[Teaser] What if Caesar Had Survived - The Parthian Invasion

Here is a sample of the script for our upcoming video

By the will of the gods, the assassins’ hands had been stayed on the Ides of March. Caesar had lived and could manifest the next phase of his great conquests. In 44 BC, he struck out at Dacia, waging a bloody war which carved out the new province of Moesia up to the Danube. Now, having celebrated a triumph and settled affairs at Rome, Caesar prepares for his long awaited invasion of Parthia. This would be a prize more glorious than any before!

Recap

It is now February of 43 BC. Just a few months earlier, Caesar had led his victorious legions across the streets of Rome in glorious triumph. However, as of late, these celebrations had given way to the banalities of political life. The pile of documents on his desk grew tall and the line of petitioners outside his doors grew long. Political minutiae consumed hours of the day and night. And those were just the ones which his clerks had deemed worthy of his time. But the great statesman was accustomed to such affairs, having routinely remained enmeshed with the goings on at Rome even whilst on campaign. He knew that, as in war, victory often rested on the careful planning of mundane matters.

In this case for instance, we can imagine that many of his correspondences dealt with enacting the flurry of reforms, initiatives, and civil projects he had begun upon his return to Rome. These gave the people a shining example of what a Caesarian government could do, further winning them over to his cause. But more importantly, the affairs of state would be used as a tool to control the elites of the city. While outright opposition had evaporated in the wake of Caesar's glorious return there was nonetheless veiled resistance taking place. Politicians dragged their feet, skirted obligations, and found many subtle ways to undercut the man who had still not relinquished the title of dictator. In response Caesar used carrots and sticks to bolster his faction whilst neutralizing his rivals. He staffed the government with his partisans, rewarded allies with lucrative positions, maintained a general policy of clemency, and made free use of the Forum as a bully pulpit. In short, he deftly maneuvered his way through the murky political situation in Rome, sowing the seeds of a Caesarean pseudo-monarchy.

There would have been many pieces on the chess board for Caesar to move around. Admittedly it is impossible to divine what he had in mind for all of them. For the sake of our scenario, we will be focusing on the people from Caesar’s inner orbit and assume that they will have been moved in such a way as to align towards his next objective: a war in Parthia. These were the schemes that increasingly occupied Caesar late into the night.