Battle of Munda, March, 45 B.C. I've got to go dig that "pietas" was the watchword (?Appian?) but if I'm right, there's a certain irony there. Munda was the most horrible in many ways of all Caesar's civil war battles. And Labienus had, of course, been his second in command throughout Gaul, the major renegade after the Rubicon (joining Pompey's forces instead), fought him at Pharsalus, fought him bitterly in Africa, and died upon the bloodiest of the battlefields.

If I'm wrong, I can still get in my bits about this battle!

The two Roman armies eventually manuevered themselves into the plains of Munda. This is somewhere near the city of Osuna. The two armies camped across from each other. Caesar hoped that the enemy would decend into the plain and meet Caesar on equal ground. But the enemy stayed still and Caesar would have to fight uphill to meet them. Pompey had 13 legions, 6000 light troops, cavalry and auxiliaries. Caesar had now 8 legions and 8000 cavalry. The day was March 17, the festival of Bacchus, four years to the day (by the then incorrect calendar) that Pompey the Great escaped from Brundisium. The younger Pompey's troops moved forward slightly and then the shout for battle was raised. As the two armies met Caesar and Pompey were watching from respective elevated positions. The battle was a vicious one by any standards. The fighting was sword to sword, shield to shield, man to man. No one side had the advantage and both sides were bent on fighting to the death. It seemed that both sides thought they were losing and the commanders (Caesar and Pompey) chose to fight with their men. Caesar ran through his ranks which were not making a defence against the enemy as he would prefer. He had the fear of death in his manner. Passing through the soldiers he yelled if they were "ashamed to deliver him into the hands of boys". The troops forgot their fears and fought alongside their General. The battle was going nowhere until Caesar's right wing, containing the 10th legion, pushed the enemy back. With the balance tipped in Caesar's favour the enemy reinforced their left with a legion from their right. Seeing the opportunity the cavalry on the left of Caesar attacked the right wing of Pompey's line. It was now Caesar winning and then (according to Dio) Bogud, the king of Mauretania, sallied to attack the camp of Pompey. At his position on the line Labienus saw this and pulled away to prevent this. Seeing their cavalry pull back with the only man who knew Caesar's tactics, they began thier flight. Now in the horrible fight Caesar had lost 1000 men and the other side at least that. But in the flight many more were to die. Many died defending their own ramparts, others fleeing to the city, others defending the walls of Munda. In the end the carnage was total. 30,000 men died on this day, a great many being Roman citizens. So great was the dead that Caesar walled up the town with the corpses of the enemy. This was the bloodiest battle in Caesar's experience, and the only one which he fought personally to save his life, not to just gain victory.

A fuller history at The Battle of Munda