The Nexus Archive
Roman Power · History
The Civil War
by Julius Caesar · The Historian of Conquest · Late Roman Republic, 100-44 BC
Caesar's account of the conflict that broke the Roman Republic.
- Advanced
- c. 49 BCE
- ~3 hr 45 min read
- 24 chapter guides
- Public domain
Start reading · Read the Book I guide free
Before the text
Editor's Prelude
The Victor Builds His Case
Prepared by the NEXUS Editors
Caesar is not a detached historian here. He is commander, politician, and eventual victor, explaining the crisis of 49 BCE in a controlled third-person voice that makes his own choices look measured and his opponents' choices look reckless. The Senate's emergency powers, the flight of the tribunes, and the crossing into Italy become evidence in a case he is building before Rome.
The war then widens across Italy, Spain, Massilia, Africa, Greece, and Egypt. Caesar turns logistics into character: speed, bridges, grain, ships, fortifications, intelligence, negotiation, and clemency distinguish the leader who can keep events under control from the leaders who cannot. Even disaster—Curio's destruction or Caesar's defeat at Dyrrachium—enters a narrative designed to recover command.
The three-book work does not end with the Republic restored. It stops abruptly as the Alexandrian War begins, after Pompey's murder has removed Caesar's great rival but not the violence his struggle released. Caesar records both military reversals and the fear and grief they cause, while repeatedly defending his own judgment. The precision of his account gives authority to a commander who is also arguing his case.
The opening pages
Book I: The Crisis Opens
I.—When Caesar's letter was delivered to the consuls, they were with great difficulty, and a hard struggle of the tribunes, prevailed on to suffer it to be read in the senate; but the tribunes could not prevail, that any question should be put to the senate on the subject of the letter. The consuls put the question on the regulation of the state. Lucius Lentulus the consul promises that he will not fail the senate and republic, "if they declared their sentiments boldly and resolutely, but if they turned their regard to Caesar, and courted his favour, as they did on former occasions, he would adopt a plan for himself, and not submit to the authority of the senate: that he too had a means of regaining Caesar's favour and friendship." Scipio spoke to the same purport, "that it was Pompey's intention not to abandon the republic, if the senate would support him; but if they should hesitate and act without energy, they would in vain implore his aid, if they should require it hereafter."
II.—This speech of Scipio's, as the senate was convened in the city, and Pompey was near at hand, seemed to have fallen from the lips of Pompey himself. Some delivered their sentiments with more moderation, as Marcellus first, who in the beginning of his speech, said, "that the question ought not to be put to the senate on this matter, till levies were made throughout all Italy, and armies raised under whose protection the senate might freely and safely pass such resolutions as they thought proper": as Marcus Calidius afterwards, who was of opinion, "that Pompey should set out for his province, that there might be no cause for arms: that Caesar was naturally apprehensive as two legions were forced from him, that Pompey was retaining those troops, and keeping them near the city to do him injury": as Marcus Rufus, who followed Calidius almost word for word. They were all harshly rebuked by Lentulus, who peremptorily refused to propose Calidius's motion. Marcellus, overawed by his reproofs, retracted his opinion. Thus most of the senate, intimidated by the expressions of the consul, by the fears of a present army, and the threats of Pompey's friends, unwillingly and reluctantly adopted Scipio's opinion, that Caesar should disband his army by a certain day, and should he not do so, he should be considered as acting against the state. Marcus Antonius, and Quintus Cassius, tribunes of the people, interposed. The question was immediately put on their interposition. Violent opinions were expressed: whoever spoke with the greatest acrimony and cruelty, was most highly commended by Caesar's enemies.
Read it in a Quest
A republic under pressure, where duty, ambition, and civil order begin to fracture.
Chapter guides · 24
Book I: The Crisis Opens
Necessity, According to Caesar
The first battle is over who gets to define legality, fear, and self-defense.
What changed
The Senate refuses compromise, Pompey's influence hardens the meeting, the tribunes flee, and Caesar answers with his army. Caesar carefully arranges that sequence so armed action appears to follow the destruction of lawful alternatives.
Why it matters
Caesar presents armed action as the consequence of enemies closing lawful alternatives. His calm third-person voice gives reported events the order of a defense. The section ends with unequal counterterms: Caesar must leave Ariminum and disband first, while the consuls and Pompey continue their levies until Caesar guarantees he will keep his promises. Caesar's proposal for mutual disarmament has not produced a mutual commitment.
Book I: Caesar Advances Through Italy
Momentum Becomes Legitimacy
Italian towns change sides faster than Pompey's commanders can build a defense.
What changed
Iguvium, Auximum, Picenum, Asculum, and Sulmo fall into Caesar's hands as local communities reject or outpace Pompeian officers. Domitius waits at Corfinium for help Pompey has no intention of sending.
Why it matters
Speed does political work. Every bloodless submission lets Caesar present his advance as welcomed order instead of invasion. At Corfinium, Domitius deceives his own men about relief and plans to escape; Caesar instead releases the captured senators and officers and returns Domitius's war-pay money from the public treasury. He takes an oath from the soldiers and marches into Apulia after seven days. Mercy accompanies the transfer of military allegiance.
Book I: Pompey's Escape and Caesar at Rome
Escape and a Failed Embassy
Pompey escapes by sea, and Caesar cannot turn his arrival at Rome into an agreed settlement.
Book I: Massilia and the First Battle at Ilerda
The War Splits West
Unable to cross after Pompey, Caesar turns toward Massilia and the Spanish armies.
Book I: Ilerda Turns Against Caesar
Floods Reverse the Campaign
Floods break Caesar's bridges and turn his advance into a supply crisis.
Book I: Afranius Is Cornered
Victory Without a Battle?
Caesar takes the road and water while refusing the slaughter his soldiers expect.
Book I: Afranius Surrenders
A Surrender Caesar Can Own
Petreius stops fraternization, but hunger and encirclement finally force formal terms.
Book II: Massilia Holds Out
Massilia at Sea
The city answers siege works with ships, but Pompey's reinforcement refuses the risk.
Book II: Siege Works and Treachery
Mercy Answered with Treachery
The defenders ask for their city to be spared, then burn the Roman siege works during the truce.
Book II: Varro Loses Spain
A Province Changes Sides
Varro prepares for resistance, but cities, troops, and resources move toward Caesar.
Book II: Curio Lands in Africa
Curio Trusts Momentum
Early victories give way to rumors about whether Curio's soldiers can be trusted.
Book II: Curio Falls
Confidence Meets Juba
False intelligence draws Curio into exhaustion, encirclement, and the destruction of his army.
Book III: Caesar Crosses to Greece
The Risky Crossing
Caesar carries only part of his army across winter seas against Pompey's larger coalition.
Book III: Negotiations and Blockade
Peace Talk Under Blockade
Caesar keeps proposing negotiation while Bibulus's fleet cuts him off from Italy.
Book III: Rome, Brundisium, and Scipio
The Republic Fractures Everywhere
Debt revolt, naval raids, extortion, and delayed reinforcements widen the crisis beyond Caesar's camp.
Book III: Regional Campaigns and Pompey's Encirclement
Caesar Rebuilds the Initiative
Regional campaigns compete for allies and grain while Caesar encloses Pompey's larger army.
Book III: The Siege Lines Tighten
War by Earthwork and Hunger
Both armies invent ways to survive and attack inside an immense ring of forts.
Book III: Betrayal at Dyrrachium
Defection Opens the Lines
Two cavalry officers reveal the unfinished works and give Pompey a precise target.
Book III: Caesar Is Driven Back
Dyrrachium: The Defeat
A confused assault becomes rout, heavy loss, and the abandonment of Caesar's siege strategy.
Book III: Caesar Recovers the Army
Discipline After Defeat
Caesar punishes a few standards, praises the army, and turns retreat into renewed movement.
Book III: Pompey Prepares for Battle
Pompey Is Already Dividing the Prize
His coalition argues over offices and rewards before the battle has been fought.
Book III: Pharsalus Is Won
Pharsalus Turns on a Reserve
Caesar's fourth line breaks the cavalry attack, and fresh infantry completes the rout.
Book III: Pompey Flees to Egypt
Victory Runs into Murder
Pompey escapes the battlefield only to be killed by the court he hoped would protect him.
Book III: Alexandria Opens a New Crisis
Another War Begins
The surviving narrative stops with Caesar fortified inside Alexandria and another war beginning.
Questions readers ask
- How long does it take to read The Civil War?
- About 3 hr 45 min in total.
- How difficult is The Civil War?
- Advanced. A mid-length history; about 4 hours of reading.
- Which translation is this?
- The W. A. McDevitte (William Alexander McDevitte) translation from the Latin. The text follows Caesar's Commentaries, Everyman's Library no. 702 (1915).
- Can I read The Civil War for free?
- The Civil War is part of Nexus Premium, so reading it needs an account and a Premium subscription, and completing an earlier Quest's Mastery. The opening above and two chapter guides on this page are free to read.
- How many chapter guides are there?
- 24 chapter guides, written by the Nexus editors. Two open in full here; the rest show their opening line.
About Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar was a Roman general, statesman, and dictator whose campaigns and political rise helped end the Roman Republic. Unlike many conquerors, Caesar left major firsthand accounts of his wars, making him both actor and narrator of power.
“When does saving the republic become the excuse for destroying it?”
Caesar is essential to understanding conquest, propaganda, charisma, and the transformation of republican institutions into imperial power.
Source text: public domain. Chapter guides: original Nexus writing. The Civil War is part of The Nexus Archive, guided Quests through the great works.