April 52 BCE. In the same year, Caesar began his war against Vercingetorix in Gaul. The year before, a Roman attempt to invade Parthia had ended in bloody disaster. Armies were marching across the Empire and the Triumvirate of Caesar, Pompey and Crassus had collapsed when Crassus inconveniently died in Parthia. Without a third person to balance them, tension between Caesar and Pompey became unmanageable. Almost three years to the day after Clodius’ murder, on 10 January 49 BCE, Caesar crossed the Rubicon and marched his army on Rome.
