Editing Roman Republic (section)

====Caesar's civil war and dictatorship====
{{Campaignbox Caesar's civil war}}
{{Main|Caesar's civil war}}

[[File:Retrato de Julio César (26724093101).jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|The [[Tusculum portrait]], a [[Roman sculpture]] of [[Julius Caesar]]]]

On 1 January 49, an agent of Caesar presented an ultimatum to the senate. The ultimatum was rejected, and the senate then passed a resolution declaring that if Caesar did not lay down his arms by July of that year, he would be considered an enemy of the Republic.{{sfn|Abbott|2001|p=115}} Meanwhile, the senators adopted Pompey as their new champion against Caesar, passing a {{lang|la|senatus consultum ultimum}} that vested Pompey with dictatorial powers. On 10 January, Caesar with his veteran army crossed the river [[Rubicon]], the legal boundary of Roman Italy beyond which no commander might bring his army, in violation of Roman laws, and by the spring of 49 swept down the Italian peninsula towards Rome. His rapid advance forced Pompey, the consuls and the senate to abandon Rome for Greece. Caesar entered the city unopposed. Afterwards Caesar turned his attention to the Pompeian stronghold of Hispania (modern Spain){{sfn|Goldsworthy|2016|p=217}} but decided to tackle Pompey himself in Greece.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2016|p=218}} Pompey initially defeated Caesar, but failed to follow up on the victory, and was decisively defeated at the [[Battle of Pharsalus]] in 48.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2016|p=227}}{{sfn|Lane Fox|2006|p=403}} Pompey fled again, this time to Egypt, where he was murdered.

Pompey's death did not end the civil war. In 46 Caesar lost perhaps as much as a third of his army, but ultimately came back to defeat the Pompeian army of [[Metellus Scipio]] in the [[Battle of Thapsus]], after which the Pompeians retreated yet again to Hispania. Caesar then defeated the combined Pompeian forces at the [[Battle of Munda]].

With Pompey defeated and order restored, Caesar wanted to achieve undisputed control over the government. The powers he gave himself were later assumed by his imperial successors.{{sfn|Abbott|2001|p=134}} Caesar held both the dictatorship and the tribunate, and alternated between the consulship and the proconsulship.{{sfn|Abbott|2001|p=134}} In 48, he was given permanent tribunician powers. This made his person sacrosanct, gave him the power to veto the senate, and allowed him to dominate the Plebeian Council. In 46, Caesar was given censorial powers,{{sfn|Abbott|2001|p=135}} which he used to fill the senate with his partisans. He then raised the membership of the Senate to 900.{{sfn|Abbott|2001|p=137}} This robbed the senatorial aristocracy of its prestige, and made it increasingly subservient to him.{{sfn|Abbott|2001|p=138}} Caesar began to prepare for a war against the [[Parthian Empire]]. Since his absence from Rome would limit his ability to install consuls, he passed a law that allowed him to appoint all magistrates, and later all consuls and tribunes. This transformed the magistrates from representatives of the people to representatives of the dictator.{{sfn|Abbott|2001|p=137}}

Caesar was now the primary figure of the Roman state, enforcing and entrenching his powers. His enemies feared that he had ambitions to become an autocratic ruler. Arguing that the Roman Republic was in danger, a group of senators led by [[Gaius Cassius]] and [[Marcus Brutus]] hatched a conspiracy and [[Assassination of Julius Caesar|assassinated Caesar]] at a meeting of the Senate on 15 March 44. Virtually all the conspirators fled the city after Caesar's death in fear of retaliation.