All language subtitles for Julius Caesar The Making of a Dictator.s01e02.Veni Vidi Vici

It's the spring of 58 BC.

The people of Gaul
face a new and grave threat.

GALLOPING HOOVES

BABY CRIES

HORSE NEIGHS

Julius Caesar has completed
his year as consul of Rome

and set his sights on conquest.

In this foreign land, there
are few rules to constrain him.

BABY CRIES

His army is carving its way
through the country,

subduing or slaughtering its people.

No-one will stand in Caesar's way.

Times are changing
in the Roman world.

Generals with their own armies

are able to win unprecedented
popularity, wealth, power,

and these warlords are able to put
the entire Republic in their shadow.

Caesar understands this.
He knows that only sweeping conquest

can make him the greatest man
in Rome...

..and he will stop at nothing.

BABY CRIES

SWORD PLUNGES, CRYING STOPS

It's brutal,

it's punishing,

it's genocidal in scale...

..but the reward of glory
would burnish Caesar's name forever

and put absolute rocket fuel
into Caesar's political career.

At the heart of the most powerful
empire in the ancient world

stands Rome.

For 500 years, it was ruled
by elected government.

But in a little over a decade,

this Republic was overthrown
by the ambitions of one man.

The story of Caesar
is an incredibly enduring one.

The resonance of it's so powerful,
it remains the most thrilling,

the most extraordinary political
story in western history.

Now historians
and experts who understand

the nature of political power
will chart his rise...

He's so smart, he just knows
how to use his opportunities.

..and ask how an individual can bend

a centuries-old political system
to breaking point.

Julius Caesar is the most
dangerous kind of demagogue.

This is the story of how ambition
turns to tyranny...

He's a disgrace in every single way.
he's immoral,

he's irreligious,
and he's a potential tyrant.

..and how a dictator is born.

The awful lesson is that,
in the end,

a populist can corrupt
an entire state.

For every other political system
that values stability and justice

and liberty, that should be,
at the very least, a wake-up call.

Democracy has to be
constantly fought for.

If we take it for granted,
a new Caesar will come.

For two years, Julius Caesar
has waged war on the people of Gaul,

capturing territory,
slaves, and bounty.

With his new-found wealth,
he has enlarged his army

and made rich men of his supporters
back in Rome.

Caesar,
throughout his political career,

has always been an opportunist,

but I think that opportunist is
inadequate to convey the scale

of what Caesar is aiming at.

The idea of conquering
the whole expanse of Gaul,

essentially what is now France,
is stupefyingly ambitious.

Gaul is a vast region,

stretching from Northern Italy
to the English Channel.

Caesar is Governor of a narrow strip
of Roman territory in the South.

From here, he's begun his quest
to conquer more land for Rome,

and to subdue the Gaulish tribes.

For the Romans, the Gaul is
the essence of the barbarian.

It's the figure of
their worst nightmare.

Caesar himself says of the people
that they are the least

effeminate, the most masculine,
the most dangerous

and yet, he's perfectly happy
to take them on.

Caesar believes he is the man

to bring all of Gaul
under Roman control.

Beyond the wealth
he's winning for Rome,

he's seeking not just fortune,
but fame.

Caesar cannot possibly win
the kind of status that he wants

without a great
feat of conquest, I think.

War is the great testing ground
for Rome's leading men.

Caesar is pursuing
the blaze of glory, so the defeat,

particularly of barbarians
and of Gauls, I mean, this is

something that will make his name
echo down the centuries.

Caesar ensures news of his conquest
reaches the people of Rome.

They delight in his success.

But the Senate, the body of men
who govern Rome, is divided.

Caesar's opponents see his
growing power as a threat,

but he still has allies.

His main backers
are Rome's richest man, Crassus,

and its greatest General, Pompey,

now married to Caesar's daughter,
Julia.

Caesar had persuaded Pompey and
Crassus into a powerful alliance -

the Triumvirate.

They secured Caesar the top job
in Rome, the consulship,

and the opportunity
to conquer Gaul...

..leaving Crassus and Pompey

to take care of their shared
interests in the Senate.

But now,
fuelled by jealousy and resentment,

tensions are rising
between Pompey and Crassus,

and they are losing their grip
on Rome.

Crassus still hates Pompey.

The Triumvirate looks like

it's kind of wobbly.

It's not sustainable,
the way it's going.

The risk for Caesar is that,

if the Triumvirate proves to be
utterly broken,

then his capacity to hold his
position in Rome is broken as well,

and that means that his enemies
can start moving in for the kill.

Caesar's main opponents
in the Senate, the Optimates,

see him as a threat to the Republic,

and are desperate to find a way
to cut him down.

Now they plan to prosecute him
for his shocking

and violent behaviour during his
year-long tenure as consul.

Caesar's consulship sent
ripples of shock through Rome.

He treated his fellow consul
with a measure of violence,

so the consul ends up with a bucket
of manure emptied over his head.

Caesar's enemies said absolutely
explicitly we believe that

you should be prosecuted,
you have behaved illegally.

His opponents see him as a criminal,
and they are determined,

in the long run, to prosecute him,
to convict him,

to destroy him utterly,
and this becomes stronger

and stronger, the more glory that
Caesar wins for himself in Gaul.

Leading the conservative charge
to bring a prosecution

against Caesar is his
long-standing enemy Cato.

In the minds of people like Cato,

Caesar represents two very
dangerous things.

He represents populism,

he's somebody who unashamedly tries
to present himself as the people

against the elite, and he represents
the danger of tyranny, he's somebody

trying to promote themselves at the
expense of the constitution, which

stands for balance of power and
no one person taking too much power.

Cato is going to try
to do everything he can

within the Roman law
to defeat Caesar.

Caesar's ultimate nightmare, the
one thing that could drag him down,

even after all he's achieved,
is prosecution

because if you can prosecute someone
and convict them,

then that person will have no choice
but to go into exile.

You suffer a kind of political
death, and that, for Caesar,

would be a fate worse than death.

As long as Caesar is in Gaul,

his position as Governor grants him
immunity from prosecution.

But the Senate still has the power
to recall him.

In Rome, the Optimates ask
the Senate to vote on removing

Caesar's governorship.

But with many senators sharing in
the riches Caesar's sending back

to Rome, they fail to win
the majority they need.

Caesar's command is safe,

but it's a warning.

He calls Pompey and Crassus

to an urgent meeting in the
Northern Italian town of Lucca.

CROW CAWS

For Caesar,
it's absolutely essential

that the Triumvirate
holds together.

The strains on the relationship
between Pompey and Crassus

is a real threat to Caesar.

He can't come to Rome
and knock their heads together,

so the conference in Lucca is
crucially important in keeping

the triumviral show on the road.

Caesar's plan is to persuade
Pompey and Crassus to reunite

by promising them each
something they desire.

Pompey, at this point,
is in a peculiar situation

because of his rapid rise to power.

On the back of military successes,

he is much loved by the people,

but deeply mistrusted
by the Roman Senate.

He's always been on the outside
looking in.

While Pompey craves the kind
of influence in the Senate

enjoyed by Crassus,
Crassus is jealous of Pompey

and Caesar's military success.

Crassus has a influential presence
in the Senate, but he lacks,

at this point, the sort of major
military undertaking

that will provide status
that he feels entitled to.

Caesar is conquering Gaul,
and there is, no doubt,

a sense of burning competition
in Crassus' mind.

In Rome, the annual election of the
two consuls who lead the Senate

is imminent.

Caesars's plan is simple -
use the collective might

of the Triumvirate to once again
sway the voting public.

But this time, Pompey and Crassus
would become co-consuls,

giving them the power to deliver
what each of them wants.

Pompey feels that, if he can be
consul, the leading politician

and statesman in the city of Rome,

he will gain the respect
of the Senate.

And Crassus realises
that the consulship

and provincial command, afterwards,

for a major military undertaking,

will bring the sort of outstanding
status that he feels entitled to.

What does Caesar want in return?

He wants an extension of his
command, and he wants that, firstly

so that he can complete his conquest
of Gaul, but also because the longer

he has his command, the longer he is
immune to prosecution back in Rome.

The meeting at Lucca
is unprecedented.

Three men meeting secretly
deciding the future of the

Roman Republic goes against the idea
of a republican form of government.

It's hard to think of
any parallel in our democracy

to what happens at Lucca.

It's a convergence
of rival Mafia bosses.

It's The Joker, The Riddler,
The Penguin coming together

to carve up Gotham City.

The Triumvirate agree to renew their
alliance and combine their powers.

CROW CAWS

But for their plan to work,

Pompey and Crassus must win
the consulship election.

Roman consuls typically
don't run as a ticket,

but when those two men
start campaigning,

it becomes very clear that there is

a joint political operation
unfolding.

The news that the Triumvirate
is once again

putting Rome in its shadow
is greeted by its opponents

with simultaneous shock and horror.

There is one man who will obviously
stand against them.

Cato.

He's not senior enough or old enough
himself to stand to be consul.

Instead, he gets his
brother-in-law to run.

When word reaches the Triumvirate

that the Optimates
will stand against them,

Caesar deploys a political tactic
he's used with some success before -

violence.

Caesar ensures that men from his
legions who are serving in Gaul

are able to go back to Rome
to register their votes

to boost the backing
for his triumviral partners.

Caesar's men, battle-hardened,
unleash great bouts of thuggery

and intimidation
onto the streets of Rome.

Pompey and Crassus are prepared to
resort to intimidation, to violence,

in the run-up to the election,
including, indeed, on election day.

It's the morning
of the consulship vote.

Rome waits to discover whether
the Optimates or the Triumvirate

will take charge.

Cato heads out to cast his vote.

Predictably, by this stage,

because things are getting
completely out of control...

..hired ruffians of Crassus
and Pompey start beating Cato up.

And in the most incredible
plethora of violence,

Cato effectively martyrs himself.

He allows himself to be beaten up
because he wants people to see,

in every scar on his body,

the injustice and the horror
that's happening in Rome.

The Triumvirate's strategy
proves effective.

Pompey and Crassus stand unopposed
and win by a landslide.

One of the perks
of being consul in Rome

is that you have special chairs
at the front of the Senate.

When they take those seats...

..it sends a very clear message...

..that the Republic
is being controlled...

..by the Triumvirate.

Once Pompey and Crassus
have become consuls, you know,

they play their bit - they secure
Caesar another five years in Gaul.

Caesar can know that everything
that he has achieved

in bringing the Triumvirate
back together again,

that it is absolutely
paying off for him.

Over the next year, Pompey, Crassus
and Caesar carve up the Roman world.

Each takes control
of a foreign province,

with the military might, wealth
and prestige that brings.

Caesar keeps Gaul.

Crassus departs for Syria,

with plans to invade
Rome's greatest rival -

the Parthian Empire,
now modern Iran.

Pompey takes Spain,
but will govern it from Rome,

allowing him command of an army

whilst remaining at the heart
of the Senate.

It's become clear
that the partnership,

the three-headed monster,
as a writer at the time calls it,

is achieving a degree of influence
and power that is unprecedented

and that is against the spirit,

the, shall we say, deep-seated
political culture of the Republic.

There's no question about that.

With the Triumvirate
firmly in control of Rome,

Caesar sets his sights
on even greater glory.

Caesar, as though to celebrate,

embarks on his most spectacular
exploits yet.

He embarks on an expedition
to Britain.

One historian compared it
to man landing on the moon.

It is a land so savage and barbarous

that its inhabitants not only
paint themselves blue,

but even most revoltingly of all,
drink milk.

But there's no point in Caesar
achieving great things

if his fellow citizens back in Rome
are unaware of them.

One of the most brilliant
things that he does

is to write a work of literature
in his reports.

Everyone in Rome is reading
the Gallic War as it comes out.

"Have you read the latest episode?"
So they're all really fascinated.

The dispatches he sends back
are read out to the people.

He tells them about the kinds
of feats he is achieving,

and these are almost
superhuman conquests

for the people back in Rome.

Caesar has gone beyond the limits
of what they had known before.

In fact, he signally fails
to conquer Britain.

But he's such a good publicist,
he manages to turn it into,

"Look, I actually sailed
across the Channel

"and I frightened these
woad-coloured barbarians witless."

So he can dress it up as more
of a success than it was.

Winston Churchill famously said
that history would be kind to him

because he would write the history.

History, I think,
has been kind to Caesar

by and large because Caesar
definitely wrote the history.

Determined not to let this failure
hinder him,

Caesar accelerates
his conquest of Gaul.

At the head of a now vast army,

and with the Senate under
the Triumvirate's control,

Caesar revels in autonomy,

and his tactics become
ever more brutal.

It's claimed that Caesar slaughtered
a million people in Gaul,

that he enslaved another million,

and this, to us, might seem
a monstrous atrocity...

..but to the Romans, it's a
demonstration of the capacity

for violence and force that upholds
the dignitas of the Roman name.

Conquest is in-built
into the Roman psyche.

The Romans see themselves as
descended from the God of War,

which is Mars.

And all through Rome's history,
it really has been at war.

Caesar, in conquering this
remote and barbarous land,

feels he has no choice
but to deploy extreme terror,

so those tribes who resist him
are utterly annihilated.

Did he feel guilt about it?

I don't think so.

The Roman people had always thrilled
to narratives of bloodshed,

and Caesar, in Gaul, is giving them
the kind of stories that,

precisely because
they are stained in blood,

are, in the opinion of the Roman
people, all the more admirable...

..and Caesar feels himself very much
the hero of this narrative.

For his opponents in Rome,

Caesar off the leash in Gaul
is terrifying.

Cato is lying in wait for any
opportunity to take him down.

Finally, he sees his chance.

Caesar breaks a peace treaty,

and is said to slaughter over
400,000 men, women and children.

It's a sacrilegious contravention
of Roman law.

Cato leads a heated attack
against Caesar in the Senate.

Cato tries to point out that Caesar
is literally committing war crimes.

So Caesar is just a disgrace,

and Cato tries to demand
the punishment for that war crime,

which is that Caesar
should be handed over to the enemy,

but his demand
is simply brushed aside.

Caesar is becoming so successful

that nobody now wants to stand
with Cato against Caesar.

Caesar really doesn't need to worry.

He knows that everything
about his conquests

is boosting his status,
is boosting his prestige.

Cato is now in
a horrifying position.

Caesar, this man he despises,
is now becoming so successful

and popular that he's almost
untouchable, whatever he does.

By the end of 55 BC,
Caesar is riding high.

The Roman people love him.

He's relishing glory in Gaul
and his allies control the Senate.

Now news arrives that further
secures his bond with Pompey.

It's been three years since Pompey
married Caesar's only daughter,

Julia, and now she's pregnant
with their first child.

Julia's baby represents the
possibility of a lasting alliance

between Pompey and Caesar.

Marriages in Rome come and go.

The divorce rate is actually
pretty high.

But having a child, that's something
that will bind two families together

in perpetuity.

As Julia's due date approaches, the
entire Roman world is looking on.

But when Julia starts her labour,
she suffers a great deal,

and she is in a great deal
of physical pain.

Julia dies in childbirth...

..and her baby dies
a few days later.

Pompey, I mean, he was besotted
with Julia,

and so losing her
must have been unbearable.

In Gaul, Caesar is awaiting news
of his grandchild's birth.

Instead, he receives notice of
his daughter and her baby's death.

She was his only child,
and when Julia dies,

it's doubly a catastrophe
for Caesar...

..both on the personal level,
but also the political.

It's conventional to say
that Roman women...

..had no political power.

I think that loses the point.

Women like Julia
had a lot of political power.

She was the link between Caesar
and Pompey.

With her gone,

she's not there to mediate
any differences between them.

A crucial bond between
the two greatest men in Rome

has been severed...

..and Caesar knows that
the foundations of his power

are a good deal more unstable
than they had been previously.

A few short months later, Caesar
receives a second devastating blow.

The invasion of Parthia by Crassus
has ended in disaster.

He took a huge risk,
and he paid the ultimate price.

He is beheaded, and there are
stories about melted gold

being poured down his throat
by the Parthians in mockery

of his legendary wealth,
but also in what could be seen

as a denunciation of Roman...
of Roman greed.

It's a catastrophic defeat for Rome.

He loses legions.

It's a massacre of Romans.

It's a dreadful humiliation.

And that, of course, affects
the way that we see Crassus.

He really is a loser.

The death of Crassus is an
absolute disaster for Caesar.

The Triumvirate depends on it being
an alliance of three men, not two.

An alliance of two men - much,
much easier for it to fall apart.

His death reshapes,
quite literally overnight,

the political scene in Rome,

because now, well,
you no longer have three great men.

We have these two extraordinary
individuals, Pompey and Caesar...

..with no-one else in between.

No mediator, no buffer. It's them.

Are they going to co-exist
or are they going to fight it out?

For Caesar, the absolute priority
is to reaffirm his relationship

with Pompey, to maintain his ability
to continue as Governor in Gaul,

so Caesar does what Romans,
aristocrats,

conventionally do when they want to
forge an alliance - he looks around

for another female member of his
family to marry off to Pompey.

So he offers his great-niece.

And so Pompey says, "That's OK.

"Thanks for offering, but no."

And now Pompey finds himself
in a position

where he can choose
which way he goes.

He can move closer to the Optimates
in the Senate,

and at the same time
he knows that Caesar needs him.

This is what Pompey
has always wanted.

All the balls are in his court now.

Caesar can no longer absolutely rely
on their alliance holding together.

If there are other people
who can offer more than Caesar can,

then Pompey is absolutely
in the market for accepting that.

Caesar's position
is certainly weakening...

..and it looks as though things may
be going back in Cato's direction.

And it may be suddenly possible
for a new world to emerge

in which Caesar
will finally collapse.

THUNDER

Crassus is gone...

CROW CAWS

..Caesar and Pompey's alliance
hangs by a thread...

CROWS CAW

..and Caesar is no longer
pulling the strings in Rome.

The Senate turns inward
as men vie to reposition themselves.

Rome descends into chaos.

Violent gangs rule the streets.

And one man is making
the most of it -

an errant senator called Clodius.

He's a skunk.

There's nothing good about Clodius.

He's a manipulator, a sociopath,
a psychopath.

Any path you can think of,
Clodius is it.

Clodius holds a powerful position
in the Senate -

one of ten tribunes of the people.

Tribunes serve as a check
on the Senate's authority

to protect the interests
of ordinary Romans.

With special powers,
tribunes can veto proposals

or bypass the Senate and take bills
directly to the people.

By pushing through a law entitling
every citizen to free grain,

Clodius has won
huge popular support.

Clodius essentially creates himself
a private army.

There are people who are grateful to
Clodius because he is providing them

with bread, and they are ready to be
recruited to his paramilitary gangs.

Clodius uses his gangs to beat up
anyone who stands in his way,

a trick he learned
from Caesar himself.

Clodius, for years,
had served as Caesar's agent,

enforcing Caesar's interests
in Rome, and Clodius learned

from Caesar that power can come
directly from the people.

Clodius elevates this
to a whole new level.

Political order in the streets
of the capital

rapidly starts to collapse.

The behaviour of Clodius
makes Rome virtually impossible

to function properly.

It's become a dysfunctional city.

And he turns into a figure of terror
for the Roman establishment.

Desperate to regain control of Rome,
some conservative senators

hire gladiators and thugs
to fight back against Clodius.

Then, on a road outside Rome...

..Clodius is discovered in a ditch.

His body is carried back
into the city

and taken to his wife, Fulvia.

When the body comes,
Fulvia receives it,

and she does not do
what should properly be done.

For a proper Roman
aristocratic funeral,

she should wash the body and dress
it before displaying it publicly,

but she allows the crowd
that has gathered to see his broken

and wounded body,
his bloody clothes,

and she weeps in front of them.

Several of Clodius' allies
address the crowd...

..and so Fulvia's weeping,

and these speeches
drive the crowd into a rage.

Rome is a powder keg.

It won't even take a spark.

It's going to be
spontaneous combustion.

A rumour spreads that Clodius
has been murdered

by a prominent senator.

Fulvia leads an angry mob
into the heart of Rome,

where they stage
an impromptu funeral

right outside the Senate House.

The unruly, angry mob
break into the Senate House,

and in a rampage, they heap up
benches and anything else

they could get their hands on
that would burn,

and they heap it all up and they put
Clodius on the top of the heap.

The choice to build Clodius' pyre
out of items from the Senate House

is an indication of anger
directed at the Senate.

Clodius' murderer is sort of
the front man

for the conservative faction
within the Senate,

and so populist anger will have
been directed at the elite.

The pyre burns, and it burns so well

that it also burns down
the Senate House,

which is truly symbolic of the state
of the Republic in that moment.

The city is ungovernable,
it is uncontrollable.

The spectacle of the Senate House
burning,

it's absolutely horrifying.

It's as terrifying as the spectacle
of the Capitol

being invaded by an angry mob
under Trump.

It marks the system - the Republic -
not in any sense working any longer.

For Cato, this was a moment
of mounting horror,

a sense of all the standards
collapsing,

and now we have the Senate House
literally burnt to the ground,

mobs rampaging through the streets.

I mean, everything that
he treasures about Rome

and the Republic is now
in ruins or in flames.

With violence consuming the city,
senators need to act fast.

A military general could help them
quell the unrest.

But even Cato knows that
the only candidates

with enough popular support
are Caesar or Pompey.

The thing that worries Cato most
at this moment

is that Caesar is going to
be able to come back.

He sees Julius Caesar
as the embodiment of the threat,

as an immoral man
and a potential tyrant.

And so Cato decides, in increasing
desperation, to do something

that he'd refused to do
years earlier...

..which is to try to ally
with Pompey,

and Cato has to gamble that Pompey
is the lesser of the two evils.

In times of crisis, the Senate have
special powers at their disposal.

They could make Pompey
what they call a Dictator -

an emergency office that gives
one man sole control of Rome

for a strictly limited period.

But the Optimates hate the idea.

It goes against everything
the Republic stands for.

So Pompey is offered a compromise.

What they come up with
is a sole consulship for Pompey.

Extraordinary means
and extraordinary measures.

Pompey's position as sole consul
is a watershed moment.

This has never happened before.

Pompey is overjoyed.

"The Senate loves me."

After months of turmoil in Rome,

Pompey's soldiers bring calm
to the city streets.

Then Pompey relinquishes his power
at the end of his term,

much to the approval
of the Optimates.

In Gaul, Caesar is nearing the end
of his term as Governor.

For years, this position
has protected him

against his enemies in Rome.

As his ten-year period of office
starts to come towards its close,

the big question is
what will his enemies do

once he is a private citizen,

in other words,
once he is liable for prosecution.

But Caesar has a plan.

Although he has opponents
in the Senate,

he knows his success in Gaul has won
him the love of the Roman people.

With the annual consulship election
coming round again,

Caesar plans to stand, certain
he will win the popular vote.

This, of course, is crucial
for Caesar's ambitions,

not just because it offers him
the chance of a second consulship

but also because he will go straight
from his governorship in Gaul

to becoming consul.

Cato is now very concerned
that Caesar,

flushed with his victories in Gaul,

will be able to get himself
elected as consul

and by becoming consul,
become immune to prosecution,

so Cato will not be able to get him
for all his lawbreaking.

For Caesar's enemies,
there's a window of opportunity.

The Senate still have the power
to terminate Caesar's governorship.

If they can be persuaded
to recall him,

he could be forced to face trial

before he has a chance
to win the consulship.

The idea divides the Senate.

The Senate starts to split into
two violently opposed factions -

the faction that supports Caesar,
and those on the other side

who are absolutely determined
to bring him down.

Caught in the middle is Pompey.

He is forced to choose between his
new-found favour with the Optimates

and his old alliance with Caesar.

Trying desperately to reconcile
these two irreconcilable blocks

is Pompey, who wants to be
the friend of both blocks of men.

Pompey decides that the approval
of the Senate

is more important
than his relationship with Caesar.

Pompey stands with the Optimates,
and backs the debate about

terminating Caesar's governorship
in Gaul.

For Caesar, the fact that Pompey
decides to move against him

is a disastrous development...

..because Cato's faction
now absolutely has

the wind in their sails.

This, of course, stirs up
Caesar's deepest worry...

..that all his astonishing conquests
will be as nothing.

He is staring down the barrel
of political oblivion.

On the 1st of March, 50 BC,

the debate over Caesar's
governorship begins.

It will end with a vote.

The Optimates need a majority
to recall Caesar to Rome.

But Caesar is prepared.

He's banking on a man he's bribed,
another tribune of the people.

Caesar's man uses his power
as a tribune to obstruct the debate.

The tribune vetoes and vetoes
and vetoes every proposal

that is put by the Senate to try
and strip Caesar of his command.

The tribune not only blocks
the proposal

to revoke Caesar's governorship,

he has a counter-demand
direct from Caesar.

He puts a proposal to the Senate
that if Caesar is stripped

of his command, then Pompey should
be stripped of HIS command in Spain.

And this, of course, ups the stakes,

because it now means that
Pompey's command as well is in play.

Pompey isn't going to give up
his army. Are you kidding?

His power lies in having
an army at his command.

He is not going to give that up.

Rome's two most powerful generals
are now in a dangerous game

of brinkmanship.

If they cannot resolve
their stand-off peacefully,

everyone fears where it might lead.

The tension between Caesar and
Pompey at this point is escalating

because of the back and forth
they're having via the Senate.

The problem is, the Romans know
very well the logical outcome

of this could be civil war.

In a frantic bid to de-escalate,

the Senate again debates the
proposal that both Caesar and Pompey

give up their armies,

and that Caesar be allowed
to stand for the consulship.

For the Optimates,

this would mean abandoning
their bid to prosecute him.

But even Caesar's opponents
are eager to avert catastrophe.

The vote was 370 for,

to 22 against,

and it's clearly because the Senate
wants to avoid civil war.

And it might appear at that point
that peace is around the corner,

but, of course, Caesar's enemies
aren't going to let that happen.

Despite the overwhelming vote,

one of the current consuls
is a die-hard Optimate.

Loathe to compromise with Caesar,

he uses his power as consul to do
something reckless and radical.

It's absolutely outrageous
for a consul to ignore

the expressed will of the Senate,

but the Consuls
are very powerful people.

They have imperium - the right
to control military strength,

and in their determination
to block Caesar,

the consul actually takes a sword
to Pompey and says,

"Here, the command is yours and
you must protect us from Caesar."

This is a signal
that he has been appointed

as Commander of Armed Forces

on behalf of the Senate.

Pompey should refuse.

If he had his head screwed on,
Pompey should refuse.

But the diabolical thing
that the senators do

is to persuade Pompey
that he's their hero

and that Caesar is the enemy.

He accepts the sword...

..and this is then a declaration

that he is willing
to take up arms...

..against Caesar.

This raises the stakes once again.

Pompey now has the authority to
bring Rome's legions down on Caesar.

Pompey has both symbolically
and literally

taken up the sword against him,

and so Caesar now has absolutely
no illusions as to what he's facing.

But, you know,
he makes one final gambit.

He sends a letter to the Senate.

Caesar's letter is
brought before the Senate

by one of his most loyal soldiers -
a man called Mark Antony.

Antony is one of those figures
from antiquity

that gets almost nothing
but bad press.

Antony is a womaniser
and he's a drunkard.

What's easy to overlook is that
Antony is interested in literature,

he's interested in art, he's one of
the best educated men of his time,

which is why he's a terrific orator.

He joins Caesar's army
as an officer,

and they've become friendly,
they've become close,

all during the context
of the Gallic War.

Caesar has used his popularity to
get Antony elected as a tribune.

His role is to protect the interests
of the Roman people,

but Antony is really
serving Caesar.

When Mark Antony comes to the Senate
with a letter from Caesar,

the Senate won't even let him
read the letter out,

and they're simply putting
their fingers in their ears

and saying, "La, la, la, la, la.
We don't want to hear you, Caesar."

But they're forced to hear it
by Mark Antony...

..and the letter appears to be
just another letter

which says, "Let's disarm,
let's find a way toward peace."

But in addition to that sentiment,
Antony will then go on to say,

speaking for Caesar,
that if this is impossible,

if the Senate insists on
being so aggressive,

then Caesar must defend
his prestige,

he must protect the freedom
of the Roman people.

They take it to mean that
Caesar is threatening civil war.

I think for Caesar, it's very clear.

Either his enemies in the Senate
back down,

or else, with reluctance,

Caesar will have no choice but to
defend Rome by marching on Rome.

Some people believe that it's
possible to compromise with Caesar

and avoid civil war.

But Cato thinks that Caesar
is a fundamental threat

to the Republic
and a stand must be taken,

so he pushes very, very hard for an
aggressive response towards Caesar.

In the heart of all politics,

it doesn't matter whether you're
dealing with Putin and Ukraine

or you're dealing with Hitler,
the question is,

is compromise and peace possible
with a tyrant,

or is trying to compromise
just a form of appeasement?

It just encourages the other side.

The Senate must now decide -

compromise with Caesar
or confront him.

For Caesar's enemies,
backing down is not an option,

so they bring a radical bill
to the chamber.

It's called the Ultimate
Decree of the Senate,

which would make Caesar
an outlaw of the state.

This is as far from compromise...

..as one can get.

We're talking about a decree that
says you have permission to murder

Caesar if he crosses the boundary
into Rome, with or without an army.

This is huge. It is absolutely huge.

And it's effectively
a declaration of war on Caesar.

The Senate are persuaded that this
is the Republic's last chance.

The emergency decree is passed.

Antony is told in advance
that if he interposes his veto

against the Senate's
Ultimate Decree,

if he exercises his rights
as a tribune,

he should be concerned
for his personal safety.

And so he flees Rome
because of the menace of the Senate.

He makes quite a show
of disguising himself as a slave

so he won't be recognised, and he
goes on to send Caesar in advance

the notice that he is in peril.

The moment Caesar gets the news,
he acts decisively,

he acts with his customary speed,

but, of course, to act
he needs an army at his back.

But he knows exactly
how to press their buttons.

He says to them that the insult that
is being done to his tribune,

Mark Antony, this is an insult
to his men too.

The legions know the tribunes
cannot be threatened,

they cannot be harmed.

That's good propaganda for Caesar.

Turn against the tribunes
of the Roman people,

you're turning against
the Roman people.

If you side with Julius Caesar...

..you side with freedom.

On the 9th of January, 49 BC,

just north of the Rubicon - the
river separating Gaul from Italy,

Caesar hosts a dinner.

Caesar faces a choice.

He could lay down his command,

risk prosecution and the
very strong possibility of exile,

or plunge Rome into
a bloody civil war.

He has been pushed into a corner
by his enemies.

We're told that he hesitates in a
kind of...an anguish of indecision.

But in the end, he's a gambler...

..and, as he has done
throughout his career,

he is ready to roll the dice.

On the 10th of January,
he gives the command.

His legion crosses the Rubicon,

and the Roman Republic...

..collapses into civil war.

Next time....

..Caesar triumphs in war...

..but as he takes ever more power
for himself,

he leaves his enemies little choice.