Reading Group--Caesar's Legion

[Maldur]

Pompeys troops were not so fortunate, Ceasar cathes up and surrounds them, without water on a hill.

he then secures the nearest water and just waits. Not wanting to risk his troops assaulting several veteran legions on a hill.

Those veterans were impressive as Ceasar is obviously pressed for time ( he promised his legions discharges)

 

[mmadsen]

Chapter XII -- The Sour Taste of Victory

As Maldur has already pointed out, Caesar surrounded Pompey's troops and deprived them up water.

At dawn on August 10, Pompey's troops on the hill came down to Caesar, lay down their arms, then prostrated themselves before him and begged for their lives. Caesar told them he would spare them all and instructed his troops to treat the prisoners leniently...

That's how we'd expect fellow Roman soldiers to be treated -- but I guess only battle-hardened veterans earn such respect.

 

[Rashak Mani]

Treatment of their own soldiers transgressions and of "prisoners" seems to vary according to the whims of the commander. Doesnt seem to have a pre defined POW rules.

 

[Maldur]

Its more like : veterans are valuable and dangerous, so we leave them alive. I ( ceasar) can use them later, or lose to many of my own veterans when I fight them.

Newbies are worthless and undissiplined so we dont bother to keep them alive.

 

[mmadsen]

Chapter XII -- The Sour Taste of Victory (continued)

To his astonishment, tribunes now came to Caesar to say that the men of the Spanish legions refused to march another step for him....They wanted their overdue discharge, they wanted the bonus he'd been promising his legions for eighteen months, said by Suetonius to be as much as twenty thousand sesterces a man, a fortune for legionaries with a base pay of nine hundred sesterces a year.

What's shocking is that Caesar is shocked by this. He promises great rewards if they fight one last battle for him, they fight that one last battle, and then he's surprised that they want their rewards, and they want to go home.

Yet he was a great leader...

 

[mmadsen]

Chapter XII -- The Sour Taste of Victory (continued)

About thirty-seven years of age, Brutus was a handsome and erudite senator with much influence among his peers as the nephew of Cato the Younger and also because of his natural talents and a winning personality. His mother was Servilia, Cato's sister. Years before, Servilia had fallen in love with Julius Caesar when both were only teenagers, she being a young widow at the time. Their relationship ended when she remarried, but before long it was apparent she was pregnant. Many classical authors were to write that when Marcus was born Caesar felt sure the boy was his.

This is becoming a soap opera. There's a certain Oedipal allure to the thought that Brutus was Caesar's son...

While Caesar was only fifteen when Brutus was born it's not impossible that they were father and son. Romans started their sex lives early -- females could legally marry at twelve, while males officially came of age in their fifteenth year.

So Caesar's with Servilia when he's 14-15, yet she's already a young widow? Wild. And we pretend teens are asexual children until 18...

Whatever the biological facts, for the rest of his days Caesar treated Brutus like a son.

Unrequited paternal love?

 

[Maldur]

Or preparing an heir to the empire! Or backup for when the ride got rough??

 

[Henry]

Re: Chapter XI -- The Battle of Pharsalus (continued)

...The entire charge came to a stop. For perhaps a minute the Caesarian troops paused in the middle of the wheat field, catching their breath; then, led by Crastinus, they resumed the charge with a mighty roar.

There's something almost comical in the imagery of that, frankly.

 

[SHARK]

Greetings!

Chapter XIII--The Murder of Pompey The Great
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Quote:

"Colonel Septimius drew his sword, stepped forward, and before any of Pompey's companions could prevent him, plunged it into the general. As Pompey fell forward, General Achillas and Centurion Salvius slid their swords from their scabbards and slit the throats of Pompey's centurions; then they, too, struck Pompey. A woman's scream echoed across the water--Cornelia had witnessed it all. Still alive, Pompey dragged his scarlet cloak over his head, so that his face was hidden from spectators in his dying moments."
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End Quote.

This is sad...Pompey was a great hero, and a fine general. He deserved to live, or if die he must, it should have been in battle. This is tragic. What a way to end. The Egyptians cheered even.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

 

[Maldur]

What strikes me is that General Achillas and Centurion Salvius almost casually kill the centurions before aiding in slaying Pompey. The centurions were unimportant but to make sure Pompey stayed dead that WAS important. Alaso the fact that Pompey covered his face? Is it a roman thing to die with your face covered/in private?

Good to have you back SHARK, What have you been up to?