50 BC
With the end of the war in Gaul, Caesar returned to Italy hoping to be able to celebrate her triumphs, however something really unexpected happened. Two years earlier the Senate had chosen, with the support of Cato, Pompey as consul sine collega (consul without colleague). The Senate hated Pompey but hated Caesar even more and for this reason it gave the former ample powers. The alliance between Caesar and Pompey began to shatter.
The senators wanted to deprive the girl of her legions and take away all political power while she was still engaged in the wars in Gaul.
The girl learned of the Senate plots but in any case, to maintain friendship with Pompey, she supported his consulate.
With the end of Pompey's consulate, the two new anti-Caesarian consuls began to act to remove Caesar's domains in Gaul and also began to order the floggings of Barbarians who were in the territories that the girl had conquered. Caesar, indignant, turned to Pompey to find a way to put an end to these injustices. Pompey did nothing.
The fracture occurred.
Initially the Senate, on the proposal of Cato, wanted to remove the legions from both Pompey and Caesar, but then the plans changed; the Senate, in order to carry out a military campaign against the Parthians, requested legions and Pompey, who had given two to Caesar, took them from the girl and gave them to the Senate. Caesar had to accept. Pompey settled in Spain with his legions.
Caesar then communicated to the Senate that she would agree to renounce her legions only if Pompey did the same. No reply.
Very few in the Senate wanted to speak in favor of Caesar. The hatred towards the girl was so great that in the end Cato agreed to let Pompey's soldiers enter Rome with the aim of defending the city.
Pompey gathered his friends and enemies of Caesar to Rome. Eventually the Senate, under pressure from Pompey, sent a letter to Caesar. The conditions imposed by the Senate, Pompey and Cato were very simple: Caesar's successes would be recognized and she would have a large cash reward, however, she would've to give up the following things: the legions; the triumph; any political office.
"They want to deprive me of everything," said Caesar in her camp on the border between Gaul and the Roman Republic. "Either I renounce everything I fought for or they will declare me a public enemy. What is this? A twist of fate? Why is Pompey betraying me? Why did he ally himself with that stupid old Cato? Why did the Senate turn against me? They want to take me out of the game! "
Together with Caesar there were Marcus Antonius, Gaius Trebonius and Titus Labienus.
"Those foolish aristocrats want to frustrate my years in Gaul!"
"What do we do then?" Marcus Antonius asked, visibly worried.
"I'm not going to give way to those useless antiques, they want to humiliate me publicly, they want to force me to accept their terms so I can stay in power. But I don't accept it. I can't accept it! Not after all that I've done to get this far."
"I'm not sure it's a good idea to protest," Trebonius suggested.
"I've never seen you so hesitant, are you afraid of becoming a traitor?"
"If we refuse the offer of the Senate we will all become traitors, Caesar. We came from Gaul as heroes, we cannot cross the threshold of Rome as traitors to the homeland, it would be a dishonor for all of us."
"Honor? What is honor? What value does honor have when one's dignity is threatened by insolent and ignorant men? What do I do with honor if my pride is hurt by those who have never risked in life! Keep your honor dear, Trebonius; I demand respect! I'd rather be a traitor than be forgotten."
"I am with you, Caesar" asserted Marcus Antonius.
"Okay, but I still believe it's not a good idea," Trebonius said.
Titus Labienus remained. He didn't say anything.
"You go," Caesar commanded, "I want to be alone with Labienus."
The men obeyed. Labienus, in front of the girl, sighed and looked at her with eyes full of distrust; he spoke these words:
"I will not follow you."
Caesar did not have any exaggerated reactions but from her gaze it could be understood that she was shocked by those words.
"Why? May I know?"
"Because I don't believe in what you're doing. I fought with you in Gaul, I shared happiness and sadness with you, I accepted your every decision and I never criticized you for your mistakes. But now you want to fight Rome, you want to betray the homeland in which I believe, and I cannot follow you."
"So are you willing to accept this insult from the Senate?"
"It's not a matter of dignity, Caesar, for me it is a matter of loyalty. The truth is that you have never really been loyal to anything and now I understand it, now I see it with my own eyes."
"I can't be loyal to a city that despises me. "
"I understand that but I blame you. For me loyalty is priceless. Not even you, who are the strongest, most intelligent and most beautiful woman I have ever known, can come between me and Rome. If you decide to advance with the legions you will be the cause of a civil war and then the chaos you hate so much will break out. If you really love the law, if you really want order, accept surrender and accept the rules of Rome."
"The rules of Rome are wrong."
"Not for me. That's why it's better to say goodbye." Labienus turned and walked towards the exit. "But know one thing, you will always have my respect, my friend. Goodbye."
"Goodbye, Labienus. Take care of yourself."
Titus Labienus left Caesar's tent.
The girl on horseback, in front of the long Rubicon river, turned to her men who had served her faithfully in Gaul. In their faces she could read anxiety, worry and terror; she knew she was about to do something that no one had ever done before. Caesar too was afraid, her hands trembled and her eyes hardly looked at the horizon beyond which she would meet Rome. She opened her mouth to say:
"After all I've done, after all those glorious deeds I've accomplished, Rome betrays me, the Senate turns against me and my friends brandish their weapons to confront me. After years of wars in a foreign land, is this how I get paid? And why? Because I'n a woman? Beacause, as a woman, I've gained more glory than any single man in Rome? Because they're afraid of my power? Do you really think I care? It's not me who's lacking in loyalty, it is Rome that is lacking. Rome challenged me. It was not I. My legionaries, you fought together with me and conquered together with me, with me you conquered hundreds of thousands of enemies and you became not only friends for me, but brothers; and when Rome spits in my face it spits in your face too and I can't accept it. Let them treat me like a criminal, by now I'm used to the disdain of the aristocrats, but I can't tolerate you being treated like this! You didn't fight for nothing! You really want be insulted by those arrogant men?"
The legionaries shouted in unison:
"NO! WE WILL NOT BE INSULTED!"
"Exactly! So what will you do? Will you surrender? Will you bow down at the feet of rich men without honor or will you fight to defend your pride and dignity? Will you be worms or wolves? What will you do?"
"WE WILL FIGHT!"
"So be it, my legionaries, my fate is in your hands and your fate is in mine. We will live as heroes or die as traitors, once we cross the river there is no turning back. This is a bet we are making. A bet with the Gods ... alea iacta est. "
At the head of her legions she crossed the Rubicon and in so doing prepared to face the World.
48 BC
Pompey, knowing of Caesar's arrival, decided to leave Rome with those senators who were on his side, while the Cesarians remained in the city to welcome the girl and get help from her to put an end to the various rebellions that were taking place in the Italian peninsula. Caesar's order to her men was very clear: no unnecessary bloodshed. The girl didn't want to massacre the Romans, she wanted to force them to surrender by any means possible.
The previous year, Caesar had been appointed dictator and therefore had obtained extraordinary powers that she used to reconcile the Pompeians and Caesarians; but while she was doing this she was hunting Pompey, who had taken refuge in Durres along with his legions.
Caesar was sure she could defeat Pompey in Durres , but she didn't want to kill him, she wanted to induce him to surrender in order to put an end to the civil war that was tearing Rome apart. Together with Marcus Antonius, Caesar reached Durres and fought against Pompey but was incredibly defeated by the latter, however Pompey, being short-sighted and not very smart, never took advantage of that victory and let the girl escape along with her soldiers.
Caesar's forces settled in Thessaly for a few days. One night, in the military camp, Caesar summoned her best soldiers as well as those most devoted to her cause: Marcus Antonius; Lucius Munatius Plancus; Lucius Roscius Fabatus; Publius Sextius Baculus; Gaius Crastinus; Aulus Hirtius and Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus. She said these words to them:
"I'm not your hero. I don't know how you see me, but I'm not your hero; that's for sure. I've actually been thinking about it since I came back from Gaul ... have I really done the right thing? I don't know. Posterity will judge me. The same thing I can say by looking at this mad civil war. For this reason I ask you not to worship me, not to treat me as 'the one who will save Rome' because I'm not doing any of this. I'm fighting to change the world, I'm fighting to destroy the old and replace it with the new; this war must lead us to the future, it doesn't have to keep us anchored in the past." She looked at her hands and for a moment had the impression of having them stained with blood. "I am really willing to dye the waters of the Mare Nostrum red in order to make the world a better place? The answer is yes. For the sake of a new world I'm willing to burn the old one and build on its ashes. I'm willing to become a monster for the sake of future generations. If this is really my destiny, so be it."
June 48 BC
The rain beat down on the various Roman legions lined up on two opposite fronts at Pharsalus. Caesar, in front of all her men, advanced on horseback, alone, to meet Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (or Pompey the Great) in the center of the battlefield. Pompey was a man who had the typical appearance of the soldier: he was tall, muscular, had no beard; his hair, which touched his shoulders, was the same color as a chestnut, just like his eyes. He had a hard-featured face and the look of one who had fought several wars.
Pompey's armor was a typical golden lorica musculata on a black tunic, even the caligas were black; he wore gilded leggings and bracelets; over the armor he wore a short, charcoal cloak.
It was impossible to mistake Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus for an ordinary legionary.
When the man saw Caesar, he smiled, but you could tell from his eyes that he was angry with her. The two allies, now deadly enemies, were finally face to face. Pompey told her:
"We are at the end, Caesar. It would be convenient for you to surrender."
"No. I'm not the one who started this civil war, it was you with Cato. But I don't understand why. We were friends, you were my ally. Why did you do all this?"
"Do you really think you can delude me, Caesar? Maybe your good looks can deceive fools, but I am no fool and I knew that with your campaign in Gaul you were only trying to get absolute power. Otherwise why risk so much? Only those who crave power perform such crazy acts. I couldn't risk being overshadowed by someone like you."
"So you started this war just to defend your stupid pride?"
Then Caesar, after saying those words, realized she had done the same thing. She smiled, shaking her head slightly.
"What's going on, woman?"
"Nothing ... it's just that ... it all seems so absurd. It's funny to think that I'm so similar to you and yet so different. It almost seems like a joke orchestrated by those Gods."
"What are you talking about?" Pompey asked, confused.
"Ignore the ravings of your enemy, it no longer matters because after this day I will pacify Rome."
"Yes, you will ... since only with your death, Rome will finally find peace."
Pompey turned his back to Caesar. The girl saw the golden wolf coat of arms on the man's cloak, the coat of arms of the gens Pompeia.
The two commanders returned to their respective legions. Pompey, once he reached his men, shouted to Caesar:
"Your destiny has brought you to me so that I could eliminate you! And that's what I will do! Men, advance! Bring me the head of Gaius Julius Caesar!"
The number of Pompey's legionaries amounted to about forty-five thousand while those of Caesar were just twenty-five thousand; the girl was aware that facing Pompey in those conditions would be difficult but then she noticed that the distance between their two legions was very wide and the enemy soldiers were running on the mud, so she understood what to do; Caesar ordered his men not to move and to prepare to attack the enemies. When, finally, Pompey's soldiers reached a few hundred meters from Caesar's legionaries they were exhausted and then the girl ordered her men to attack. The battle was lightning-fast as few and the enemies were forced to confront the veteran experts who had fought in Gaul. The experience of the Caesarian legionaries worked in Caesar's favor.
The girl's very strong legionaries managed to open a passage towards Pompey's camp. The soldiers in the camp sounded the alarm but Pompey, with a wave of his hand, stopped his men and said to them:
"Let her in. It will be interesting."
They looked at the commander with a worried air.
"I already have a plan in mind, don't worry ... I won't fail."
Meanwhile, Caesar's legions stopped a few steps from the camp. The girl got off the horse and, drawing her sword, she advanced.
"Don't follow me, I will settle this matter personally."
Caesar entered the enemy camp and there she saw Pompey, sitting on a chair, with a silver chalice in his hand. He took a sip of wine and then, after seeing the girl, threw the chalice at her. When it fell into the muddy ground, the girl said in a contemptuous tone:
"You won't tell me this is your way to offer me peace, will you?"
"Peace?" he smiled at her. "There will be no peace, Caesar. As long as you have breath ... there will be no peace." Pompey stood up. A kind of spear had been stuck near him, the blade of which was almost as long as a sword. The wood of the weapon was decorated with gold designs and the blade came out of a wolf's mouth of the same material. "You once had the great Crocea Mors. The Sword of the Hundred Faces. But now you no longer have a special weapon with you ... while I have this one. "
"I don't need magical weapons to defeat you."
"You are wrong here, Caesar."
Twenty legionaries in the service of Caesar, worried about her conditions, had entered the camp and immediately surrounded Pompey. He smiled.
"Now the fun begins."
A giant wolf made of fire appeared behind Pompey and, with a powerful howl, unleashed an explosion of flames that burned the legionaries alive. The girl was speechless, petrified as a statue, for the first time she really felt fear.
That fiery beast turned to Caesar and began to growl.
"Are you surprised, Caesar? Did you think you were the only Roman who was special? This one you see is a Lupus Maior and is the guardian of my family. Now, Caesar ... step forward!"
The girl, brandishing her sword, ran towards Pompey, however that wolf of fire stepped in her midst and spit a jet of flames from its mouth; Caesar dodged it with difficulty. The beast tried to bite the girl but she rolled to the ground to avoid the frightening jaws. When Caesar stood up she found Pompey in front of her who was already ready to behead her. She parried the blow of the blade, parried another blow. She walked away. She dodged the jaws of the fire beast again.
"Interesting ..." The man whistled and the wolf, after howling, turned into a shapeless heap of floating embers which, in contact with his weapon, enveloped it in flames. "Now let's see how you manage to survive!"
Pompey began to strike, the attacks left trails of fire behind. Caesar had difficulty parrying all blows. Eventually the girl's sword broke.
"You lost, Caesar!"
Then some legionnaires entered Pompey's camp and attacked the man screaming. Pompey managed to eliminate ten without any difficulty and in the end, when his weapon lost its flame, the gigantic fire beast reappeared and killed thirty other men.
Gaius Crastinus, a young centurion very loyal to Caesar, approached the girl and, worried, asked:
"Are you ok?"
"I do ... but we have to stop Pompey before he kills us all!"
"Well ..." Gaius Crastinus stood up and stood before Caesar.
"What do you want to do, fool? Call the other legionaries! Tell them to join us!"
"Caesar ..." he turned to her "... on this day, dead or alive, I will make sure you are grateful to me."
"No!" Caesar exclaimed as she saw her centurion hurl himself against Pompey.
The man was too busy killing the various legionaries to notice Crastinus, who attacked him and wounded his side with the sword.
"Son of a bitch!" Pompey exclaimed furiously.
"Caesar will win!"
"Maybe ... but you won't live to see it!" Pompey, with the blade, pierced Crastinus and then decapitated him.
The girl screamed in pain.
Pompey immediately thought of killing her too but when he realized that other enemy legionaries were arriving he decided to retreat to avoid risking his life.
The beast of fire disappeared and Pompey went away leaving Caesar among the corpses of her men.
With the end of the bloody battle the Pompeians withdrew and the girl returned among her soldiers, still traumatized by that terrible battle against her old friend.
Not all Pompeians agreed to flee and many, therefore, surrendered. The first to ask for Caesar's forgiveness was Brutus, the girl's adopted son; he stood at her feet and begged that he be forgiven; a man tried to attack the boy but Cesare stopped him and exclaimed furiously:
"Nobody will touch Brutus! He is under my protection."
The legionaries led Brutus to Caesar's tent which was located in the camp located in Pharsalus.
"I'm glad to see you are okay, my son. I'm sorry if you have been treated badly, I promise you it won't happen again."
Brutus said nothing. Caesar, noticing that the boy's expression was regretful, asked, worried about his health:
"Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"
"Caesar ..."
"Yes? Tell me, I'm listening."
"Caesar ... end this war, please. You're killing Romans, you're killing your own people in a useless conflict. Leave Pompey behind and end the war."
"It can't be done, Brutus. Pompey and your uncle Cato started this war, they are the real traitors, I tried to find peace but they wanted to bring out the worst in me. Now they will learn that no one should make me angry."
"So the rumors are true?"
"What rumors?"
"That you want to destroy the res publica to bring back the monarchy? It is true that you want to become king? Do you want to attack our values and corrupt us with an oppressive form of government that will take away the freedom of every Roman?"
"What 'values', Brutus? What values are you talking about, Brutus? What values does the Republic possess? Rome is in the hands of aristocrats unable to run a state, they are lazy men, attached to their wealth, who manipulate elections, who impoverish ordinary people and choking on their comforts and their gold. What values are you talking about, Brutus? Of misogyny, corruption, greed, decay, incompetence or maybe fear? You defend people who are afraid to change, you defend people who fear change just because they cling to the love of 'freedom' but what is the point of having so much freedom if you use it to harm people weaker than you? Will I bring the monarchy? No. I will reform the Republic. I will create a perfect, clean, orderly system, capable of giving every son and daughter of Rome what they deserve. And if to do this I have to obtain absolute power, so be it. I'm not afraid to become a perpetual dictator for the good of Rome. "
"What good? There is no good in 'reforming the Republic'! You will only risk making more enemies!"
"Why?"
"Too many things are changing, Caesar. You will never succeed in your enterprise."
"For me, the impossible doesn't exist. I will change the world. I will change Rome. I will be happy to have your support, my son, but I will never give up my dream."
With the end of the war in Gaul, Caesar returned to Italy hoping to be able to celebrate her triumphs, however something really unexpected happened. Two years earlier the Senate had chosen, with the support of Cato, Pompey as consul sine collega (consul without colleague). The Senate hated Pompey but hated Caesar even more and for this reason it gave the former ample powers. The alliance between Caesar and Pompey began to shatter.
The senators wanted to deprive the girl of her legions and take away all political power while she was still engaged in the wars in Gaul.
The girl learned of the Senate plots but in any case, to maintain friendship with Pompey, she supported his consulate.
With the end of Pompey's consulate, the two new anti-Caesarian consuls began to act to remove Caesar's domains in Gaul and also began to order the floggings of Barbarians who were in the territories that the girl had conquered. Caesar, indignant, turned to Pompey to find a way to put an end to these injustices. Pompey did nothing.
The fracture occurred.
Initially the Senate, on the proposal of Cato, wanted to remove the legions from both Pompey and Caesar, but then the plans changed; the Senate, in order to carry out a military campaign against the Parthians, requested legions and Pompey, who had given two to Caesar, took them from the girl and gave them to the Senate. Caesar had to accept. Pompey settled in Spain with his legions.
Caesar then communicated to the Senate that she would agree to renounce her legions only if Pompey did the same. No reply.
Very few in the Senate wanted to speak in favor of Caesar. The hatred towards the girl was so great that in the end Cato agreed to let Pompey's soldiers enter Rome with the aim of defending the city.
Pompey gathered his friends and enemies of Caesar to Rome. Eventually the Senate, under pressure from Pompey, sent a letter to Caesar. The conditions imposed by the Senate, Pompey and Cato were very simple: Caesar's successes would be recognized and she would have a large cash reward, however, she would've to give up the following things: the legions; the triumph; any political office.
"They want to deprive me of everything," said Caesar in her camp on the border between Gaul and the Roman Republic. "Either I renounce everything I fought for or they will declare me a public enemy. What is this? A twist of fate? Why is Pompey betraying me? Why did he ally himself with that stupid old Cato? Why did the Senate turn against me? They want to take me out of the game! "
Together with Caesar there were Marcus Antonius, Gaius Trebonius and Titus Labienus.
"Those foolish aristocrats want to frustrate my years in Gaul!"
"What do we do then?" Marcus Antonius asked, visibly worried.
"I'm not going to give way to those useless antiques, they want to humiliate me publicly, they want to force me to accept their terms so I can stay in power. But I don't accept it. I can't accept it! Not after all that I've done to get this far."
"I'm not sure it's a good idea to protest," Trebonius suggested.
"I've never seen you so hesitant, are you afraid of becoming a traitor?"
"If we refuse the offer of the Senate we will all become traitors, Caesar. We came from Gaul as heroes, we cannot cross the threshold of Rome as traitors to the homeland, it would be a dishonor for all of us."
"Honor? What is honor? What value does honor have when one's dignity is threatened by insolent and ignorant men? What do I do with honor if my pride is hurt by those who have never risked in life! Keep your honor dear, Trebonius; I demand respect! I'd rather be a traitor than be forgotten."
"I am with you, Caesar" asserted Marcus Antonius.
"Okay, but I still believe it's not a good idea," Trebonius said.
Titus Labienus remained. He didn't say anything.
"You go," Caesar commanded, "I want to be alone with Labienus."
The men obeyed. Labienus, in front of the girl, sighed and looked at her with eyes full of distrust; he spoke these words:
"I will not follow you."
Caesar did not have any exaggerated reactions but from her gaze it could be understood that she was shocked by those words.
"Why? May I know?"
"Because I don't believe in what you're doing. I fought with you in Gaul, I shared happiness and sadness with you, I accepted your every decision and I never criticized you for your mistakes. But now you want to fight Rome, you want to betray the homeland in which I believe, and I cannot follow you."
"So are you willing to accept this insult from the Senate?"
"It's not a matter of dignity, Caesar, for me it is a matter of loyalty. The truth is that you have never really been loyal to anything and now I understand it, now I see it with my own eyes."
"I can't be loyal to a city that despises me. "
"I understand that but I blame you. For me loyalty is priceless. Not even you, who are the strongest, most intelligent and most beautiful woman I have ever known, can come between me and Rome. If you decide to advance with the legions you will be the cause of a civil war and then the chaos you hate so much will break out. If you really love the law, if you really want order, accept surrender and accept the rules of Rome."
"The rules of Rome are wrong."
"Not for me. That's why it's better to say goodbye." Labienus turned and walked towards the exit. "But know one thing, you will always have my respect, my friend. Goodbye."
"Goodbye, Labienus. Take care of yourself."
Titus Labienus left Caesar's tent.
The girl on horseback, in front of the long Rubicon river, turned to her men who had served her faithfully in Gaul. In their faces she could read anxiety, worry and terror; she knew she was about to do something that no one had ever done before. Caesar too was afraid, her hands trembled and her eyes hardly looked at the horizon beyond which she would meet Rome. She opened her mouth to say:
"After all I've done, after all those glorious deeds I've accomplished, Rome betrays me, the Senate turns against me and my friends brandish their weapons to confront me. After years of wars in a foreign land, is this how I get paid? And why? Because I'n a woman? Beacause, as a woman, I've gained more glory than any single man in Rome? Because they're afraid of my power? Do you really think I care? It's not me who's lacking in loyalty, it is Rome that is lacking. Rome challenged me. It was not I. My legionaries, you fought together with me and conquered together with me, with me you conquered hundreds of thousands of enemies and you became not only friends for me, but brothers; and when Rome spits in my face it spits in your face too and I can't accept it. Let them treat me like a criminal, by now I'm used to the disdain of the aristocrats, but I can't tolerate you being treated like this! You didn't fight for nothing! You really want be insulted by those arrogant men?"
The legionaries shouted in unison:
"NO! WE WILL NOT BE INSULTED!"
"Exactly! So what will you do? Will you surrender? Will you bow down at the feet of rich men without honor or will you fight to defend your pride and dignity? Will you be worms or wolves? What will you do?"
"WE WILL FIGHT!"
"So be it, my legionaries, my fate is in your hands and your fate is in mine. We will live as heroes or die as traitors, once we cross the river there is no turning back. This is a bet we are making. A bet with the Gods ... alea iacta est. "
At the head of her legions she crossed the Rubicon and in so doing prepared to face the World.
48 BC
Pompey, knowing of Caesar's arrival, decided to leave Rome with those senators who were on his side, while the Cesarians remained in the city to welcome the girl and get help from her to put an end to the various rebellions that were taking place in the Italian peninsula. Caesar's order to her men was very clear: no unnecessary bloodshed. The girl didn't want to massacre the Romans, she wanted to force them to surrender by any means possible.
The previous year, Caesar had been appointed dictator and therefore had obtained extraordinary powers that she used to reconcile the Pompeians and Caesarians; but while she was doing this she was hunting Pompey, who had taken refuge in Durres along with his legions.
Caesar was sure she could defeat Pompey in Durres , but she didn't want to kill him, she wanted to induce him to surrender in order to put an end to the civil war that was tearing Rome apart. Together with Marcus Antonius, Caesar reached Durres and fought against Pompey but was incredibly defeated by the latter, however Pompey, being short-sighted and not very smart, never took advantage of that victory and let the girl escape along with her soldiers.
Caesar's forces settled in Thessaly for a few days. One night, in the military camp, Caesar summoned her best soldiers as well as those most devoted to her cause: Marcus Antonius; Lucius Munatius Plancus; Lucius Roscius Fabatus; Publius Sextius Baculus; Gaius Crastinus; Aulus Hirtius and Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus. She said these words to them:
"I'm not your hero. I don't know how you see me, but I'm not your hero; that's for sure. I've actually been thinking about it since I came back from Gaul ... have I really done the right thing? I don't know. Posterity will judge me. The same thing I can say by looking at this mad civil war. For this reason I ask you not to worship me, not to treat me as 'the one who will save Rome' because I'm not doing any of this. I'm fighting to change the world, I'm fighting to destroy the old and replace it with the new; this war must lead us to the future, it doesn't have to keep us anchored in the past." She looked at her hands and for a moment had the impression of having them stained with blood. "I am really willing to dye the waters of the Mare Nostrum red in order to make the world a better place? The answer is yes. For the sake of a new world I'm willing to burn the old one and build on its ashes. I'm willing to become a monster for the sake of future generations. If this is really my destiny, so be it."
June 48 BC
The rain beat down on the various Roman legions lined up on two opposite fronts at Pharsalus. Caesar, in front of all her men, advanced on horseback, alone, to meet Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (or Pompey the Great) in the center of the battlefield. Pompey was a man who had the typical appearance of the soldier: he was tall, muscular, had no beard; his hair, which touched his shoulders, was the same color as a chestnut, just like his eyes. He had a hard-featured face and the look of one who had fought several wars.
Pompey's armor was a typical golden lorica musculata on a black tunic, even the caligas were black; he wore gilded leggings and bracelets; over the armor he wore a short, charcoal cloak.
It was impossible to mistake Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus for an ordinary legionary.
When the man saw Caesar, he smiled, but you could tell from his eyes that he was angry with her. The two allies, now deadly enemies, were finally face to face. Pompey told her:
"We are at the end, Caesar. It would be convenient for you to surrender."
"No. I'm not the one who started this civil war, it was you with Cato. But I don't understand why. We were friends, you were my ally. Why did you do all this?"
"Do you really think you can delude me, Caesar? Maybe your good looks can deceive fools, but I am no fool and I knew that with your campaign in Gaul you were only trying to get absolute power. Otherwise why risk so much? Only those who crave power perform such crazy acts. I couldn't risk being overshadowed by someone like you."
"So you started this war just to defend your stupid pride?"
Then Caesar, after saying those words, realized she had done the same thing. She smiled, shaking her head slightly.
"What's going on, woman?"
"Nothing ... it's just that ... it all seems so absurd. It's funny to think that I'm so similar to you and yet so different. It almost seems like a joke orchestrated by those Gods."
"What are you talking about?" Pompey asked, confused.
"Ignore the ravings of your enemy, it no longer matters because after this day I will pacify Rome."
"Yes, you will ... since only with your death, Rome will finally find peace."
Pompey turned his back to Caesar. The girl saw the golden wolf coat of arms on the man's cloak, the coat of arms of the gens Pompeia.
The two commanders returned to their respective legions. Pompey, once he reached his men, shouted to Caesar:
"Your destiny has brought you to me so that I could eliminate you! And that's what I will do! Men, advance! Bring me the head of Gaius Julius Caesar!"
The number of Pompey's legionaries amounted to about forty-five thousand while those of Caesar were just twenty-five thousand; the girl was aware that facing Pompey in those conditions would be difficult but then she noticed that the distance between their two legions was very wide and the enemy soldiers were running on the mud, so she understood what to do; Caesar ordered his men not to move and to prepare to attack the enemies. When, finally, Pompey's soldiers reached a few hundred meters from Caesar's legionaries they were exhausted and then the girl ordered her men to attack. The battle was lightning-fast as few and the enemies were forced to confront the veteran experts who had fought in Gaul. The experience of the Caesarian legionaries worked in Caesar's favor.
The girl's very strong legionaries managed to open a passage towards Pompey's camp. The soldiers in the camp sounded the alarm but Pompey, with a wave of his hand, stopped his men and said to them:
"Let her in. It will be interesting."
They looked at the commander with a worried air.
"I already have a plan in mind, don't worry ... I won't fail."
Meanwhile, Caesar's legions stopped a few steps from the camp. The girl got off the horse and, drawing her sword, she advanced.
"Don't follow me, I will settle this matter personally."
Caesar entered the enemy camp and there she saw Pompey, sitting on a chair, with a silver chalice in his hand. He took a sip of wine and then, after seeing the girl, threw the chalice at her. When it fell into the muddy ground, the girl said in a contemptuous tone:
"You won't tell me this is your way to offer me peace, will you?"
"Peace?" he smiled at her. "There will be no peace, Caesar. As long as you have breath ... there will be no peace." Pompey stood up. A kind of spear had been stuck near him, the blade of which was almost as long as a sword. The wood of the weapon was decorated with gold designs and the blade came out of a wolf's mouth of the same material. "You once had the great Crocea Mors. The Sword of the Hundred Faces. But now you no longer have a special weapon with you ... while I have this one. "
"I don't need magical weapons to defeat you."
"You are wrong here, Caesar."
Twenty legionaries in the service of Caesar, worried about her conditions, had entered the camp and immediately surrounded Pompey. He smiled.
"Now the fun begins."
A giant wolf made of fire appeared behind Pompey and, with a powerful howl, unleashed an explosion of flames that burned the legionaries alive. The girl was speechless, petrified as a statue, for the first time she really felt fear.
That fiery beast turned to Caesar and began to growl.
"Are you surprised, Caesar? Did you think you were the only Roman who was special? This one you see is a Lupus Maior and is the guardian of my family. Now, Caesar ... step forward!"
The girl, brandishing her sword, ran towards Pompey, however that wolf of fire stepped in her midst and spit a jet of flames from its mouth; Caesar dodged it with difficulty. The beast tried to bite the girl but she rolled to the ground to avoid the frightening jaws. When Caesar stood up she found Pompey in front of her who was already ready to behead her. She parried the blow of the blade, parried another blow. She walked away. She dodged the jaws of the fire beast again.
"Interesting ..." The man whistled and the wolf, after howling, turned into a shapeless heap of floating embers which, in contact with his weapon, enveloped it in flames. "Now let's see how you manage to survive!"
Pompey began to strike, the attacks left trails of fire behind. Caesar had difficulty parrying all blows. Eventually the girl's sword broke.
"You lost, Caesar!"
Then some legionnaires entered Pompey's camp and attacked the man screaming. Pompey managed to eliminate ten without any difficulty and in the end, when his weapon lost its flame, the gigantic fire beast reappeared and killed thirty other men.
Gaius Crastinus, a young centurion very loyal to Caesar, approached the girl and, worried, asked:
"Are you ok?"
"I do ... but we have to stop Pompey before he kills us all!"
"Well ..." Gaius Crastinus stood up and stood before Caesar.
"What do you want to do, fool? Call the other legionaries! Tell them to join us!"
"Caesar ..." he turned to her "... on this day, dead or alive, I will make sure you are grateful to me."
"No!" Caesar exclaimed as she saw her centurion hurl himself against Pompey.
The man was too busy killing the various legionaries to notice Crastinus, who attacked him and wounded his side with the sword.
"Son of a bitch!" Pompey exclaimed furiously.
"Caesar will win!"
"Maybe ... but you won't live to see it!" Pompey, with the blade, pierced Crastinus and then decapitated him.
The girl screamed in pain.
Pompey immediately thought of killing her too but when he realized that other enemy legionaries were arriving he decided to retreat to avoid risking his life.
The beast of fire disappeared and Pompey went away leaving Caesar among the corpses of her men.
With the end of the bloody battle the Pompeians withdrew and the girl returned among her soldiers, still traumatized by that terrible battle against her old friend.
Not all Pompeians agreed to flee and many, therefore, surrendered. The first to ask for Caesar's forgiveness was Brutus, the girl's adopted son; he stood at her feet and begged that he be forgiven; a man tried to attack the boy but Cesare stopped him and exclaimed furiously:
"Nobody will touch Brutus! He is under my protection."
The legionaries led Brutus to Caesar's tent which was located in the camp located in Pharsalus.
"I'm glad to see you are okay, my son. I'm sorry if you have been treated badly, I promise you it won't happen again."
Brutus said nothing. Caesar, noticing that the boy's expression was regretful, asked, worried about his health:
"Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"
"Caesar ..."
"Yes? Tell me, I'm listening."
"Caesar ... end this war, please. You're killing Romans, you're killing your own people in a useless conflict. Leave Pompey behind and end the war."
"It can't be done, Brutus. Pompey and your uncle Cato started this war, they are the real traitors, I tried to find peace but they wanted to bring out the worst in me. Now they will learn that no one should make me angry."
"So the rumors are true?"
"What rumors?"
"That you want to destroy the res publica to bring back the monarchy? It is true that you want to become king? Do you want to attack our values and corrupt us with an oppressive form of government that will take away the freedom of every Roman?"
"What 'values', Brutus? What values are you talking about, Brutus? What values does the Republic possess? Rome is in the hands of aristocrats unable to run a state, they are lazy men, attached to their wealth, who manipulate elections, who impoverish ordinary people and choking on their comforts and their gold. What values are you talking about, Brutus? Of misogyny, corruption, greed, decay, incompetence or maybe fear? You defend people who are afraid to change, you defend people who fear change just because they cling to the love of 'freedom' but what is the point of having so much freedom if you use it to harm people weaker than you? Will I bring the monarchy? No. I will reform the Republic. I will create a perfect, clean, orderly system, capable of giving every son and daughter of Rome what they deserve. And if to do this I have to obtain absolute power, so be it. I'm not afraid to become a perpetual dictator for the good of Rome. "
"What good? There is no good in 'reforming the Republic'! You will only risk making more enemies!"
"Why?"
"Too many things are changing, Caesar. You will never succeed in your enterprise."
"For me, the impossible doesn't exist. I will change the world. I will change Rome. I will be happy to have your support, my son, but I will never give up my dream."
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