-Caesar was now in Rome!
-Cleopatra came to visit him and brought with him their son, Cesarian.
-This pissed off Cicero, but public opinion was positive towards Cleopatra.
-During this time, Pompey's sons began raising armies in Hispania to revolt against Caesar.
-Thus far it was 13 legions strong!
-Autumn 46 BC- Caesar raised two veteran legions and marched to Hispania, amassing recruits along the way. Caesar ultimately was able to gather about 40,000 in total (against Pompey's 70,000!).
-Both armies clashed at the Battle of Munda (most likely outside of modern-day Écija, Spain) in March 45 BC.
-Furious battle, but Caesar won in the end.
-Caesar then worked hard to pacify the region before returning back to Rome.
-Now that it was clear that Caesar wouldn't be defeated in battle, the Roman elite began to seriously plot Caesar's assassination.
-Although Marc Antony refused to be involved in the conspiracy, Caesar's old friend Brutus did not.
-They were also worried about Caesar's rapid drift towards autocratic rule- at this point, Caesar hadn't even bothered with appointing a co-consul!
-Caesar's public relations were declining as well.
-The triumph that was held upon his return portrayed his enemies (Pompey, Cato, etc.) as public enemies- these had been Roman senators! Sure, the Republic was corrupt and fucked up, but it still just seemed wrong in terms of how it was perceived by the average citizen.
-Cicero and Caesar also got into some drama because Cicero published a piece reflecting on the life of Cato, and this pissed off Caesar.
-Caesar even wrote a response piece defaming Cato's name, but the public fixated more on Caesar's lulzy antics rather than the actual piece.
-To make matters worse, Caesar installed a golden throne upon which he could sit and preside over the Senate, and also ordered a statue of himself to be carried along with the procession of the gods on holy days in Rome.
-He also took to wearing purple robes (supposedly meant to symbolize victory), but it actually resembled the traditional garb of Roman royalty.
-Caesar then stepped down as consul and bypassed the Senate so that there were no new consuls appointed to replace him. He then appointed himself dictator for 10 years, but in 44 BC he named himself dictator for life!
-He then tried to appoint himself king in order to try and tie it in with a prophecy about only a Roman king being able to conquer the Parthians, but obviously no one was into this.
-The Romans would accept an autocrat, but they would never accept a monarch!
-Caesar then began to mobilize troops to invade Parthia.
-He planned for the invasion to take place in April 44 BC.
-Claimed it was vengeance for the death of Crassus (haha).
-Wanted to invade via Armenia, then sweep through the northern steppes and conquer the barbarian hordes there before following the Danube River back into Europe and conquering Germania! Damn!!
-Of course, this would never happen. The number of anti-Caesar conspirators had swelled to about 60 (made up of people who feared him, old friends who felt marginalized, those who were just simply jealous, etc.).
-March 15, 44 BC- Caesar was lured into the Senate House, and then the conspirators surrounded him and stabbed him to death (23 times!).
-Contrary to what most people think, he most likely did NOT say "et tu Brute?".
-The conspirators then paraded through the streets, announcing that Rome had been liberated and Caesar was dead! However, they were actually met with stunned silence, not cheers like they had expected.
-The Roman common folk then went inside and locked their doors, knowing that a violent shitstorm was on the horizon!
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