Avaritas et gloria: a re-examination of the conflict between Pompey and Caesar from a moral perspective

Abstract

Several writers on the history of the Roman Republic have argued that the causes of the conflict between Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus and Gaius Julius Caesar, Rome‟s renowned military commanders and politicians, are traceable to the deaths of Crassus and Julia, wife of Pompey. Crassus was the third in the 60 B.C. tripod alliance of Crassus-Pompey-Caesar otherwise called „First Triumvirate‟ while Julia was the daughter of Julius Caesar, given in marriage to Pompey to strengthen the alliance. The writers, reasonably, conclude that the deaths of these unifying personages soured the relationship between the last two politicians, resulting ultimately in an open conflict in 49 B.C. These submissions and others, however, have not grounded the roots of the conflict in the moral problems of greed for wealth and power (avaritas) and desire for fame, public honour and military triumph (gloria). Therefore, this paper concentrates on both Pompey and Caesar and those latent amoral actions that induced the spread of their political and military influence and accumulation of wealth and positions in the dying days of the Roman Republic. The paper explained avaritas as an intense and selfish desire for wealth and power beyond what is necessary. By the same token, gloria is expressed as intense and selfish desire for fame or public honour, attained through military conquests and political achievements. Using the historical method in interpreting both primary and secondary sources, the paper notes that in the late Roman Republic, men were inspired by straightforward greed for political power and winning military glory; the greatest glory was a triumph, which was a military display of spoils of war to attract the praise of the people. To realize their individualistic objectives, they, in the guise of overcoming oppositions in the senate, formed an informal political alliance with Crassus, the richest Roman in history, who died at the Battle of Carrhae while seeking military glory. By teasing out certain actions and inactions of the last two men before and during the dying days of their alliance, this work concludes that the underlying basis for the breakdown in the relationship between Pompey and Caesar should be seen in their twin moral vices: avaritas for economic gain and acquisition of resources as well as competition for gloria, through ambition to outshine each other over control of the Roman Republic.