[mysterious music playing]
It isn't too late.
Any man who wishes to turn back...
go now...
with no dishonor.
We cross this stream...
we are fighting all the way to Rome.
Are you with me?
ALL: Long live Caesar!
- Let the dice fly high! - [all shouting]
[epic music playing]
Caesar stands as a colossus in world history.
He is one of the most brilliant
but also dangerous statesmen who ever lived.
He was an orator, a warrior.
He built an empire.
Victory, or death!
[soldiers shouting]
Caesar took on the greatest rivals of his day
and defeated them one by one.
Caesar turns the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire.
The defining aspect of Caesar's personality
is his willingness to gamble.
He is cunning, he's devious,
he's not always as sincere as he proclaims.
The three of us would be invincible.
[people shouting]
Does he declare war on the Republic
in order to save it, or to dismantle it?
Your bruised ego means war, does it?
So much of our modern world is shaped
by Julius Caesar and the Roman Empire.
Julius Caesar is this pivot point
in Western history.
Now!
This is a man who amassed power
and couldn't be satisfied with what he had.
There's a tremendous warning for us in Caesar's story.
As dark as it sounds,
Caesar's story is the story of Rome.
♪
NARRATOR: Rome, 81 BC.
[horse whinnying]
NARRATOR: For eight years, a brutal civil war
between rival political factions has torn the city apart.
Now, a ruthless commander, called Sulla, has triumphed.
[men whistling]
- [punches landing] - [blood squirting]
NARRATOR: And he is purging his political rivals.
[audience shouting]
[punches thudding]
NARRATOR: Thousands are killed.
[sword slashing]
[men grunting]
[man screams]
NARRATOR: Caught up in this bloody violence,
is a young man, called Julius Caesar.
Caesar comes from a moderately well-known family.
They weren't the wealthiest, the most powerful
and they were actually on the defeated side
of the civil war.
He was in danger.
He is tied by blood and by marriage
to the losing side.
This puts Caesar in a difficult position.
[tense music playing]
SOLDIER: Hey! Stop right there!
Hey! Stop right there!
Wait, wait, wait!
Hey, stop! Hey, stop!
♪
[Caesar breathing heavily]
- [soldiers shouting] - [Caesar grunting]
[Caesar grunts]
Over the centuries, before the civil war...
Rome has gone from a small regional power,
to a major player on the world stage.
From a city state on seven hills,
it's bit by bit conquered and absorbed surrounding tribes
until it dominates Italy, Greece
and most of the Mediterranean.
NARRATOR: Once a monarchy, Rome has been a republic,
a city ruled by elected officials,
since 500 BC.
A period of more than 400 years.
The whole principle of the Roman Republic
is that no one individual
should gain permanent, supreme power.
So, power is divided.
[footsteps thudding]
But at the end of the civil war,
one man rules the Roman Republic unchallenged,
Sulla, the dictator.
A dictator was a special office
that was only called upon in times of emergency.
A dictator had absolute authority
but a dictator only served for a period of six months,
or the duration of the crisis, whichever was shorter.
What makes Sulla's dictatorship unique,
is that he never puts a deadline
on when he's gonna give up power.
NARRATOR: Caesar's uncle, Marius,
and father-in-law, Cinna,
were both leaders of the defeated side in the war.
Cinna and Marius fought the war on behalf of the populares,
which essentially means "populists."
These are the aristocrats who are looking to support
the causes of the general public.
Sulla had fought the civil war on behalf of the optimates,
meaning "Rome's best men."
They were conservative aristocrats
and they were really looking to maintain the status quo.
NARRATOR: Given the suspect loyalty of Caesar's family...
- Get up. - NARRATOR: ...Rome's new ruler
wants to see where his allegiances lie.
Now I heard you ran from my men.
Not sure your uncle would approve.
Do you stand against me like your dead father-in-law?
I stand with the Republic.
SULLA: Oh.
[chuckles] Prove it.
Divorce your wife.
How does that benefit the Republic?
It benefits me.
I am the Republic.
Caesar is married to Cornelia,
the daughter of Cinna.
Cinna had been Sulla's mortal enemy
and so Sulla wants to make sure
Julius Caesar does not become a threat
because of his marriage connection.
You have until sunrise.
Refusing Sulla's request would be an amazing risk.
Sulla is a terrifying and ferocious character
who had brought a new level
of ruthless savagery to Roman politics.
♪
But Caesar doesn't divorce Cornelia.
Is it because of the political connections?
Is it because he genuinely loved Cornelia?
We don't know but we know it's a great risk.
CAESAR: Cornelia. Cornelia.
Why didn't you leave when you heard they were coming for you?
I couldn't go without seeing you.
There are heads up on spikes by the bridge,
- do you want to be one? - Cornelia!
It won't always be like this.
- [people shouting] - [armor clanking]
You have to go now.
[emotional music playing]
[both breathing heavily]
[footsteps marching]
NARRATOR: Having made an enemy of Sulla,
Caesar slips out of the city.
Caesar may hope that one day, he can return to Rome
and fix what he sees as a broken Republic.
♪
By the time Julius Caesar is a young man,
Rome has grown to a city of almost a million people.
The population density is approaching
what we see in modern Manhattan.
As Rome's power and population increase,
it's Republic becomes fundamentally less democratic.
The line between Rome's rich and poor
has only gotten greater.
There are a great number of very impoverished people in the city
who actually survive on a grain dole from the state.
The populares, including Caesar's family,
think that they can fix these problems of Rome's poor.
♪
NARRATOR: But first,
the fugitive Caesar has to stay alive.
Caesar is being hunted down
by some of Sulla's bounty hunters
because his name is now on the lists.
Caesar is forced to go on the run for months,
it's one of the worst times in his life.
And when he gets caught by Sulla's men,
he's forced to bribe them using all the money he has.
[Caesar breathing heavily]
[thunder rumbling]
AMANDA RUGGERI: Back in Rome, Caesar's family
lobbies Sulla to pardon Caesar.
He eventually gives in to their persistence.
Despite being pardoned by Sulla,
Caesar returning to Rome would not necessarily be safe.
And so, instead, he joins up with the Roman military,
looking for experience that will possibly lead
to some degree of advancement later on.
My name is Caesar.
I believe my family's been in touch.
GEN. WESLEY CLARK: Every Roman aristocrat
was expected to serve in the military.
It was a society which rewarded it's warriors.
NARRATOR: Caesar is sent to a Greek island.
[battle din]
NARRATOR: Part of a force
tasked with bringing down a rebellion.
COL. DOUG DOUDS: They end up in a battle.
Caesar steps in to save
one of his fallen Roman soldiers.
[swords clanking]
In this, it is witnessed as an act of bravery.
ADRIAN GOLDSWORTHY: He wins what the Romans know
as the Corona Civica.
This is the Civic Crown, it was the highest award
for individual gallantry that the Roman state could issue.
It is perhaps the first sign
that Caesar is not your ordinary Roman soldier.
Caesar stays in the army for several years.
During this time, he gets a real understanding
of what it means to be part of an empire.
Roman politics is not just about the city of Rome,
it's about the world at large.
NARRATOR: Finally, four years after he left Rome...
Caesar learns that the dictator, Sulla, is dead.
The death of Sulla in 78 BC
brings some good news for Caesar,
it means he can go back to Rome without threat of being killed.
♪
AMANDA: After Caesar returns to Rome,
he works as a lawyer.
But he is really eager
to get his foot on the ladder of politics.
Having been forced to go into hiding,
Caesar spent months as a penniless refugee,
relying on the charity of others.
It's the kind of thing that might've affected his outlook.
Working as a lawyer in Rome,
he takes on the cases of the underdogs.
NARRATOR: Caesar and Cornelia now have one daughter,
Julia,
but Caesar has little time for family,
thanks to the demands of work and his burning ambitions.
One of the defining features
in this era of the Roman Republic
is incredible ambition in young men.
There's more to it than just blind ambition for Caesar.
He's living in a Republic that's absolutely broken.
Sulla is dead but he still has appointed cronies
who are in the government still
and in this situation of rank corruption,
Caesar feels like he can fix things
but in order to do that,
he needs more power and more influence.
CORNELIA: Will you be joining us for dinner?
Sorry, hearing tomorrow.
Surely you can take a break?
Your daughter never sees you.
To gain more power,
Caesar needs to climb the cursus honorum,
the Roman ladder of offices.
What Caesar wants is the opportunity
to jump a few rungs up.
NARRATOR: Caesar is impatient to progress in Roman society
but he is forced to wait for his chance.
Five years after Caesar returns to Rome,
the opportunity he has been hoping for rears its head.
[people screaming]
SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE: A gladiatorial rebellion
engulfs all of Italy...
and it's leader is named Spartacus.
[sword slashing]
n]
In 73 BC,
a group of gladiators breaks free
from the captivity in the school
where they're being trained to fight.
[men grunting]
[swords clanking]
ADRIAN: They're led by Spartacus,
the man who would become famous.
Within a few months, Spartacus has rallied
120,000 slaves to his cause.
[battle din]
This is the biggest slave rebellion in Roman history.
AMANDA: The first two years of the rebellion
go very well for Spartacus and very poorly for the Romans.
Two different armies that are raised
and paid for by the Senate are completely crushed.
NARRATOR: But while Spartacus' uprising is a crisis for Rome...
it's good news for Caesar.
As Spartacus' rebellion breaks out,
Caesar stands for his first elected role
as military tribune and he's successful.
[swords clanking]
BARRY STRAUSS: The military tribune is an important officer
in the Roman army,
it's the equivalent of a colonel.
For Caesar, Spartacus' uprising
presents an opportunity.
If Caesar can be a part of the group
that brings Spartacus down,
it gives him a profound standing
within the Roman Republic.
At some point, I will lose, I promise, I promise.
NARRATOR: The man in charge of the Roman armies
is Marcus Licinius Crassus.
You do know gambling is illegal.
- Name? - Gaius Julius Caesar.
You won the Civic Crown.
I've heard about you.
CAESAR: All good, I hope.
We should play a real game...
not one decided by luck.
Play well and, uh...
I might forget about this.
Marcus Licinius Crassus is famous
as the richest man in Rome.
He's the kind of ancient world's Tywin Lannister.
AARON IRVIN: The Senate turns to Crassus for help
because nobody else wants the position.
Spartacus has already defeated several Roman generals.
BARRY: But Crassus is ambitious,
he doesn't have the military reputation that he wants
to rise to the top of Roman politics.
He's very eager to have a military success.
Crassus also has the personal wealth
to be able to build and maintain the army himself.
NARRATOR: Caesar now has an opportunity
to form a relationship...
with one of Rome's most powerful men.
Your turn.
Bold move.
Aggression is the key to winning any battle.
Including our war with the gladiators.
Our gladiators are extremely well-trained,
they'll beat you in a contest of aggression.
There's more than one way to defeat an enemy.
You see, we Romans have an advantage,
we're the best engineers in the world.
Why fight an open battle when you don't have to?
Why take on a strong enemy
when you can weaken them first?
One of the most impressive things about the Romans
was their military engineering ability.
Crassus will drive Spartacus down to the toe of Italy
and across that toe,
Crassus will build a forty-mile wall.
♪
ADAM MARSHAK: Crassus hopes to either starve the army,
get them to surrender
or enable him to fight them when they're weak and hungry.
Eventually, Spartacus' provisions run out.
AMANDA: But then, fate intervenes.
There's a storm and snow fills up the trenches
so that Spartacus and his men are able to escape the walls
and make one desperate last stand against the Romans.
[wind howling]
[water trickling]
NARRATOR: But Crassus' force decisively defeats
the weak and hungry gladiators.
[man groans]
[armors clanking]
[soldiers shouting]
[man grunts]
It's probably during the Spartacus War,
that Crassus and Caesar become allies,
perhaps even close friends.
This is a relationship that's going to last 20 years.
PATRICK WYMAN: At the end of the Spartacus War,
Caesar has two things going for him.
He has a reputation for military accomplishment
and he has the backing
of the richest man in Rome, Crassus.
That's a great basis
on which to build a political career.
The slave army...
- is defeated! - [crowd applauding]
NARRATOR: But it takes more than money to succeed in Rome.
The gladiator rebellion has been crushed!
Apart from Crassus, the other man who vies for the title
of the most powerful man in Rome at this time is Pompey.
ADAM: While Crassus decisively defeated Spartacus
at the Battle of Silarius River,
Pompey is able to wipe up
a few scattered remains of Spartacus' army,
he thus gets the opportunity to claim victory for himself.
Pompey once had the nickname "The adolescent butcher"
for his ruthlessness,
and now he's taken on this title "Magnus,"
which means "The Great," same as "Alexander The Great."
Now Pompey is a brilliant general
but he's a little bit of a glory junkie,
he's always looking for his next hit of fame,
even if it wasn't entirely earned.
"Pompey the Great."
Great at stealing credit for other men's victories.
Glory is for generals, Crassus,
not money-lenders.
Generals?
You feed on my glory like a parasite.
AARON: Pompey and Crassus hated each other
from the moment they first met.
Crassus saw Pompey
as someone who was undeserving of the glory
and credit he had received,
while Crassus had been denied those same honors.
Pompey saw in Crassus,
really, the only major threat to Pompey's exultation.
PATRICK: The rivalry between Pompey and Crassus
defines Roman politics at this point in time,
that makes things very difficult for Caesar
because he can't afford to offend either one of them.
A wrong step here could halt his political career for good.
NARRATOR: Back in Rome, for the next two years,
Caesar focuses on building up his public reputation.
What he wants is a chance to enter political office...
but as Caesar turns thirty-one...
he faces a personal tragedy.
[wind howling]
[somber music playing]
AMANDA: In the summer of 69 BC,
two years after Spartacus' revolt,
his wife, Cornelia, dies.
We can't be sure exactly how but there's a very good theory
that it may have been childbirth,
which did kill up to a third of women.
Given that Caesar refused
to divorce Cornelia for Sulla
and given how long their marriage lasted,
I think it's safe to assume
that he had a great deal of affection for Cornelia.
Caesar decides to give her a public funeral.
Now this is something that generally
was not done for Roman women.
In Roman tradition, funerals were a way
of displaying everything that your family had done
on behalf of the Roman state.
♪
Cornelia's death is a blow to Caesar's ambitions,
he loses her connections to a powerful family.
But Caesar also turns his personal tragedy
into a political opportunity.
Upon dying, Romans would have a mask
made of their remains.
During a funeral,
those masks would be worn by performers.
Caesar displays masks of his ancestors,
his uncle, Marius, and his father-in-law, Cinna.
And even though Sulla is dead,
displaying the masks of his opponents
is still illegal.
So, this is a political statement,
Caesar is saying,
"It's okay to be a populare again."
NARRATOR: Caesar's actions are an affront to the optimates...
the faction that still holds power in Rome.
This man holds up his ancestors to be heroes.
They were outlaws and rebels...
enemies to the Republic.
Cato will become Caesar's greatest enemy.
He's a key leader of the political conservatives,
a member of the optimates.
You should hang your head in shame...
your uncle and father-in-law lost the war.
ADRIAN: Cato loathes Julius Caesar.
It's even stronger than hate,
he bitterly detests this man.
They are both highly ambitious men,
who wish to rise to the top of Roman society.
♪
My name is Gaius Julius Caesar.
I've come here...
to honor my wife.
I've also come here...
to make a promise to you all.
For Caesar, this funeral oration is a political awakening.
CAESAR: My family has the sanctity of kings.
He's asserting, that his family, the Julii,
an old and noble family, deserve to be treated
with the same respect as all of Rome's leading families.
But more than this, I am one of you.
[crowd cheering]
- A Roman. - ALL: Yes!
There are too many men running this city
who are only out for themselves.
He announces that
he is going to try to move forward,
to make things better for the ordinary people of Rome.
- Join me... - ALL: Yes!
...and I will show you...
what we can do together.
[crowd cheering]
And he doesn't care who stands in his way,
his political aspirations have never become clearer.
[fire crackling]
♪
g]
[overlapping conversation]
Within months of his wife, Cornelia's death,
Caesar has raised enough political support
to become a senator.
ADAM: One of the ways one becomes a senator in Rome,
is by being elected to one of the junior positions
on the cursus honorum.
This is how Caesar becomes a senator.
In Caesar's day, there are about 600 senators.
Now the word "senate" comes from the word "senex,"
which means old or wise man
and this fits the Senate to the "T".
They are the oldest, wisest, but really what they are,
is the most powerful men in Rome.
Julius Caesar.
Senators.
I think that Caesar, in many ways,
was very idealistic.
He really wants to bring about change to Rome,
to lift up the poor people,
I think he really does want to do good
for the Roman Republic.
Young Caesar often backs idealistic,
popular causes and this seems
like a dashing rebellion against the establishment
but in fact, popular causes
are a well-known route to power.
Every decision he makes as a young man,
is designed to cement his image as a supporter of the people.
Once you're elected into the Senate,
you're there for life, like the US Supreme Court Justices.
However, you could lose your seat.
One of the ways is if you have to declare bankruptcy.
Politicians were not paid,
not only would they be spending on their campaign funds
but they would be expected
to cover civic infrastructure projects.
So, they might have to repair bridges or roads.
PHILIP FREEMAN: Caesar is not a wealthy man
when he begins his career in politics,
he runs up tremendous debts.
By 64 BC, Caesar is in so much debt
that two of his fellow politicians
have actually gone bankrupt,
just trying to keep pace with him.
NARRATOR: As Caesar's debt balloons...
five years into his career as a senator,
he decides to stage gladiatorial games for the city.
This is an incredible opportunity
to display his generosity.
[swords clanking]
NARRATOR: Caesar scours gladiator schools across Italy.
Their best fighters.
[swords clanking]
ROBERT CARGILL: Caesar wants to put on
the biggest show in Rome's history
but gladiators don't come cheap
and Caesar needs some extra financial help.
PATRICK: At this point, Caesar owes somewhere
in the range of 31 million sesterces.
That's over $100 million in today's money.
It means every Roman creditor is on the lookout for Caesar.
They know his name, they know what he owes.
As Caesar's debts continue to rise,
his creditors become more and more impatient
and there's only one man in Rome who can bail him out.
- Caesar, you wanted to see me? - Crassus, thank you for coming.
One of my creditors,
they're threatening me with court.
What's your plan?
I've been thinking,
perhaps you can help.
I've never lost an election...
if I was in your debt instead of theirs,
think of what you'd get back on your investment.
If I do this, I own you.
You do know what that means.
For you, it means influence, favor--
For you, it means every single decision you face,
your first thought will not be, "How does this benefit Caesar?"
But, "How does this benefit Crassus?"
You lose an election, even once...
I will gut you for everything you own.
I know the risks.
Caesar asks for Crassus to essentially be
the guarantor on his loans,
but in return, Caesar will become Crassus' man.
AMANDA: This is an extremely risky move from Caesar.
He's gambling here that he will get high enough
on Rome's political ladder
that he will be able to pay Crassus back.
If he loses the next election,
he could be looking at making an enemy
of one of Rome's most powerful men
and an effective end to his political career.
CAESAR: The time has come for us to choose.
ADAM: For the next several years,
Caesar and Crassus are both
political allies and economic partners.
Caesar has to rise for Crassus to be paid back,
and now, only one office remains for Caesar to take,
the consulship.
When the Romans got rid of their kings,
they replaced them with the consuls.
So the consuls acted as the commander-in-chief
of the Roman military.
They were proposing all bills to the Senate,
the consuls also acted as the chief judicial officer.
They were the ones who passed judgement
and who executed punishments.
Caesar is now 40 years old,
which is the youngest anyone can get elected to the consulship.
The consulship is the high point
of any Roman's career.
This is the position that Caesar has been
preparing to take his entire life.
NARRATOR: But Caesar's route to the consulship is not easy.
NICOLA DENZEY LEWIS: Rome's two most powerful men,
Crassus and Pompey, hate each other
and they've spent years fighting each other.
AARON: Running for the consulship,
Caesar is now part
of Crassus' faction.
Which means, Pompey's supporters
will be gunning for him.
He has to find some sort of middle ground
that will allow him to be elected.
♪
PATRICK: But Caesar is an incredibly savvy
political operator.
Roman politics is a snake pit
and Caesar navigates it with incredible dexterity.
[thunder rumbling]
[footsteps approaching]
- Pompey, thank you for coming. - Why the secrecy?
I'm not interested in playing games.
Stop, please,
just hear what I have to say.
You two should be the most powerful men in Rome,
but you put all of your energy into fighting each other.
What if, instead,
you worked for each other?
Why would we?
Back me to become consul
and I'll make sure the Senate works for you.
The three of us.
[chuckles] We'd be invincible.
Why should I trust you?
I have one child, my daughter,
she's everything to me.
I offer her to you...
as your wife.
We'd be bonded in blood...
family.
Pompey wants land for his ex-soldiers,
he hasn't been able to get that through the Senate.
Crassus wants financial support for his tax-collectors,
he hasn't been able to get that through,
and Caesar, of course, wants to be consul.
[thunder rumbling]
Caesar is basically gambling here,
that all three men are self-interested enough
to put aside their personal beef and work together.
[thunder rumbling]
The secret deal that Caesar persuades
Pompey and Crassus to agree to, is called the Triumvirate.
It literally means "rule of three."
Individually, they've all been able to get
some of what they want, but never all of it.
Together, they can dominate Roman politics...
for years to come.
♪
Caesar immediately leans on his deal,
with his fellow members of the Triumvirate,
Crassus and Pompey,
to make sure he's elected consul.
The Triumvirate is an ideal arrangement.
Caesar brings the political skill
and dexterity,
Pompey brings the muscle.
Friends, the elections are coming
and we are here to ensure that you vote for the right man.
And Crassus? He brings the cold, hard cash.
I was just glad I could offer help when you needed it.
Now, it's my turn.
PHILIP: Bribery was rampant in ancient Roman elections.
CRASSUS: Cast your vote for Julius Caesar.
You could buy votes
and it was not even considered
bad manners to do this.
Caesar.
Twenty-four votes and counting.
Keep it up.
NARRATOR: Voting is only for men...
but this doesn't mean women carry no influence.
After Cornelia's death, Caesar does remarry,
but he is also known as a bit of womanizer.
Servilia, Silanus,
how lovely to see you both.
CAITLIN: Servilia is Cato's sister,
she also happens to be Caesar's mistress.
They've been together for years,
even though both of them are married.
AMANDA: In addition to being Caesar's mistress,
Servilia plays a very important role here,
as a kind of back-channel negotiator of the ancient world.
Senator, can I count on your support?
Silanus will back you up.
My brother's politics aren't ours.
♪
Candidates in Roman elections wore special togas,
the toga candida, which means "bright white."
A Roman who is wearing the toga candida
was a candidatus, "one dressed in bright white."
This is where we get our modern word "candidate."
SIMON: Caesar is an extremely charismatic politician.
He's attractive, he's witty.
In fact, one could say that he has all the talents.
There's a lot riding on this election day for you, Caesar,
for all of us.
We will see you later, at the victory party.
And it had better be a victory party.
The stakes could not be higher for Caesar,
he literally cannot afford to lose this election.
[applause]
NARRATOR: But Caesar had no need to worry.
The election day proves to be everything
that Caesar could've wished for because he tops the ballot
by a landslide, so he is elected consul.
A consul's term is only one year,
so if they want to get things done,
they have to push them through, from the first day in office.
Caesar now has to pay back his allies.
The first law Caesar has to pass as consul,
is a land bill that gives land
to Pompey's veterans.
The land is there to be farmed.
The former soldiers of Pompey
risked their lives for the Roman Republic
but are now reduced to poverty.
Pompey wants to give them farms as a reward.
CAESAR: Should it not be given
to destitute men
who once fought for us all?
[indistinct chatter]
[clears throat]
Cato, you wish to support my bill?
PHILIP: Cato is one of the leading members
of the optimates, "The Conservative."
He is perhaps the most conservative man in Rome.
Cato has a kind of personality cult going on.
He has a very distinctive way of dress,
what he imagines was the attire
of the earliest leaders of Rome.
He goes barefoot and even commando
and he does this style himself as a man
who is returning to simpler days
but really what he's doing is representing the aims
of a very small group of aristocrats.
Consul.
There is much to admire in this land bill.
The hand is elegant,
the papyrus is of the finest quality...
but it would be a very grave mistake
to set such a precedent at this point in time.
Like senators in the United States today,
Roman senators could effectively stop legislation
simply by talking...
And we are to obey.
...and talking...
CATO: There are points aplenty
that are wrong with this text.
...and talking.
Cato is a master at the filibuster.
How very, very tedious of Caesar...
Cato's an obstructionist and he's trying to make sure
that nothing that represents the aims of Caesar,
Pompey and Crassus gets turned into law.
Cato's opposition to Caesar's land bill
isn't just political, it's also personal.
These two guys really do not get on
and that's made worse by the fact that Caesar
is having this affair with Cato's sister.
...a waste of our time, senators.
That's enough Cato.
CATO: Maybe one-- what is this?
What is this?
[indistinct shouting]
Let us give the honorable Senator
some time alone to think about the land bill.
Caesar sends attendants to manhandle Cato
and lead him off towards the prison...
hoping this will simply stop Cato in his tracks.
Before I was so rudely interrupted.
NICOLA: Caesar doesn't have the power to keep Cato there
for very long, but he's broadcasting a message.
He is not above using violence to get what it is that he wants,
so he wields a very heavy stick
and the optimates hate him for it.
NARRATOR: Over the next year, Caesar, Pompey and Crassus
resort to any means necessary,
- legal and illegal... - [shouting]
to push through their agenda.
As it becomes less secret and more openly violent,
the Triumvirate acquires a nickname,
"The three-headed monster."
Consuls can only serve one year in office,
it's possible to serve another year
but not consecutively.
And so Caesar knows that his time
is coming to an end and he needs a plan.
With Caesar out of office, he will no longer have
political immunity from prosecution.
What Caesar's enemies really want to do
is prosecute him for all of the crimes
that he has committed in the last year.
Caesar needs a way
to extend his immunity,
so that Cato and the optimates cannot charge him.
CRASSUS: We don't have much more time
with you as consul.
What comes next?
CAESAR: I've been working on something.
I need [indistinct], one with a military command.
How does that benefit us?
It benefits us all. Slaves, gladiators, wealth.
Everyone in Rome will know
everything that's sent back is from the three of us.
The people will love us.
DOUG: Caesar's plan is to get a governorship
with military responsibilities.
He would be immune from prosecution,
perhaps more importantly for Caesar is,
he doesn't have military glory at a larger scale
and that's what he would get if he became the governor
and on top of that, he's terribly broke.
It would be an opportunity to get himself out of debt.
Where do you propose?
♪
NARRATOR: With help from Pompey and Crassus,
Caesar secures the position as governor of Italian Gaul.
Italian Gaul is the northern-most part
of the Roman Republic.
On the border between modern-day France and Italy.
So while Italian Gaul is under Roman control,
the rest of Gaul is a kind of wild,
independent area that covers France,
Belgium, the Netherlands,
even up to the Rhine river in Germany.
The Gauls don't have a single government like Rome.
According to the Roman historian, Plutarch,
there are actually about 300 tribes
who are constantly at war with each other.
Some are allies of Rome, some fight Rome,
but they're not united.
AMANDA: For Caesar, Gaul is not only a vast,
untapped reserve of wealth,
it's a powder-keg of warring tribes
ready to explode.
If he's able to conquer this territory,
he could become the wealthiest, most powerful man in Rome.
NARRATOR: but Caesar can't get involved militarily in Gaul
without a pretext.
CAESAR: So?
Caesar's most important commander in Gaul
is a talented general named Titus Labienus.
Earlier in his career, he'd been associated with Pompey
and now he's working with Caesar.
An envoy from the Aedui,
a border tribe and allies with Rome
is begging for a meeting with you.
Shall I send him away?
Bring him in.
Speak.
We need Rome's protection.
NARRATOR: Weeks after taking up his position as Governor,
Caesar is approached by Gaul's ally to Rome,
asking for help against another tribe,
the Helvetii.
The Helvetii are a tribe living in modern-day Switzerland
but they're looking for somewhere else to go.
ROBERT: As the Helvetii emigrate,
they clash with other tribes.
There's violence and there's death.
Some of these tribes are allied to Rome.
Those loyal tribes will come to Caesar seeking help.
What do you think, Labienus?
Are we not bound to help our allies?
It becomes an opportunity for Caesar to engage militarily.
[soldiers screaming]
[swords clinking]
As the Helvetii continue their migration,
Caesar intercepts.
[whistling]
WESLEY: In Gaul, Caesar is a predator.
There's just no other way to describe it.
[metal clinking]
AMANDA: You have to think of the Helvetii
as essentially refugees, looking for a new place to live.
A great deal of their number
would've been women and children.
[swords clinking]
[swords slicing]
This really isn't a great military conquest
on Caesar's part, so much as it is an atrocity...
but Caesar is able to turn this into a story
of a military victory,
that helps make him popular in Rome.
Having suppressed the Helvetii,
one might expect that Caesar would leave Gaul
and return to his Governor's province,
in northern Italy, but Caesar has other ideas.
They'll be impressed with our horde back in Italy.
It'll have to wait.
We can't stay here without permission from the Senate.
There's been a new appeal from another ally,
I think it's our duty to stay and help...
and we don't need the approval of the Senate
to do our duty.
Just months after defeating the Helvetii,
Caesar decides to go for broke,
he wants all of Gaul.
NICOLA: It's a huge gamble for Caesar.
He's miles from home,
the tribes outnumber his troops
and he doesn't have proper supply lines for his army.
And yet, for him, it's worth the gamble.
[shouting]
ADAM: Ceasar makes a Faustian pact.
Stand tall.
ADAM: To conquer Gaul, he raises troops
from the local provincials in Italian Gaul.
[indistinct]
ADAM: But he does it without the Senate's permission.
Eyes forward...
DOUG: When Rome would raise a legion,
they would swear allegiance to Rome.
...as one.
When Caesar raises them,
to whom do they swear allegiance?
One could argue it's to Julius Caesar.
As he raises these legions,
to pay for them, he must conquer parts of Gaul.
It forces him forward.
NARRATOR: Over the next four years...
Caesar conquers huge parts of Gaul.
Caesar's a divide and conquer strategist.
He figures out who the opposition is...
Now!
...he makes alliances with some tribes...
[soldiers shouting]
...and he calls other tribes his enemies.
[shouting]
He brings the friendly tribes to bear
against the enemy tribes,
then he turns on the friendly tribes.
[shouting]
WESLEY: He's clever, he's charming and he's ruthless.
Along the way, he will be careful to manage
the narrative that gets back to Rome.
CAESAR: Caesar encouraged the men personally.
Ordering the men to open ranks
so they might use their swords more easily.
"Omnia Gallia, in tres partes divida est",
All Gaul is divided into three parts.
It's the famous opening line of Caesar's Gallic Commentaries.
CAESAR: His bravery gave the men fresh hope.
Caesar manages the narrative of the Gallic War back in Rome
in a way that's absolutely classic.
Every man was eager to do well
in his commander's sight.
BARRY: He does so by writing his own history.
CAESAR: Caesar realized the outcome...
was on a knife-edge.
BARRY: But Caesar turns it into something new,
exciting, even cinematic.
He snatched a shield...
from a soldier at the rear...
and walked straight to the front line.
And his reports are read
to the people of Italy in public, year after year,
glorifying Caesar's achievements in Gaul.
"So he snatched a shield from a soldier in the rear,
"made his way to the front line."
CLIFFORD ANDO: It's almost indescribably
persuasive language.
He was an extraordinary master of writing.
Modern politicians would love to email CNN
or Fox News their version of events
and have those news media sources
present them completely uncritically.
For Caesar, this is what the Commentaries are.
Caesar is also building up his defense,
he knows that he has broken Roman law.
And so it is from Caesar's Commentaries
that we get his excuse
about defending Roman interests from the Helvetii.
His defense of raising troops
when he did not have the authority.
Caesar's popularity with ordinary Romans grows
with every report that he sends back.
To them, he is the hero, defending the glory of Rome.
NARRATOR: But amongst some Senators,
his exploits raise serious concerns.
Senators, what he is doing in Gaul
is completely against the law!
Cato is already making the argument
that Caesar has violated Roman law.
This is not war, this is crime!
That Caesar needs to be stripped of his command,
brought back to Rome to stand trial
to answer for his crimes.
His men are loyal only to him,
not to the Senate!
This is dangerous.
I move that Caesar be handed over to the Gauls
for them to pass judgement.
CROWD: Oh, no! No!
ADAM: Cato can't actually do anything
as long as Caesar is governor
and as long as he has the support
of Crassus and Pompey.
But if that situation should change,
then Cato can strike.
[birds chirping]
In 54 BC,
a new staff officer is sent out
to assist Caesar in Gaul.
He's a contact of Crassus'.
Mark Antony reporting, sir.
Mark Antony, Crassus' man, come in, come in.
Antony's a man who has real talent.
He's a warrior, also very astute
and he quickly becomes one of Caesar's key lieutenants.
Something wrong?
I have bad news from Rome.
It's your daughter.
She's passed.
Caesar suffers a personal tragedy
when news arrives that his daughter, Julia,
his only child, has died in childbirth.
Caesar is so utterly devastated
by the loss of his daughter,
by the loss of his last connection to Cornelia
that he will be haunted by nightmares
about Julia's death for the next decade.
Not only is this a personal tragedy,
it's also politically very dangerous,
because she had cemented the alliance with Pompey
and that was part of the gel
joining the Triumvirate together,
but all that has suddenly gone.
To make matters worse for Caesar,
not long after Julia's death,
Crassus is killed on a military expedition
in modern-day Iran.
The legend has it, that he was killed
by having molten gold poured down his throat
by an enemy who had heard of his love of money.
BARRY: The collapse of the Triumvirate
raises the stakes for Caesar in Gaul.
He realizes that when he comes back to Rome,
he will no longer have Pompey and Crassus watching his back.
He will be at the mercy of Cato and the optimates.
But if Caesar can win total victory in Gaul,
then maybe he can go home rich enough, popular enough,
powerful enough to avoid the attacks of his enemies.
NARRATOR: There is one obstacle to Caesar's plan.
The Gauls are not ready to give up just yet.
In 52 BC, a new threat emerges.
Vercingetorix.
Son of a chieftain, who is very charismatic,
he is intent on liberating his people
from Roman rule.
He brings together a number of tribes,
to include some that had already
pledged allegiance to Rome.
Caesar and his army came here as our allies.
Now they try and stay as our conquerors.
This is our last chance...
to unite.
This is our last chance
to fight for our freedom!
What this does is it creates the worst nightmare
that Julius Caesar can face, a united enemy.
[Gauls chanting]
If Vercingetorix is able to rally
all the Gauls together...
they will outnumber Caesar's forces
by about ten to one.
The entire population of Gaul
is estimated to be about five million.
[rhythmic chanting]
This is a population that far outstrips
the army that Caesar has deployed,
and, in fact, would present a direct threat...
Who is with me?
...to the Roman Empire itself.
]
[soldiers shouting]
In the initial phases of his campaign against Caesar,
Vercingetorix's strategy seems to consist
of denying supplies to Caesar
through a scorched-earth strategy
whilst fighting an informal guerilla war.
Using the terrain and their local knowledge
to their advantage.
Vercingetorix fights Caesar for six months
until finally, he brings things to a head
at a place called Alesia.
Vercingetorix is aware
that he needs to make a stand at Alesia
because the guerilla warfare is not enough to defeat Caesar.
He needs to find a way to have a decisive battle.
CAESAR: Well?
The city walls are made of stone.
We can't burn them down.
And if we try to break through them,
it will cost us thousands of men.
CAESAR: You weren't with us when Crassus
defeated Spartacus, were you?
Maybe we don't need to get in at all.
We just need to stop them from getting out.
When Julius Caesar arrives
outside of Alesia and sees a fortified town
on top of high ground with 80,000 Gauls inside,
he assesses this as being
too much of a risk to attack frontally.
ADAM: Caesar decides to wall the Gauls in.
In many ways, this is a replay of Crassus' decision
to wall Spartacus off into southern Italy.
DOMINIC: Caesar's strategy is to use
Vercingetorix's army against itself.
It takes a lot of food to feed 80,000 men
so you can starve them pretty quickly.
♪
Caesar's wall was going to start with a ditch
that is dug out, the spoils thrown up
to create a 15 foot high wall,
almost ten miles around,
all in an effort to trap Vercingetorix's army.
Caesar's wall around Alesia
is one of the great military feats
of the ancient world.
It takes about a month
to build out this wall around the city.
CAESAR: How much longer?
This section.
And up the hills on the left side.
♪
[horse neighing]
Vercingetorix sends out messengers
before the siege is complete, to all the other tribes of Gaul.
He wants them to bring a massive army
to take Caesar from behind,
and crush Caesar by sheer weight of numbers.
He's sending for help.
If they attack us from behind, we're dead.
[tense instrumental intensifying]
We build a second wall around the first.
And trap ourselves?
Just do it.
Caesar is extraordinarily cool under pressure.
He is a decisive leader.
Once he has made a decision, he's going to commit to it.
What Caesar decides to do is to build
another set of earthworks, but this time,
instead of facing in, they face out.
The Roman defenses are in the shape of a doughnut,
with Alesia in the center and Gauls on the outside.
He is besieging Alesia.
But when we draw the entire picture,
who's besieging who?
'Cause when the external forces come,
they will be surrounded from the outside
and from the inside.
An extraordinarily vulnerable place.
♪
- [horn blasting] - [war cries]
One day, they hear these terrible sounds,
they hear Gallic war cries.
♪
[soldiers shouting]
Vercingetorix's relief army has arrived.
If you're a Roman soldier, you look at the relief force,
you see that you're outnumbered three to one,
and you wonder if those numbers
are ultimately, gonna mean your demise,
but one thing that you have is Julius Caesar,
and those seem to even the odds by a degree.
Comrades, this is it.
DOMINIC: Caesar knows that this is going to be the end
of the Gallic campaign.
Everything we've been fighting for,
for the past seven years, is now on the line.
DOMINIC: Either they'll win,
and all of Gaul will be conquered,
or they will be annihilated.
We must fight, and we must win!
Victory or death,
which will you choose?
- For victory! - For Rome!
SOLDIERS: For victory! For Rome! For victory!
AARON: For Caesar, the stakes of Alesia are everything.
He has gambled his entire existence
on this single moment.
[war cries]
[hooks clacking]
Vercingetorix and his men have seen the attack
from the relief force outside,
and now, they can launch an attack
from inside of Alesia.
[war cries]
He's got 8,000 Gauls on the inside,
250,000 on the outside.
It looks like Caesar is in deep trouble.
♪
Caesar is either going to die
along with the entirety of his legacy at this moment...
or somehow, emerge triumphant.
♪
[soldiers shouting]
That area's breached.
[swords clattering]
The start of the battle of Alesia
looks very bad for Caesar and very good for the Gauls.
They look as though they might win.
They have managed to tear down a section of the wall,
and set to destroy
the much, much smaller Roman army.
Caesar has to take drastic action,
or everything will be lost.
- [war cries] - [swords clattering]
Caesar himself leaps into the frontlines,
inspiring his men, encouraging them
to continue to fight.
You've beaten these barbarians before,
you'll do it again!
You're the greatest soldiers in the world!
For Rome!
Caesar sees himself
as lifting his men's morale, and keeping them together
in the face of this terrifying enemy.
- [war cries] - [swords clattering]
Caesar manages to rally his troops to hold the line,
and to not allow the Gauls to penetrate and wreak havoc
in the back of the Roman lines.
NARRATOR: But Caesar knows the Romans can't hold out
against numbers like this for long.
DOUG: Although Julius Caesar has now gone
to the point of greatest friction,
I think he also starts to recognize
this might not be enough.
Now, he starts to go through his rolodex
of "What else might I be able to do?
"How can I solve the pressure
"on this direct attack against the Roman line?"
Labienus, hold the breach.
Then ride around the walls.
Yes, sir!
Hold the breach, hold the walls!
Caesar makes this decision to deploy his cavalry
outside his perimeter.
The cavalry rides 'round the back
of the Gaulish positions.
Keep formation!
Don't lose it!
[war cry]
[horse neighing]
Caesar's cavalry forces slam
into the rear of the Gallic army,
taking them completely by surprise...
spreading panic throughout their entire ranks.
They think that they're completely surrounded
by the Roman army, and they start fleeing.
Attack!
[tense instrumental playing]
These men start to run for their lives,
rather than fight for their lives.
Roman cavalry will ride them down,
and it becomes a bloodbath.
[ominous instrumental playing]
[horns blasting]
NARRATOR: After seven years of war,
Caesar has crushed Gallic resistance
once and for all.
AARON: Caesar's conquest of Gaul stands
as one of the most impressive achievements
in human history.
The fact that he has, really, a minimal amount of manpower
to pull off this huge campaign.
♪
Caesar's conquest of Gaul adds more than 300,000 miles
to Roman territory.
Rome now extends
from the Atlantic ocean in the west...
to the river Rhine in the east.
Caesar's conquest of Gaul in seven years
is an impressive military achievement,
but it would be strange to not acknowledge
that Caesar basically, engages in genocide.
He himself claimed to kill one million people
in the conquest of Gaul.
And to have enslaved 1.1 million people.
He killed or enslaved, what,
20% of the entire population of northern Europe?
And we have to be reminded of that,
because we're so pre-conditioned
by the shape of history,
to think of Caesar as a remarkable figure.
It's absolutely incredible.
PABLO: Alesia would remain as a national trauma
for Gaulish peoples for hundreds of years.
As the Gauls' back had been broken,
never again would a large federation ally like this
against the Romans.
Our great Caesar, hurried to join into the fight.
After his total victory in Gaul,
Caesar's popularity with ordinary Romans
goes higher and higher.
They regard him now, as the very definition
of a successful Roman warlord.
SPEAKER: The conspicuous color
of the cloak he always wore into battle,
proclaimed his arrival.
[crowd cheering]
The Gauls turned tail,
and the cavalry charged them as they fled!
A massive slaughter followed.
Caesar wants to return to Rome in triumph.
He wants to win a second term as consul,
and be Rome's undisputed first man.
But Caesar has a problem.
[suspenseful drums instrumental playing]
Cato has different plans
for how Caesar's life will turn out.
Caesar has indeed won great victories
for our republic,
but these victories come at a price.
[senators shout in agreement]
One that we will pay for with our republic itself.
Caesar recruited an army that answers only to himself.
Cato and the optimates have tremendous distrust of Caesar,
based on his previous consulship and his growth of power in Gaul.
Some senators fear that he may seize power in Rome,
and this fear is becoming self-fulfilling.
This is too much power for any man,
let alone Caesar.
Can we forget how he behaved when he was consul?
ADAM: I think Cato was able to rally a group of senators
against Caesar, partially out of jealousy.
These senators resent
that Caesar's the most popular man in Rome
and that they're not the ones
who are having all of these victories.
I move that Caesar
- be stripped of his command. - SENATORS: Yes!
For them, it's both a political calculation,
but it's also a personal one.
PATRICK: Crassus is dead,
Pompey is no longer politically aligned with Caesar.
The optimates see this as the moment
where they can end Caesar's career for good.
Caesar is vulnerable.
We must [indistinct] back to Rome,
and prosecute him!
[senators cheering]
g]
Cato is resolved to destroy his old foe, Caesar,
but he can't do it without help.
ADAM: The optimates are impotent
to bring Caesar to heel without an army.
And the only person capable of raising an army
besides Caesar, is Pompey.
CATO: The Republic needs you again, Pompey.
I've retired.
[Pompey sighs]
How many families will be sacrificed
if Caesar is allowed to march on Rome.
They will only be sacrificed if we go to war with him.
His army is loyal only to him,
not Rome.
Loyalty is a virtue, Cato.
Caesar is a danger to the Republic.
He's more powerful than any Roman before him.
More than Sulla.
More even than you.
♪
PABLO: Pompey ends up siding with Cato
and the optimates.
I think he was jealous of Caesar's popularity.
Caesar was essentially and unequivocally replacing him
as the military darling of the Roman population.
SIMON: As the temperature rises in Rome,
Caesar sends back Antony
to represent him in the Roman Senate.
ANTONY: Caesar reminds the Senate
of all that he has done for Rome.
How he served dutifully as consul,
how he pacified Gaul,
and he vows that he will lay down his arms,
if Pompey does the same.
But if the Senate will not see sense,
Caesar will uphold his personal honor
by any means necessary.
Senators,
this is nothing but a declaration of war.
I move that the house declare Caesar a public enemy.
- SENATORS: Yes! - Who's in favor?
[senators shouting in agreement]
CATO: The house has spoken, Antony.
Veto, the vote is set aside.
I call upon the gods as witnesses,
it is you who are against the Republic!
You are the one leading us to war!
NARRATOR: Fearing Caesar's growing power,
the Roman Senate declares him a public enemy.
And now, he faces the biggest decision of his life.
AMANDA: The Rubicon was a river,
so small, at the time it was more like a stream,
about 200 miles north of Rome.
And the reason this stream was so important
was it marked the boundary between Italian Gaul
and territory directly controlled by Rome itself.
AARON: Crossing the Rubicon with an army
means that not only has a governor
left his territory behind, which is a violation of law,
but now, he is moving against Rome.
It is an outright act of treason,
it is a declaration of war against the Roman State.
BARRY: Caesar doesn't have great options.
If he crosses the Rubicon, he's begun a civil war.
But if he obeys the Senate,
he has to give up his command of his armies
and face the fact that he's going to be hauled
into court in Rome, put on trial,
probably be convicted, and face execution.
The offer I sent back with Antony
has been rejected.
I must return to the Senate in person.
I will have to take at least a legion
across the river with me for my own protection.
Across the Rubicon?
You know this is against the law.
If there's a war,
you will be fighting your own people.
Then let's hope it doesn't come to that.
Let's hope not.
Pompey has twice as many men as us.
But we have something he doesn't.
Me.
And you, Labienus.
Do I have you?
♪
When Caesar arrives at the Rubicon,
he's in this difficult situation.
He knows that if he crosses with his legions,
he plays into the hands of his opponents,
because he has violated Rome's law,
by bringing his military forces into the political game.
I think he believes that if he doesn't do that,
Pompey and others will have maneuvered against him,
and so he believes he's gotta act.
It isn't too late.
Any man who wishes to turn back,
go now, with no dishonor.
But cross this stream...
and we are fighting all the way to Rome.
Are you with me?
Long live Caesar!
According to one source,
Caesar quotes a line from Greek drama,
as he prepares to cross the Rubicon.
Let the dice fly high!
[soldiers cheering]
"Let the dice fly high."
In other words, "Let's take a risk,
"and come what may."
[war cries]
WESLEY: Caesar knew he was in trouble.
He had a choice, he could surrender,
and go peacefully to Rome, or he could bring his legion,
rely on his popularity,
and seize power in Rome.
Caesar chose for himself, rather than for his country.
Crossing the Rubicon is a critical moment in history.
Caesar will always be someone who, when confronted
with other people raising the stakes,
he'll raise the stakes again, he'll take up the challenge,
he will gamble, he will trust that he will win.
♪
PABLO: Crossing the Rubicon is a terrible gamble for Caesar.
It means there is only one way out of this.
Defeating the Senate,
and making himself the central power in Rome.
Any other outcome ends in his death and destruction.
DOMINIC: He wants the glory
that he believes that he deserves
for his conquest of Gaul,
the glory that he was denied by Cato.
But he frames what he's doing
as an act of protecting the democratic ideals
of the Roman State.
ADRIAN: Caesar has marched into Italy
with very few soldiers behind him.
More will be coming, but it will take a long time
before he has a major army.
News will take time to reach his opponents.
Pompey has boasted, "I have only to stamp my feet,
"and legions will spring up out of the soil of Italy."
But they're not ready yet.
Caesar rushes on, he overruns settlements,
and many people welcome him,
that means he's gaining momentum.
♪
[marching footsteps thumping]
[horse neighs]
- [bird quacking] - SOLDIER: [indistinct]
[ominous instrumental playing]
ROBERT: Caesar is riding on the road south
when a figure in slave's clothes
comes into view.
It's Antony.
He's dressed as a slave to escape the city.
What happened? Cato? The Senate?
Men, come close.
It is our friend and comrade...
Mark Antony.
A war-hero...
driven from Rome in defiance of all that is just.
Will you let this stand?
Caesar is declaring war on his own people
to serve the interests of the Roman population
as his basic political case.
However, it is obviously about his own dignity
and his own growing thirst for power.
It is also, because Caesar never, ever backs down.
Will you let these senators,
who care nothing for Rome,
destroy it?
Will you let Pompey and Cato
attack my honor?
[soldiers chanting indistinctly]
NICOLA: After eight years of war,
the soldiers are completely loyal to Caesar.
He's doubled their pay,
and he's given each man his own slave.
It's the sort of personal loyalty from the army
that makes Caesar so powerful,
and also, uniquely dangerous in the eyes of the Senate.
[soldiers shouting]
♪
With war now inevitable,
Caesar suffers a real, serious defection.
Labienus goes over to Pompey's side.
It's possible that Labienus turned against Caesar,
because he was offended by Caesar's actions.
On the other hand, we know that Labienus
started his career as a Pompey guy,
and so perhaps, he's just going back
to his original patron.
What we see in this civil war,
is that everybody has to choose sides,
and rarely is it about policy,
or belief, or ideals,
it's about personal loyalty.
♪
NARRATOR: As Caesar continues towards Rome...
his former ally, Pompey,
tries to negotiate one last time.
Even though Caesar has crossed the Rubicon,
lines of communication are still open
between him and Pompey.
I regret it has come to this, Gaius.
My country called me to duty, and I could not refuse.
I know you feel you've been let down,
but can you not put Rome before your pride?
You've raised an army against me!
You've raised an army against the Republic!
You know I can't just simply surrender myself to Cato.
So...
your bruised ego means war, does it?
Mark Antony's offer, that we both lay down our arms,
was rejected.
So, a new offer.
Caesar makes one final offer to Pompey.
They'll both leave Italy, and they'll leave things
for the Senate and the other bodies
of Roman political society to figure out.
We don't know how Pompey reacts to this,
but we know how the Senate does.
No, his offer will not be accepted.
Caesar needs to face punishment,
and that means you crushing him in battle.
Then we need to leave the city.
CATO: I will not run.
He is approaching right now with his entire army.
We don't have enough loyal soldiers in Italy
to defend Rome.
I thought Pompey only has to stamp his feet,
and troops will appear.
My men are spread through the Mediterranean.
We need time.
[marching footsteps thumping]
We must leave the city.
Anyone who stays to welcome Caesar
is a traitor to the Republic.
[marching footsteps thumping]
[tense instrumental intensifying]
g]
[marching footsteps thumping]
NARRATOR: After Pompey and the Senate fled Rome...
Caesar gave chase.
He pursued them first, to southern Italy,
and then, to Greece.
Greece is one of Pompey's power bases,
it's a place where he can gather soldiers to resist Caesar.
The two armies find each other camped,
at Pharsalus in Greece,
and at this point, Pompey has the upper hand.
Caesar's army is very far
from their supply lines and from reinforcements,
they're hungry.
[marching footsteps thumping]
Pompey has numerical superiority,
greater equipment and greater supply lines.
Caesar is completely outgunned.
He is in a win-or-die situation,
and time is not on his side.
We have him pinned down, here.
All we need to do is starve him out.
- CATO: How long? - Perhaps a month.
A month?
How much money will that cost the Republic?
Cato, this is our best option.
He will surrender. Fewer lives will be lost.
I think you're losing your nerve...
old man.
Pompey doesn't want to fight,
but Pompey is under pressure
from his fellow nobles.
They do want to fight a battle,
they believe that they can defeat Caesar.
You want a battle?
Have it your way.
[sighs] Pompey's taking the field.
Have the centurions ready the men.
The men haven't eaten in days.
Hunger makes a man fight harder, Pompey's men have grown fat.
Let's face it, my friend...
the odds aren't going to get any better.
[horse neighing]
AARON: At Pharsalus,
Pompey has managed to put together a massive force
from throughout all of the territories
that Pompey has conquered previously.
[soldiers chanting] Pompey! Pompey! Pompey!
AARON: Jewish mercenaries, Egyptians, Syrians and Greeks.
You fight for a just cause.
For liberty, for our laws and the Senate,
against one man,
who is seizing supreme power.
[war cries]
Pompey is up in years.
It has been quite some time
since he actually engaged in a battle and won one.
Top that with the fact that he has
an inexperienced military force
that he's trying to work with.
[soldiers chanting] Caesar! Caesar! Caesar!
Caesar has the veteran force,
Caesar's infantry are more experienced in battle
than Pompey's, and Pompey knows it.
SOLDIERS: Caesar!
CAESAR: Today, we face only men.
The same men,
who wanted to disband us,
without honors.
Remember,
they wanted this, not us.
[soldiers cheering]
Caesar has asked his soldiers to do
many things in the last decade,
but one thing that has kept them going,
is his intense confidence in himself.
This day will decide everything.
I order you now, advance!
[soldiers cheering]
NARRATOR: Caesar's soldiers are more battle-hardened
than their opponents,
but Pompey has a secret weapon.
Caesar's former lieutenant, Titus Labienus.
Labienus is now in command of Pompey's cavalry.
Caesar is now facing one of his deputies
who is familiar with how Caesar operates.
Pompey wants to push his infantry out into the center
and hold the line, and allow Labienus' cavalry
to move around, and outflank Caesar's.
Pompey's got about seven times as many horsemen as Caesar has,
and he's concentrated them on the one flank on the left.
Julius Caesar recognizes his cavalry is outnumbered,
so he adapts incredibly quickly.
Javelin.
Listen carefully.
[marching footsteps thumping]
He hides infantrymen in amongst his cavalry.
[shouting]
[swords clattering]
Caesar's infantrymen use their javelins
to thrust at the enemy cavalrymen.
[horse neighs]
[swords clanging]
This is a new strategy
that Caesar concocts for this particular battle.
Javelins were usually used
as throwing weapons in ancient warfare.
DOUG: Labienus' men, they are stunned,
taken by surprise, he starts to suffer losses.
Do not retreat!
Keep formation!
[Labienus groans]
Labienus is forced to retreat
and now Caesar has the initiative in the battle.
CAESAR: Push!
Come on!
Caesar will now send his infantry forward,
including his most experienced men.
CAESAR: Harder!
PABLO: Pompey's men have not fought together before,
whereas Caesar's men have tasted victory before,
they have greater confidence,
they smash through Pompey's line.
[shouting]
BARRY: Realizing that he has lost the battle,
Pompey decides to flee.
It's his only chance to live and fight again another day.
♪
ADAM: I think Pharsalus shows Caesar at his finest.
The ploy that he uses against Labienus' cavalry
is sheer genius.
Caesar may be a gambler but he's a smart gambler
and smart gamblers often win.
Pompey heads east through Greece and Turkey
and then south through Cyprus and on to Egypt.
BARRY: Officially, Egypt is an independent country.
Unofficially, it's almost a vassal of Rome.
Pompey thinks he can get help in Egypt,
because the Egyptians owe him.
Pompey was the patron of the king's father,
Ptolemy the 12th.
NARRATOR: Caesar stays on Pompey's heels,
following him to North Africa.
NICOLA: Caesar knows
that as long as Pompey is out there,
he hasn't won the war.
He needs to stop Pompey before he can rally a new army.
When Caesar arrives in Egypt,
the country is tearing itself apart.
The boy-king, Ptolemy Theos, is at war
with his older sister, Cleopatra.
With the help of his regent, the eunuch Pathinas,
Theos manages to oust Cleopatra from power,
for now.
CAESAR: Majesty,
I understand my countryman, Pompey, is here in Egypt,
I only wish to speak with him.
Caesar, please, join us.
We have a gift for you.
♪
DOMINIC: Pompey is stabbed to death and beheaded.
The Egyptian rulers at the time
saw the Battle of Pharsalus
as decisive in the civil war
and they wanted to curry favor
with the new overlord of the Roman world.
AMANDA: Caesar is distraught
when he finds out about what's happened to Pompey,
he does not think that the man deserved such a cruel death.
NICOLA: After Pompey's death,
Caesar spends nine months in Egypt
with a new ally and lover.
Caesar.
NICOLA: The Egyptian queen, Cleopatra,
the older sister of Ptolemy Theos.
CAESAR: Leave us.
They even have a child together, Caesarion.
NARRATOR: Caesar eventually leaves Egypt
in the summer of 47 BC,
nearly a year after he arrived.
KATHRYN: Caesar then continues fighting his enemies,
the remaining allies of Pompey,
who have regrouped under Cato
and are fighting in North Africa.
BARRY: Cato is defending the city of Utica,
which is a seaport.
The city is about to fall to Caesar
and Caesar offers Cato his life.
He says, "Ask me for pardon
"and I will spare you."
Cato refuses.
ADAM: Rather than submit to Caesar's will,
he decides that a good Roman would rather commit suicide.
Cato's death is exactly how he lived,
overly dramatic.
BARRY: For some people, he's gone down in history
as an example of a freedom fighter,
who would rather die than accept a dictatorship.
NARRATOR: Finally, more than a decade after he left for Gaul,
Caesar returns to Rome...
not as a rebel, but as its ruler.
AARON: When Caesar returns to Rome in 46 BC,
he is the unquestionable master of Rome.
Nobody even competes
when it comes to the power at Caesar's disposal.
NARRATOR: Rome's Empire under Caesar
now stretches more than 2,500 miles.
From the French Atlantic coast,
to the river Euphrates in Syria.
NICOLA: Julius Caesar is bestowed with the highest honor
that a Roman official could receive, a triumph.
It's an extensive military parade
that welcomes him back into the city.
PABLO: Caesar has his face painted red,
because for one of [indistinct],
the triumph symbolizes that this one man
is being given the privilege of becoming a god.
[all cheering]
PATRICK: All the while
that Caesar's going through this triumph,
there's a slave with him,
whispering in his ear,
"Remember you are mortal.
"Remember you are mortal."
"Remember, you are not a god."
Even at the peak of his accomplishments,
there is still somebody there to remind Caesar
to keep his feet on the ground.
NICOLA: As part of the triumph,
high-profile prisoners are executed
in front of the crowds.
PABLO: Poor Vercingetorix has been waiting for six years
since his defeat at Alesia, to be executed in Rome.
This triumph is establishing the narrative
"Caesar is the hero that conquered Gaul for Rome.
"Here is the leader of the Gauls being executed for us.
[gargling]
This is our moment to gloat,
on our victory and our conquest of Gaul.
Caesar's big challenge is to try to unite Rome
behind his unparalleled power.
But the problem with that
is Rome is supposed to be a republican democracy.
Caesar's dominance is completely abnormal
in Rome's recent history.
It only happened once before
within in Caesar's lifetime, with Sulla.
PATRICK: Caesar has the Senate declare him dictator.
At this point, the Senate has no fight left in it,
Caesar has won.
PABLO: Dictator is a form of exceptional power
that was supposed to be temporary.
Caesar is using this as a fig leaf
to hide the fact there are no limits
to his influence and power.
NARRATOR: Caesar now uses his unprecedented power
to pass reforms he thinks are needed
to transform a crumbling republic.
PHILIP: Caesar believes
that the Roman Republic cannot function anymore,
because it was set up to rule over a small city
and they're now ruling over a vast empire.
The forms of government in a republic
simply can't manage this.
ADAM: Caesar has come to the conclusion,
that the only way to save the Republic,
is to fundamentally destroy and rebuild it.
He needs to create a new system,
centered around him.
No longer will there be open elections,
optimates and populares,
now there will only be Caesar's will.
As Caesar's power grows,
he looks for new ways to display that publicly,
to legitimate his new role.
[indistinct talking]
ROBERT: Caesar wears a purple robe
whenever he pleases.
Now, this is significant,
because purple is the color of royalty.
NICOLA: Caesar has his dictatorship
extended in perpetuity.
He will now rule as a sole ruler for life.
PABLO: Caesar now has greater power
than the man he hated and ran away from,
the dictator Sulla.
ROBERT: For a guy who claims to be a populares,
for someone who stands up for the little guy,
now he begins to lose his mind with hubris.
This was a man who used to be a reformer
and now he just wants absolute power.
Caesar has always been a populares
in name only.
He is not interested
in improving the lot of the people.
The people were always just a means to an end.
You're sure this is the right thing to do?
I'm the most powerful man Rome has ever seen.
It's time to make it official.
ANTONY: Long-serving Senators might not take well to it,
even Sulla was careful with them,
not to make them feel disrespected.
They'll do nothing.
They owe me their lives.
- But the Republic-- - I am the Republic.
With each success, Caesar's ambitions grow.
What else is there,
than Rome and the power of ruling Rome?
There hasn't been a king for 400 years.
Could he possibly even become a king?
It's a gamble.
Yes.
But you forget...
I never lose.
♪
]
SHELLEY: Caesar, from the beginning,
from Sulla's demand to divorce Cornelia...
he was a gambler.
He was willing to throw those dice.
AARON: Rome had been founded by kings
and it was that foundation that Caesar had invoked,
all the way back at Cornelia's funeral.
For Caesar,
the only place he has left to go,
is to become an outright king
and fulfill that political mission
that he had set for himself years previously.
ADAM: At a public festival,
he has Mark Antony try to crown him,
to see how the crowd will react.
The people ask me,
to give Caesar this crown.
NARRATOR: Caesar is gambling
that the Roman people will accept their first king
in 400 years.
[audience boos]
It's a wager that backfires.
Jupiter alone
is king of the Romans.
I'm no king...
but only Caesar.
[audience applauding]
BARRY: Senators could never accept
the possibility of a king in Rome,
that would be the death of the Republic,
the death of everything that they held sacred.
For them, this would be a line
that they would never be willing to cross.
PABLO: Within the Senate,
a growing group is now beginning
to organize opposition against Caesar.
Around 60 Senators are ever less comfortable
with Caesar's growing power
and start to accuse him of becoming a tyrant.
NARRATOR: One month after the failed crowning,
on March 15th...
the Ides of March,
Caesar is invited to meet a group of Senators.
♪
AMANDA: One of the leaders
of the conspiracy against Caesar,
is a man named Marcus Brutus.
Caesar.
Please, a petition.
[Caesar groans in pain]
[all groaning]
[Caesar screams out]
Is it you, my son?
AMANDA: The words that are known throughout the world
as being Caesar's final words are,
"Et tu, Brutes?" "And you, Brutus?"
But these words don't originate in the ancient sources,
they actually originate with Shakespeare.
BARRY: What he said to Brutus was,
"You, too, child?"
Brutus' mother, Servilia,
was Caesar's long-time mistress
and there're even those who say
that Brutus was Caesar's natural child.
PATRICK: Every gambler will tell you that, eventually,
their luck is going to run out.
Caesar gambled and gambled and gambled
until, eventually, he lost.
In the end, there's a real tragic irony
in Caesar's life.
That he ran from a despot dictator
and he comes full circle
to actually end his life as one.
BARRY: Caesar's assassins are hoping to kill him
and to bring the old Republic back.
In practice, the result is a disaster.
The assassins do not successfully restore democracy.
ADAM: When Caesar dies,
there are just too many
ambitious, powerful men around him.
There's Mark Antony,
who thinks of himself as his protégé.
SIMON: But Mark Antony is not Caesar's chosen heir.
Instead, his will nominates
his cunning great-nephew, Octavian.
[soldiers shouting]
PABLO: The next few years of Roman history
are a colossal struggle over five separate civil wars.
Particularly between Mark Antony and Octavian,
to inherit Caesar's power.
Octavian comes out on top
and becomes the first-ever Emperor of Rome,
establishing what we now know as the Roman Empire.
Crucially, Octavian never declares himself king.
PHILIP: The Roman Empire survived in the west
for another 500 years,
and the east, for another 1,500 years.
And, really, it all goes back to Julius Caesar.
CLIFFORD: Even though Julius Caesar
did not himself become the emperor,
there's a reason why later European monarchs
named themselves after Caesar,
because he establishes an example,
for well or ill,
of what leadership and conquest looked like.
NICOLA: So, during World War I,
you have in Germany the Kaiser
and in Russia you have the Czar.
Both of these words come from the Roman "Caesar."
Caesar's legacy is dictatorship itself.
The excuse that a democracy, when it's in trouble,
can be resolved by giving all power to one man.
Every dictator since, including Napoleon,
Mussolini, Pinochet,
is always drawing on Julius Caesar.
BARRY: Caesar was a great man,
he was equally good
at politics, at war, and at literature.
But he's also a murderous man, a violent man.
A man who commits genocide.
[screams triumphantly]
AARON: It is unfortunate,
that in people that have this exceptional genius,
you also find an exceptional ambition.
There was so much
that Caesar could have accomplished
for the Roman state,
that to see him finally get wrapped up in his own power,
is ultimately a tragedy.
ADAM: I think what Julius Caesar teaches us,
more than anything else,
is that there is a danger
with unparalleled ambition,
matched with unparalleled ability.
Power corrupts
and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
When you think you are the smartest person in the room
and the only one with all the answers...
Let the dice fly high!
...disaster awaits.