Secrets Of The Rubicon

The conversation between Caesar and Hortensius continues

As they continued to travel across Romagna, Caesar told Hortensius: "You should know that what Pompey is doing with us now, Gaius Flaminius had also been deployed to the Puniceus Rubicon in defense formation when he was waiting for Hannibal's descent."

"And how did it end between Flaminius and Hannibal?" asked Hortensius.

"It ended badly. The tribune Flaminius was good as a builder and politician, but he was a little less so as a soldier. He first built the Via Flaminia and then, using the same military engineers, he made a splendid defensive line against Hannibal. But he made a careless strategic error and none of it ended well," said Caesar

"What mistake did he make?"

"When some of Hannibal's units arrived in advance in front of the Rubicon, they saw the well-organized and defended lines that blocked their way to the road to Rome. So they decided to avoid getting into an inconvenient fight and to pass through the Apennines, departing Cesena and going towards Sassinia and Balneum, then continuing to Arretium in the Tiber valley,¹⁵ while the bulk of Hannibal's army went through the mountains above Modena and re-joined the units in advance."

"And then?"

"Flaminius felt cheated and made the strategic miscalculation of leaving the Rubicon with his troops, and he began to chase Hannibal through the Apennines. It was an immense tactical error because Hannibal, having crossed the Alps, had a tactical superiority on those mountainous trails, while Flaminius's legions were trained and accustomed to garrison a place and to march and maneuver in compact formation on flat, wide planes," Caesar explained.

"And how did it end?" asked Hortensius.

"It ended extremely badly. Flaminius began to pursue Hannibal who drew him into a long and narrow gorge, where there were mountains on one side and Lake Trasimeno on the other, which prevented him from being able to manoeuver.

While Hannibal was pretending to escape, he made his cavalry climb into the mountains to wait for the Roman troops and so, when Flaminius arrived, he was surprised by Hannibal's cavalry, who first tumbled large boulders onto the Roman formation, broke it apart and then fell upon them on horseback, exploiting the strength and speed they could gain down the mountain slopes to subdue and overwhelm them."

"At the same time a part of Hannibal's army, which had pretended to escape, turned and went to meet the Roman army to finish them off in hand-to-hand combat. Thousands of Romans died including Flaminius," explained Caesar.

"How is it possible that Flaminius made such a tactical error?" asked Hortensius.

"I've no idea. It was probably the senate in Rome that became scared and ordered Flaminius to leave the Rubicon to join the legions under another consul, who was waiting for Hannibal outside Rome, and then attack Hannibal together in the open plain."

"However Flaminius, during the march, reached Hannibal's army a lot earlier and began to pursue him closely, which is a very dangerous thing to do while moving in narrow spaces and roads because of the counter-moves and maneuvers the opposing army is able to perform."

"What countermoves?"

"Come on, Commander Hortensius. Counter moves such as halting to take them by surprise, turning and quickly preparing for battle and waiting for the enemy army, which continues to advance rapidly, falling into your hands as the vanguards are propelled by the units in the rear that march on too quickly and push through ever knowing what's happening up ahead," smiled Caesar who had seen and played such tactical maneuvers during military campaigns in Gaul.

"Ingenious. But how would you have done it, Caesar?"

"The senate should have ordered Flaminius only to follow Hannibal a little further away, without making contact and at the same time have the other consul, who was waiting for Hannibal outside Rome, create a small defensive line, so as to take him in the open plain with an army in front and one behind," explained Caesar.

"Nice strategy," said Hortensius.

"It is the simple Roman military school of today. When an army marches against someone and is attacking and is stopped somehow, it is already tactically defeated. And that's what Hannibal was able to do to Flaminius."

"And when an army that is defending something is somehow dispersed it is already tactically defeated. And it is another mistake that Flaminius and the Senate made against Hannibal, when they ordered Flaminius to leave the Rubicon and he began to pursue Hannibal through the mountains," said Caesar smiling to himself.

"But I, if required, will not make a similar mistake against Pompey," concluded Caesar.

"So what are we going to do against Pompey's two legions lined up on those lines waiting for us?" asked Hortensius.

"Nothing for now. I will officially hand over the land I have promised to the Gallic legions and legionaries in Romandia, and will send Curio and Mark Anthony to Rome to ask the Senate if I can be appointed Chief Consul of the Year," replied Caesar.

"And what will we do if they don't make you Chief Consul of the Year?"

"We'll march on Rome and explain it to them," said Caesar.

"Shall we also make a detour, as Hannibal did into the Alps,¹⁶ instead of crossing the Rubicon?" inquired Hortensius curious.

"No, you can no longer easily branch off towards the Alps."

"Why?"

"After the conflict against Hannibal and the death of Flaminius, Rome learned its lesson and built a road and a new defensive line on the Apennines called Flaminia minor¹⁷ in honor of his son, which allows, if needed, to quickly demobilize troops near the Rubicon and move them to garrison the defensive line through the Apennines. But that's not what worries me," Caesar replied, smiling certain about what he was doing.

"Do you mean that we will attack and break through the Rubicon directly?" Hortensius asked, a little worried about this possibility.

"If you want you can, but the Rubicon may also be compromised," replied Caesar smiling.

"How?" asked Hortensius.

"Don't let this worry you for now, Hortensius. You know very well that many legionaries do not want, and do not intend, to attack the Rubicon because they could attract the revenge and the anger of the Gods who defend it, but I know that border well and I also know a few commanders and legionaries who guard it."

"And so?"

"When the time comes, and only if they don't make me Chief Consul of the Year as I expect, we will see what we will do," Caesar stopped talking.

Brief historical introduction

In ancient times, northern Italy and the Po Valley were divided into Gallia¹⁸ Transpadana and ¹⁹ Cispadana to distinguish them from French Transalpine Gaul, Gaul beyond the Alps, which is northern France today.

The French Transalpine Gaul was called Gaul Chiomata, because they wore hair and lark wings over their helmets, while the Italian Gaul Cispadana, practically the entire Po Valley, was called Gaul Togata because they dressed in a similar way to the Romans and, in fact, they had a confederation with Rome, with whom they shared many customs and traditions.

When Caesar returned to Italy from French Transalpine Gaul he brought with him more legions than he had left with and amassed them in Romagna near the border of the Rubicon, which then divided the Italian Gaul Togata with the republic of Rome.

This was because, as he proceeded in his conquests, he had enlisted and formed several legions, called Gallic legions.

These Gallic legions were formed not only by fighters but also by many colonists, women and children followers, to whom Caesar had promised honors and land on Italian soil if they were victorious. Now that he had won, he had brought them to Italy with him and they were amassed near the Rubicon.

In view of the threat, the Rubicon was hastily reinforced by Pompey's troops to try to block Caesar in some way, after having amassed his legions near the Rubicon had in front of him a practically open pathway to Rome.

About thirty years earlier, that province and those lands had been ruined and depopulated by a violent civil war between Cesena, Forlì and Faenza, which had been won by the optimates under Sulla over the populares under Caius Marius, who was Julius Caesar's uncle. Then, Caesar, returning from the French Gauls, was resettling and reconquering this land with populations and legions that were following him from Gaul and Provence.²⁰

Many legionaries and settlers were offered this land beside this border as a reward, which they accepted, laid down their arms and colonized that place, which was called Roman-dia or Roman-via, which meant Roman crossing or road to Rome.

And, still today, there is a road that crosses it, which is called Via Romea, that is, Road to Rome and, that land, Romagna.

But Caesar suggested that his best Gallic legionaries continued fighting and, as a reward, he proposed to give them Rome itself in exchange, if they followed and supported him in his march to conquer Rome.

However, Roman legionaries and officers were also among Caesar's soldiers. Much discord and many doubts soon arose among them regarding the legitimacy and appropriateness of such an act.

Several Roman legionaries considered such a proposal sacrilegious and that they should remain loyal to Rome forever, while those in favor of the populares²¹ and of Caesar's uncle, Gaius Marius, who had been defeated years before by Sulla, wanted nothing more than to redeem themselves and take revenge on Rome and its optimates.²²

Thus they convinced many Gallic legionaries to consider it an immense opportunity to redeem themselves and become not only Roman citizens but also public officials, if they crossed the Rubicon and conquered Rome.

Moreover, then as now, Latin dialects spoken in the north were different to those spoken in central and southern Italy.

So, if anyone thinks the disagreements between northern Italy and Rome are the result of something that happened recently, they should look a little further into the past, because there were already various issues at the time of Caesar. Such as: whether it would be convenient for the Gauls in the Po valley to be considered citizens of Rome or not. Even then there were arguments between populations and tribes who wanted to continue to be autonomous, federated or federalist if you prefer, while others wished to become citizens of Rome instead, with all the advantages and disadvantages this would involve.

The borders between the north and Rome existed already and were first traced out in the minds of people and their traditions and only then drawn on the ground.

And Caesar was the first to grant Roman citizenship to the populations of the Italian Gauls. This was shortly after they had crossed the Rubicon and won the civil war against Pompey.

Thus, Caesar amassed and deployed his troops before the Rubicon near Cesena and began to distribute much land as prizes and spoils of war, especially to his Gallic legions that had followed him on his return to Italy.

The Gallic legions were mostly composed of Provençals from southern France and Aquitaine, from places then named Arles, Narbo Martius, Forum Julii, Forum Novempopuli, Forum Gallorum, Libertinorum and, in part, they recreated similar places in Romagna.

Crossing Liguria and the Apennine pass between Parma and La Spezia²³ they came to Emilia, joined up with a few Gallic legions of the Po Valley, who were already stationed in Emilia, and began to descend towards the Roman-via, until they massed threateningly in front of the Roman troops under Pompey near the border on the Rubicon.

Thus the Gallic legions of Caesar began to resettle and reorganize that land which, one hundred and sixty years earlier, had been called Flaminia in honor of a consul named Flaminius whose name, among others, meant descendant of the Flamini, the high priests of ancient Rome. Flaminius had hastily built and fortified a defensive line, named Puniceus Rubicon, to prevent the Punic Hannibal from descending towards Rome, as we have read in a previous chapter.

After the violent defeat, which ended with the personal sacrifice of the consul Flaminius himself,²⁴ that land was called Roman-dia and Roman-via at the time because²⁵ they lead to Rome.

But Caesar requested and promised his most loyal legionaries much more than the land of Romagna, namely Rome and the whole of Italy, if they decided to follow him and conquer the land that could be glimpsed and seen in the Marche immediately after Rimini.

So, he gathered together the most aggressive troops who wanted to continue fighting near the Rubicon and prepared to lead them to Rome.

What was most tempting to many, but feared by others, which caused a few to defect from Caesar's ranks, was they perceived this act to be a betrayal of their mission.

One in particular was the brave general Titus Labienus,²⁶ who deserted Caesar and sided with Pompey Magnus, Caesar's political and military rival, who was deployed beyond the Rubicon. He took with him about 3,700 men on horseback and legionaries.

But there were also a few Gallic peoples who did not want to follow Caesar and were content to settle forever in the land of Romagna that he had promised them, even if, Caesar asked them to defend his rear guard from Pompey's troops who could descend from Spain towards Italy.

Thus a few Gallic legions began to resettle the current Romagna, depopulated by the previous civil revolt of Marius and Sulla.

But let's return to Caesar's journey towards Cesena.

Caesar's arrival in Cesena (Curve Caes Arena)

Caesar and the commander Hortensius, after having crossed the Via Decimana, came to Curva Caes Arena,²⁷ where many men who had always been loyal to the populares²⁸ under his Uncle Gaius Marius were awaiting him.

Tens of years earlier in Romagna, the populares, headed by Caesar's uncle, Gaius Marius, were grievously defeated militarily by the optimates under Sulla between Forlì and Faenza that had swept the countryside clean of the population.

Caesar was rebuilding and reorganizing many things.

There in that land he had promised and given away much land and many public offices to his veterans and he was embellishing and Romanizing much of Romagna with taxes on land and products.

Government buildings, theatres, gladiator barracks, buildings and streets, grew to guarantee political loyalty, military stability and logistics in the area.

Cesena was once named Curva Caes Arena, which meant Caesar's circular arena and that name is still present on an ancient Roman map.²⁹

The Curva Caes Arena was a small copy of the Circolo Massimo (Great Circle) for horse races that Caesar had almost finished building but which, because of his death a few years later, was completed by his nephew the emperor Augustus.

After his arrival in Cesena, Caesar gathered his best officers, Labienius, Quintus Hortensius, Curio, Mark Anthony, Cassius and Asinius Pollio, to take stock of Pompey's military position beyond the Rubicon.

"Greetings to you, Caesar. To celebrate your arrival we have organized equestrian demonstrations in your arena, which has almost been completed," said Curio.³⁰

"Thank you, you know I enjoy horse races, but first tell me about Pompey's strategic position," replied Caesar.

"Pompey suspects you want to attack Rome, he left the Rubicon border and advanced with two legions until he took possession of the Prissatellum ³¹ right in front of the Caes solum³² and the land you gave to the Gauls. At this time they are in opposition to our troops a few miles from us," replied Mark Anthony.

"Yes, I heard about from the relays. Pompey had done more or less, what Flaminius did when he was waiting for Hannibal's descent," answered Caesar smiling.

"Exactly, my Caesar; he only has two legions and he has placed them in a defensive formation on the Rubicon," said Mark Anthony.

"And what else is he doing to defend himself?" added Caesar.

"Pompey is threatening curses and loss of Roman citizenship, through some high priests, against any of us who dare to cross the Rubicon, but he is doing this only to buy time and install a third legion to reinforce the rear and better cover the defensive line," replied Mark Anthony.

"Mortatibus sui!"³³ shouted Caesar.

"Is he intending to use the fear of the Gods and the loyalty of our legionaries to Rome as a weapon to deter us?"

"So it seems Caesar. And he announced that he would be sending the Flamini and Vaticani³⁴ here to Caes Arena to meet you. We'll see if they've the courage to cross the Rubicon and come and talk to you," replied Mark Anthony.

"Without a doubt they'll come. As representatives of the Gods of Rome they have access to any place occupied by Roman legions and legionaries," replied Labienus, Caesar's best Roman general.

"And even if they do come, what do you think they'll do?" asked Caesar.

"Usually, they do two things. Negotiate peace on behalf of the senate to dissuade anyone from attacking Rome, or make curses to the gods and our warrior ancestors against us," explained Labienus.

"Me and my ancestors have already cursed them and declared war on them long before they did," replied Caesar, no longer able to keep calm.

"Have you requested the Druid³⁵ priests of our Gallic legions to make curses and perform mysterious sacrifices to try to protect us?" asked Labienus.

"I have done everything necessary to overcome and defeat them, General Labienus, which may include having legionaries as good as you are and many other things," replied Caesar.

"It is evil and forbidden to use priests to torment Roman citizens or friends with divine intervention. Only the enemies of Rome can be killed legitimately by the priests and gods of Hades, without incurring the revenge of the Roman gods," replied Labienus who, like many Roman legionaries, was respectful of the precepts of the religion of Rome.

"This time you are wrong General Labienus. I was also Pontefix Massimum³⁶ and I know very well what our priests are secretly doing not far from here, inside Mons Jovis³⁷ just beyond the Rubicon. I can tell you that even there they order the killing of enemies of the state, first with divine rituals, then if this is not enough, with much more," replied Caesar.

"And why then, instead of setting ourselves against the curses of our priests and Ancestors, don't we seek to make a peace agreement with them?" said General Labienus who had no desire to go to war against Rome.

"Because they have become enemies of the state, because of the crimes committed against the citizens and our popular representatives and they will have neither the Gods nor our Ancestors on their side. But I don't intend to defeat them with magical rituals," concluded Caesar.

"Instead it seems that that is what they intend to do, Caesar," replied Curio.

Explain this better."

"From what I have heard, they intend to draw another red line on the second line of defense and make it sacred and impassable," added Curio.

"They want to draw another red line? The one on the Rubicon is no longer enough for them..." Caesar burst out laughing, then added, "... and where would they like to draw this other red line?"

"Right behind the front line of the Prissatellum."

"I understand. So in case that fails, it will be enough for them to retreat behind that line, and they think no armed Roman soldier would dare cross it. But this also means they don't have many legionaries lined up on the Rubicon and they are trying to stop us using fear of the Gods."

Then he added, "Order the annihilation of our legionnaires fears immediately, using counter sacrifices performed by the Druids and Celtic priests of our Gallic legions," ordered Caesar.

"This may work with the Gallic legionaries, since they have more belief in their Druids than in the Gods of Rome, but our Roman legionaries believe in the Flamini and we, as you know, have no Flamini priests following us," replied Curio.

"I know, the Flamini Priests are in the service of the Senate and cannot put themselves in the service of a legion without authorization from Rome. However, I intend to ensure that our legionaries are no longer afraid of subgestitis et superstitis³⁸ inculcated by the enemies," replied Caesar.

Curio said to Caesar, "But there could also be another problem besides that of the Flamini."

"Explain!"

"They also intend to influence our Gallic legions on the front line of the prissatellum."

"In what way?"

"There is a very powerful Gorgon Witch³⁹ recognized by the common people who lives near the sources of the Urgon⁴⁰ on the mountains above us, who Pompey's men intend to use against the beliefs and fears of our Gallic legionaries," replied Curio, for a moment freezing the attention of all present.

"Mortatibus sibi!⁴¹ Explain this last thing to me right away," exclaimed Caesar.