The Rubican River Analysis

Introduction
Being a lover of Rome and everything Roman I was immediately attracted to this topic. Knowing nothing about the Rubicon River I realised that I would have a lot of research ahead of me but unfortunately I did not realise how scarce the amount of evidence on the topic there was. I was expecting Caesar’s civil war to be simple with him winning due to the support he received. The Rubicon River added another element to the topic as if crossed by a general it was considered illegal. This changed my perspective of the event entirely as I realised that the River was a vital key to Caesar winning the war. Without the river the people within Rome may not have added their support if they did not believe that Caesar was truly committed to
The source questions the evidence that Caesar did in fact cross the Rubicon River and whether this actually had a big impact on the civil war (was the war inevitable without the “crossing”). The source counters source E as it states that the crossing could never have happened. The source informs us that there are in fact no claims that Caesar made about ever crossing the Rubicon and that it could have been something made up. It also shows us that most of the evidence given about the crossing is dependent on a single eye-witness whose information given about the incident has disappeared. The source appears to be questioning whether the witness was actually a real person or a made up story. The source would be used as a counter argument as it does not support the argument
It also gives added information about how there was a problem with debt within Rome, this gives way to another motive for the civil war and that it may not have all been Caesars doing. The source also explains how Caesars rivals where looking for power and a dictatorship where they could rule. It tells us of all of the events that took place without Caesar that were leading up to the civil war such as Cicero’s control as well as various other acts of treason sentenced to other rivals such as Catiline. We can also see that Pompey was not only Caesars enemy but also Cicero’s (who was now in control) and this would give reason as to why previous sources had thought that Cicero was Caesars friend (my enemies enemy is my friend saying). There was a higher level of corruption within Rome and this led to people joining groups against the system, looking for change. Some of the people went to Caesar and this led to him having a greater army and being able to be seen as a threat to the leaders. Catiline was executed due to the groups he was gathering such as the Cicero conspiracy group who opposed him. Cicero was so powerful that he eliminated the group and stopped the potential threats. This meant that Cicero was Caesars greatest opposition due to his mass