Mark Antony
Civil war

The feud between Caesar and Pompey erupted into open confrontation by early 49 BC. The consuls for the year, Gaius Claudius Marcellus and Lucius Cornelius Lentulus Crus, opposed Caesar. Pompey, though remaining in Rome, was then serving as the governor of Spain and commanded several legions. Throughout 50 BC an uneasy set of negotiations had been ongoing between Caesar and the senate, with Caesar demanding the right to stand for the consulship while in command of his forces in absentia. Antony again brought up the proposal of the younger Curio that Caesar and Pompey lay down their commands and return to the status of private citizens. His proposal was well received by most of the senators but the consuls and Cato vehemently opposed it. Antony then made a new proposal: Caesar would retain only two of his eight legions and the governorship of Illyrium if he was allowed to stand for the consulship in absentia. Though Pompey found the concession satisfactory, Cato and Lentulus refused to back down. Antony fled Rome, claiming to fear for his life, and returned to Caesar's camp in Cisalpine Gaul.

Within days of Antony's withdrawal, 7 January 49 BC, the senate reconvened. Under the leadership of Cato and with the tacit support of Pompey, the senate passed a senatus consultum ultimum, a decree stripping Caesar of his command and ordering him to return to Rome and stand trial. The senate further declared Caesar a public enemy if he did not immediately disband his army. With all hopes of finding a peaceful solution gone, Caesar used Antony as a pretext for marching on Rome. As tribune, Antony's person was sacrosanct, so it was unlawful to harm him or to refuse to recognize his veto. Three days later, on 10 January, Caesar crossed the Rubicon, initiating the civil war.

Caesar's rapid advance surprised Pompey, who withdrew from Italy to Greece. After entering Rome, instead of pursuing Pompey, Caesar marched to Spain to defeat the Pompeian loyalists there. Meanwhile, Antony, with the rank of propraetor, was installed as governor of Italy and commander of the army, stationed there while Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, one of Caesar's staff officers, ran the provisional administration of Rome itself. Though Antony was well liked by his soldiers, most other citizens despised him for his lack of interest in the hardships they faced from the civil war.

By the end of the year 49 BC, Caesar, already the ruler of Gaul, had captured Italy, Spain, Sicily, and Sardinia from his enemies. In early 48 BC, he prepared to sail with seven legions to Greece to face Pompey. Caesar had entrusted the defense of Illyricum to Gaius Antonius, Antony's younger brother, and Publius Cornelius Dolabella. Pompey's forces, however, defeated them and assumed control of the Adriatic Sea along with it. Additionally, the two legions they commanded defected to Pompey. Without their fleet, Caesar lacked the necessary transport ships to cross into Greece with his seven legions. Instead, he sailed with only two and placed Antony in command of the remaining five at Brundisium with instructions to join him as soon as he was able. In early 48 BC, Lucius Scribonius Libo was given command of Pompey's fleet, comprising some fifty galleys. Moving off to Brundisium, he blockaded Antony. Antony, however, managed to trick Libo into pursuing some decoy ships, causing Libo's squadron to be trapped and attacked. Most of Libo's fleet managed to escape, but several of his ships were trapped and captured. With Libo gone, Antony joined Caesar in Greece by March 48 BC.

During the Greek campaign, Plutarch records that Antony was Caesar's top general, and second only to him in reputation. Antony joined Caesar at the western Balkan peninsula and besieged Pompey's larger army at Dyrrhachium. With food sources running low, Caesar, in July, ordered a nocturnal assault on Pompey's camp, but Pompey's larger forces pushed back the assault. Though an indecisive result, the victory was a tactical win for Pompey. Pompey, however, did not order a counterassault on Caesar's camp, allowing Caesar to retreat unhindered. Caesar would later remark the civil war would have ended that day if only Pompey had attacked him. Caesar managed to retreat to Thessaly, with Pompey in pursuit.

Assuming a defensive position at the plain of Pharsalus, Caesar's army prepared for pitched battle with Pompey's, which outnumbered his own two to one. At the Battle of Pharsalus on 9 August 48 BC, Caesar commanded the right wing opposite Pompey while Antony commanded the left. The resulting battle was a decisive victory for Caesar. Though the civil war did not end at Pharsalus, the battle marked the pinnacle of Caesar's power and effectively ended the Republic. The battle gave Caesar a much needed boost in legitimacy, as prior to the battle much of the Roman world outside Italy supported Pompey and the senators around him as the legitimate Roman government. After Pompey's defeat, most of the senate defected to Caesar, including many of the soldiers who had fought under Pompey. Pompey himself fled to Ptolemaic Egypt, but Pharaoh Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator feared retribution from Caesar and had Pompey assassinated upon his arrival.
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