Lucius Apronius, the consul of twenty-five years hence. In his advanced age, he himself was aided greatly by the urban praetor, Vibius Lamia. At the onset of that year, Caeso began to selectively appropriate numerous reports from the various provincial agents of Caesar and concurrently collaborated with Agrippa in order to fabricate complementary reports. In this way, to the knowledge of the senate and people of Rome, Caesar and Drusus had both fallen to illness, and the elites among the senate had begun to incite panic under duress from these rumors. Under these circumstance, Lamia called the senate to meet on the Ides of Martius, an auspicious date. A number of consulares mounted curia to speak and they bade the following pronouncements:
Gaius Vibius Lamia, son of Marsus, grandson of Postumus, and praetor urbanus:
Lucius Apronius Pius, son of Apronius, grandson of Strabo, princeps senatus, pater patriae, and consul twenty-five years hence:
A fierce debate thus ensued on the floor of the senate, such that the consular lictors were called into the curia to dissuade these men from violence toward one another. Persicus, Caesar’s co-consul, sharply denounced Lamia and Apronius, as did Silanus Torquatus, the former consul. Other men as noble defended the dignity of Caesar, like Sulla Felix, the younger brother of the consuls with Vipsanianus, whom had himself been a suffect consul. Valerius Asiaticus, Marcus Vinicius, and Appius Pulcher lauded great praise upon Caesar and his sons, and likewise questioned the veracity of the counsel of Caeso regarding his alleged ill-health. However, several men whom had erstwhile been allies of Caesar bade forth their true intentions at the urging of Apronius and Lamia. Among these men were Valerius Catullus, descendant of the former consul and censor whom had been invoked by Apronius, and Lucius Cassius, whom had been dissatisfied with a brief suffect consulship several years hence. However, the last senator to speak was Agrippa, and he bade the following odious pronouncement:
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa Postumus, son of Marcus Agrippa, grandson of Lucius, and twice consul of twelve and twenty-two years hence:
At once, fury erupted at Rome and in the senate. Troops levied by Asinius Celer entered the city through the Flaminian Gate at a signal given by Caeso and slayed before them many allies of Caesar. Among these unfortunates were those whom had bade Caesar fortunes before the senate — Silanus Torquatus, Valerius Asiaticus, and Marcus Vinicius. Furthermore were slain men on the stature of Marcus Lepidus, son of the censor, and Voluseius Proculus, both of whom had been consuls. Also claimed in the bloodshed was Gnaeus Saturninus, the son of the consul, and numerous other innocent men whom claimed the favor of the house of Caesar. Sulla Felix escaped with his life and recounted these indignities to the Julians at Praeneste. In the wake of this violence, Memmius Regulus and Asinius Celer were elected consuls, as neither of the sitting consuls were in Rome. From these offices, they committed a number of crimes including the confiscation of properties of many sitting magistrates and violence against numerous tribunes and officials.
At this juncture, Marcus Rufus sent word to his brother Felix detailing the gravity of the conflict within Rome. he rapidly left the city with the freedmen secretaries — Fronto, Faustus, and Trachalus. Likewise, the elder Tiberius and his son Livius fled to Nola with the sons of Caesar as Agrippa consolidated his hold over Rome. Caeso mobilized his considerable wealth at the direction of Agrippa to levy a sizable militia from among their numerous clients, freedmen, and slaves. These armed bands exacted support from the veterans in Italia, many of whom had migrated to Rome from the vicinities of Pompeii, Tusculum, and Corfinium. As the cohorts gathered at Rome, Vopiscus infiltrated Rome with a retinue of freedmen assistants, and by so doing, distinguished his merit and courage from among the rest of the Julian family. This was the status of Rome whilst Caesar and Drusus were embroiled in combat against the Illyrians.
The Thracians, led by the petulent barbarian nobleman, Cotys II, having been secured as allies of Surdinus, surged their number into Macedonia and ravaged numerous settlements. This diverted the forces of Galerius from their posting in Epirus to intercept the marauders. However, reprieve from these transgressions would be soon at hand. For all their bravado, the Thracians rapidly exposed their flank whilst they besieged Amphipolis and the surrounding towns. Galerius’ lieutenant, Verginius Rufus, took the initiative and engaged the Thracians with his command of the cavalry and cohors equitae, moving at incredible speed after becoming learned of this siege. The barbarians were taken aback by the speed of these reprisals and a number of them fled back to Thrace. The rest of their number, including Cotys, were killed or captured outside the walls of Amphipolis whereupon they were imprisoned or enslaved. For this swift victory, Galerius earned the agnomen Macedonicus.
Meanwhile, further to the North, the legions under Aulus Caecina and Paullus Lepidus advanced southward, disrupting the supply lines of the rebellious legions and destroying the still-assembling cohorts of auxiliaries. Surdinus had divided his forces between the rear guard at Sirmium and his primary force at Salona, and it was this second force that came first under pressure from the legions of Caesar. The general staff of this force, led by Gaius Lucullus and Sempronius Longus had levied a number of auxiliaries for Caesar from Illyricum. Many of these men were the sons and grandsons of the revolutionaries in the Illyrian War, and many of them had accrued honors and titles in a civilized fashion. These men were conscious of the flagrant abuses of the many governors of Illyricum in the earlier years, and they did not desire the senatorial elites in the mold of Surdinus to regain absolute imperium over their provinces whereby they might exact exorbitant taxes from their estates. They were led by Postumius Verres, a man of Dalmatian descent whom was well-respected throughout the numerous cities thereof. This force set about undermining Surdinus’ control over Salona and the nearby settlements, thereby diverting a substantial force of his legions to the policing of order in the streets.
At this confluence, Caesar’s legates, Galba and Flavius Sabinus, encircled Salona, wherein two legions were fortified. After a brief siege, Surdinus and his advisors fled the city under the cover of darkness with their bodyguards. However, as they journeyed northward, they received word that the legions at Sirmium had defected to the auspices of Caesar. Licinius Murena, a man of impeccable aristocratic ancestry, knew that their cause was hopeless and incited the centurions of their bodyguards to massacre Surdinus along with his lieutenants, including Domitius Calvinus. He and these soldiers reached Sirmium and prostrated themselves before Caesar, whereupon many of them were granted clemency, while many others were crucified for their treachery. Upon learning of this, the legions at Salona surrendered and the civil war was at an end. Caesar re-established the Danuvian command apparatus with Norbanus Balbus as its imperator and Galba, Sempronius Longus, and Galerius each occupying offices of considerable influence thereunder.
Meanwhile in Italia, Felix Pius and Rufus had each sold many of their estates and purchased the loyalties of the sons and grandsons of the legionaries of the Divine Augustus. These legions, the I Fidelis and II Restitutoris transited the Alps during the Summer months and presented themselves to Blaesus, whom was stationed at Liminaniensis and whom had heard the troubling reports of Rome’s disorder. However, the bulk of his forces remained garrisoned in Marcomannicum for the year, and their removal may upset the tenuous peace therein. With Caesar’s legions engaged in Illyricum and combating the Thracians, and the Spanish legions accompanying him, Blaesus knew that his legions were the only ones capable of restoring order to the eternal city. Reluctantly, and fearful of the reprisals of Caesar, he instructed Aviola to discharge four of his legions from Marcomannicum and to the command of the Julian army. In order to ensure the loyalty of this force, Aviola selected his most loyal and capable officers, including Macro, Corbulo, and Lucius Marcellus to command these legions, and he carefully selected his most experienced legions such that any discord between these and those of Felix and Rufus might result in their favor.
With this precaution having been taken, Aviola was shocked when Antonius Agrippa, whom was one of his legates, volunteered his services to command the cavalry of this expedition. His father, sister, and elder brother were all present in Rome, and if they did not concede control upon contact, considerable bloodshed would ensue, which would certainly result in their death or exile. Antonius declared his unwavering loyalty of Caesar and denounced his father and brother for taking up arms against the same man with whom they had sided in the civil war scantly ten years previously. Cautious and yet not wishing to discharge only his most experienced officers, he acceded to the young man’s request. This force of six legions crossed the Alps once more just before the winter snows fell and encamped at Luca. Felix and Rufus, whom were delegated with overall joint imperium in Italia, stood on the banks of the Rubicon, in exactly the same spot as had their great-great-grandfather the Divine Julius had, and cast their lot with fate just as he had done in his hour of crisis.
NOTE: Since the legions have been jumbled around a bit, here's a quick refresher if you had trouble keeping track.
3 legions in Northern Germany commanded by Q. Junius Blaesus
3 legions garrisoned in Marcomannicum commanded by G. Calpurnius Aviola
4 legions engaged in Illyricum commanded by Germanicus and Drusus (incl. the praetorian guard and the Spanish legions)
6 legions disarmed in Illyricum and Moesia formerly commanded by L. Naevius Surdinus
6 legions in Northern Italy commanded by Felix Pius and M. Rufus
7 legions total in Syria, Cappadocia, Aegypt, and Africa
Unspecified number of forces under the command of Agrippa in Italy
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