Dio's Rome, Volume 2: An Historical Narrative Originally Composed in Greek During the Reigns of Septimius Severus, Geta and Caracalla, Macrinus, Elagabalus and Alexander Severus: and Now Presented in English Form

In Short

This second volume of Cassius Dio’s monumental roman history charts the agonizing final decades of the Roman Republic, spanning from 69 to 44 B.C. Written originally in Greek by a high-ranking imperial senator, the text details the collapse of constitutional order under the pressure of foreign wars, civil conflict, and personal rivalries. Readers witness the Eastern campaigns of Lucullus and Pompey, the rise and conspiracy of Catiline, the partisan street brawls engineered by Clodius and Milo, Julius Caesar’s subjugation of Gaul and invasion of Britain, and the apocalyptic civil wars that culminated in Caesar’s dictatorship and eventual assassination. It endures as an irreplaceable, insider perspective on democratic decay.

The Story

The narrative opens amidst the bloody aftermath of Third Mithridatic War and the rampant scourge of Mediterranean piracy. Roman commanders win brilliant victories abroad, yet their successes destabilize the state at home. Generous military commands bestow unprecedented personal power upon single generals. When Quintus Catulus warns the senate against entrusting the entire empire to Pompey, his warnings go unheeded. Pompey sweeps the seas clean, subjugates Mithridates and Tigranes, and reshapes the East, while back in Rome, social fractures widen.

Domestic corruption erupts in the Catilinarian conspiracy. Cicero, serving as consul, exposes the plot and executes the ringleaders without trial—a desperate measure that wins him temporary praise but ultimately leaves him vulnerable to political retribution. Julius Caesar, rising steadily through lavish public spectacles and strategic alliances, carefully maneuvers behind the scenes. He backs the infamous demagogue Clodius, who orchestrates Cicero’s exile and unleashes street gangs across the city. Rome devolves into anarchy; political mobs under Clodius and Milo transform public assemblies into battlegrounds of sticks, stones, and swords.

Meanwhile, Caesar departs for Gaul, amassing wealth, military clout, and personal glory through his daring expeditions, including unprecedented landings in Britain. Back in Rome, the tenuous triumvirate of Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus unravels. Crassus meets a disastrous end in the deserts of Parthia, his army slaughtered at Carrhae. Pompey, alarmed by Caesar’s growing influence, aligns himself with the conservative senatorial faction.

When the senate demands that Caesar resign his command, Caesar refuses to risk prosecution and private ruin. Mobilizing his loyal legions, he crosses into Italy, igniting a catastrophic civil war. Pompey and the senate abandon Rome, fleeing across the sea. Caesar quickly secures Spain, overcomes mutinous troops in his own ranks with formidable rhetoric, and defeats Pompey at the decisive battle of Pharsalus. Pompey escapes only to be murdered in Egypt, while Caesar presses on, defeating senatorial resistance in North Africa and Spain.

Returning to Rome as undisputed master, Caesar accumulates extraordinary titles and honors. Yet his kingship-like authority alienates traditionalists. When Mark Antony offers him a royal diadem at the Lupercalia, popular outrage simmers. Whispers of liberty revive, centered around Marcus Brutus. A conspiracy takes root, culminating on the Ides of March in 44 B.C. when Caesar is struck down in the senate. The volume closes not with peace restored, but with an ominous eulogy over Caesar’s body, signaling that the fall of one dictator has merely cleared the way for further bloodshed.

How It Unfolds

An empire overextended Commanders fight relentless campaign wars against Mithridates and Mediterranean pirates, prompting intense senatorial debates over whether trusting vast powers to a single general will destroy Roman liberty.

Rivalries corrupt the forum Political ambition turns street politics violent in Rome, where Caesar finances extravagant games, Cicero defends the state against Catiline’s conspiracy, and Clodius uses armed gang intimidation to drive Cicero into exile.

Glory earned abroad Caesar conquers Gaul and launches an unprecedented naval expedition to Britain, securing immense prestige at home while Crassus meets disaster and death against the Parthians at the Battle of Carrhae.

The republic breaks Fearing prosecution upon returning to private life, Caesar marches his veteran legions into Italy, forcing Pompey and the senatorial elite to flee across the sea into Greece.

Clash of the Titans Civil war engulfs the Mediterranean, culminating in Caesar’s victory over Pompey at Pharsalus and hard-fought subsequent campaigns across Egypt, North Africa, and the cities of Spain.

The monarch’s downfall Caesar secures absolute power as dictator for life, but his acceptance of extreme honors and the public offer of a diadem spark a fatal conspiracy led by Brutus and Cassius.

The People

• Julius Caesar: Ambitious, strategic, and remarkably resilient. He wants absolute political security and supreme influence, driven by fear of being prosecuted as a private citizen. He buys alliances, commands absolute loyalty from his troops, defeats all rivals in civil war, and achieves total power, only to be assassinated by his closest confidants.
• Pompey the Great: A towering, acclaimed military commander who seeks to remain Rome's preeminent citizen while preserving the traditional authority of the senate. He is paralyzed by political street tactics at home and ultimately outmaneuvered by Caesar on the battlefield, ending his life betrayed on an Egyptian shore.
• Cicero: A brilliant orator and uncompromising patriot who aims to preserve the constitutional republic through eloquence and traditional law. His excessive self-praise and willingness to bypass strict legal procedure alienate both friends and foes, leading to his exile and political marginalization.
• Marcus Brutus: A high-minded idealist and senator who desires the restoration of traditional Roman liberty and ancestral governance. Urged on by anonymous pleas invoking his tyrannicide ancestry, he joins the plot to kill his benefactor Caesar, only to unleash further civil chaos.

In Its Own Voice

"Who can fail to know that on general principles it is neither decent nor advantageous to commit matters to any one man, or for any one man to be put in charge of all the blessings we own, even if he be the best man conceivable?"

This stern warning from Quintus Catulus in the senate highlights the grave constitutional danger of granting extraordinary, unchecked military commands to individual generals like Pompey.

"It is disgraceful to take pleasure temporarily in something of which you must later repent, and it is outrageous after conquering the enemy to be vanquished by some pleasure or other."

Addressing his mutinous troops at Placentia, Caesar uses stern paternal discipline and rigorous moral argument to restore strict military order without granting his soldiers license to plunder.

"Finally on the statue of the early Brutus they wrote 'Would that thou wert living,' and upon their contemporary's platform 'Brutus, thou sleepest,' and 'Thou art not Brutus.'"

Anonymous graffiti scattered across public monuments reflects the rising popular pressure and psychological manipulation that drove Marcus Brutus to orchestrate Caesar’s assassination.

What It's Really About

Dio’s history explores the systemic fragility of republican institutions when faced with overwhelming wealth, territorial expansion, and militarized factionalism. It asks whether a massive global empire can truly be governed by a city-state republic, or if democratic systems inevitably collapse into autocratic rule when personal ambition outweighs civic duty. The narrative demonstrates how public discourse deteriorates into violence when political parties prioritize total victory over compromise. Dio exposes how laws, pristine on paper, are easily bypassed or broken through legal technicalities, bribery, and mob violence. Through the tragic fates of Cicero, Pompey, and Caesar, the text argues that supreme personal power ultimately destroys both those who pursue it and the state they seek to govern.

Why Read It Today

This volume offers an unvarnished, analytical look at the death of a democracy from an insider who understood power from the top. Writing as a Roman senator who himself lived through autocracy, Dio brings an acute, pragmatic understanding of political maneuvering, propaganda, and human psychology to his narrative. Readers will find no romanticized myths here; instead, Dio presents a clear-eyed accounting of bribery, street demagoguery, strategic corruption, and civil escalation.

The prose is straightforward, grounded, and unpretentious, made readable through clear historical organization. While modern readers must navigate a dense network of ancient legal terms, missing manuscript sections, and a sheer volume of forgotten historical figures, the central narrative remains striking and immediate. The spectacle of a proud constitutional republic slowly tearing itself apart through partisan hatred feels startlingly fresh. Anyone interested in military strategy, ancient political history, or the fragile mechanics of democratic governance will find this text deeply compelling.

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