The Rise of Pompey
By the time of Sulla's retirement, another general was making his mark, Gnaeus Pompeius (Pompey). After a long, gruelling war Pompey defeated Sertorius, one of Marius’ supporters who had been governing Spain virtually as an independent ruler for several years; Pompey was then appointed (along with another rising star, Licinius Crassus, who in fact bore the brunt of the campaigning) to deal with a huge slave revolt led by an energetic and able leader, Spartacus, in southern Italy.
Pompey and Crassus then marched their armies near Rome and demandd the consulship for the coming year (70 BC – Pompey was by law far too young for this post). A little later Pompey was given the supreme command against the pirates, who, in the chaos of the preceding years, had established themselves throughout the eastern Mediterranean. He achieved this in short order, and was appointed to the supreme command in the east, where he finally eliminated king Mithridates and brought the whole of the eastern Mediterranean region under Rome’s control. He divided it between provinces under Roman governors and client kingdoms under their own kings (the largest being Egypt). Having done this, he returned and spent several frustrating years trying to get the senate to give land to his veterans (having made the honourable mistake of disbanding his army first).
The Rise of Caesar
At Rome, domestic politics was coloured by the continual faction fighting between leading senators, spiced by gang warfare in support of one party or the other. These were also the years in which Marcus Tullius Cicero, the great orator, made his mark; he was consul in the year 63 BC (during which he defeated an attempt by a group of impoverished nobles to carry out a coup).
Another rising politician and general was C. Julius Caesar, who was elected consul in 59 BC after a successful tour of duty as governor in Spain. During his term in office, he negotiated an informal alliance between himself, Pompey and Crassus: Crassus was to receive the eastern command, he was to receive the command in Gaul, and Pompey was to have the land distribution in favour of his veterans so long denied him. Their combined influence and wealth created an unstoppable political force, and they all got what they wanted from it. They renewed their compact in 56 BC.
In the next few years Caesar conquered the whole of Gaul and even invaded Britain twice (55 and 54 BC). During this he acquired an unparalleled reputation as a brilliant general, and great popularity with the ordinary people of Rome, but his opponents in the senate increasingly tried to have him recalled to face trial for various misdemeanours.
Crassus was killed in the east (along with most of his army) against the Parthians (53), and Pompey and Caesar soon fell out. Many senators were by now getting thoroughly alarmed at the rising popularity and power of Caesar, a feeling fully shared by Pompey.
Caesar v Pompey
In 49 BC, having been recalled from Gaul to face his enemies in the senate, Caesar chose instead to march on Rome with his army (the first time that a provincial army had “invaded” Italy in support of a Roman general). His enemies fled to Greece, where Pompey raised an army. Caesar followed with his army, and defeated Pompey at the battle of Pharsalus (48). Pompey then fled to Egypt where he was assassinated on the orders of Ptolemy, king of Egypt.
Several more years of bloody fighting in Africa and Spain were needed to overcome up opposition to his rule, but by 45 BC he was in complete control of the Roman state, like Sulla taking the office of dictator. He showed great clemency to his enemies, and carried out some reforms within Rome and the provinces. However, his time was short. His senatorial opponents were implacable, and he was assassinated by a group of them in 44 BC.
Next:
The History of Ancient Rome, Part 8: The End of the Republic
Article © TimeMaps 2007.
Last updated: 13th August 2007
