Splatters of blood filled the Spanish air as Pompey’s sons Gnaeius Pompeius and Sextus Pompeius faced Caesar’s army in March 45BCE. Hundreds fell left and right. But Lucius Scribuius Dulcitius and Faustius Aemilus Galeo stood strong against the traitors. In the midst of clamouring the swords and shields, the minds of Dulcitius and Galeo were elsewhere. Dulcitius resented coming back to war and leaving his family after the just returning from the Gallic Wars. Galeo, however, had an even bigger predicament. Titus Horatius Catilina, Galeo’s best friend since childhood, in the same war — but fighting for Pompey.
Galeo never thought he would fight his best friend. Sure, Catilina did not want to join in enlisting in the army with him in the Gallic Wars. But never in a million years did Galeo think his friend was a traitor to the gallant Gaius Julius Caesar. It was not until the Senate declared Caesar an enemy of the state when he and his legion crossed the Rubicon River in 49BCE. Pompey (along with Marcus Tullius Cicero, Cato the Younger, and Marcus Junius Brutus) gathered an army in Greece after this declaration in an attempt to defeat Caesar. Catilina knew he would be betraying Galeo by joining Pompey’s army, but he also felt Caesar claimed too much power and that power threatened the Republic. But the attempt failed through the years leading up to this Spainish battle. Pompey was killed in Egypt in 48BCE. Cicero left Pompey in 47BCE and was pardoned by Caesar. Cato the Younger committed suicide in 46BCE. This battle in Spain was the final factor for Pompey’s defeat and Caesar’s victory. And it is here that Galeo continued to hope that he would not see Catalina on the battlefield and have to kill him.
Galeo and Dulcitius, nevertheless, continued attacking the enemy like wolves hunting sheep. Dulcitius stabbed a young man about Galeo’s age. It was Catilina, who was now rugged looking. Galeo rushed to his friend’s side, who was barely breathing. There was nothing he could do now. As Pompey’s army ordered a retreat, Galeo took his sword and pierced Catilina’s heart. Caesar’s victory was finally complete.
-Jordanne Pascual
