The Roman soldiers of the Civil war in Caesar's description
Caesar shows similarities and differences of his and Pompey's soldiers in the “Commentaries on the Civil War”. He uses the term “virtus” much more often, characterizing his own warriors. However, in his opinion, the valour does not signify the absolute absence of fear or despair. He gives examples of the panic of soldiers of both armies. Caesar thinks that a warrior must remember his military duty, take care of the ensigns (signa) and be loyal to the commander even in difficult, dangerous situations. The cases of desertion, capitulation, defection to the enemy are described by Caesar as frequent, ordinary events for Pompey's army, while they are sporadic for his own troops. Caesar does not idealize his soldiers, but at the same time, he shows their superiority over the Pompeians. There are also more important differences between soldiers of both armies. In Caesar's work, his own warriors habituated themselves to the difficulties, hardships, labours. They use the Roman traditional tactics and are ready to help each other. However, Caesar describes the Pompeians otherwise: they are not accustomed to the labours, love luxury and pleasure, use elements of the barbarian tactics, have not mutual help, cohesion.