Gaius Julius Cæsar/Caesar
[2] (Classical Latin:
[ˈɡaːjjʊs juːliʊs ˈkajsar]; English:
/ˈɡaɪ.əs ˈdʒuːli.əs ˈsiːzər/; 13 July 100 BC
[3] – 15 March 44 BC)
[4] was a
Roman military and
political leader. He played a critical role in the transformation of the
Roman Republic into the
Roman Empire.
As a politician, Caesar made use of
popularist tactics. During the late 60s and into the 50s BC, he formed political alliances that led to the so-called
First Triumvirate, an
extra-legal arrangement with
Marcus Licinius Crassus and
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey the Great) that was to dominate Roman politics for several years. Their
factional attempts to amass power for themselves were opposed within the
Roman Senate by the
optimates, among them
Marcus Porcius Cato and
Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus, with the sometime support of
Marcus Tullius Cicero. Caesar's conquest of
Gaul extended the Roman world to the
North Sea, and in 55 BC he also conducted the first
Roman invasion of Britain. These achievements granted him unmatched military power and threatened to eclipse Pompey's, while the
death of Crassus contributed to increasing political tensions between the two triumviral survivors. Political realignments in Rome finally led to a stand-off between Caesar and Pompey, the latter having taken up the cause of the Senate. With the order that sent his legions across the
Rubicon, Caesar began a
civil war in 49 BC from which he emerged as the unrivaled leader of the Roman world.
After assuming control of government, he began extensive reforms of Roman society and government. He centralised the bureaucracy of the Republic and was eventually proclaimed "
dictator in perpetuity" (
dictator perpetuo). A group of senators, led by
Marcus Junius Brutus, assassinated the dictator on the
Ides of March (15 March) 44 BC, hoping to restore the normal running of the Republic. However, the result was a
series of civil wars, which ultimately led to the establishment of the permanent
Roman Empire by Caesar's adopted heir
Octavius (later known as Augustus).
Much of Caesar's life is known from his own
Commentaries (Commentarii) on his military campaigns, and other contemporary sources such as the letters and speeches of his political rival
Cicero, the historical writings of
Sallust, and the poetry of
Catullus. Many more details of his life are recorded by later historians, such as
Appian,
Suetonius,
Plutarch,
Cassius Dio and
Strabo assasination
On the
Ides of March (15 March; see
Roman calendar) of 44 BC, Caesar was due to appear at a session of the Senate.
Mark Antony, having vaguely learned of the plot the night before from a terrified Liberator named
Servilius Casca, and fearing the worst, went to head Caesar off. The plotters, however, had anticipated this and, fearing that Antony would come to Caesar's aid, had arranged for
Trebonius to intercept him just as he approached the portico of
Theatre of Pompey, where the session was to be held, and detain him outside. (Plutarch, however, assigns this action to delay Antony to
Brutus Albinus.) When he heard the commotion from the senate chamber, Antony fled.
[98]According to
Plutarch, as Caesar arrived at the Senate
Tillius Cimber presented him with a petition to recall his exiled brother.
[99] The other conspirators crowded round to offer support. Both Plutarch and
Suetonius say that Caesar waved him away, but Cimber grabbed his shoulders and pulled down Caesar's
tunic. Caesar then cried to Cimber, "Why, this is violence!" ("Ista quidem vis est!").
[100] At the same time, Casca produced his dagger and made a glancing thrust at the dictator's neck. Caesar turned around quickly and caught Casca by the arm. According to
Plutarch, he said in Latin, "Casca, you villain, what are you doing?"
[101] Casca, frightened, shouted "Help, brother!" in Greek ("ἀδελφέ, βοήθει!", "adelphe, boethei!"). Within moments, the entire group, including Brutus, was striking out at the dictator. Caesar attempted to get away, but, blinded by blood, he tripped and fell; the men continued stabbing him as he lay defenceless on the lower steps of the portico. According to
Eutropius, around sixty or more men participated in the assassination. He was stabbed 23 times.
[102] According to Suetonius, a physician later established that only one wound, the second one to his chest, had been lethal.
[103]The dictator's last words are not known with certainty, and are a contested subject among scholars and historians alike. Suetonius reports that others have said Caesar's last words were the Greek phrase "καὶ σύ, τέκνον;"
[104] (transliterated as "Kai su, teknon?": "You too, child?" in English). However, Suetonius himself says Caesar said nothing.
[100] Plutarch also reports that Caesar said nothing, pulling his toga over his head when he saw Brutus among the conspirators.
[105] The version best known in the English-speaking world is the
Latin phrase "
Et tu, Brute?" ("And you, Brutus?", commonly rendered as "You too, Brutus?");
[106][107] this derives from Shakespeare's
Julius Caesar, where it actually forms the first half of a
macaronic line: "Et tu, Brute? Then fall, Caesar." It has no basis in historical fact and Shakespeare's use of Latin here is not from any assertion that Caesar would have been using the language, rather than the Greek reported by Suetonius, but because the phrase was already popular at the time the play was written.
[108]According to Plutarch, after the assassination, Brutus stepped forward as if to say something to his fellow senators; they, however, fled the building.
[109] Brutus and his companions then marched to the Capitol while crying out to their beloved city: "People of Rome, we are once again free!". They were met with silence, as the citizens of Rome had locked themselves inside their houses as soon as the rumour of what had taken place had begun to spread.
A wax statue of Caesar was erected in the forum displaying the 23 stab wounds. A crowd who had amassed there started a fire, which badly damaged the forum and neighbouring buildings. In the ensuing chaos
Mark Antony,
Octavian (later Augustus Caesar), and others fought a series of five civil wars, which would end in the formation of the Roman Empire.
Aftermath of the assasination
The result unforeseen by the assassins was that Caesar's death precipitated the end of the Roman Republic.
[110] The Roman middle and lower classes, with whom Caesar was immensely popular and had been since before Gaul, became enraged that a small group of high-browed aristocrats had killed their champion. Antony, who had been drifting apart from Caesar, capitalised on the grief of the Roman mob and threatened to unleash them on the
Optimates, perhaps with the intent of taking control of Rome himself. But, to his surprise and chagrin, Caesar had named his grandnephew Gaius
Octavian his sole heir, bequeathing him the immensely potent Caesar name as well as making him one of the wealthiest citizens in the Republic.
[111] The crowd at the funeral boiled over, throwing dry branches, furniture and even clothing on to Caesar's funeral pyre, causing the flames to spin out of control, seriously damaging the Forum. The mob then attacked the houses of Brutus and Cassius, where they were repelled only with considerable difficulty, ultimately providing the spark for the
Liberators' civil war, fulfilling at least in part Antony's threat against the aristocrats.
[112] However, Antony did not foresee the ultimate outcome of the next series of civil wars, particularly with regard to Caesar's adopted heir. Octavian, aged only 18 at the time of Caesar's death, proved to have considerable political skills, and while Antony dealt with
Decimus Brutus in the first round of the new civil wars, Octavian consolidated his tenuous position.
In order to combat Brutus and Cassius, who were massing an enormous army in Greece, Antony needed soldiers, the cash from Caesar's war chests, and the legitimacy that Caesar's name would provide for any action he took against them. With the passage of the lex Titia on 27 November 43 BC,
[113] the
Second Triumvirate was officially formed, composed of Antony, Octavian, and Caesar's loyal cavalry commander
Lepidus.
[114] It formally
deified Caesar as
Divus Iulius in 42 BC, and Caesar Octavian henceforth became Divi filius ("Son of a god").
[115] Seeing that Caesar's clemency had resulted in his murder, the Second Triumvirate brought back the practice of
proscription, abandoned since
Sulla.
[116] It engaged in the legally sanctioned murder of a large number of its opponents in order to secure funding for its forty-five legions in the second civil war against Brutus and Cassius.
[117] Antony and Octavius defeated them at
Philippi.
[118]Afterward, Mark Antony married Caesar's lover, Cleopatra, intending to use the fabulously wealthy Egypt as a base to dominate Rome. A third civil war broke out between Octavian on one hand and Antony and Cleopatra on the other. This final civil war, culminating in the latter's defeat at
Actium, resulted in the permanent ascendancy of Octavian, who became the first Roman emperor, under the name Caesar Augustus, a name that raised him to status of a deity.
[119]Julius Caesar had been preparing to invade
Parthia, the
Caucasus and
Scythia, and then swing back onto
Germania through Eastern Europe. These plans were thwarted by his assassination.
[120] His successors did attempt the conquests of Parthia and Germania, but without lasting results
BY
ADITYA SURANA
VIII A
