Batalia de la Utica !

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“Cato, I must grudge you your death, as you grudged me the honour of saving your life.”

The Optimates spent the winter of 47/46 BC gathering their forces with astonishing speed. Cato the Younger had been joined by Scipio, Pompey’s sons Sextus and Gnaeus, with the support of the Numidian King Juba. Together they were able to field a force of 72,000 men, including 14 legions, with an additional 14,500 cavalry and 60 war elephants. During skirmishes betwixt the two sides to gage each other’s strength, two of the Optimate legions defected to Caesar, who had around 50,000 men and 5,000 cavalry as reinforcements arrived from Sicily. Moving to instigate battle, Caesar besieged the city of Thapsus, a stronghold the Optimates could ill afford to forfeit.

Scipio moved to the north side of the city in a tight formation, Caesar commanding the right and adding cohorts to his cavalry flanks to protect against the elephants. His archers attacked the elephants, causing some to panic and trample their own lines. The rest of the elephants then charged directly into the Fifth Legion at Caesar’s centre, which performed so bravely in absorbing the charge that they subsequently adopted the elephant as their emblem. With the loss of the elephants, Scipio began to lose ground, and Caesar’s cavalry outmanoeuvred the Optimates to destroy one of their camps.

King Juba’s allied troops then abandoned the field, and the battle was decided. With the rout beginning, Caesar was unable to appeal to his soldiers to show leniency, leading to around 10,000 of the Optimate legionaries being butchered. Caesar had an illness which occasionally led him to ‘vanish’ from view, which many believe to be epilepsy. In a society based around machismo and honour, to be seen having a convulsing fit and potentially defecating yourself would be hugely shameful to any Roman, much less a patrician general. Thus Caesar would have strived to keep such a disability secret, and only those closest to him would be present when he felt a fit approaching so they would hide him away from public view. When Caesar’s great nephew Octavian (his sister’s grandson) later became one of those in this trusted circle, Caesar was accused of secreting his young great nephew away for an affair with him.

Scipio escaped from the battle, but months later committed suicide at sea when he believed the Optimate cause lost. Caesar besieged and captured Thapsus, leading to Cato to flee to Utica, where he also committed suicide. Far from holding great political purges like Marius and Sulla, Caesar was renowned for being forgiving of his enemies and allowing them back into the fold having defeated them. These suicides thus maintained the pride of both men in preventing them from having to accept such forgiveness from Caesar, but also denied him the opportunity to again display his magnanimity. Caesar remarked after hearing of Cato’s death: “Cato, I must grudge you your death, as you grudged me the honour of saving your life.”

The Battle of Thapsus is the last time war elephants were used in battle on a large scale in the western world. Caesar returned to Rome, though Labienus and Pompey’s sons had both escaped to Hispania. The Senate extended Caesar’s dictatorship for a decade, and he began raising the force he needed to subdue the last of the Optimate resistance in Hispania. Two of Pompey’s legions which Caesar had left in Hispania now declared for Gnaeus Pompey, and expelled Caesar’s Proconsul from the province. They were then joined by the remnants of the Thapsus army, under the command of the talented general Labienus, one of Caesar’s trusted generals from the Gallic Wars. They raised a further three legions, two veterans and one of fresh recruits, seizing control of Hispania. Caesar’s adjutants in Iberia did not risk battle, and maintained camp near Cordoba awaiting his arrival.

Arriving in Hispania in December 46 BC, Caesar relieved several strongholds that had remained loyal, but was unable to drive Sextus Pompey out of Cordoba. Gnaeus Pompey then decided to pursue a scorched earth strategy of avoiding battle over the winter, though as spring began, increasing number of legionaries began to defect to Caesar, forcing his hand. Gnaeus Pompey now had 13 legions to Caesar’s eight, and deployed them atop a hill near Munda, in southern Spain. Many of Pompey’s legionaries had already fought against Caesar in previous battles, and having been forgiven then feared they would not be forgiven a second time, so knew they could not survive defeat. After failing to lure them down the hill, Caesar launched a frontal attack.

The battle raged on for eight hours, with neither side gaining the advantage. Both generals left the command posts to fight in the ranks, and Caesar remarked that while at other battles he fought for victory, at Munda he fought for his life. Taking command of the Tenth on his favoured right wing, Caesar inspired them to begin pushing the Optimates back. Pompey duly took a legion from his right to reinforce his left, however this allowed Caesar’s cavalry to launch the decisive attack of the battle against Pomepy’s now weakened right wing. The Mauritanian King Bogud led Caesar’s cavalry to attack Pompey’s camp, and thus Labienus moved to intercept them.

Misreading the situation and with both wings under pressure, Pompey’s army believed Labienus was retreating. The army soon broke into full panic and routed, and while some found sanctuary in the town of Munda, up to 30,000 Optimate legionaries lay dead in the field. Caesar only lost 1,000 men, and captured all 13 of Pompey’s standards. Labienus died in the field and was granted a burial with honours by Caesar, though the Pompey brothers managed to escape. The Battle of Munda had been no mop-up operation, and could have seen Caesar come undone, in the event only being won by miscommunication. It is staggering to think how different many ancient battles could have been if commanders had the ability to communicate with their troops as they can today – a simple message that Labienus was not retreating could have seen Pompey’s army emerge triumphant. Though once panic takes hold of an army, all sense and reason is abandoned, superior numbers count for nought, and as the route starts the only thing that matters is getting yourself to safety so you do not end up carrion for the crows.

Caesar left a legate to besiege Munda, while Cordoba surrendered. The armed men in the town were executed, and the town had to pay a heavy indemnity. The wounded Gnaeus Pompey attempted to flee, but was wounded again when the Populare faction of a town revolted, and fled by sea. Without provisioning sufficiently, they were forced to make landfall, where Caesar’s adjutant Didius pursued him. His men founded a wooded area to defend, though a local betrayed their location to the Populares. Pompey’s force drove off several Populare attacks, though Pompey himself was again wounded and forced to use a litter, with Didius deciding to thus besiege them instead. Already low on provisions, his men attempted to break through the siege at the Battle of Lauro, and while many succeeded, there was nobody will to carry Pompey through in the panic. Making his way to a cave, he fought to the end. His head was displayed to the local tribes, though Didius’ force was ambushed by a ground of renegade Lusitanians who had set fire to their ships, leading to heavy losses. Sextus Pompey evaded capture, fleeing to Sicily to begin raising another Optimate army.

While Caesar was in Hispania, Octavian intended to travel to join him, but was initially delayed by illness. He did sail across to join Caesar when he recovered, but was shipwrecked on the Iberian coast. Undeterred, the teenager embarked on a perilour trek across enemy territory to join Caesar’s camp. Caesar was hugely impressed by the boy’s determination, allowing him to share his carriage on the return trip to Rome. Once there, Caesar updated and filed a new will with the Vestal Virgins, which would have huge ramifications for not just Octavian, but the whole Roman world. Caesar’s bloody civil war was finally over, and the Roman world looked forward to peace. Though the Optimates were not dead, and having failed to best Caesar on the battlefield, they now turned to conspiracy, as the Liberatores.