Hail Caesar,
I'm reading your
book on the Civil war. I've read Cicero's letters covering the year
leading up to your crossing of the Rubicon, and of the months
afterwards during which you marched into Rome. Cicero expresses
nothing short of terror and alarm. His whole world is falling apart
around him, his family are in Rome, fearing for their lives, while he
is sent away on official business by the Senate. His loyalty to
Pompey seems to me to be utterly misplaced. Cicero seems to know
that he is choosing a path doomed to failure. After the generations
of corruption, assassination and civil strife preceding this year,
49-50BCE, it seems plain to me, as I think it was plain to you
Caesar, that the Senate were never going to change their ways. The
utter disdain with which the Optimates treated the other citizens of
Rome, and especially those in the provinces, had no cure other than
through force. (Though force can hardly be said to have cured the
problem either....)
It is sad that my
friend Cicero, as wise, compassionate, thoughtful and intelligent as
he was, could not see that the Republic he dreamed of was little more
than a historical fiction. The rule of law was simply a tool of
oppression, and he seems to be the eloquent mouthpiece of the
overlords who sought nothing short of the continuation of an unjust
rule over their subject populations.
In my last letter
to you Caesar, I talked about the problems of bias and perspective.
These problems linger, intensifying in the light of your self praise,
but also the praise to grant your enemies. It is peculiar the way in
which you describe your enemies, not as villains, but as Romans.
You, Caesar, are famous for your mercy and forgiveness, while your
enemies, the supporters of the old guard, seem to commit horrible
acts of violence against all who oppose them. However, as I turn the
pages of your book, the stink of propaganda is never far away.
Yet, despite
knowing that your book, Caesar, is propaganda, (and thus, bound to
show you in the best possible light...) it actually feels as if
Pompey knew that he was in the wrong, fighting for a cause that had
long since lost any real moral value. In reading Cicero's letters,
and in reading Plutarch, both seem to back up the overall picture you
describe, as to people, and it is the people in this story that
interest me the most.
Pompey's
unwillingness to come to terms with you and to allow peace to prevail
seems to be the behaviour of a man whose only concern is to not loose
face before you. His, and his supporters refusal to meet with you,
claiming that you wished for nothing short of kingship, seems to be a
smokescreen excuse, a political distraction technique designed to
mislead people into a war.
You put it this
way:
Part 1. 9.
“However, I am ready to submit to anything and to put up with
anything for the sake of Rome. My terms are these: Pompey shall go
to his provinces; we shall both disband our armies; there shall be
complete demobilisation in Italy; the regime of terror shall cease;
there shall be free elections and the Senate and the Roman people
shall be in full control of the government. To facilitate this and
fix the terms and ratify them with an oath, I suggest that Pompey
either comes to me or allows me to meet him. By submitting our
differences to mutual discussion, we shall settle them all.”
But
Pompey wouldn't meet with you. Wouldn't disband his armies. He
demanded that you leave Italy while he continued to levy more troops.
Your account of these months make you seem like a passionate
peacemaker, desperate to avoid a civil war, but you were rejected at
every opportunity. It is said that Rome conquered the world in self
defence....it seems that you became a dictator despite your efforts
to avoid such an outcome. In defeating the dictatorial powers of
Pompey, did you become the monster you had to slay?
In
a speech before the Senate, you declared:
Part 1. 32. “I
was wronged by the confiscation of two of my legions; I was insulted
and outraged by the interference with the rights of the tribunes; yet
I offered terms, asked for a meeting – and I was refused.
Therefore I earnestly ask you to join with me now in taking over the
government of Rome; if timidity makes you shrink from the task, I
shall not trouble you – I shall govern by myself. Envoys must be
sent to Pompey to discuss terms. I am not frightened by his recent
statement in this assembly that the sending of deputations merely
enhances the prestige of those to whom they are sent and reveals the
fears of the senders. These are the reflections of of a weak and
petty spirit. My aim is to outdo others in justice and equity, as I
have previously striven to outdo them in achievement.”
*
Caesar,
there is so much that I would like to talk about regarding the
Spanish Campaign and the siege of Massilia, but there is one little
detail that shows something about the nature of civil war generally,
and of the nature of the Pompeian camp, specifically. While your
forces were detained in the siege of Masillia, Varro, a commander
under Pompey, was levying troops throughout the whole province and
tightening his grip over the people.
Part 2. 17.
“If he judged any communities to be friendly to Caesar, he imposed
heavier burdens on them, installed garrisons and arranged for the
trial of private individuals; if anyone was alleged to have spoken
against the Roman State, that person's property was confiscated. He
forced the whole province to swear allegiance to himself and Pompey.”
It
seems a hallmark of all totalitarian authority, to react with terror
to any hint of opposition, and to use the law to punish citizens for
the exercise of free speech. It is happening,by degrees, in my own
country now, as our once proud democracy is being quietly submerged
in the terrifying anxiety of neo-fascism, dressed as usual in the
flag of nationalism. I try to remember always that the word
'stasis', is just the old Greek word for Civil War. These tensions
are ever present. My situation is not unique.
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