Caesar

After reading the biographies of four ancient leaders over the last month I realize I am content to be a wife and a mother. Being invisible to most makes it so less people want me bead. At some point their lives Lycurgus, Numa, and Alexander the Great were hunted by people whose only thought was to see them die. Caesar is no exception. In fact almost all his life he has an enemy out to get him. Even as a young man he is taken captive by pirates, whom he later has crucified.

The problem Caesar has was that he had a plan for his life and it included ruling all of the Roman Empire as a dictator. He knew how to make that happen and did it. Among many things he did were he befriended the right people, he married the right people, he married his daughter to the right family. More than the the people he knew, his conduct prepared him and his people for him to rule. He honored Marius, his uncle, who was a rival of Sylla, the master of Rome. It was no secret that Sylla had murdered Marius and his son to avoid their competition. The people loved Caesar for this. He earned the love, admiration, and respect of his soldiers during the war with the Gauls and with the people by not using war to make himself rich or to provide himself with luxury. All four of the men I studied were successful due in large part to this characteristic, generosity. Caesar also worked really hard and kept going despite having epilepsy.

While he was fighting a battle in Britain, Caesar's daughter dies. Her's was a political marriage and her death upset the delicate balance that had been established in the government. A civil ward starts between those who would have Caesar as the sole leader and those who supported Pompey. This civil war was devastating to the people. Caesar succeeds and Pompey is killed after fleeing to Africa.

Caesar has enemies that try to kill him in Africa. He fights a war and wins. Cleopatra ends up ruling Egypt as queen after her brother is killed in the ward. He comes back to rule Rome and is declared dictator for the fourth time, this time for life.

He forgave his enemies and even promoted and befriended them. This proved a fatal mistake as he is murdered horribly by them in the middle of the Senate. The people declare him deity, but also just let go those involved in the conspiracy to kill him after an innocent man is torn limb from limb by a mob.

What a scary time to be alive. The crowds were crazy. The government changed so often, the people had to be in chaos, not to mention what their economic system must have been like. I just can't imagine what would happen if someone murdered the leaders of our country. Our country would erupt with violence and bedlam. This biography does paint Caesar in a good light, but Plutarch did come right out and say that this was his intention in writing his book. I don't really know much about him except what I read here. This makes me what to read Julius Caesar by Shakespeare.