Man of the Month 7

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend us your ears! We come to unbury Caesar, and to appraise him. Why render your attention unto Caesar? Because General Julius changed Rome forever--and lent his name to our month of July, which ends today.

Julius Who?

Early on, no one rendered much of anything unto Gaius Julius Caesar. He was born a member of the Julii, an aristocratic clan that had fallen on hard times. His own family within that clan was neither particularly wealthy nor remarkably influential.

Such a lack of cash would have discouraged most men, as ancient Roman politics required periodic displays of munificence that could burn a hole in even the deepest toga pocket. The ruling elite covered this expense by claiming political positions that allowed them to plunder foreign territories even as they dispossessed the Italian peasantry. Many peasants moved into military service, where they formed armies more loyal to their generals than to Rome.

Young Radical

Hated at home and abroad, the Roman political order was ripe for upheaval, and a young and ambitious Julius Caesar knew it. He began his public career at age 16, soon after his father died. He revealed his leanings when he married Cornelia Cinna, the daughter of a radical conspirator in a recent revolution. In 82 BC, Rome crushed the revolution and ordered Julius to divorce his wife. He refused and spent five years with the army in Asia until things blew over.

For the next 15 years, Caesar worked his way up the ladder of Roman politics. In the process he went deeper and deeper into debt. Finally, in 61 BC, he gained the governorship of part of Spain. A military expedition along that frontier gathered enough plunder for him to pay down his debts. In 59 BC, with enough credit cards paid off, Caesar sought, and gained, Rome's highest elected office: the consulship.

That same year, he sealed an alliance with the powerful generals Pompey and Crassus. Roman politics was a game of personal influence, where every politician could call on the support of loyal men, some quite powerful in their own right. Between them, Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus had enough influence to control the government. Their behind-the-scenes arrangement came to be known as the First Triumvirate. Rome was moving from republic to autocracy.

Veni, Vidi, Vici

When their terms were up, consuls traditionally became governors of lucrative territories. Caesar took over Cisalpine and Transalpine Gaul (basically, northern Italy and southern France). Between 58 and 50 BC, he pushed the frontier back, conquering France, crossing into Germany, and making raids into Britain. His goal: to gain the military manpower, money, and prestige he needed to push through his reforms and completely reorganize the Roman state.

Yet the powerful Triumvirate had been wobbling for some time, in part because Crassus and Pompey hated each other. When Crassus died in battle against the Parthians, the coalition finally broke down. Pompey allied himself with the old nobility against Caesar, who now seemed dangerously powerful. By the end of 50 BC, Caesar's enemies were directing him to resign his command, even as they gave Pompey command of all the legions in Italy.

Since resigning would have meant signing his death warrant, Caesar mobilized his army and invaded Italy instead. He chased Pompey out of Italy, then hunted down his opponents throughout Rome's territories: in Spain, Thessaly, Egypt (where Pompey was murdered), Asia Minor, Africa, and Spain again. By 45 BC, Caesar had quelled nearly all dissent.

Et Tu, Brute?

Caesar's armies were largely composed of peasants who had been forced off their land, so his first act was to provide his veterans with land in Italy and northern Africa. He then pursued a series of reforms intended to punish misconduct by provincial governors, reorganize the territories to make them easier to control, establish constitutions for the local Italian governments, grant Roman citizenship to a range of aliens, and increase the size of the Senate.

Caesar didn't get the opportunity to do more. On March 15, 44 BC--less than a year after defeating the last armed resistance to his rule--he was ambushed in the Senate House and stabbed to death. The most notable of the conspirators were Cassius and Brutus (of "Et tu, Brute?" fame). Both were former opponents whom Caesar had pardoned and given important positions in his government.

Killing Caesar did nothing to remove the forces that had brought him to power. The lower classes still hated the Roman elite, and the armies on the frontiers still represented the real power in Rome. Whoever controlled the legions could make himself ruler of all. Caesar's successes had revealed this fact. And in just a short time, his grand-nephew and adopted son Octavian, later called Augustus, would prove it again. But that's another Caesar story.