GAIUS JULIUS CAESAR
De Bello Gallico
Caesar’s life
 Born: 100 BCE
 Died: March 15, 44 BCE
INFLUENCES ON
CAESAR
 MARIUS:
• Consul – 7 times (unheard of)
• Supported politicians who opposed the wealthy and supported the
common people
• Married to Caesar’s aunt, Julia
• Reformed Roman Army to include lower class
 SULLA:
• General of army
• Dictator in Rome (when Caesar was a teenager) – marched on the city
twice to win “supreme authority”
• Supporter of the wealthy – suppress the commoners (poor)
OPTIMAS V. POPULARIS
 Optimates: worked to achieve consensus in the Senate
• Sulla
 Populares: worked around the Senate to pass laws in the people’s
courts
• Marius
 Caesar relates more to the Marian faction
SULLA
 Proscription Lists
• Second Triumvirate (including Octavian!)
 Caesar had this example in his life at an early age
 Caesar was connected with Marius – hostile to Sulla – and had to
flee Rome to escape the list
Caesar’s youth
 “corona civica” – civic crown was given to men who saved the
lives of others in battle
 Sulla dies in 78 BC – Caesar can return to Rome
EDUCATION
 77 BC: Rhodes – study rhetoric (Apollonius)
• Cicero studied with Apoloonius too
 75 BC: Kidnapped by pirates: ransom collected and paid
• Caesar captured these pirates and crucified them
• Shows status of young Roman men – Caesar is growing up in the
upper class with wealth and power and surrounds himself with
people who have the same
POLITICAL POWER
 65 BC: Aedile
 63 BC: pontifex maximus (a title later given to Octavian as well)
• Scandalous because he was so young – defeated many older men
 61 BC: Governor of Spain
• Owed so much money, but was bailed out by Crassus
• Paid off debts with victories in Spain
 59 BC: Ran for CONSUL – with aid of Pompey and Crassus
1 ST TRIUMVIRATE
 Formed around 60 BC to aid Caesar’s election to Consulship
 CAESAR, POMPEY, CRASSUS
 Julia (Caesar’s daughter) married Pompey
•
(Julia dies in childbirth 54 BC)
 Bibulus – Caesar’s partner in consulship in 59 BC (lame duck)
GAUL
 58 BC: Caesar left for Gaul (~9 years)
• Caesar was only supposed to be in Gaul for 5 years, but extended to
finish his campaign
 50 BC: Conquest of Gaul was complete
• Flooded markets with salves, dispensed political favors, won devotion
of soldiers, showed off incredible wealth, army size grew
END OF 1 ST TRIUMVIRATE
 Julia + Pompey – Julia dies in 54 BC in childirth
 Crassus is killed in Parthia in 53 BC
• Iraq and Iran
 Pompey began to align himself with the Senate who opposed
Caesar – wanted to ruin Caesar’s career
 Caesar was asked by Senate to return to Rome as a “private
citizen” and without his army – he refused
END OF THE 1 ST
TRIUMVIRATE
 Caesar could not be prosecuted by his enemies in the Senate if he
was “consul”
 Caesar’s enemies made it clear that if he returned to Rome as a
“private citizen,” he would be prosecuted, so he wanted to run for
consul “in absentia”
ALEA IACTA EST
 49 BC: Since he was branded an outlaw by the Senate, Caesar
marched on Rome with his armies – crossed the Rubicon
• Declared an automatic war
• Pompey’s armies were in Spain, so he retreated there
• Caesar continued to Rome and declared himself dictator
 48 BC: Caesar led his army to Spain to meet Pompey and the
“Optimates” at the Battle of Pharsalus
• Caesar wins, pardons Roman citizens, Pompey flees to Egypt
CAESAR IN EGYPT
 At this time, Cleopatra (20-21 years old) was struggling for power
and the throne in Egypt
• Caesar saw her as a useful ally and cooperated to help her
 47 BC: Caesar left Egypt with Cleopatra in place as a “client
queen” and loyal to the Roman Empire
 Settled some disturbances in Asia Minor (Zela): “veni vidi vici”
POLITICAL POWER
 46 – 45 BC: Caesar set up his power in Rome
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Did not use the Senate, just announced his decisions
Appointed magistrates
Squashed rebellions and gave himself “triumphs”
Coins in his likeness
Statues (like the gods!)
Purple and gold toga
Laurel wreath (golden)
Carried in a sedan chair
DICTATOR PERPETUUS
 44 BC: Dictator for life
• Declared that he would avenge the death of Crassus in Parthia (he
was set to leave for Parthia on March 18, 44 BC)
 Did Caesar want to be king?
• Refused a “diadem” presented by Antony at a public ceremony
 MARCH 15 44 BC: Killed by republicans in the Senate
BENEFITS
• Tried to relieve the debt
• Reformed the calendar (July)
CAESAR AND HIS ENEMIES
 Forgiveness – did not use a proscription list
• Showed mercy (clemency) to those who opposed him
 Killed by those who wanted to restore the “republic”
Caesar’s leg acy
 Adopted great-nephew as his heir, Octavian
 Caesar was deified after his death = every emperor would have this
happen in the future
 GAUL INFLUENCE
• Gauls became Roman – speak Latin
 US INFLUENCE
• Fear of imitators haunted the framers of US Constitution
(unchecked power)
Rome after
caesar’s death
 Senate failed to reassert itself
 Second Triumvirate took over (Antony, Octavian, Lepidus)
 Spiral of civil war until 31 BC and rise of Augustus
CAESAR, THE
AUTHOR
 De Analiga
• Does not survive – Latin grammar
 Commentarii de bello Gallico
• First seven books composed by Caesar
• Last book by Aulus Hirtius (written after Caesar’s death)
 Civil War (three books)
• Supplemented with books about Egypt, Africa, and Spain (uncertain
authorship)
COMMENTARII
 Official reports sent to the Senate, written by governors and
generals : “sets of notes or records”
 VERSUS Historia : highly elaborated literary account
 Genre is well suited to convey what purports to be a
straightforward record of Caesar’s conquests
WHY COMMENTARII?
 Wanted to make it appear as if he were sharing his reports with
ALL Roman people, not just the Senate
 Absent from Rome for 9 years – these would have been devoured
by Romans who were looking for updated news or gossip
 Report “Caesar’s Side” in this conquest
Caesar’s style
 Logical and clear – no obscure vocab: “plain”
 Lacks complex sentences
 Writes as an “observer” without passion or emotion
 THIRD PERSON
• Why would Caesar be speaking to them directly when he was so far
away in Gaul?
• Focus on actions
• Seems “objective”
Caesar’s motivation
 Reputation
 Public career
 Life
IMAGE OF CAESAR