71. The Spanish Campaign Begins: Julius Caesar Strikes West

Welcome to the March of History, Episode 71, The Spanish Campaign Begins, Julius Caesar Strikes West. Today I figured we'd start out with a throwback and kick off this episode with our old style of intro. That is, simply saying welcome. We left off in our last episode with Julius Caesar marching to war. Specifically, he's marching to confront Pompey's Spanish legions.

But on the way, he stops at the Free City of Massilia, around April 19th of 49 BC. Massilia is the modern French city of Marseille, on the Mediterranean coast of southern France. In Caesar's day, it is an old Greek colony, with long-standing ties of friendship to Rome. So, Caesar arrives at Massilia, and the Massiliotes, as they're known, that's the people of Massilia, close their gates on him. Caesar then learns that Pompey had already gotten in their ear.

Pompey, when he was still in Rome, had sent a contingent of young Massiliote noblemen as messengers to their home city. Before they left, Pompey had told them not to let Caesar's recent generosity blot out the memory of his own kindness to them. And so, the Massiliotes had done exactly that. And when Julius Caesar arrived at their gates, those gates remained firmly closed. But really, the Massiliotes went further than that.

They had already started preparing for war. They had summoned the Albici, a barbarian tribe, as Caesar calls them, who lived in the mountains above Massilia. These mountain barbarians had owed their allegiance to Massilia ever since their remote past, as Caesar puts it. But that was just the start of the Massiliotes' preparations. They had then gathered food from all the neighboring districts and surrounding forts into their city.

They had set up forges for the production of weapons, and they had begun repairing their walls, gates, and fleet. In short, the Massiliotes seemed intent on war. Which is more than a little wild. Caesar is on their doorstep, and Pompey is not even remotely near to render aid. It's quite a bizarre, and one might even say fanatical step, to try to go to war with Caesar alone like that.

For comparison, look how Brundisium had behaved. They allowed Pompey into their city, and when he left, they immediately allowed Caesar in. Even if a city is pro-one side or the other, it doesn't make sense to make a suicidal stand if the side you're standing for isn't standing with you. So Caesar thinks he can reason with the Massiliotes, and talk some sense into them. Plus, he's on a tight timetable here.

He doesn't want to get bogged down besieging the city. He has a war in Spain to fight. So, Caesar summons the Massiliote Grand Committee of 15, and tries to convince them to stand down. Among other things, he urges them not to let the Massiliotes be guilty of starting hostilities. In short, Caesar says he tried to bring them to their senses.

The Grand Committee of 15 then goes back to Massilia to report Caesar's message to their Senate. They then return to Caesar with a message of their own. They say that they are not qualified to judge who is right, Pompey or Caesar. Furthermore, they say that Pompey and Caesar have both shown great generosity to their city. And since they are therefore indebted to both men, they think it is only right that they help neither man against the other, and allow neither into their city or harbor.

Now comes the real slap in the face though. As these negotiations are playing out between the Massiliotes and Caesar, suddenly, Ahenobarbus comes sailing up to Massilia with seven fast ships manned by his own slaves, freedmen, and tenants. With unbelievable gall, the Massiliotes immediately welcome Ahenobarbus into their harbor and put him in charge of the defense of their city. Ahenobarbus immediately sets about increasing their preparations for war. The Massiliotes send out ships in all directions to seize transport vessels and bring them back to Massilia. Any food found in these transports Ahenobarbus distributes publicly. A variety of other goods are also gathered in preparation of a siege. Any transports that turn out to be unusable, they scrap to use in the repair of other ships. Caesar writes in the commentaries that he was stung by what he calls these misdemeanors.

And, in case you've forgotten, Ahenobarbus was one of the men Caesar had shown clemency to at Corfinium. Ahenobarbus, who, as another reminder, is an arch-optimate and the brother-in-law of Cato, had even attempted to drink poison to kill himself at Corfinium. But in the end, Caesar had shown clemency. And here now, Ahenobarbus has immediately renewed the war against Caesar. Where is his gratitude?

And the Massiliotes, who Caesar had been trying to negotiate with in good faith, had lied to his face. They had no intention of remaining neutral. They were always on the side of Pompey. So, finished with trying to talk sense into these people, Caesar orders three legions under the command of Gaius Trebonius to put Massilia under siege. He orders these legions to begin building siege towers and screens. He also orders Decimus Brutus to build 12 ships at Arelate, which is modern Arles. My apologies to our French listeners if that pronunciation was horrible.

Caesar writes that these ships were complete within 30 days from the cutting of the timber. They are then brought up to join the siege of Massilia. Now, just a reminder, Decimus Brutus is not the famous Brutus. However, and I've made this point before, but it's worth a periodic reminder, both Decimus Brutus and Gaius Trebonius, the two men Caesar leaves in charge of the siege, will be among his assassins on the Ides of March. Talk about a betrayal. But, of course, that is in the distant future.

After putting Trebonius in charge of the siege and Decimus Brutus in charge of the ships, Caesar sends his lieutenant Gaius Fabius ahead to Spain with three legions. Now, it's worth taking a moment to set the stage of the coming Spanish War. Spain at this time is divided into two provinces, nearer Spain and further Spain. You'll also hear them referred to as Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior, respectively. Or even Hither Spain and Thither Spain, which is like the old-fashioned version of nearer and further Spain, but to me that just sounds too ridiculous, so we'll stick to nearer and further Spain.

Nearer Spain, where this coming war will take place, roughly corresponds with eastern Spain, the part of Spain nearer to Rome, hence its name. Further Spain, meanwhile, corresponds roughly with southwestern Spain, the part of Spain further from Rome. At this time during the later Republic, there are still sizable parts of Spain and Portugal that are not part of either Roman province.

Meanwhile, Pompey's forces in Spain are divided up among three of Pompey's legates, the first being Marcus Petreius, the second Lucius Afranius, and Marcus Terentius Varro being the third. We'll call them Petreius, Afranius, and Varro. These are three very different men with very different abilities.

Petreius is a military man and a client of Pompey's. He has an enormous amount of military experience, although he lacks experience in terms of being a general in command of his own army. Just to give you an idea of how experienced Petreius is, way back during the Catiline Conspiracy and Rebellion, it was Petreius who had command of the Republic's army, and it was therefore him who defeated Catiline. And, Sallust tells us that by that point, 13 years before this Spanish War, Petreius already had 30 years of military experience. So, like I said, Petreius has an enormous amount of military experience, some might even say too much. What do I mean by that? Well, you can't gain 43 years of military experience without becoming at least a little long in the tooth. At this point, Petreius is 60 years old. For a general on campaign in antiquity, that's old. Though by 49 BC, Pompey is 57 years old, so not much younger. Caesar, meanwhile, is a spry 51. And one more fun fact on Petreius, he may have been the son of one of Marius' centurions. So, if that's the case, soldiering is in his blood.

Next we have Afranius. Afranius, far from being famed for his military abilities, is instead famed for his dance moves. Being accused of being a good dancer was a damning accusation in ancient Rome. I mean, to try to contextualize it for today, would you want the man in charge of defending your nation from foreign invaders to be the guy who was constantly dancing on TikTok? Probably not. And we know the ancient Romans were a lot more hard-headed about that kind of stuff than we are today. Which makes sense, since in antiquity, I mean, it was a rough neighborhood antiquity. And all tribes and cities were just a single military blunder away from annihilation. So, you can't really trust the guy who dances on TikTok. No offense if dancing on TikTok's your thing.

Well, despite the supreme handicap of being a famed dancer, Afranius still managed, with the patronage of Pompey, to rise in the world and even became consul in 60 BC. So, dance moves or not, he's not a man without ability. He's also served under Pompey in multiple campaigns, including his war against Quintus Sertorius in Spain and Pompey's war in the East against Mithridates. In fact, historians often list Petreius and Afranius as Pompey's most capable and experienced legates.

Finally, we have Varro. Varro won't feature much in our coming Spanish War, since he's in command of further Spain, to the west. Varro is a prolific writer, and it's probably not an exaggeration to say he's a genius. German scholar Friedrich Wilhelm Ritschl, I know I didn't pronounce that right, so I'm sorry, but I do my best, but he estimated that Varro wrote 74 works in around 620 books in his life. Though sadly, only one of these works survives in its complete form today. Varro was called the third great light of Rome by Petrarch, the first two great lights of Rome being Virgil and Cicero. Varro was also praised as the most learned of the Romans by Quintilian.

And if you still aren't convinced Varro is some kind of genius, let me add this. In his book on agriculture, Varro warns his readers to keep away from swamps, because there are bred certain minute creatures which cannot be seen by the eyes, which float in the air and enter the body through the mouth and nose, and there cause serious diseases. How could someone living in the first century BC know about germs and viruses? I mean, sure they know people get sick, and that certain locations or activities can increase a person's chances of getting sick, but Varro goes way further than that and actually describes microorganisms entering through a person's mouth or nose and infecting them and making them sick. It's mind-boggling to try to think through how he could have figured that out, and it's a reminder that many ideas and concepts which we consider to be new or recent have actually been around for centuries or even millennia.
When we talk about the discovery of something or the invention of a concept, what we really mean is that that is the moment society as a whole, or the upper classes of society as a whole, accepted an idea and it became widespread. But that doesn't mean that some genius didn't have that same realization 2,000 years earlier. He was just way too ahead of his time for anyone to realize the potential impact of his discovery.

I say discovery in air quotes because, of course, this is a discovery in theory. There were no microscopes or other technology to confirm such a theory back then. I mean, we're talking about the first century B.C. here. But that's a lesson you'll learn from reading works from antiquity. There are ideas and attitudes towards life and philosophies that you would swear are ideas we as a species and a society have realized in recent modern times.

But then you go and you read Marcus Aurelius's Meditations and you see these same ideas written 2,000 years ago. And so, again, just because society took another few thousand years to learn some of these lessons and is still learning them, that doesn't mean some brilliant individual didn't figure it out a very, very long time ago.

But getting back to Varro, Varro is also a friend of Pompey's. In fact, if you remember way back to our early episodes, you'll remember that when Pompey became consul, he had skipped all the prior positions on the cursus honorum. He actually hadn't even been a member of the Senate before he was elected consul. But meanwhile, it would have been a great crime for Caesar to stand for consul in absentia. But anyway, because Pompey hadn't held any of the prior positions and hadn't even been a senator before, he had no idea of the standard operating procedures of the Senate. So a friend of his had made him a cheat sheet reminding him of what to do and what to say so that he wouldn't embarrass himself in front of all the senators. That friend had been Varro. Varro isn't solely a scholar, though. He had served under Pompey as one of his legates in the past, and he did have some degree of military experience and ability, though it's nothing to write home about.

So there you have it, our three Pompeian commanders. Certainly there is a lot of military experience between Petreius and Afranius, but neither of them have the kind of experience of independent command that Caesar does after nearly a decade of Gallic wars. But they do have seven seasoned and capable legions under their command, which Pompey would have killed for when Caesar was steamrolling his way through Italy. Though, to be clear, these legions are not the same level as Caesar's veterans. By this point, Caesar's legions are legendary, which means the Pompeians will need all the legions they can get. Unfortunately for them, they will only have five legions in the coming war since Varro will keep two with him in further Spain, and the war will play out in nearer Spain.

So now, with the Spanish stage set, let's kick off the Spanish campaign. As Caesar oversees the siege of Massilia, he sends his legate Quintus Fabius ahead with three legions to seize the mountain passes across the Pyrenees. These passes are already held by the soldiers of Afranius, but perhaps Afranius has been drilling them on dance moves rather than military maneuvers because Fabius and his veterans pretty easily take the mountain passes.

Fabius then force marches his three legions onward with three more legions following him from Gaul at Caesar's order. The Pompeians, despite their weak showing at the mountain passes, have been busy preparing to defend against this invasion. Originally, all three of Pompey's legates were spread out throughout Spain, with Afranius having three legions, Petreius and Varro each having two legions. But then one day, some time ago, Vibullius Rufus arrived in Spain. Vibullius is another one of the men Caesar had shown clemency to at Corfinium. And just like Ahenobarbus, he's wasted no time in renewing the war against Caesar.

Well, Vibullius must have lit a fire under the Pompeians, because once he arrives, they begin to make moves. Afranius starts summoning auxiliaries from all over the Iberian Peninsula, soldiers from the Celtiberians and Cantabrians, and, as Caesar writes, from all the barbarian tribes on the western seaboard. Cantabria, by the way, just a fun fact, is still one of the autonomous communities of Spain today. Anyway, as Afranius is gathering those men, Petreius marches with his two legions to join Afranius at the town of Ilerda, in northeastern Spain, where they plan to make their stand. Ilerda is modern Lérida in western Catalonia.

With their forces all consolidated, Afranius and Petreius now have a significant numbers advantage. They have 5 Roman legions, 80 cohorts of Spanish infantry, and 10,000 cavalry. Now, the 80 cohorts of Spanish infantry is a wild number. That's the numerical equivalent of 8 additional legions. In the entirety of the Gallic Wars, I don't think Caesar's Gallic auxiliaries ever outnumbered his actual legions. And it's worth emphasizing that these 80 cohorts are not Roman legions, they are Spanish auxiliaries, most of them being heavy infantry from nearer Spain, armed with what Caesar calls long shields, though some are light infantry from further Spain. These light infantry carry a javelin and a small shield. Arrayed against these formidable numbers, Caesar's legate has 6 legions, 5,000 auxiliary infantry, and 6,000 allied and auxiliary cavalry. Historians believe that these legions were likely the 6th, 7th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 14th.

All 6 of these legions are veterans of the Gallic Wars. To refresh your memory, the 7th, the 9th, and Caesar's favorite, the 10th legion, were among Caesar's original legions when he was proconsul in Gaul. These are the legions that came with his provinces. This means these 3 legions served through the entirety of the Gallic Wars and are extremely experienced. The 11th legion, meanwhile, was raised just about as soon as Caesar arrived at his province in order to fight the Helvetii. So this legion, too, has served for the entirety of the Gallic Wars. The 14th legion was raised early in the Gallic Wars, during the war against the Belgae, but was then wiped out by Ambiorix's ambush. Caesar then raised a brand new replacement 14th legion in the winter of 54th and 53 BC, which is this legion here. That means they are not as experienced as their brother legions. They missed the war with the Helvetii, the war with Ariovistus, the war with the Belgae, the first crossing of the Rhine, and the invasion of Britannia. But they were there for Vercingetorix's rebellion, the siege of Avaricum, Alesia, and the year that followed. So they are experienced veteran legions, just not as experienced as the others.

Finally, we have the 6th legion, which is a bit mysterious. It was recruited at some point during the Gallic Wars, and was counted among Caesar's 10 legions, though we aren't given any details on it. In fact, as best I could tell, it's only mentioned in the final book of the Gallic Wars, the one written by Aulus Hirtius, and even then there's no details given about it.

As for the army's cavalry, Caesar says half of the cavalry he had had with him in all previous campaigns, so they are very experienced as well. The other 3,000 cavalry he had collected himself by summoning all the noblest and bravest members of the Gallic tribes. These noblemen also double as hostages, which Caesar makes the point of not saying, he leaves that unsaid, but it's pretty obvious if you have kind of the flower of the nobility of all the Gallic tribes, they will behave well. That is to say that they will behave well when Caesar is gone.The auxiliary infantry he says came from some of the first class men of the Aquitani, and from the mountain tribes bordering the province of Gaul.

Now, these numbers would seem to indicate that the Caesareans are heavily outnumbered, with all the usual caveats about ancient numbers. Just to give you a little back to back comparison, the Caesareans have 6 legions to the Pompeians 5. The Caesareans have 5,000 auxiliary infantry to the Pompeian 80 cohorts of auxiliary infantry. The Caesareans have 6,000 cavalry to the Pompeian 10,000. Being so outnumbered is intimidating, and carries with it a lot of danger.

Even still, if Caesar were in command, you would know his army is in good hands, and you wouldn't worry so much. But he's not in command. He's not even there in person. Fabius is. And that's no knock on Fabius as a commander, he's a great legate, he's just not Julius Caesar. So right from the get-go, this is a nerve-wracking situation for the Caesareans.
Well, Fabius marches until he reaches Afranius and Petreius. He stops his advance at the eastern banks of the Sicoris River. This is the modern Rio Segre, or Segre River. Afranius and Petreius, meanwhile, have taken up a strong defensive position on the west bank of the river. This defensive position is on the same ridge as the town of Ilerda.

So, what all this means is that the two armies are concentrated in close proximity to each other, with the Sicoris River flowing between them, and sort of holding them back from getting at each other. Well, upon arriving, Fabius immediately begins trying to dislodge the Pompeian allies from them. He sends letters and emissaries hoping to cause a split between the Pompeians and the local people. Now, with both armies being separated by a river, bridges become essential. The Pompeians have control of a bridge by the town of Ilerda, and they have a force guarding it.

Fabius, meanwhile, has no bridges. That's a problem. But, not to worry, this is the army that bridged the Rhine twice. So, Fabius sets his men to building two bridges about four miles apart from each other. The veteran legionaries make quick progress, and soon Fabius is able to cross his army over to the western bank of the river, that is, the side held by Afranius and Petreius. This does not result in battle, but with two armies now sitting on the west bank of the river, food soon begins to run low.

Armies are ravenous beasts that need constant flows of food. So, both Fabius and Afranius and Petreius begin sending out foraging parties guarded by legionaries and cavalry patrols. Only the west bank of the river, where both armies are, is soon exhausted of food. So, both sides need to send their foraging parties to the eastern bank of the river. This requires crossing the river on one of the three bridges. Not a problem. Both sides start doing this on a regular basis. But, of course, this leads to frequent cavalry skirmishes.

Well, one day, Fabius sends out a foraging party along with two legions and some cavalry to guard the foragers. And, in a stroke of ill fortune, after the two legions cross the nearer of the two bridges, a storm kicks up, and between the high winds and the resulting rush of water, the bridge collapses. Now, the two Caesarean legions are stranded on the eastern riverbank. And, what's more, most of the cavalry had not crossed the bridge yet. So, when it collapsed, they were still on the west bank of the river. Now, fortunately, Fabius had built a second bridge, but that second bridge is four miles away.

Now, Afranius and Petreius are not in the vicinity to see this whole bridge collapse debacle. But they don't need to be, because very soon the timbers of the wrecked bridge come floating down the river. Right away, Afranius jumps into action and leads four legions and all his cavalry across his own bridge to chase down and annihilate the now two isolated Caesarean legions. And now the two Caesarean legions have a big problem on their hands. Yes, there is a second bridge, but it is four miles away, and they won't make it there before the Pompeian cavalry catches up with them. They're also outnumbered by more than two to one, and Fabius can't quickly send them reinforcements since, again, the bridge is four miles away. All of this has to be Caesar's worst nightmare. The possibility that, under command of one of his legates, who, of course, is just less capable than him, some of his veteran legions might be wiped out. Or worse, Fabius could engage in a pitched battle without Caesar being there and lose, and that could be ruinous for the entire war effort. I mean, that could end the war right there.

Well, a man named Lucius Plauncus is in command of the two stranded Caesarean legions. And when he gets word that Afranius is pursuing him, he decides that they have to make a stand. They won't make it to the bridge in time. And if they get caught by the cavalry on the march, that's going to put them in a really bad spot. The cavalry could go after their rearguard and slow both legions down until the four Pompeian legions can catch up. The cavalry could also surround them. So in a courageous and veteran move, Plauncus leads his legions to high ground where they can make a strong stand against the Pompeians. There, he orders his two legions to face back to back, facing in opposite directions from each other. This is to prevent the cavalry from surrounding them. But all this is just to buy them some time. This is not a battle they can expect to win being so outnumbered.

Fortunately for them, Fabius is on top of things. As soon as he learns of the bridge collapse, he suspects that Afranius and Petreius will send out superior forces to crush his two legions. So right away, he sends two legions to their rescue via the far bridge. Moving back to the two stranded legions, the Pompeians soon catch up with them. Having over doubled the number of men, they are feeling impetuous. And both infantry and cavalry mount charges against the Caesarean legions who are forced to fight off these charges despite being outnumbered. But when the Pompeian cavalry join battle, suddenly, both sides spot the legionary standards in the distance of the two legions Fabius had sent as rescue. Upon seeing these legionary standards approaching, followed by their proud veteran armies, the Pompeians break off their attack. They are only interested in fighting if the situation has a distinct advantage for their side. With the approach of these two legions, the odds are just about even, and the original stranded legions have a strong defensive position. After this, both sides lead their armies back across the river using their separate bridges, and disaster is narrowly avoided for the Caesareans.

Two days later, Julius Caesar himself arrives on the scene, along with a 900-man Germanic bodyguard of cavalry. With Caesar now in command, I imagine there are more than a few sighs of relief among his soldiers. And that is where we'll end our episode today.

In our next episode, the Spanish campaign ramps up into full gear, this time with Julius Caesar at the helm.
Again, I want to give a special thank you to all the listeners who have been spreading awareness about this podcast. Word of Mouth is a significant engine of growth for any podcast, and the more our audience grows, the more powerful that engine becomes. So please, keep on sharing the March of History with friends, family, co-workers, history forums, social media, and just anyone else you can think of who you think would enjoy these tales of history or who enjoys a good story.

Another significant factor for growth is whether the March of History shows up when people search relevant terms. SEO, they call it, or search engine optimization. Let me give you a peek behind the scenes here at the March of History headquarters. For a long time, if you searched for Julius Caesar on a podcast platform because you wanted to learn more about the guy, or you were curious, the March of History was nowhere to be found among the results, because his name was not in the title of our podcast.

In the early days, I thought that the only thing that really mattered was making an excellent podcast and telling a gripping story. But it turns out, that's not true, and SEO can't be overlooked. I did see the errors of my ways, though, and so I went back and optimized all our show notes, etc., and it has really helped. I also added, you'll notice, Julius Caesar to our show title, so that when some curious person wants to see if there are any podcasts on Julius Caesar, the March of History actually shows up. But unfortunately, SEO also means I'm going to have to start titling episodes with more of an eye to keywords rather than to being clever, which is why last episode was called the very straightforward, Julius Caesar Returns to Rome.

These things can always be optimized more, though, so I'm considering changing the show title to Julius Caesar, colon, the March of History, versus right now it's the March of History, colon, Julius Caesar. Apparently, I've been told by an experienced podcaster that more weight is given to the first few words in the title. To be clear, though, the show name wouldn't actually change. We'd still be the March of History, but Julius Caesar's name would just precede the March of History in the show title. I tell you all this because I don't want anyone to be confused if I do make that change to the show title, but I haven't decided yet.

Maybe I'll do a short trial period to see how it goes. As it stands, I've already gotten the March of History to the top search positions if you search Julius Caesar for many of the podcast platforms. Or if not the top spot, at least one of the top spots. But I'd like to be the number one spot on all the podcast platforms. But the bigger problem is probably that if someone searches Ancient Rome, the March of History is still nowhere to be found, which is a crime considering how in-depth this podcast goes on the world of the late Roman Republic.

So I'm working on trying to fix that one too, but it will be a much more difficult one to remedy. Anyway, none of this in any way changes the content of the show. It just makes it easier for the show to be found by potential new listeners. And on a related note, I'd like to hear from you guys as to what you think of the podcast cover art. I like the current cover art. In fact, I created the current cover art.

To tell you the story, I had hired multiple artists off of, I think it was Fiverr. And the first one, I mean, it wasn't terrible, but it was very cartoony. It wasn't what I was looking for. So then I hired a second artist. And that person just submitted an absolute train wreck to me. I've never seen anything so bad. I couldn't believe it.

So I was just, I guess, disenchanted with Fiverr and with the artists there. And so I just grabbed a Creative Commons picture of Julius Caesar and I wrote, you know, the March of History on it. But it just didn't quite pop enough. And then my brother and sometimes co-host Brendan sent me an app that turns pictures into cartoons. And they had a feature that it'll trace the outlines of all the significant objects or people in any given picture.

So I use this app and it outlined Julius Caesar, which made it pop more. I added the March of History to it and I added with my own name to it. So that's been our cover art since the very beginning, since it was July 2020 when we first released. But I also know that it's black and white and people choose podcasts like they choose books by the cover art. So feel free to reach out and let me know if you think I should create a new cover art or if you'd like the existing one and want me to leave it as is.

I would just love to hear the audience's opinion. I also want to say a thank you to all those who have taken the time to comment on episodes on Spotify. If you aren't aware, Spotify now allows listeners to leave a comment and I as the host can respond to said comment. So if you listen to episodes on Spotify, leave a comment. Even if you're listening to an old episode, you're still welcome and in fact encouraged to comment.

It could be about your thoughts on the events of that episode. It could be your thoughts on the episode itself. Whatever you like. But I have to imagine commenting helps to tell the algorithm that the March of History's audience is engaged, which will in turn help the show to grow. I don't know that for a fact, but I would guess that's how algorithms typically work. I also do always reply to comments, so it's a cool way to connect with your host.

On a similar note, we have a growing audience that listens to the March of History via YouTube. So first of all, if you are a new listener on YouTube, welcome. And second, and this is important, don't forget to subscribe to the channel. That's the most important thing.

And please like and leave a comment if you are enjoying. Anyone who listens to the March of History is fascinated by history to some degree or other. So let's start a conversation. And again, comments on old episodes are also encouraged and welcomed and I will answer.

Now, with all that said, we have our five star reviews to read today. The first review is by Randy IV. Or Randy IV, but I think it's Randy IV. He writes for his title, "One of My Favorites". And then he says, "Trevor is back. Yes, I am. This is one of my favorite podcasts. Trevor's passion for history really comes through in the March of History. This is hands down the best retelling of the life and times of Julius Caesar out there. Thanks, Trevor, and I look forward to hearing the rest of Caesar's story. And then, onward to Napoleon."

Well, Randy IV, thank you so much for leaving that wonderful review. I'm so glad that you enjoy the passion with which I present history. I kind of can't help it, so it's good that you enjoy it. And I appreciate you leaving the five star review. As for Napoleon, eventually we will definitely do Napoleon as a biography.

But I will say, he's also an intimidating biography to do. Because there's just an enormous amount of data out there on him. I think there's 20,000 Napoleonic letters. And I don't mean from his times, I mean from him alone. There's 20,000 letters. So, if you expect to read all the primary sources, it's impossible. But eventually we will do it, I just don't know when.

And the last thing I'll say is, I'm glad that you find this to be the best retelling of the life and times of Julius Caesar. I know there are a few podcasts out there with at least some information on Julius Caesar. But, as you said, none of them go as in-depth as this podcast. And research through as many primary sources as this podcast. So, it's great to see that you recognize that. Thank you.

And our second review is from Games Just For Fun. He or she writes, "Great Storytelling of Roman History". That's their title. And then the actual review says, "Always informative and entertaining. This series deftly balances breadth and depth to stay interesting and engaging. I listen to a number of history podcasts, and this is a favorite. Trevor is a great storyteller. And then he says, Hope you make a full recovery soon, Trevor."

Well, thank you for the well wishes for my health, first and foremost. I really appreciate that. And I'm so glad that you find that the podcast balances that depth and breadth. It is a tough line to walk. I find the details of history absolutely fascinating. And I think the details bring the people and the issues to life in a way that you just can't without them. You know, the broad sweep of history is fun to read as well and fun to learn about. But it just doesn't bring to as much life as hearing about the personalities and the quirks of the actual people. So obviously, as you guys know by now, I love the detail in history. And I'll also say it is gratifying to hear that you enjoy my storytelling.

I think history should be told as a riveting story. I mean, stories in the word, history. I think for thousands of years, that is exactly how it was told. And I don't think you need to sacrifice accuracy or detail to tell a riveting story. You know, far too often, and I've said this before, but I'll say it again. History is taught as the rote memorization of dates and names. And that has a place. But if you tell a story, people are far more likely to remember all the details than if you force them to memorize individual details, right? Tell a compelling story and people remember things. Which is why so many things have been taught as stories throughout human history and prehistory. I mean, you look at the Greek myths, they're all teaching lessons by stories. The human mind has a great capacity to remember stories. So I put a lot of effort into the storytelling for this podcast. And thank you again for the five-star review.

That is the second and final of our reviews for this episode. There are more still waiting to be read, but we'll save that for a future episode. One thing I did notice I wanted to bring up is that on Apple, we have, I think it's 51 five-star reviews, or at least five-star ratings. And on Spotify, only 31 ratings. And this is kind of baffling since on Spotify, we have significant more subscribers than we do on Apple. So Spotify listeners, come on guys, step it up. Leave a five-star review. If you don't know how to do that, it literally takes like one or two taps. You just tap the stars button and maybe tap five stars again. Maybe, I don't know if it's once or twice. But anyway around it, it doesn't even let you write an actual review, even if you wanted to. There are no words allowed. You're only allowed to leave a star rating, which just makes it very easy on you. So please do that if you haven't already. And thank you.

I also want to give a huge shout out to Queueskip. Queueskip and I have connected online, so I do know his real name. But I don't know if he wants it out there for the internet, so I'll keep it at Queueskip. On August 9th of 2023, so going back quite a ways. But as you guys know, I was out of commission for about a year and a half. So I'm only going to thank him now.

But on August 9th of 2023, Queueskip made a significant contribution to the March of History via PayPal. And like our previous contributors who have shouted out, Queueskip helped support me and the show when I was sick and not producing any new episodes. In fact, I had forgotten to pause Patreon that month. You have to actually go in and manually pause it each month. It's a pain.And since I wasn't putting out episodes, I had it paused, but that month I had forgotten. And so it had charged our patrons, so I refunded their money and apologized. To which Queueskip’s response was to thank me for the refund and send significantly more via PayPal. What a guy. So Queueskip, thank you so much for your generosity and your big heart. I really do appreciate it.

And one more thing I'll say. I know many of you have been inspired by this podcast to get into Roman history and just history in general. Well, Queueskip was more inspired than most. He wrote to me to say that he had discovered the March of History in April of 2023. By May, he had binged the entire thing. And he then went out and bought Tom Holland's book Rubicon. He read the whole thing. And by June, he was on a trip to Rome himself. So to Queueskip, I say, well done. Keep on crushing it in life. And I hope you loved The Eternal City.

Moving on to our steadfast patrons, we have Marcello, Jay, Mark, Anthony, Liga, Laurie, Scott, Peggy, Carey, and Desert Legionnaire. Thank you all for your continued and generous support.

One final announcement. I have included an Amazon link in the show notes of the previous two episodes, if you guys haven't noticed. In case anyone wants to buy Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations or Napoleon's commentaries on Caesar's Wars. I have also included an Amazon link in the show notes of this episode regarding the book I got today's episode's ending quote from. I'd love to explain more about these Amazon links. But there are a lot of rules with the Amazon affiliate program.

And I can't say much without running afoul of these rules, which I very much don't want to do. But you guys have been around the block. And I'm sure you can guess why a podcast host might put an Amazon link to a product in their show notes. And that's all I'll say.

Now for our ending quote. It goes,

“For there are three types of brains. One understands matters for itself. One follows the explanations of others. And one neither understands nor follows. The first is the best. The second, excellent. The third, useless.”

And that is a quote by Niccolo Machiavelli in his famous book, The Prince. Of course, we have a saying that expresses a similar sentiment in English. Lead, follow, or get out of the way. And there is absolutely truth in what Machiavelli says. If you've ever been part of a group trying to accomplish a goal, there is no one more frustrating than the individual who doesn't want to lead, but refuses to follow, and so just obstructs everything. And Machiavelli is further specifying this person as someone who not only refuses to follow, but doesn't even understand what's going on. Though I think I disagree that such people are useless.

Sometimes the group is all in agreement on moving in a direction that will bring disaster. And that obstructive person acts as a sort of natural break on the group momentum. Even if that individual's reasoning isn't so lofty, and they're just behaving that way because they're just naturally an irascible person. And that is where we will end our episode today. I'm your host, Trevor Fernes.

Don't forget to keep on spreading awareness about the podcast, and I'll talk to you in the next episode of The March of History.