Early morning. 11th of January, 49 BC/E. Gaius Julius Caesar stands on the banks of the Rubicon River separating the province of Cisalpine Gaul from Italy. He ponders what crossing it will mean - war against his fellow Romans and all the misery that ensues. Invading his homeland he officially becomes a Public Enemy. Town after town, region after region falls to the Caesarean forces. Rome is in tumult, Pompey and the Senate abandon it and with their conscripted soldiers leave Italy for Greece. Caesar, unable to stop them makes this war affect the entire Roman world and beyond. Meanwhile Cato, assigned to Sicily to control the grain supply for the Republicans, grows deeply disillusioned wit the war he helped engineer.   

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sources 

Primary Sources

The Civil Wars - Appian (Penguins)

The Gallic War - Julius Caesar (Folio Society) trans. S.A Handford and Jane F. Gardner

The Civil War – Julius Caesar (Oxford Classics) trans. John Carter

 The Jugurthine Wars | The Catiline Conspiracy - Sallust (Penguin)

The Fall of the Roman Republic (Books 36-40) - Cassius Dio (Oxford Classics)

Lives of the Caesars (Julius Caesar) - Suetonius 

Lives of Cicero | Julius Caesar | Cato the Younger – Plutarch trans. Rex Warner

Secondary Sources

Uncommon Wrath - Josiah Osgood

Before Augustus - Natale Barca 

Pompey the Great – Robin Seager

Caesar - Mattias Gelzer

Cato the Younger - Fred Drogula 

In the Name of Rome – Adrian Goldsworthy

The Fall of Egypt and the Rise of Rome – Guy de la Bedoyere

Fiction

Cicero Trilogy (Imperium, Lustrum, Dictator) – Robert Harris

Caesar's Women - Colleen McCullough   

TV Series

Rome – 2005-6 (HBO)

iHeart Podcasts: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1300-your-attention-please-326046416/

OmnyStudio: https://omny.fm/shows/your-attention-please

Email: yourattentionplease@alive905.com.au