Marcus Agrippa Page 5
The following year, while sojourning in Ravenna, Caesar received a report hand delivered by the tribunes sympathetic to him in Rome. On 7 January 49 BCE the Senate had demanded under a decree of senatus consultum ultimum that he relinquish command of all ten of his legions, with the instruction ‘the consuls, the praetors, the tribunes, and all the proconsuls who are near the city shall take measures that the state incur no harm’.115 Facing a prosecution he likely could not win, he chose to take the matter into his own hands and sought justice on his own terms. On the evening of 10 or 11 January the men of Legio XIII and 300 cavalry advanced towards Ariminium (modern Rimini).116 With them, driving a hired cart, Plutarch reports, was Iulius Caesar.117 Soon they came to the banks of the Rubico – the accepted border of demilitarized home-land.118 Crossing the Rubicon River would be an act of treason; but true to his character Caesar, now 50 years of age, took a calculated gamble. The battle hardened army was his protection. ‘Take we the course which the signs of the gods and the false dealing of our foes points out’, he said, quoting the playwright Menander’s line, ‘the die are cast’.119 Then he waded into the river. His men followed. The Roman Commonwealth was suddenly plunged into civil war.
The Senate hoped the people of Italy would rally to the defence of the Res Publica. It had gravely miscalculated. Hearing of the seizure of Ariminium by Caesar, the civic leaders of the other cities – coloniae and municipiae – were skeptical about the Senate in Rome coming to their rescue, and stayed home behind their securely shut doors.120 Caesar kept two cohorts of Legio XIII with him at Ariminium, despatched five cohorts under the command of his deputy, M. Antonius, to Arretium (modern Arezzo), and dispersed the rest to local towns.121 He knew he could count on his men. Legiones I and XV were already stationed in the peninsula, and bolstering his numbers of troops he would soon be joined by V Alaudae, VIII and XII from Gallia Comata. He also raised an all-new unit, Legio XVI, which he immediately despatched to Africa.
Panic now gripped the Conscript Fathers, huddled together in Rome.122 Pompeius, their champion, was willing to fight for their cause, having superiority in number of legions, but they were still deployed in Hispania and Africa. He needed time to rally his army for battle at a time and in a place of his choosing. Rather than stand and fight at that moment and risk losing, Pompeius argued they should evacuate the city and regroup in Greece. On 17 March the Senate relented and fled.123
In the Service of Caesar
In that tumultuous spring of 49 BCE, at the age of 15, Agrippa formally became a man. On the morning of the ceremony, he took off the amulet (bulla) he had worn as a boy for the last time and donned his new all-white gown (toga pura), which was only worn by men who were Roman citizens.124 Then he walked in a procession of his family and friends through the Forum Romanum (deductio in forum) to the public records office where his name was entered into the rolls of Roman citizens. The celebration over, he would return to school to continue his education. At an unknown moment during this period and under unrecorded circumstances, Agrippa was introduced to a boy just months younger than himself.125 His name was C. Octavius Thurinus. Smart and intellectually gifted, Octavius was equestrian and born in Velitrae, not Rome, and his father was not particularly distinguished either.126 His mother, Atia, however, was Iulius Caesar’s niece, and this connection would prove highly significant.127 The two young men quickly found common ground and became firm friends, forming a bond which would endure through four decades of personal hardships and public threats, but also life-changing opportunities and unimaginable successes.
At this age Agrippa would have begun to study the art of public speaking. Octavius’ teacher was the highly-respected but aged rhetor Apollodorus of Pergamum.128 Indeed, the two boys may have met while studying rhetoric. Agrippa certainly had a talent for public speaking in later life. One of his speeches from adulthood was known to Pliny the Elder who described it as an oratio magnifica, ‘a magnificent oration’, attesting to his accomplished skill.129 Under the guidance of this teacher of oratory from Asia Minor, Agrippa and his friend practised different styles and techniques until they had mastered them. The ability to frame arguments, by informing, persuading and motivating an audience to his point of view, was considered essential to the aspiring politician and lawyer. A well delivered speech was a theatrical performance. During his training, a speaker learned how to compose a speech with great care and to deliver his words with drama, modulate emotion of the voice and choreograph hand gestures to wring the passions from every statement. The greatest orator of Agrippa’s lifetime was Cicero. He had been educated at Rhodes by Apollonius of Molon, the same rhetor who had taught Iulius Caesar.130 Of rhetoric, Cicero wrote as a young man of 20, ‘the duty of this faculty appears to be to speak in a manner suitable to persuading men; the end of it is to persuade by language.’131 He noted how ‘rhetoric is one great art comprised of five divisions: invention, arrangement, style, memory and delivery’.132 Apollodorus would have coached his students in these respects and advised them how the successful speaker should use notes, paraphrase poetry and prose, and even wit to move his listeners.
Outside the classroom, with Caesar’s troops now occupying Rome, to survive Agrippa would need to keep his wits about him. Having the friendship of Caesar’s great nephew would help. Abandoned by many of its leading political figures – Cicero and Cato among them – Caesar had now assumed control of Rome. In just sixty days Caesar had secured the whole of Italy virtually without opposition.133 Remarkably he was conciliatory towards his opponents who had stayed behind and he also sent a deputation after Pompeius proposing terms of a truce.134 To prevent the legions coming to Pompeius’ assistance, however, he immediately set off for Hispania: his swift action neutralized them.135 Then he returned to Rome where the Senate appointed him dictator. After passing legislation to allow many exiles to return and to right certain injustices he resigned the post eleven days later and then departed at breakneck speed for Greece.136 At Apollonia he was joined by M. Antonius and together they set about provoking Pompeius to fight.137 Pompeius had had time to prepare for the inevitable encounter. Caesar was less well prepared than his friend turned foe and, in the absence of rations, his troops were forced to eat bread made of meal from ground up roots; but Pompeius’ men were demoralized too, fearful from having heard of the fierce reputation of the soldiers they were due to face.138 Finally on 9 August 48 BCE the army of the Senate – numbering 45,000 infantry and 7,000 cavalry – met Caesar’s – comprising 22,000 foot and 1,000 horse – at Pharsalus.139 Despite his greatly superior numbers, Pompieus was decisively defeated. Caesar pardoned many of the captured men who had opposed him, including M. Iunius Brutus, a descendant of the man who had ousted Rome’s last king.140 Pompeius escaped to Egypt, but on reaching the shore he was struck down and beheaded by an officer of Pharoah Ptolemy XIII.141 Caesar was still in hot pursuit with Legiones VI and XXVII and only learned on his arrival in Alexandria of the fate of his opponent when he was shown his severed head. Caesar was said to have recoiled in horror at the sight of it, and accepting Pompeius’ personal seal ring, broke down in tears.142 Thereafter he supported the Egyptian king’s sister, wife and co-regent, Kleopatra VII, in her claim to the throne and began his famous liaison with her.143
From Egypt Caesar went to Asia Minor, where he defeated Pharnakes (Pharnaces), the son of Mithradates VI of Pontus, at the Battle of Zela (modern Zile in northern Turkey); afterwards he wrote a letter to Amanitius in Rome in which he used the famous phrase veni, vidi, vici – ‘came, saw, won’.144 Meanwhile the remnants of the Pompeian opposition had assembled in Africa, among whom was Agrippa’s own brother Lucius.145 Taking six legions with him, Caesar engaged the diehards, led by Cato and Q. Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio, but the struggle was tougher than he had anticipated because they had augmented their numbers with the forces of King Iuba II of Numidia.146 Only after he had called upon his veterans – seasoned men who were recalled after leaving the service – did he have the numbers he need
ed to finally engage his opponents at Thapsus. On 6 April 46 BCE, his enemies were crushed with casualties reported – probably with great exaggeration – as high as 50,000 to less than fifty on his own side.147 Returning from Africa to Rome, in September 46 BCE he celebrated an unprecedented quadruple triumph during which Kleopatra put in a guest appearance – Octavius was permitted to follow behind him.148 It was an unforgettable four-day event Agrippa may himself have witnessed as an 18-year-old.
While the Roman world turned upside down, young Marcus was still at school mastering the art of public speaking. His friendship with Octavius emboldened him to ask a favour of his friend’s great uncle:
His brother [Lucius] was with Cato [Uticensis] and treated with much respect; he had participated in the African War, but was at this time taken captive. Although Octavius had never yet asked anything of Caesar he wanted to beg the prisoner off, but he hesitated because of modesty and at the same time because he saw how Caesar was disposed toward those who had been captured in that war. However, he made bold to ask it, and had his request granted. Thereupon he was very glad at having rescued a brother for his friend and he was praised by others for employing his zeal and right of intercession first of all for a friend’s safety.149
Whether Iulius Caesar had met Agrippa at this point is unknown, but by Nikolaos of Damaskos’ account he was clearly aware of his great nephew’s friend. In the meantime, Caesar had placed Octavius in charge of productions at two theatres in Rome, in which Agrippa may have assisted.150
The Roman commander now turned his attention to the Iberian Peninsula where Cnaeus and Sextus Pompeius, the sons of Pompeius Magnus, aided by Caesar’s own former deputy T. Labienus who had played a prominent role in the Gallic War, were leading a revolt.151 Caesar instructed his 17-year-old great nephew to join him.152 Gaining first-hand military experience was a pre-requisite for a successful political career. Just seventeen years earlier, Cicero had said:
preeminence in military skills excels all other virtues. It is this which has procured its name for the glory of the Roman people; it is this which has compelled the whole world to submit to our dominion; all domestic affairs, all these illustrious pursuits of ours, and our forensic renown, and our industry, are safe under the protection of military valour. The highest dignity is in those men who excel in military glory.153
For a regular soldier (miles gregarius), training to turn a citizen into a war fighter (bellator) and instilling the warrior ethic in him was organized and intense (plate 8). For an officer it was very different. Remarkably, despite the great value placed on war fighting, there was no formal officer training in the Roman world. Experience had to be gained the hard way through active service. Personal prestige was earned by proving one’s courage (virtus) through acting boldly and showing no weakness in the heat of battle, especially at the risk of losing one’s own life. Perhaps Iulius Caesar saw the campaign in Hispania Ulterior as a low risk theatre of operations in which Octavius could become an officer and learn how to command soldiers under his aegis. Octavius agreed to join his great uncle, but Nikolaos records that he was taken ill from overexerting himself on the theatre productions and was deemed not fit enough to accompany him on the outbound journey in November 46.154 It is possible, however, that Agrippa, now old enough to enrol in the army, did set off to join Caesar on his campaign. The poet M. Manlius makes a cryptic comment to the effect that Agrippa had begun military service at a young age, though at what level of command he does not say.155 It was certainly an unmissable career opportunity. As a plebeian he would likely have started service as a one of the regular legionaries, 6,000 at full strength, organized into centuries of eighty men under the command of a centurio (plate 6). Six centuries formed a cohort – the basic tactical unit – and ten cohortes formed a legion. However, as a member of the equestrian class he would have been eligible to join as a junior officer, likely as one of the five junior military tribunes (tribuni angusticlavi) in a legion.156 Caesar had taken a group of young aristocrats and equestrians with him on his Gallic campaign, hoping they would be eager to prove themselves on the battlefield, but they were political appointments and he was disappointed by the lack of initiative or courage many displayed. For a man at the beginning of his career it was a spectacular way to learn military science directly from one of its legendary master practitioners. Such a position could give the young man direct access to the legate of the legion (usually a senator) – perhaps to proconsul Caesar himself – and a place at his concilium (the handpicked advisory war council) where he would see at first hand the general deliberate over his strategy and tactics with his deputies. Agrippa might have been granted a special dispensation as a friend of Caesar’s great nephew and served as an officer – if not a tribune then possibly as one of the immunes or principales (plate 7) who had special duties, but it is entirely speculative.
On 17 March 45 BCE, Iulius Caesar engaged the rebels with the help of the same legions who had brought him victory in Gallia Comata.157 Agrippa may have been there (map 1). At Munda, on a plain between the two camps of the opposing forces, were arrayed the Pompeian battle lines consisting of 13 legions, screened on the flanks by cavalry as well as 6,000 lightly-armed troops plus nearly as many again of auxiliary troops; and Caesar’s much smaller force, composed of only 8 legions and 8,000 cavalry.158 Caesar placed Legio X – his strongest – on the right wing and Legiones III and V with the auxiliary cohors equitata on the right. On the given order, the brass horns sounded, the men bellowed out a terrible war cry and Caesar’s soldiers rushed towards Pompeius’ dense line, swords drawn and shields held close. In his own account of the battle Iulius Caesar writes,
and so, as the motley din – shouts, groans, the clash of gladii – assailed their ears, it shackled the minds of the inexperienced with fear. Hereupon, as Ennius puts it, ‘foot forces against foot and weapons grind ’gainst weapons’; and in the teeth of very strong opposition our men began to drive the enemy back.159
The opposing troops then retreated behind the walls of the nearby town of Munda, which Caesar’s men then blockaded under the command of Q. Fabius Maximus.160 To strike fear into the men trapped inside they resorted to a form of psychological warfare:
Scuta and pila taken from among the enemy’s weapons were placed to serve as a palisade, dead bodies as a rampart; on top, impaled on gladius points, severed human heads were ranged in a row all facing the town, the object being not merely to enclose the enemy by a palisade, but to afford him an awe-inspiring spectacle by displaying before him this evidence of valour.161
The siege was conducted both by day and by night. The Pompeians finally capitulated and 14,000 men were taken captive.162 Meantime, rumours reached Sex. Pompeius in Corduba (modern Cordoba) that the battle was lost. He departed leaving word that he was going to parley with Caesar. Meanwhile an attempt by his brother to escape via the naval base at Calpia (Carteia), 170 miles away from Corduba, was foiled and when Caesar’s men intercepted the fugitive they decapitated him.163 In the confusion, Sextus managed to get away.164 The campaign would have been a brutal introduction to war fighting for a young novice soldier more used to the life in the big city.
However, there is a possible alternative version of Agrippa’s first military engagement. When he had fully recovered, Octavius himself departed with a retinue of slaves, landing at Tarraco (Taragona) in Hispania Citerior.165 Once there, he was dismayed to discover that Caesar had already long since left and Octavius had to follow after him as best he could, putting himself at risk from attacks by brigands as well as his uncle’s fleeing enemies as he headed deeper inland.166 When he finally did track down his great uncle to Calpia, Octavius was warmly greeted and treated to the comforts of his own tent and transportation.167 Expecting to be told the details of his mission, he learned, however, that Caesar had already won the war, completing the mission in just seven months!168 Curiously, even though he was last to depart, it seems Octavius ‘was the first of those who had set out from Rome to arrive’.1
69 If Agrippa was one of those who had departed the city first, taking Nikolaos’ remark at face value, he also missed the fight – and with it the chance for glory.170 Perhaps for actually carrying out his orders and following him to Spain, Octavius was appointed by Caesar to join the pontificate, an order of priests, and granted the post of Master of Horse (magister equitum), an honorary postion he awarded at his own discretion for one year.171 Agrippa received no equivalent honours at this time.
Map 1. Agrippa’s Travels 45 BCE.
It was the last war Iulius Caesar would fight.172 With the revolt quelled, there was no reason for his party to remain any longer than necessary in the Iberian Peninsula. Not one for dithering, Iulius Caesar knew he needed to be back in Rome to assert his control as soon as possible.173 He planned his departure from Carthago Nova (Cartagena) from where the transports would hug the shoreline bound for Tarraco and thence to Massilia, bound for Ostia, the port of Rome. As related by Nikolaos of Damaskos,