a work after a certain preparation, the ideas below can partially help but are not exhaustive of all the themes contained in the text.
Author
Aulo Irzio
Many things are known about him because he played a more than active role in the tumultuous political period of the two triunvirates.
We know he was a politician of some importance even before taking command of a legion of Caesar in Gaul. Here he takes on the task of completing De Bello Gallico, the eighth and final book is his work. This is one of the reasons that accredit him as a writer of the entire Corpus Caesarian, but this seems unlikely today, more reliable is the news that the publisher of the texts wants. In any case, he married the cause of Caesar, it was in Spain and Asia Minor and that's why we choose to consider him as the author of the Alexandrian, even if we cannot consider it a historical truth but only an authoritative possibility.
It seems to have been in Alexandria, will be indicated by Caesar as Consul and then, in 46 BC. was Proconsul of Transalpine Gaul. It does not seem to have been in Africa or Spain but this does not exclude the possibility that he is still behind Africa and Hispanic, who may have been sent to him as drafts or simple military dispatches to allow him to carry out his historian.
After the assassination of Caesar, he initially placed himself in the service of Marco Antonio but was subsequently persuaded by Tulio Cicero to embrace the Senatorial cause. Here happens a little known but fatal fact to Aulo Irzio, in this political phase, Marco Antonio was alone against all the others but strong of the consent of the plebs of Rome. Tenth Brutus was fortified in Modena om pending events, here he was joined by Consul Vibio Pansa, by the other Consul Aulo Irzio and by an ambitious young Octavian, legitimate heir of the dead Dictator. This short war was very bloody, in a first confused battle at Forum Gallorum the Consolo Vibio Pansa was seriously injured, but the legions sent by Aulo Irzio to help his colleague forced the tired Antonian forces to fall back, the losses were huge for both sides . However, this battle did not change the situation, Tenth Brutus was besieged in Modena while Aulus Irzio and Octavian were unable to bring him relief; the injuries sustained by Consul Pansa were fatal to him, here an episode concerning Aulo Irzio occurs, because the news of the battle of Forum Gallorum arrived in Rome through a letter from Irzio himself, this made it clear to the senatorial faction that the war against Antonio was won Cicero pronounces his latest Philippine in which he praises the two Consuls and neglects to mention Octavian, which in all probability will have its weight in the birth of the Second Triunvirate. While in Rome they were already celebrating, in Modena a new battle was preparing, Irzio and Ottaviano attack the field of Marco Antonio with a daring plan, the Consul Irzio, at the command of a legion was then able to penetrate until he reaches the tent of Antonio, but the latter's counterattack will cause the death of our Irzio, a melee ignites around the Consul's corpse which is resolved with the intervention of Octavian who, even if forced to fall back, will manage to recover the corpse. Aulus Irtius died on April 21, 43 BC but for the record, we must report that some important Roman historians make us aware of rumors that attribute to Octavian the murder of Irzio who was gaining considerable political consensus at the expense of the same shrewd future Octavian Augustus .
As can be understood from the biography of Aulo Irzio, the wars between the Triunviri were a fluid period with many changes of face and political arrivalism that cost the Romans many losses, shortly thereafter the second Triunvirato will be born right in Modena, which will slowly suffocate man Republic.
What is De Bello Alexandrino
Bellum Alexandrino, as it was called in Latin, is a text of the Corpus Caesarian, generally attributed to Aulo Irzio, although the attribution is uncertain. This third chapter of the war saga tells us in detail some events lived by Caesar in 47 BC. Here, however, an episode occurs outside the dispute between Cesariani and Pompeiani: in fact, it is an internal dispute in the kingdom of Egypt, an Illyrian section against pockets of resistance, a Hispanic entirely within the Cesarian faction and a Pontica concerning Farnace son of that Mithridates won years before by Pompeo.
Caesar found himself embroiled in the intrigues of the Egyptian court, where a difficult dynastic succession was underway in which Rome had to act as guarantor, as requested by the late Pharaoh Ptolemy XII (12). Egypt was already at the time an important wheat supplier for Rome which held a sort of discreet protectorate. We all know the story of Caesar and Cleopatra but here there is no trace of it, Ptolemy XIII (13), Arsinoe and the eunuch Ganymede, Cleopatra are mentioned and only mentioned almost absently, nothing is said of the three-month long journey on the river Nile, indeed reading it seems that Caesar immediately left for Syria at the end of the war.
An interesting aspect is the disdain for the killing of Pompeo and the macabre gift received by the young Pharaoh. Caesar's outrage seems sincere and I think it can be considered a just reaction if we consider that in those days Rome was not so great and that the two were fellow citizens, friends, party companions and even relatives. Then perhaps Caesar did not want the death of a man dear to his fellow citizens who had however made his homeland great, in short, strangers did not have to put their beak in strictly Capitoline affairs.
In any case, for Caesar, the Alexandria war was not easy, he often found himself in difficulty and the pages that describe it are therefore very interesting because they show us how the Romans had reached a much higher strategic level than older but also plastered peoples in habits not suitable to face the tough veterans framed in the legions reformed by Gaius Mario years before.
In a certain way, one realizes that republican practice, with its rules, allowed politicians to compete with each other without annihilating themselves, thus bringing out the qualities of individuals, who were thus also spurred on to competition but each in their own sphere , as a team with many capable players.
After the Egyptian phase there is a small pontic part in which Rome's difficulty in defending the eastern provinces with the defeat of Domizio Calvino is narrated.
Then the text moves to Illyria telling us about the difficult situation of that province after the battle of Farsalo, where the Pompeian fleet commanded by Marco Ottavio and the remains of his army, create quite a few problems for the Cesarian governor of the province who must be rescued by well two contingents.
The fourth part of the book moves to Spain and tells us a very intricate story concerning that province where two Cesarian factions confront each other causing serious damage to their political leader.
The last part is almost triumphant for Caesar that from Egypt, through Syria arrives in Asia and then in that pontic province oppressed by an arrogant king named Farnace who already boasted of his conquests, but whom Caesar defeats in one battle and rather quickly, so much so that when writing to a friend, these words will come: "I came, I saw, I won".
ON tHE ALEXANDRIAN WAR
De Bello Alexandrino
Text in English
Prologue
De Bello Civili third book
102.
Caesar felt he had to leave out everything else and devote himself to chasing Pompeo to prevent him from gathering a new army and resuming hostilities. Every day he chased Pompeo advancing as much as he could with the cavalry but he had also ordered a legion to follow him even if with shorter stages. In Amphipolis an edict was issued in the name of Pompeo asking all young people in the province, whether they were Greeks or Roman citizens, to gather to swear military loyalty. It was not possible to understand whether this was done to divert attention from the true path of his escape or to try to maintain control of Macedonia in case the Cesarians did not attack that province. Pompeo stayed at anchor in Amphipolis one night, in which he summoned with him acquaintances and other guests to whom he asked for money on loan for the necessary expenses, therefore, having learned of the imminent arrival of Caesar, he left that place arriving in Mytilene a few days later. There he was detained for two days by bad weather; he used that time to add lighter ships to his ships, then left for Cilicia and from there reached