The Ides: Caesar's Murder and the War for Rome

287 Pages·2010·2.58 MB·English

by  Stephen Dando-Collins

IDES

THE

Caesar’s Murder

and the War for Rome

STEPHEN DANDO-COLLINS

author of Caesar’s Legion
THE IDES
Also by Stephen Dando-Collins
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Cleopatra’s Kidnappers: How Caesar’s Sixth Legion
Gave Egypt to Rome and Rome to Caesar
Mark Antony’s Heroes: How the Third Gallica
Legion Saved an Apostle and Created an Emperor
Blood of the Caesars: How the Murder of
Germanicus Led to the Fall of Rome
The Ides
Caesar’s Murder and
the War for Rome
STEPHEN DANDO-COLLINS
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Copyright © 2010 by Stephen Dando-Collins. All rights reserved
Maps © 2009 by D. L. McElhannon
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Dando-Collins, Stephen, date.
The ides : Caesar’s murder and the war for Rome / Stephen Dando-Collins.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-470-42523-7 (cloth : acid-free paper)
1. Caesar, Julius—Assassination. 2. Rome—Politics and government—
265–30 b.c. 3. Rome—History—53–44 b.c. I. Title.
DG267.D26 2010
937’.05092—dc22
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Be sure to remember, not how long was Caesar’s life, but how short his
reign.
— Brutus and Cassius, Caesar’s chief assassins, in a 44 b.c. letter to
Mark Antony

Contents
Atlas xi
Author’s Note xv
Introduction 1
PART ONE THE CONSPIRACY
i January 26, 44 b.c.: Seven Weeks before
the Assassination 7
ii February 15, 44 b.c.: The Lupercalia 12
iii February 22, 44 b.c.: The Caristia Reconciliation 18
iv February 24, 44 b.c.: Pressuring Brutus 28
v March 1, 44 b.c., The Kalends of March:
Dictator for Life 30
vi March 2, 44 b.c.: Recruiting Fellow Assassins 41
vii March 7, 44 b.c.: A Visit from One of
Caesar’s Generals 45
viii March 9, 44 b.c.: Porcia’s Secret 50
ix March 14, 44 b.c., Afternoon: Cleopatra
and the Equirria 54
x March 14, 44 b.c., Evening: The Best
Sort of Death 58
PART TWO THE MURDER
xi March 15, 44 b.c.: The Ides of March:
Caesar Awakens 67
xii March 15, 44 b.c.: The Ides of March:
In the Dark before Dawn 69
xiii March 15, 44 b.c., The Ides of March:
Caesar Must Suffer Caesar’s Fate 80
vii
viii contents
xiv March 15, 44 b.c., The Ides of March:
The Crime 89
xv March 15, 44 b.c.: The Gathering Storm 95
PART THREE AFTERMATH AND RETRIBUTION
xvi March 16, 44 b.c.: Pleading for the Republic 105
xvii March 17, 44 b.c.: The Jostle for Control 107
xviii March 18, 44 b.c.: The Liberators Gain the
Advantage 115
xix March 19, 44 b.c.: Caesar’s Will 118
xx March 20, 44 b.c.: Caesar’s Funeral 122
xxi March 21, 44 b.c.: Antony Consolidates His Grip 127
xxii March 24, 44 b.c.: Enter Octavius 130
xxiii March 27, 44 b.c.: The Name of Caesar 132
xxiv April 7, 44 b.c.: Wise Oppius 134
xxv April 10, 44 b.c.: Caesar’s Heir 136
xxvi April 11, 44 b.c.: Octavian Meets with Antony 138
xxvii April 14, 44 b.c.: The Aedile’s Refusal 141
xxviii April 22, 44 b.c.: Octavian Seeks Cicero’s Support 143
xxix May 11, 44 b.c.: I Don’t Trust Him a Yard 145
xxx May 18, 44 b.c.: Undermining Antony 148
xxxi May 31, 44 b.c.: Reforming the Praetorian Cohorts 149
xxxii June 2, 44 b.c.: Antony Outsmarts the Senate 152
xxxiii June 7, 44 b.c.: No Plan, No Thought, No Method 155
xxxiv July 13, 44 b.c.: The Last Day of Brutus’s Games 161
xxxv July 20, 44 b.c.: The Liberators’ Manifesto 163
xxxvi July 28, 44 b.c.: Cicero’s Departure 167
xxxvii August 16, 44 b.c.: Like Hector the Hero 169
xxxviii August 30, 44 b.c.: Cicero Returns to Rome 171
xxxix September 15, 44 b.c.: The Liberators Reach
Greece 173
xl September 23, 44 b.c.: Octavian’s Nineteenth
Birthday 175
contents ix
xli September 28, 44 b.c.: The Plot to Assassinate
Antony 177
xlii October 9, 44 b.c.: A Dreadful State of Affairs 179
xliii October 18, 44 b.c.: Antony Joins His Legions 182
xliv November 4, 44 b.c.: Octavian Recruits an Army 185
xlv November 18, 44 b.c.: The Road to War 187
xlvi November 27–30, 44 b.c.: Anthony’s Legions Rebel 190
xlvii Early December 44 b.c.: The Rise of the Liberators 194
xlviii Second Half of December 44 b.c.: Antony
Makes His Move 198
xlix January 1–4, 43 b.c.: Debating Antony’s Fate 202
l Late December 44 b.c.–Early January 43 b.c.:
The First Assassin to Fall 205
li February 4, 43 b.c.: State of Emergency 207
lii April 14–26, 43 b.c.: The Mutina Battles 209
liii May 7, 43 b.c.: Cassius Overruns Syria 211
liv May 30, 43 b.c.: Lepidus’s Betrayal 213
lv August 19, 43 b.c.: Octavian Charges
Caesar’s Murderers 216
lvi Early November 43 b.c.: The Triumvirate
and the Proscription 218
lvii December 7, 43 b.c.: Killing Cicero 220
lviii October 1–21, 42 b.c.: The Battles of Philippi 222
lix Judging the Assassins and the Victim 226
Notes 231
Bibliography 253
Index 257