Proceeding east, Caesar landed a week later in Iudaea with his four legions, only to find the province in a state of crisis. The tribes of the Saba had recently invaded the Levant and already besieged more than one city in an attempt to loosen Roma's grip on the region. Pulcher had come through six months before, and his arrival had provided some relief, as the Saba had been forced to lift the siege, for fear that his four legions might fall upon them. Pulcher's aim, however, was to kill Gallicus' assassins, and as soon as the Saba had lifted the siege he had moved on to Mesopotamia, effectively leaving the situation unresolved. As much as Caius was tempted to follow Pulcher's example and ignore the problem in favor of vengeance, he knew that revenge would be small comfort if the entire region fell into chaos. Thus he decided to divert from his plans to deal with the Saba. Engaging them in the wooded hills southwest of Bostra, Caius found the Sabae to be tenacious, despite their lighter armaments, and for quite some time he was unable to flank their force. Finally though, once a few units had routed he was able to maneuver his bodyguard, Gallic auxiliary cavalry and a few cohorts and partially surround the Saba army, who were slowly worn down and destroyed.
Their general's bodyguard being were last to fall.
It was as the legions were reordering themselves after the battle that a messenger from one of the informants Caius had inherited from his father arrived: C. Claudius Pulcher was dead. None of the locals seemed to know any of the details, though in truth, Pulcher had died marching through Mesopotamia. He had contracted a dreadful disease that caused his bowels to rot, a clear curse from the gods and a sign of their disfavor. Thoroughly spooked, the men had refused to march any further. Pulcher, already weak, somehow managed to leave his tent to address them. He was delirious and railed against his men, calling them treacherous curs. They, in turn, became unsettled and began muttering angrily. Visibly growing weaker, Pulcher began to rant incoherently and the soldiers were becoming more agitated by the minute. Finally, in mid-sentence his voice faltered, he swayed for a moment, collapsed and thereupon expired.
Command of the four legions was given to Sv. Atilius Balbus, Pulcher's subordinate, who seized command by promising to march the legions home. Thus, making an about-face, the legions of Caius Claudius Pulcher began to make their way to Sidon where a fleet could return them to Italia. It was on this march that Balbus' forces met those of Caius Iulius Caesar, which were advancing through the aluvial plains to dispense with the two remaining assassins.
The leaders of the two armies advanced on horseback, meeting half-way between their respective battle lines. Caesar spoke first, thanking Balbus for his services in keeping the men in good order and bringing them to meet their new commander. Somewhat insulted, Servius stated that he had not marched the legions through Mesopotamia to give them over to Caesar, and asked what qualifications for Imperium Caesar possessed that he himself did not as well. Caius was taken aback, but rallied and responded evenly that both his legions and those of C. Claudius Pulcher had last been under the command of his father, who was now worshiped as a god in Roma, and that he knew of no better man to command a god's legions than the god's son. Balbus scoffed at the divinity of Caesar Gallicus, whereupon Caius responded coldly that Servius' theological beliefs were irrelevant, but that he himself nonetheless had every intention of taking command of the four legions previously under the command of C. Pulcher. At this point, Atilius Balbus spat derisively at Caesar before he and his entourage turned and made for their battle lines.
Caius too returned to his lines and instructed his men to hold their ground and fight if Balbus' legions showed hostile intentions - which, he confided, they probably would. His suspicions were confirmed moments later, as the opposing army began to advance upon them. When they came into range, Caesar's legions cast their pila and charged.
The enemy was possessed with a mad desperation, which swiftly turned to panic when Sv. Balbus was killed in the center of the fighting. The enemy legions had retreated to their camp within the hour and surrendered shortly thereafter. Caius ordered them to expand their camp to be large enough to also accommodate his own men and then camped the eight legions together. Caesar's mercy and the presence of his well-disciplined men had the effect of improving the morale of the rebellious legions and inspiring loyalty in them.
Meanwhile, Caesar set about devising a means to deal with Nm. Papirius Cursor - the proconsul of Mesopotamia - and the assassins he was sheltering. A battle was out of the question. Morale among the four legions he had "acquired" from Balbus was improving, but still nowhere near the point where they were combat-ready. Furthermore, Cursor was already in the middle of a war with the Bactrian Empire. If he and Caesar were to come to blows now, there was every likelihood that Mesopotamia would be lost to Bactria. Even if it wasn't, Cursor was a skilled commander, and his death would undoubtedly be a setback to the Roman war effort in the region. Thus, Caius concluded, diplomacy was his best tool. He sent a courier with a message for Cursor. In it, he informed the proconsul that he was here to avenge the death of his father. Mentioning this was of course just a formality, as he had no doubt that Cursor knew very well why he was there. He told Numerius that he knew the murderers were being sheltered by him, but that he had no desire to bring his eight legions to bear against a faithful son of the Res Publica. In exchange for the assassins, he offered his friendship, and aid against the Bactrian Empire. Beset as he was on all sides, Numerius Cursor agreed to most of the terms. Five days before the Kalends of May, the assassins, T. Sulla and T. Blasio, held a symposium, their last night in the land of the living, and ended it with a round of Pompeian wine laced with arsenic.
This business dispensed, Caesar sent emissaries to the king of Bactria. He lamented the breach that had been made in their friendship, but noted critically that the King had been the first to resort to violence. He informed the king that he and Cursor had twelve legions between them and that if a peace was not brokered they intended to expand further. As terms of peace he demanded no indemnities nor additional land, merely an official recognition of Roma's hegemony over Mesopotamia on the part of Bactria. Pressed on other fronts by the insurgent Parthian kingdom, the King agreed.
Since matters in the east had now been put to order, Caesar endeavored to return his legions to Italia. As a guarantee against further Bactrian encursions, he stationed the legions obtained after Pulcher's death near Babylon so that they could be at Cursor's disposal if needed. Then he proceeded west with his four legions to Antiocheia where his fleet was awaiting him. From there he set sail for Brundisium, stopping on the way to annex the island of Rhodos, the last foreign shore in the Mediterranean.
From Brundisium he marched north for Roma, and when news of this reached the city, many resigned themselves to another absolute ruler. In this they were to be surprised. When he arrived in Latium, Caesar circumvented the city and made for the Field of Mars, where he set up camp. He recognized the illegality of entering the city while commanding an army, even if the army wasn't with him, and so sent a messenger asking the Senate to convene in the temple of Mars outside the boundaries of the city. At this meeting he informed the Senate that he had brought the Res Publica to peace and stabilized her provinces. The Senate applauded him and offered to make him Consul for life, but he demurred.
Caius had been busy in the east, but not too busy to consider the future - or, for that matter, the past. He had loved his father, but he had known that Decimus' domination of the Consulship for five consecutive years had not been popular. It was undoubtedly the reason he had been killed, and Caius had no more intention of having the same fate than he did of giving up power, so instead he asked three things: first, that in honor of his achievements he be given the old title of Princeps Senatus, which would allow him to speak first on any issue; second, that he be given the powers of a tribune so that he could continue to advocate for the peace and stability of the Res Publica; third that he be given overall command of all proconsular armies, so that he could continue his work of stabilizing and expanding the provinces. The Senate, relieved that Caesar had no intention of holding the Consulship hostage like his father, accepted.
The new Princeps swiftly began a program of military reforms to bring more efficiency to the army. In his estimation, the old Lucullan Cohorts fought well, but were difficult to recruit in the provinces, due to the smaller population of Roman citizens. To remedy this he standardized the auxilia that had often fought alongside Roma and made them a regular part of Roman armies. They would be equipped to nearly the same standard as legionaries and would receive citizenship as a reward on their retirement. He sent his father's re-equipped legions north to garrison Panonia, with the exception of one legion's worth of his best veterans, who were reorganized into a bodyguard force that would be named for their proximity to Caesar's military headquarters, the Praetorium.
Just so you guys know, this is going to be my last post about my Imperium Romanum - I may not have achieved the faction objectives, but I've played the Romani before and seen the victory screen, so that wasn't really my objective in doing this little project. I may return to it at some point, but I'm ready to do other things in EB, and, at any rate, I've accomplished my objective - role-playing the Romani to the Augustan era.
Next up...
Originally Posted by XSamatan
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:-M
Re: Post your EB empires!
- REVENGE!!!
- A NEW DYNASTY!!!
They are called Xipphospherontes Thorakitai Makedonikai ( Sword-bearing Makedonian Thorakitai/Armoured ones), Basileus Olympiades experimented with the concept while campaining in Iran and he plans to make them the rank-and-file troops - replacing the now outdated regular Thorakitai - of the Makedonian Empire after the the Civil War is over (since it's a bit hard to make empire-wide-reforms while fighting a civil war of this size). They are basically Hellenistic Legionaries
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