Battle of Ruspina

Battle of Ruspina
Part of Caesar's Civil War
Date January 4, 46 BC Location Ruspina, modern Tunisia Result Caesarian victory
Belligerents
Populares	Optimates
Commanders and leaders
Gaius Julius Caesar	Titus Labienus
Strength
15,000 Roman legionaries, 400 Gallic cavalry, 150 Cretan archers	8,000 Numidian cavalry, 1,600 Gallic cavalry, 22,000 Numidian light infantry
Casualties and losses
6,000	2,000

The Battle of Ruspina was fought on January 4, 46 BC in the Roman province of Africa, between the Republican forces of the Optimates and forces loyal to Julius Caesar. The Republican army was commanded by Titus Labienus, Caesar's former supporter who had defected to the Republican side at the beginning of the civil war.

Background

Caesar was able to form the first triumvirate after he patched up the fractured relationship between Pompey and Crassus. Pompey had stolen the credit the victory of the Romans over the slave army of Spartacus after returning from a mission in the east which was given to him by the Senate. He brought a small army with him and with this army aided Crassus in his victory over the slave/gladiatorial army. He then took credit for the victory, and this was the origin of tense relations between two leading men of the Republic. There were a number of reasons why these two men saw it in their interest to join the proposed alliance of Caesar. After returning from the east with fresh conquests to add to his laurels, Pompey had been unable to distribute to his veterans land in Italy because of opposition in the Senate. This was a repeated issue that time and again had disturbed the political tranquility of the Republic, and on several occasions had even overthrown the existing constitution. In many respects this was the issue that caused and energized the Roman Revolution, and it was around the land in Italy and its distribution that both parties of the Republic, the popular party and the Aristocratic party pivoted. However, Caesar was able to steer this legislation through the Senate, and Pompey's veterans got their promised land in Capua. The formation of this alliance, as a result of the influence that each one of them commanded within the Senate, gave the three triumvirs a monopoly on all the powers of the State.

Caesar, at the time nothing more than a "dexterous party leader" and decidedly the third man in this triumvirate was able to do this through his election to the Consulship - which the political alliance had allowed him to obtain. Pompey commanded the most influence within the Senate and throughout the city at large. Crassus, being a skillful orator in his own right commanded a large list of clientele with his immense wealth. According to one source he is the 8th richest man to have ever lived. The programme of the triumvirate had delegated the command of the capital into the hands of Pompey. He was left to deal with the political bickering that would inevitably take place there. However, he was unequal to the task and the capital degenerated into a mosh pit which was commanded by a number of demagogues.

Pompey locked himself up in his home and left the government in the hands of these demagogues. Meanwhile, Pompey's reputation continued to degenerate Caesar was winning new laurels for the Roman eagles in Gaul. It was clear to all that the dynamic between the somewhat shady democratic party leader, Caesar, and Pompey, the celebrated general, were changing. Open war was declared on Pompey and the triumvirs when a number legislative decrees were overturned that had been enacted during the consulship of Caesar. Among them were the Capuan land distribution for Pompey's veterans. At this point it was clear to all that the Senate and other organs of the state were no longer in the hands of Pompey. The Consul elect for the year 55 B.C. openly professed that upon his assumption of the Consulship he would propose to the Senate that Caesar should be recalled from Gaul. Being stripped of his office - which made his person constitutionally inviolate during his tenure - he could be persecuted. There was no doubt in the mind of either Caesar or his allies/enemies within Rome that he would be prosecuted.

Summit at Luca

As a result of these and other political upheavals within the Capital, Caesar called for a conference between himself and his two associates to be had in April of 56 B.C. Caesar at the time was in Ravenna, and received daily reports of the goings on in the Capital. It was here that he was met by Crassus, and they both proceeded to Luca. They did not meet in Rome because Caesar was constitutionally circumscribed from leaving his provinces. It was in Luca that the two triumvirs met with their colleague, Pompey. It was at this meeting that it was clear to all how the dynamic between the three triumvirs had changed. It was clear to all that Caesar's was the prevailing voice. There were a number of measures that were decided upon to ameliorate the difficulties that the triumvirs were facing from the disjoint resistance of the aristocracy and the demagogues.

There were in all, 120 lictors present at the conference, in addition to a majority (over 200) of the Senate present. It was decided upon that Pompey should receive the two Iberian provinces, and that Crassus should receive Syria, a province that was both lucrative and militarily had a number of legions stationed there. More legions were to be shipped there as well, Caesar agreeing to send two of his veteran legions there. It was from here that he was to carryout his war against Parthia. These respective governorships were to be held for five years. In addition, Caesar resolved to prolong his command for an additional five years. Caesar then having observed the constitutional restriction of not being able to hold the Consulship twice within any ten-year period, thumbed the Consulship of 48 B.C. for himself. He also empowered himself in several other ways; he sought to increase the number of legions he was allowed to command to ten (He had already arbitrarily raised more than the four that he had started with) and was henceforth allowed to pay his legionnaires and the cost of maintaining them from the exchequer of the Republic. In addition, Pompey and Crassus were to be colleagues in the Consulship for the next year (55 B.C.). At this, the opposition within the Commitia and the Senate was instantly snuffed out. The overturning of the laws that Caesar had passed in his Consulship was rejected by the majority of the Senate. The idea of revoking Caesar's governorship of the Gauls was instantly overturned, and he was voted the money to pay his troops from the state exchequer. In addition, in order to ensure the future fidelity of the Senate the troops that were supposedly destined for Spain and Syria were dismissed from duty in Italy, where they could be called upon at any time to assemble and fight at a moments notice. From this point forward the triumvirs completely ignored the Senate altogether, ramming legislation through the Comitia leaving the courts and internal affairs of no consequence in the hands of the Senate. It was through the means of holding the tethers of all the chief organs of the state, and the submission of the leading members of the aristocracy and the majority in general, (including Cicero a notable former consul) that the machinery of the government was placed upon a more permanent basis in the hands of the triumvirs. However, in spite of this the fields that were left to the Senate were employed totally against the triumvirate.

The Parthian Expedition

Crassus did not even wait for the end of his Consulship before setting out to Syria in order to begin his proposed conquest of the Parthian empire. When he arrived there however he found that a number of small actions had already occurred between the existing Roman garrison and the Parthians. Crassus however, was not knowledgeable about military affairs, and opted to cross Mosopotamia which was a large, flat desert plain, excellent for the evolutions of the Parthian cavalry. Crassus was defeated by the Parthian cavalry at the battle of Carrhae and his army was utterly destroyed. He himself was captured by the Parthians and killed. This defeat totally upset the constitutional arrangement that was laid down by Caesar at Luca. There was no longer the counterpoise between Caesar and Pompey. Pompey could never have been happy with the arrangement in the first place and now he was forced to treat as an equal with one whom he used to be superior to. In addition, Caesar's daughter and Pompey's wife, died in child birth in 54 B.C. In addition, the child quickly thereafter passed as well. Caesar sought to create a new filial bond between himself and Pompey, by proposing that he himself repudiate his own wife and that Pompey's daughter should divorce her husband and that the two of them should get married. In addition, he proposed that Pompey should marry his grand niece, Octavia. However, Pompey declined the offer and married the daughter of Quintus Metellus Scipio, a member of the oppositional minority.

This however was not the only way that the relationship between the two was fraying at the edges. First of all, in his dictatorship Pompey passed legislation concerning irregular electioneering practices, and this law could be enforced retroactively back to the year 70 B.C. This included Caesar's own election to the Consulship. In addition, a year after Crassus' death in Mesopotamia Pompey, in Rome, got his governorship of Spain (In spite of his absence from his own provinces) prolonged for 5 more years in 52 B.C. He also was able to secure for himself a considerable sum for the payment of his troops there. In spite of this however, he did not do the same for Caesar's governorship.

The battle

As Labienus's force significantly outnumbered Caesar's, Caesar fell back onto high ground, drawing Labienus into land of his choosing. The battle was a bloody affair, with Caesar losing as much as one-third of his forces, but eventually achieving victory. Caesar would again face Optimate forces three months later in the Battle of Thapsus.

Ruspina is located in modern day Tunisia.

External links

• Battle of Ruspina animated battle map by Jonathan Webb