Julius Ceasar
Gaius Julius Caesar is perhaps one of the most prominent Romans of the classical period that can be associated with Rome. This is because Julius Caesar can be most credited with, or blamed for both the downfall of the Roman Republic, and the subsequent creation of the Roman Empire. Many questions asking the usual why's, and how's have arisen from the ashes of the Roman Republic in order to cleanse Caesar of guilt or to further tarnish his memory. While those who have posed the various questions about Caesar have provided many clues as to the situations that allowed the Roman to manipulate the system of Rome's government, they don't ask the one question that would prove Caesar either innocent or guilty of destroying the ancient Republic: Did Gaius Julius Caesar purposefully intend to destroy Rome as he and her citizens knew it? To get this answer we must put Caesar on trial if you will, one that is unfair to be sure for the man can not defend himself, but one in which those who judge him are able to look at the evidence objectively in an effort to obtain the truth and prove Caesar's guilt or innocence. It seems that Julius Caesar chose his political lifestyle of essentially doing as he wished at a young age. Caesar broke an engag
So was Caesar guilty of trying to destroy the Republic and set himself up as king? By evidence of his actions it would seem so. Those who were against him often said so before and after his death. Caesar's ex co-consul, Bibulus, when commenting on a sexual relationship with the king of Bythnia, that Caesar "'once wanted to sleep with a monarch, now he wants to be one.'" If Caesar wanted to be a monarch, it would seem that he would have done so much sooner as he was fifty-five years old when he was killed. Certainly he had the ability to use his army to take over Rome and the mob would more than likely have supported him in doing so but he didn't. To Julius Caesar the power politics of Rome was just a game that he could play and win as he often did. Manipulation of the laws was part of the strategy that all of the players used, some better than others. Caesar played the game well as he obtained a pseudo-like monarchy when he was named dictator for life. His heir Octavian certainly succeeded him to become Roman Emperor thereby destroying the Republic and making his ascension look as if it was predetermined. And while the evidence points that Caesar had grandiose schemes to become king, the evidence also may suggest that Caesar only wanted to play the political game of Rome in which ultimately won and lost. Did Julius Caesar want kingship and destruction of the Republic? The answer will never be known as the dagger blades of sixty assassins killed the only man who ever knew what Caesar wanted, and that man was Gaius Julius Caesar. With Caesar's dictatorship came many changes in the government. He raised the number of senators and other official offices as well as reducing Civil laws to working levels. Eventually Caesar had himself named Dictator for Life which agitated many in the Senate who saw this as just another step in Caesar's plan to become king and destroy the Republic. This agitation resulted in the assassination of Caesar by sixty senators led by a man by the name of Brutus whose own ancestors had helped to destroy the old Roman Monarchy. The death of Caesar halted any further aspirations that he might have held towards becoming king, but it did set in motion for the attainment of his grandnephew Octavian to become Rome's first emperor. During Caesar's holding of the of
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Approximate Word count = 1550
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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