Caesar’s march on Rome (January-March 49 BC)
Caesar had to choose whether to face prosecution or rebel, but as the conqueror of Gaul his choice was obvious. On 10 January he crossed the Rubicon (‘the die is cast’, i.e. ‘thrown’) with ten cohorts and marched along the coast to Ariminum. He sent two of his lieutenants inland – Curio with three cohorts to Iguvium and Antony with five cohorts to Arretium – while Caesar himself continued his advance along the east coast.
The Senate had misjudged the situation. It had expected the towns of Italy to send troops to defend the authority of the Senate and the liberties of the Roman people. But the people had little regard for the self-seeking senators, whereas Caesar was their hero and had won for Rome great victories in Gaul.
Iguvium was held by the praetor 12Minucius Thermus with five new cohorts but the townspeople were favourably inclined towards Caesar, and learning of Curio’s approach Thermus fled and his troops returned to their homes. Now, with the realisation that the Italian towns were not going to resist him, Caesar continued his march southwards at greater speed and with increased confidence
There was a similar occurrence at Auximum, a town held by Attius Varus (d.45 BC). When told by the townspeople that they would not resist Caesar, he left the city and his troops either returned home or went to join Caesar, who himself received the same warm welcome from other towns as he continued his advance through Picenum. During his march he was joined by the Twelfth Legion, the first of his legions in Gaul to reach him. He now made for Asculum (1), the chief town of Picenum, ninety miles (150 km) from Rome and held by 47Cornelius Lentulus Spinther with ten cohorts.
Spinther, not daring to remain, fled towards Corfinium, with most of his soldiers deserting, just as those of Thermus and Varus had done. On the road he met Vibullius Rufus with new recruits and 02Lucilius Hirrus with six cohorts fleeing from Camerinum. Together they continued on to Corfinium and joined 06Domitius Ahenobarbus, who was holding the city with twenty locally raised cohorts.
Meanwhile, the news of Caesar’s rapid advance and the warm reception he was receiving from the northern towns had reached Rome and caused a panic there. The consuls fled the city and joined Pompey at Capua, who was on his way to Apulia to meet the two legions he had stationed there.
When Caesar reached Corfinium he found the town strongly held, and initiated a siege. Ahenobarbus sent dispatches to Pompey imploring him to bring aid, but Pompey responded with a message instructing Ahenobarbus to abandon Corfinium and hurry south to join him (Pompey) at Brundisium.
This, however, Ahenobarbus was no longer able to do. Caesar had been joined by the Eighth Legion from Gaul, as well as twenty-two cohorts of newly levied troops from Cisalpina, and had fully invested the town. Ahenobarbus began to make plans to escape with his friends, but he was suspected of doing so by his soldiers, who seized him and opened the gates.
Caesar enrolled Ahenobarbus’ thirty cohorts into his own army, and after interviewing Ahenobarbus and the other leading Romans he had captured, he let them go free: Caesar wanted it to be widely known as possible that he was fighting to preserve his honour without doing harm to any other Roman if he could avoid it. His chief political agents 51Cornelius Balbus (cos.44 BC) and Gaius Oppius (2) persisted with this policy throughout the civil war that followed. This succeeded in bringing many waverers over to his side.
Having been held up for seven days at Corfinium, Caesar set out with all speed to reach Brundisium, where Pompey had gathered as many ships as he could and sent most of his army together with the bulk of the Senate off to Epirus. Caesar arrived and tried to prevent the empty ships from returning, but failed. Pompey managed to slip away with the rest of his troops before Caesar could prevent it. Caesar moved on towards Rome, stopping at Formiae to hold a meeting with Cicero, but failing to win his support agreed that it would be best for them to part ways.
Caesar entered Rome towards the end of March and tried to create some form of government. He put Marcus 16Aemilius Lepidus (c.76; fl.62-13/12 BC), as praetor in charge of Rome, and made Antony responsible for the security of Italy.
Rome for many decades had needed to import large quantities of food (Sicily, Egypt, Cyrenaica), and Pompey now controlled the sea. His army though would need months of recruitment and training before it could pose a threat to invade Italy, but Caesar in turn could not invade Greece while the rest of the Pompeian army remained in Spain as a threat to invade Gaul if he (Caesar) took his forces east. As a further complication Labienus, whom Caesar had made governor of Cisalpina in 51 BC, had defected to Pompey.
Curio was dispatched with an army of four legions to Sicily where Cato was governor, to secure its valuable grain supplies. Offering no resistance, Cato fled and eventually joined Pompey at Dyrrhachium. Another legate, 16Valerius Orca, was sent with one legion to secure Sardinia. Caesar then gave instructions for ships to be gathered from every quarter and concentrated at Brundisium, ready to transfer his army to Greece after he had dealt with Pompey’s army in Spain.Before he left, Caesar had a praetor, Roscius Fabatus, sponsor the lex Roscia granting full citizenship to the Narbonensians, fulfilling a long-standing promise he had made to reward those who supported him. He then set out to join his army of Gallic War veterans who had been instructed to gather in southern Gaul for the invasion of Spain.
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