Battle of Thapsus — Caesar Ends the African War
After Pharsalus many Pompeian leaders regrouped in the province of Africa (modern Tunisia), where Quintus Caecilius Metellus Scipio commanded large forces supplemented by the cavalry and war elephants of King Juba I of Numidia. Cato the Younger governed Utica and provided the political legitimacy of the Pompeian cause. Caesar crossed to Africa in late 47 BCE. On 6 April 46 BCE Caesar offered battle at Thapsus, a coastal town. Caesar's veterans, some reportedly without waiting for orders, charged spontaneously when they saw the Numidian elephants. The war elephants panicked and stampeded back through their own lines. The battle became a rout. At Utica Cato refused to flee. He calmly put his affairs in order, discussed Plato's dialogue on the immortality of the soul with friends, ate dinner, and in the night stabbed himself in the abdomen. When a surgeon sewed up the wound while he slept, he tore out his own entrails and died. The death of Cato horrified even Caesar, who reportedly said: 'Cato, I grudge you your death, as you have grudged me the preservation of your life.' Cato's suicide became the founding act of Stoic political martyrdom.
- Year: 46 BCE
- Category: Military
