Caesar

CAESAR

ALLAN MASSIE

Hodder & Stoughton

LONDON SYDNEY AUCKLAND

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Massie, Allan Caesar I. Title 823.914
[f]

isbn o
-34O
-48789-5

Copyright © Allan Massie 1993

First published in Great Britain 1993

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right of Allan Massie to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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CHRONOLOGY

bc

100
Birth of Caesar.

81
Dictatorship of Sulla.

80 Military service in Asia. Alleged affair with King

Nicomedes IV of Bithynia.
67—66 Forms alliance with Pompey and Crassus.
63
Pontifex Maximus. Consulship of Cicero. Conspiracy

of Catiline.

60 First Triumvirate of Pompey, Crassus and Caesar.

59
Caesar's first consulship. Marriage to Calpurnia,

daughter of L. Calpurnius Piso.

58 Proconsul of Cisalpine Gaul, Illyricum and, finally,

Transalpine Gaul. Campaigns against the Helvetii and

Ariovistus.

57 Campaign against the Belgae (Nervii).

5
6
Further campaigns in Brittany and Normandy. Renewal

of First Triumvirate. Campaign against Veneti.
55
Proconsulship renewed for five years. Crossing of

Rhine. First invasion of Britain.
54
Second invasion of Britain.

53
Second crossing of Rhine. Crassus defeated and killed by Parthians at Carrhae.

52
Revolt of Vercingetorix defeated at Alesia. Disturbances in Rome. Clodius murdered and Pompey elected sole consul.

51
Siege of Uxellodunum.
End of Gallic War, and public
cation of Caesar's
Commentaries.
His Optimate opponents attempt to get him recalled to Rome.

50
Continued efforts by Caesar's enemies to bring him to

trial.

49
Caesar ordered to dismi
ss his army. Pompey granted the
authority of a dictator. Civil war begins in January with
crossing of Rubicon. Pompeian forces surrender in
Spain. Caesar elected dictator.

48 Second consulship. Pompey defeats Caesar at

Dyrrhachium but is defeated at Pharsalus and murderedin Egypt. Caesar occupies Alexandria.

47 Alexandrian War ends. Caesar defeats Pharnaces at
Zela in Asia Minor.

46 Third consulship. Appointed dictator for ten years.

Defeats Pompeians in Africa. Publication of Cicero's

Cato
and Caesar's
Anti-Cato.

45 Pompeian army defeated at Battle of Munda. End of
civil war. Fourth consulship.

44 Becomes Perpetual Dictator and is elected to fifth consulship. Attempts to crown Caesar as King in February.
Preparations for Parthian campaign. Caesar murdered

in March.

LIST OF PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS

(gaius) julius caesar

Roman general, statesman and historian; Perpetual Dictator after his defeat of Pompey

His family and their relation to him:

calpurnia
fourth wife, daughter of Lucius Cal
purnius Piso, ally of Pompey
-

julia julia

gaius octavius thurinus

daughter, fourth wife of Pompey sister, mother of Octavius

nephew and adoptive son, the future Augustus

His circle:

decimus junius brutus albinus

longina

gaius longinus cassius

marcus junius brutus

Roman general and admiral; Caesar's closest friend and adviser, but also one of his assassins

Decimus Brutus' wife, daughter of

Roman general and praetor; a Pompeian who joined Caesar after the Battle of Pharsalus, but led the plot to assassinate him; brother-in-law of

cousin of Decimus Brutus and nephew of Caesar's enemy, Marcus Porcius Cato, whose daughter he marries; a supporter of Pompey who changed sides after Pharsalus, he was made Governor of Cisalp
ine Gaul and reluctantly drawn into the
assassination plot

servilia

Marcus Brutus' mother, half-sister of Cato, most favoured of Caesar's mistresses

porcia
Marcus Brutus' second wife, daughter of Marcus Cato and an accomplice in the assassination conspiracy

young cato
Porcia's brother and one of Caesar's assassins

publius servilius casca
cousin of Decimus Brutus, a tribune and loyal Caesarean although among Caesar's assassins

lucius cornelius

cinna
married to Pompey's daughter and one of Caesar's assassins

metellus cimber
civil war hero, the banishment of whose brother,
Lucius Tillius Cimber, plays a significant part in
the assassination of Caesar

gaius trebonius
politician and tribune, who distinguishes himself in the Battle of Alesia; one of Caesar's assassins

marcus antonius (mark antony)
Roman general and consul, member of the Second Triumvirate

marcus tullius cicero
consul, orator and writer

gnaeus calpurnius piso
son of L. Calpurnius Piso (brother-in-law of Caesar), a consul and later Governor of Syria

His rivals:

sextus pompeianus (pompey)
Roman general and statesman, known as 'the Great One'; fellow Triumvir and later enemy during the civil war; murdered in Egypt

gnaeus and sextus
pompeianus
Pompey's sons, and successors as leaders of his party

marcus licinius
crassus
Roman general, millionaire, fellow Triumvir and later rival, defeated and killed in Parthia

titus atius labienus
formerly Caesar's most trusted Roman general, later his enemy during the civil war, killed in the Battle of Munda

marcus porcius cato
Roman statesman, general and Stoic
philosopher; half-brother of Servilia, whom he idolised, and arch-enemy of Caesar

Others:

cleopatra
daughter of King Ptolemy XII, who became Queen of Egypt on the death of her young husband-brother, Ptolemy XIII

theodotus
Greek scholar and adviser to King Ptolemy XIV, formerly his tutor

publius clodius pulcher
aristocratic gang-leader and tribune, friend of Decimus Brutus, murdered by Pompey

clodia caelius rufus
Clodius' notorious sister and lover rejected lover of Clodia, against whom she brings a lawsuit, in the defence of which Cicero destroys her reputation

gaius valerius catullus
Roman lyric poet, also a friend of Decimus Brutus, whose heart is broken by Clodia

quintus ligarius
succe
ssfully defended by Cicero when
pros
ecuted for bearing arms against
Caesar, and one of his assassins

marcus aemilius
–
lepidus
Caesa
r's principal deputy, Master of the Horse, and member of Second
Triumv
irate; married to a daughter of
Caesar's mistress, Servilia

gaius cilnius maecenas
Roman statesman and patron of
Horac
e and Virgil; Octavius' closest
friend and, later, adviser

marcus vipsanius
agrippa
friend a
nd confidant of Octavius, later
his greatest general

publius cornelius
dolabella
tribune and consul, married
to
Cicero's daughter, Tullia

c. scribonius curio
a tribun
e and Caesar's agent, friend of
Deci
mus Brutus, killed by King Juba
in N. Africa

vercingetorix
Gallic chieftain and hero, captured by
Caesar after the Battle of Alesia and later murdered

artixes
guard and companion of Decimus Brutus; the son of his captor, a cousin of Vercingetorix

aulus gabinius
l
egate and Pompey's henchman who
became Governor of Syria

appius claudius pulcher
the son of Caesar's enemy
and, briefly,
the
lover of Decimus Brutus' wife,
Longina

ser sulpicius galba lucius

minucius
basilus
conspirators in the plot to assassinate Caesar because of the grudges they bore against him

diosippus and

nicander
Greek catamites and lovers of Casca.

CHAPTER
1

T
he river was no wider than a horse could leap. Beyond, on the farther bank, shepherds, angular figures wearing sheepskin cloaks, were gathering their flocks. Evening mist hid the sheep themselves from view; only the upper parts of the shepherds could be seen as the vapour rose from the marshy ground. It was cold. Rain began to fall. I turned away, and, my right knee throbbing - a legacy of our last campaign - hobbled the mile back to camp.

Casca was in his tent, drinking wine heated with nutmeg and cinnamon. He had removed his armour and stood by the table, slack-bellied in his tunic.

"Nothing to see. Nothing to report." "Of course there isn't. Everything is arranged," he said. "I wish I could be as confident. He's made mistakes before now, bad ones. Labienus used to say that 'impetuosity' was the General's greatest defect."

"Yes, and if he'd not been there to restrain him, we'd have been in the soup. Spare me the tune, old fruit. Well, old Lab isn't here now, and good riddance to him."

Labienus, the most experienced of the General's lieutenants, his companion since the first days of the Gallic War, disliked Casca, despised him even, deploring his predilection for boys and wine. Fair enough, if your chosen refrain was 'ancient Roman virtue'. But Casca was my cousin and my closest friend. I knew his weaknesses better than Labienus could, his strengths also. For all his self-indulgence and affectations, he had nerve. His soldiers adored him, finding amusement in the constant presence of Diosippus and Nicander, Greek catamites, scented curly headed effeminates, whom Casca professed to adore. This was nonsense. Casca cared for nobody but himself, with the possible exception of his fat old mother. We were friends, but he would have slit my throat if policy or his own interest required him to do so.