Caesar had put an end to the civil war and not only obtained the office of dictator, which she made perpetual, but decided to celebrate her victories by giving money to every legionnaire and every inhabitant of Rome and organized parties, games in the amphitheater and also theatrical performances to make people happy.
For the first time, after long battles, Caesar was able to enjoy the peace. She not only embraced her beloved Calpurnia but she could also devote herself to those activities that she had neglected such as poetry and philosophy. The girl also organized funerals to remember the valiant Roman soldiers who had fought alongside her and who had died with honor.
Caesar, at that time, began to attend theaters and during her performances there was a tendency to tease her a little and she loved having a laugh. The girl's sense of self-irony was enjoyed by both writers and poets, and sometimes even her soldiers enjoyed mocking her.
However, a feeling of submission towards the girl grew and many citizens began to behave as subjects, indeed, they wanted to be considered as such and they wanted Caesar as monarch of Rome, but in fact she never became one.
She neither wanted to be treated like a queen, nor to become one.
In politics Caesar ordered a census of the inhabitants of Rome in order to improve the city management, she founded new colonies in the provinces in this way she was able to re-establish cities like Carthage and Corinth that had been destroyed a century earlier. She had a temple built in honor of Venus, she opened new roads that had to connect Rome with the northern lands, she had the swamps reclaimed, she reformed the calendar with the help of mathematicians and astronomers, she reduced the tax burden, had the statues of Sulla, Pompey and Gaius Marius rebuilt. The message was clear: everyone had to go back to normal and forget about the civil war.
Caesar no longer wanted political division. She no longer wanted internal rivalries. She wanted to unite the people, she wanted to unite the people in this period of peace.
But the peace was precarious.
The rebellions began again in Spain at the hands of two sons of Pompey and Caesar's lieutenant: Titus Labienus.
45 BC
Caesar reached Spain to put an end to the rebellion. Before the battle, the girl reached her tent to reflect. Marcus Antonius, her most trusted ally, followed her and when he saw her crying, he worried about her.
"Caesar, are you okay? Why are you crying?"
Then he saw the dagger in her hands.
"Caesar? What happens? What are you doing with that dagger?" Marcus Antonius asked, shocked.
She turned to him, surprised to see him and hid the weapon.
"Nothing," she replied pretending to smile.
"You're crying. What is it, Caesar? Why are you crying?"
"It's nothing ... seriously. Go away."
"Please, talk to me. You have nothing to fear, Caesar, I can understand you, you know. Are you afraid of losing to Labienus? You cannot be afraid of losing, with you we can win."
"What if it's not the last? What if there's another battle? And then another? Why do men never understand when it's time to surrender? It's useless to continue the fight now. Yet there they are ... all gathered and led by my most trusted lieutenant, Titus Labienus ... my friend ... wants to destroy the peace that I have given to Rome. Why? Am I the problem? Then I might as well kill myself in order to put an end to this madness, yes ... I don't want to fight anymore. It's too much for me."
"Enough! We can win, Caesar! Trust me. This will be the last battle! Guide us, lead us to victory and I promise you that no one else will dare to rebel" exclaimed Marcus Antonius.
Caesar immediately understood from Antonius' gaze that he didn't believe it either and yet, despite this, he harbored the hope that soon everything would end for the best and she didn't want to let that hope die. Caesar wiped her tears, took her sword and said:
"I wanted to be the hero of Rome but there are no heroes in Rome."
During the civil war in Spain, Caesar abandoned the usual clemency with which she forgave her enemies and decided to show her cruelty. Without hesitation, without second thoughts, Caesar moved against other Romans, against other legionaries, and ordered them to be massacred. She didn't want to leave any traitors alive, everyone had to be killed. The brutality of that war disgusted both the senators and the people but it mattered little to Caesar.
The Battle of Munda was the only battle in which Caesar could have lost. Titus Labienus knew Caesar's tactics, he had learned them during the conquest of Gaul and for this he knew how to counter her moves and was able to put her in serious difficulty.
The battle lasted for a few days. Labienus' strategies were just as effective as Caesar's and neither of them intended to lose. The Labienus cavalry was able to kill most of the enemy infantry and forced Caesar to go down to the front line.
The presence of the girl increased the morale of the army but did not produce the results she hoped for, in fact the enemies didn't lose the will to fight and continued to resist without ever ceasing to oppose the Caesarian legions.
According to Caesar, the only way to deal with Labienus was to be helped by a precious ally, a king called Bogud. He was an African ruler, master of Mauretania. The army of the foreign sovereign attacked the legion of Labienus from behind and put it in crisis.
Caesar used that situation to break the enemy formation and attack Titus Labienus directly. When the two met, in the hot rain, they exchanged several sword strokes without getting hurt.
"Stop fighting, Labienus! What you are doing makes no sense! You're sending your soldiers to die for nothing! End this madness while you can! Come back to my side and all will be forgiven!"
"Never! I'll never be your lieutenant again!"
"Why? What have I done wrong to you? I have given you everything! My affection, my friendship and even my body! Why do you persist in fighting me!"
"Because my loyalty to you is second to my loyalty to Rome! You killed Pompey! You killed Cato! You joined a viper who wishes to manipulate you and turn Rome into a theocratic monarchy and you killed our brothers by threatening to destroy the Republic for which I have decided to stake my own life! I am a soldier and I will die for the Republic not for a monarchy! "
"I don't want the monarchy! I just want to change things!"
Caesar kicked Labienus in the stomach and the man fell to the ground, but got up immediately.
"Lies! Yours are just lies! I know you! So stop holding back and show your true colors, Caesar!" Titus Labienus yelled, wounding the girl in her arm.
"Labienus, look around! You're losing!" Caesar wounded the man in his side.
"I will not lose against you!"
The swords continued to clash and then, in the end, the man gave a blow that disarmed the girl. Caesar found Labienus' blade pointed at her throat.
"After everything we've been through together ... is this what you want?"
"You were the best friend and the best lover I ever had ... and now you are also the worst of my enemies. Fate is really so cruel. Do you agree, Caesar?"
"Yes. Fate is really cruel, my friend."
He prepared to cut off her head. When the slash came she ducked, drew a dagger, and pierced Labienus' trachea. The two fell together in a pool of mud. When she opened her eyes and saw the man's dead gaze, her heart despaired. Her tears bathed that lifeless face. Caesar closed her eyes and spoke these words:
"Men willingly believe what they wish to be true. You were not an exception, my friend."
The battle ended. The legionaries gathered around the body of Labienus. Those who had fought against Caesar, when they saw the body of their commander, were indignant and one of them, in tears, shouted to Caesar:
"Monster! You're a shame! How could you kill a friend of yours?"
Caesar, stained with blood and mud, did not answer; she picked up her sword and approached the soldier and with a cold look she said:
"Shut up."
The girl cut off the head of that legionnaire. Caesar's allies were shocked and disgusted at the same time, Marcus Antonius exclaimed:
"It wasn't necessary! Why did you do that?! They had given up now!"
"Shut up or the same thing will happen to you," she said coldly, turning to him.
The looks of all present were horrified and even frightened. She looked at them all. One by one. Those blood eyes were filled with disappointment. Caesar pointed with her sword at the corpse of Titus Labienus and exclaimed:
"I'm disappointed in all of you! All of you, who have betrayed, have disappointed me! Is this what you want Rome to be? A country always torn by civil wars that can easily fall victim to Barbarians? Is this what you want? This is what do you want? Do you want to fight against your brothers and sisters without caring about the image we give to the world? "
No one answered, but their eyes had been captured by her.
"We are Rome! We are law, civilization, army and justice! All peoples are united by us! All people want to be like us! We are a model for foreigners and we should welcome them all to make them part of our dream of not having borders. That's right, you heard me right! Rome has no borders! Because Rome is not simply the capital of the world… it is the world! The whole world is Rome!"
The eyes of the soldiers lit up and their hearts were warmed by those words.
"We will conquer the horizon, together! For years Rome was averse to foreigners and preferred to discriminate against the Barbarians rather than make them part of itself. The aristocratic reactionaries had so much fear of progress that in the end they were crushed by it. It happened to Pompey. It happened to Cato. And it happened… in Labienus. That's the way it goes. It's a law. We must always move forward. Clinging to what is no longer there is foolish. And now you're making the same mistake. You are clinging to something that is no longer there. Is this what you want? "
Guilty looks were surrounding Caesar.
"Answer! Is this what you want? Do you want to rot with the past or do you want to change the world? How do you want to be remembered? Like those who have built something new and who bravely started a new era? Or would you rather be remembered as fearful conformists too scared of the future to be able to make Rome better?"
"So ... do you want to be king of Rome?" Marcus Antonius asked.
"No. Never. I will not repeat the same mistakes of Sulla and I will not make anyone a subject. You will be free and you will be my accomplices in building a new future. But I don't want to be the umpteenth monarch that this world has known, I want to be Caesar. So what do you have to say?"
The soldiers lined up and shouted in unison:
"HAIL CAESAR!"
For the first time, after long battles, Caesar was able to enjoy the peace. She not only embraced her beloved Calpurnia but she could also devote herself to those activities that she had neglected such as poetry and philosophy. The girl also organized funerals to remember the valiant Roman soldiers who had fought alongside her and who had died with honor.
Caesar, at that time, began to attend theaters and during her performances there was a tendency to tease her a little and she loved having a laugh. The girl's sense of self-irony was enjoyed by both writers and poets, and sometimes even her soldiers enjoyed mocking her.
However, a feeling of submission towards the girl grew and many citizens began to behave as subjects, indeed, they wanted to be considered as such and they wanted Caesar as monarch of Rome, but in fact she never became one.
She neither wanted to be treated like a queen, nor to become one.
In politics Caesar ordered a census of the inhabitants of Rome in order to improve the city management, she founded new colonies in the provinces in this way she was able to re-establish cities like Carthage and Corinth that had been destroyed a century earlier. She had a temple built in honor of Venus, she opened new roads that had to connect Rome with the northern lands, she had the swamps reclaimed, she reformed the calendar with the help of mathematicians and astronomers, she reduced the tax burden, had the statues of Sulla, Pompey and Gaius Marius rebuilt. The message was clear: everyone had to go back to normal and forget about the civil war.
Caesar no longer wanted political division. She no longer wanted internal rivalries. She wanted to unite the people, she wanted to unite the people in this period of peace.
But the peace was precarious.
The rebellions began again in Spain at the hands of two sons of Pompey and Caesar's lieutenant: Titus Labienus.
45 BC
Caesar reached Spain to put an end to the rebellion. Before the battle, the girl reached her tent to reflect. Marcus Antonius, her most trusted ally, followed her and when he saw her crying, he worried about her.
"Caesar, are you okay? Why are you crying?"
Then he saw the dagger in her hands.
"Caesar? What happens? What are you doing with that dagger?" Marcus Antonius asked, shocked.
She turned to him, surprised to see him and hid the weapon.
"Nothing," she replied pretending to smile.
"You're crying. What is it, Caesar? Why are you crying?"
"It's nothing ... seriously. Go away."
"Please, talk to me. You have nothing to fear, Caesar, I can understand you, you know. Are you afraid of losing to Labienus? You cannot be afraid of losing, with you we can win."
"What if it's not the last? What if there's another battle? And then another? Why do men never understand when it's time to surrender? It's useless to continue the fight now. Yet there they are ... all gathered and led by my most trusted lieutenant, Titus Labienus ... my friend ... wants to destroy the peace that I have given to Rome. Why? Am I the problem? Then I might as well kill myself in order to put an end to this madness, yes ... I don't want to fight anymore. It's too much for me."
"Enough! We can win, Caesar! Trust me. This will be the last battle! Guide us, lead us to victory and I promise you that no one else will dare to rebel" exclaimed Marcus Antonius.
Caesar immediately understood from Antonius' gaze that he didn't believe it either and yet, despite this, he harbored the hope that soon everything would end for the best and she didn't want to let that hope die. Caesar wiped her tears, took her sword and said:
"I wanted to be the hero of Rome but there are no heroes in Rome."
During the civil war in Spain, Caesar abandoned the usual clemency with which she forgave her enemies and decided to show her cruelty. Without hesitation, without second thoughts, Caesar moved against other Romans, against other legionaries, and ordered them to be massacred. She didn't want to leave any traitors alive, everyone had to be killed. The brutality of that war disgusted both the senators and the people but it mattered little to Caesar.
The Battle of Munda was the only battle in which Caesar could have lost. Titus Labienus knew Caesar's tactics, he had learned them during the conquest of Gaul and for this he knew how to counter her moves and was able to put her in serious difficulty.
The battle lasted for a few days. Labienus' strategies were just as effective as Caesar's and neither of them intended to lose. The Labienus cavalry was able to kill most of the enemy infantry and forced Caesar to go down to the front line.
The presence of the girl increased the morale of the army but did not produce the results she hoped for, in fact the enemies didn't lose the will to fight and continued to resist without ever ceasing to oppose the Caesarian legions.
According to Caesar, the only way to deal with Labienus was to be helped by a precious ally, a king called Bogud. He was an African ruler, master of Mauretania. The army of the foreign sovereign attacked the legion of Labienus from behind and put it in crisis.
Caesar used that situation to break the enemy formation and attack Titus Labienus directly. When the two met, in the hot rain, they exchanged several sword strokes without getting hurt.
"Stop fighting, Labienus! What you are doing makes no sense! You're sending your soldiers to die for nothing! End this madness while you can! Come back to my side and all will be forgiven!"
"Never! I'll never be your lieutenant again!"
"Why? What have I done wrong to you? I have given you everything! My affection, my friendship and even my body! Why do you persist in fighting me!"
"Because my loyalty to you is second to my loyalty to Rome! You killed Pompey! You killed Cato! You joined a viper who wishes to manipulate you and turn Rome into a theocratic monarchy and you killed our brothers by threatening to destroy the Republic for which I have decided to stake my own life! I am a soldier and I will die for the Republic not for a monarchy! "
"I don't want the monarchy! I just want to change things!"
Caesar kicked Labienus in the stomach and the man fell to the ground, but got up immediately.
"Lies! Yours are just lies! I know you! So stop holding back and show your true colors, Caesar!" Titus Labienus yelled, wounding the girl in her arm.
"Labienus, look around! You're losing!" Caesar wounded the man in his side.
"I will not lose against you!"
The swords continued to clash and then, in the end, the man gave a blow that disarmed the girl. Caesar found Labienus' blade pointed at her throat.
"After everything we've been through together ... is this what you want?"
"You were the best friend and the best lover I ever had ... and now you are also the worst of my enemies. Fate is really so cruel. Do you agree, Caesar?"
"Yes. Fate is really cruel, my friend."
He prepared to cut off her head. When the slash came she ducked, drew a dagger, and pierced Labienus' trachea. The two fell together in a pool of mud. When she opened her eyes and saw the man's dead gaze, her heart despaired. Her tears bathed that lifeless face. Caesar closed her eyes and spoke these words:
"Men willingly believe what they wish to be true. You were not an exception, my friend."
The battle ended. The legionaries gathered around the body of Labienus. Those who had fought against Caesar, when they saw the body of their commander, were indignant and one of them, in tears, shouted to Caesar:
"Monster! You're a shame! How could you kill a friend of yours?"
Caesar, stained with blood and mud, did not answer; she picked up her sword and approached the soldier and with a cold look she said:
"Shut up."
The girl cut off the head of that legionnaire. Caesar's allies were shocked and disgusted at the same time, Marcus Antonius exclaimed:
"It wasn't necessary! Why did you do that?! They had given up now!"
"Shut up or the same thing will happen to you," she said coldly, turning to him.
The looks of all present were horrified and even frightened. She looked at them all. One by one. Those blood eyes were filled with disappointment. Caesar pointed with her sword at the corpse of Titus Labienus and exclaimed:
"I'm disappointed in all of you! All of you, who have betrayed, have disappointed me! Is this what you want Rome to be? A country always torn by civil wars that can easily fall victim to Barbarians? Is this what you want? This is what do you want? Do you want to fight against your brothers and sisters without caring about the image we give to the world? "
No one answered, but their eyes had been captured by her.
"We are Rome! We are law, civilization, army and justice! All peoples are united by us! All people want to be like us! We are a model for foreigners and we should welcome them all to make them part of our dream of not having borders. That's right, you heard me right! Rome has no borders! Because Rome is not simply the capital of the world… it is the world! The whole world is Rome!"
The eyes of the soldiers lit up and their hearts were warmed by those words.
"We will conquer the horizon, together! For years Rome was averse to foreigners and preferred to discriminate against the Barbarians rather than make them part of itself. The aristocratic reactionaries had so much fear of progress that in the end they were crushed by it. It happened to Pompey. It happened to Cato. And it happened… in Labienus. That's the way it goes. It's a law. We must always move forward. Clinging to what is no longer there is foolish. And now you're making the same mistake. You are clinging to something that is no longer there. Is this what you want? "
Guilty looks were surrounding Caesar.
"Answer! Is this what you want? Do you want to rot with the past or do you want to change the world? How do you want to be remembered? Like those who have built something new and who bravely started a new era? Or would you rather be remembered as fearful conformists too scared of the future to be able to make Rome better?"
"So ... do you want to be king of Rome?" Marcus Antonius asked.
"No. Never. I will not repeat the same mistakes of Sulla and I will not make anyone a subject. You will be free and you will be my accomplices in building a new future. But I don't want to be the umpteenth monarch that this world has known, I want to be Caesar. So what do you have to say?"
The soldiers lined up and shouted in unison:
"HAIL CAESAR!"
