Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar (100 - 44 BC), full name Gaius Julius Caesar, was a great Roman warrior and is considered to be the last dictator of Rome. He is not only known for his military skill, but also as a great commentator on certain events. He had also published the first news bulletin of the world. He has been pronounced the greatest man of antiquity, by birth and marriage connected with the democratic party. Early in his life he provoked the jealousy of Sulla, then dictator, and was by an edict of proscription against him obliged to quit the city of Rome, and only on the death of Sulla he returned.

He was elected to one civic office after another, and finally to the consulship. United with Pompey and Crassus in the First Triumvirate (60 B.C.), was appointed to the government of Gaul, which he subdued after nine years to the dominion of Rome. His successes awoke the jealousy of Pompey, who had gone over to the aristocratic side, and he was recalled. This roused Cæsar, and crossing the Rubicon with his victorious troops, he soon saw all Italy lying at his feet (49 B.C.). Caesar then pursued Pompey, who had fled to Greece, and defeated him at Pharsalia (48 B.C.). He was thereupon elected dictator and consul for five years, distinguishing himself in Egypt and elsewhere. He returned to Rome in 47 B.C., and conceived and executed vast schemes for the benefit of the city, and became the idol of its citizens. He was assassinated on the Ides (the 15th) of March, 44 B.C. in the fifty-sixth year of his age.

Wisdom & Quotes

• The die is cast.

-Quoted in Plutarch, Parallel Lives

• Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres. ( All Gaul is divided in three parts.)

- De Bello Gallico

• Veni, vidi, vici. ( I came, I saw , I conquered. )

- Quoted in Suetonius , Lives of the Caesars

• Caesar's wife must be above suspicion.

- attributed, based on Plutarch's biography of Caesar

• Fortune, which has a great deal of power in other matters but especially in war, can bring about great changes in a situation through very slight forces.

- The Civil War

• I assure you I had rather be the first man here than the second man in Rome.

- attributed in Parallel Lives by Plutarch

• It is not the well-fed long-haired man I fear, but the pale and the hungry looking.

- as reported in Plutarch's Anthony

• And you, son?

- reported as Caesar's last words, spoken to Marcus Junius Brutus, as recorded in Divus Iulius by Suetonius, (Shakespeare's version is "Et tu, Brute? — Then fall, Caesar!"

• The immortal gods are wont to allow those persons whom they wish to punish for their guilt sometimes a greater prosperity and longer impunity, in order that they may suffer the more severely from a reverse of circumstances.

- Commentarii de Bello Gallico

• In most cases men willingly believe what they wish.

- Commentarii de Bello Gallico

• It is easier to find men who will volunteer to die than to find those who are willing to endure pain with patience.

- Commentarii de Bello Gallico

Publius Syrus