Caesar
see'zar, Caius Julius (July 12, 100 B. C., to March 15, 44 B. C.), a noted Roman. Caesar's parents were wealthy. He received the usual education of the day in grammar, arithmetic, music, and physical exercises. As a young man he was fond of pleasure but ambitious. Of aristocratic ancestry, he affiliated with his uncle Marius and Cinna, opponents of the aristocracy. On the accession of Sulla to power he ordered the leaders of the people put to death. Caesar was included among the proscribed, but was spared at the intercession of wealthy friends, though Sulla protested that "in that young Caesar there were many Mariuses." Caesar left Rome and served with the army abroad until Sulla's death. He then returned to Rome, and took up politics as a trade. With a view to pushing his political fortunes he set out in 76 B. C. for Rhodes to study oratory. His vessel was captured by pirates. He was held a prisoner until a ransom of $50,000 was paid. Upon being set free, he manned some ships, assaulted the pirates' stronghold, and crucified his former captors, as he had jestingly assured them, when in their hands, that he would do.
By various arts Caesar rose in popular favor, stepping from one office to another, until he was in a position to form a political coalition with Pompey and Crassus, the wealthiest man of Rome. This combination is known as the First Triumvirate. It was merely a private understanding between the three men by means of which they controlled the most important offices in Rome. In 58 Caesar assumed command of the Roman armies in Gaul (now France). Crassus had military charge of the East and was killed. Pompey began to negotiate with the Senate to diminish Caesar's influence by cutting down his army, and a decree was sent forth commanding him to send home part of his legions or be considered an outlaw. In this emergency Caesar marched on Rome, having, it is said, passed a night debating whether he should cross the Rubicon, a little stream which separated his province from Roman territory proper. As a matter of history, Caesar entered Rome and Pompey fled. After a series of campaigns in Spain, Thessaly, Egypt, and the vicinity of Carthage, Caesar became master everywhere.
The story of his assassination by Brutus, and Mark Antony's speech over his remains are told by Shakespeare in his Julius Caesar; but Shakespeare fails to note that an imperial form of government, bearing equally on all, was the nearest approach to a beneficent government possible under the circumstances. Caesar should be held in mind, not as a despot, but as a destroyer of privileges, an equalizer, and a builder. The best treatment of Caesar's life in fiction is in the novel, A Friend of Caesar, by William Stearns Davis.
Caesar was probably the greatest Roman that ever lived. He was tall and of a commanding presence, with a pleasing face, and keen, expressive black eyes. He dressed like a prince and had astonishing powers of physical endurance. Few men have excelled in so many different lines of thought. As a statesman he had large views for the future of Rome. As a politician he was shrewd, and knew well how to make petty sacrifices to insure future advantage. As a general his tactics, for the time in which he lived, are commended by military critics. It is said that he knew the name of every petty centurion in his army, and could call out to him by name in the heat of conflict. A leader of the most reckless bravery, his soldiers were willing to follow him anywhere. He was an indulgent commander in trifles, but a strict disciplinarian in all matters pertaining to the safety of the army. In swiftness of military movement and in point of popularity with his men Caesar is often compared to Napoleon.
Caesar dabbled in verse when a youth. While it is true that his writings are not masterpieces in the sense that those of Virgil and Horace are his Commentaries on the Gallic War, in seven books, and on the Civil War, are considered models. In memory of much needed reform made by him in the calendar, the name of the month in which he was born was changed to Julius, our July. The German "Kaiser" and the Latin "Caesar" are the same word. The natural limit of this article forbids going into the details of the rupture between Pompey and Caesar. Nor can we undertake to draw a line between Caesar's ambition and Caesar's views of an enlightened public policy, but the reader should not miss the central idea that Caesar's contention for power was a part of the never ending struggle of the people against an aristocracy. Pompey was the chosen representative of the Senate, the champion of wealth and privilege. Caesar did not conceive the rights of man as they are interpreted today; but, as contrasted with the aristocratic Senate, he stood for democracy and for a broad, intelligent, vigorous public policy. John Fiske says, "We ought to be thankful to Caesar every day we live."
Pompey's conception was Rome, "Mistress of the World," yet a Rome governed by a coterie of men who plundered the provinces to increase their own wealth. Caesar's conception, we may believe, was a vast empire, justly ruled, an empire in all parts of which thrift, security of life and of property, and equal citizenship should prevail.
As to Caesar's methods, we must realize that he had to fight or go down. It was Pompey or Caesar,--the Senate and Pompey and Rome, or general citizenship, Caesar, and the empire. Caesar grasped the scepter and addressed himself to the problems of equal privileges--equality under Roman law for all parts of the Roman world. Had a man of Caesar's grasp been king of England, with sympathies not confined to London, the American Revolution need not have taken place.