The Civil War

Summary

Caesar's Commentarii de Bello Civili, in three books, narrate the first two years of the war he fought against Pompey and the senatorial party, from January 49 BCE to the beginning of the Alexandrian war in late 48. The work is unfinished, breaking off in Alexandria, and it is the most openly political of his writings: its constant task is to show that Caesar was forced into war by a faction of personal enemies, that he repeatedly sought peace, and that he treated defeated fellow citizens with a mercy his opponents never showed. Book I opens abruptly in the Senate, where the consuls refuse to debate Caesar's letter, the tribunes who defend him are driven out, and the emergency decree is passed. Caesar addresses his soldiers on the injury to his dignity and the violation of the tribunes, and moves south. The crossing of the Rubicon, made famous by later writers, is not mentioned. At Corfinium he captures Domitius Ahenobarbus and the senators with him and releases them unharmed, even returning their money. Pompey escapes from Brundisium to Greece. Caesar turns west, leaves a siege at Massilia, and in Spain outmanoeuvres the Pompeian generals Afranius and Petreius near Ilerda, cutting them off from water until their army surrenders without a pitched battle; Caesar presents his refusal to fight as both good generalship and compassion for citizens. Book II follows the fall of Massilia, weakened by hunger and pestilence, the surrender of Varro in Further Spain, and the disaster in Africa, where Caesar's young lieutenant Curio is lured into an ambush by King Juba and dies fighting rather than face Caesar after losing his army. Book III takes Caesar across the Adriatic in winter despite Bibulus's blockade. At Dyrrachium he attempts to wall Pompey's larger army against the sea with miles of entrenchments; his own soldiers live on bread made from a root called chara, while Pompey's men suffer from foul air, dead animals and lack of water. Pompey breaks the lines and inflicts a serious defeat, and Caesar retreats into Thessaly. At Pharsalus on 9 August 48 BCE Pompey's cavalry is routed by a fourth line of infantry, the veteran centurion Crastinus leads the charge and dies, and Pompey's camp, decked out for a victory banquet, is taken. Pompey flees to Egypt and is murdered by the young Ptolemy's agents as he comes ashore. Caesar pursues him to Alexandria, becomes entangled in the dynastic quarrel there, and the narrative stops with the outbreak of fighting in the city. Continuations by other hands cover the Alexandrian, African and Spanish wars. The book is a masterpiece of controlled self-justification, and it is also a record of Romans killing and starving Romans across the Mediterranean.

Top Lessons

• Starting a war while claiming to be its victim

  Caesar opens not with his army but with the Senate's refusal to hear him, the violation of tribunes and the injustice of his enemies. The book is a case study in how an aggressor constructs a narrative of defence, and in what such narratives choose to leave out, such as the Rubicon.

• Clemency as strategy and as self-portrait

  Caesar releases Domitius at Corfinium, spares the Pompeian army at Ilerda and asks his men to spare citizens at Pharsalus. His mercy wins defections and contrasts with Pompeian executions, but it is also a political advertisement written for Roman readers.

• Winning without battle

  At Ilerda Caesar refuses to attack an enemy he could defeat, choosing to cut off water and wait. He argues that a general should conquer by planning as much as by the sword, and that sparing his soldiers and fellow citizens is itself a victory.

• Morale is a physical force

  Caesar criticises Pompey at Pharsalus for ordering his men to stand still, arguing that a natural ardour in soldiers should be kindled, not suppressed. Throughout the book shouting, rumour, speeches and shame decide outcomes as much as numbers.

Verified Quotes

Medical Lens

The Civil War is a war of blockades, and its medical interest lies in siege hygiene and supply. Massilia's pestilence is attributed to confinement and spoiled grain; Pompey's army at Dyrrachium sickens from crowding, carcasses and lack of water; Caesar's army survives on root bread; Labienus claims autumn fever in Italy has wasted Caesar's veterans. These passages are early examples of the link between military logistics, sanitation and epidemic disease that dominated army medicine until the twentieth century. Caesar repeatedly notes provision for the sick and wounded, such as sending them to Apollonia after Dyrrachium. Curio's death and Cato's later suicide at Utica (outside this text) show Roman honour cultures in which death was preferred to defeat. Caesar's own reported epilepsy, recorded by Suetonius and Plutarch, is absent from his self-portrait.

• Book I.48–52

  Floods cut Caesar's army off from supply near Ilerda; famine prices and hardship in the camp until the bridges are restored.

• Book I.81–84

  The Pompeian army in Spain, cut off from water and forage, kills its baggage animals and surrenders.

• Book II.22

  Massilia's surrender after famine and a fatal pestilence attributed to confinement and old millet and barley.

• Book II.41–42

  Curio's exhausted and wounded men cannot break out; Curio refuses flight and fights until killed.

• Book III.47–49

  Dyrrachium: Caesar's troops eat chara bread and bark; Pompey's army suffers from foul smells, carcasses, hard labour and lack of water after Caesar dams the streams.

• Book III.75–78

  After the defeat at Dyrrachium Caesar delays only to care for the sick and wounded and sends them to Apollonia before retreating.

• Book III.87

  Labienus describes Caesar's veterans as wasted by autumn pestilence in Italy, with invalid cohorts at Brundisium.