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• Born: 101 B.C.
• Birthplace: ?
• Died: 44 B.C. (assassination)
• Best Known As: The most famous of Roman generals

Full name: Gaius Julius Caesar

Caesar is remembered as one of history's greatest generals and a key ruler of the Roman empire. As a young man he rose through the administrative ranks of the Roman republic, accumulating power until he was elected consul in 59 B.C. Over the next 15 years he led Roman armies against enemies abroad, especially in Gaul, while fighting Pompey and others for political control at home. In 45 B.C. he reached his ultimate success, being named dictator of Rome for life. That rule was short-lived: the next year he was stabbed to death in the Senate by a group led by his follower Marcus Junius Brutus. Caesar's life and death were dramatized in the William Shakespeare play Julius Caesar, with Caesar's famous death line: "Et tu, Brute? Then fall Caesar!"

Caesar is thought to have been assassinated on March 15th, a date known in the Roman calendar as "the Ides of March"... The ruling titles Kaiser and Czar are derived from the name of Caesar... Caesar had a famous romance with Egyptian ruler Cleopatra, and he fathered her son Caesarion... One of Caesar's trusted generals was Marc Antony, who became a lover and ally of Cleopatra after Caesar's death... Caesar's adopted heir was Octavian, who later defeated Antony and became the emperor Caesar Augustus.

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Caesar, Caius Julius (100-44 bc). Probably the greatest general in Rome's history, and among the most successful of all time, Caesar was also a skilful author who wrote detailed accounts of his campaigns. His seven books of Commentaries on the Gallic wars, three on the civil war, along with several books written by some of his officers to fill the gaps in the narrative, provide more information about Caesar's campaigns than those of any other ancient commander. The style of these works has had a massive influence on the writing of military history, down to the present day.

It is important to remember that Caesar was not simply a general, but also a politician. In Rome politics and war were inseparably linked. Success in war promoted a political career, which in turn led to greater opportunities for military command. Up until the year 58, Caesar's career followed the normal pattern for a Roman aristocrat, mixing military with civil posts. He served as a junior officer (tribune) in the east (80-78), being awarded Rome's highest decoration for gallantry, the corona civica, for saving a soldier's life at the siege of Mytilene. His first independent command came with his appointment as governor of Further Spain, where he led a small army in some successful police actions (61-60). However, after his political alliance with two of the most powerful politicians in Rome, Pompey and Crassus, Caesar received the consulship for the year 59 and an exceptionally large provincial command including Illyria, Cisalpine, and Transalpine Gaul in 58. At first his term of office was for five years, which was later extended to ten, an unprecedentedly long period.

Caesar was massively in debt and needed the profits derived from a successful war of conquest. He may well have contemplated marching from Illyria against the Dacian kingdom on the Danube, but the migration of the Helvetii offered him a perfect excuse to intervene in Gaul, an opportunity he accepted with alacrity (58). In eight years he conquered all of Gaul, defeated several rebellions, and advanced Rome's power to the Rhine. His victories were celebrated with public thanksgivings in Rome, and he took care to seize every chance to perform the spectacular, twice bridging the Rhine and leading expeditions to the strange and distant shores of Britain. Every winter he returned to Cisalpine Gaul to perform his judicial duties as governor, but also to keep an eye on the political climate at Rome. Vast quantities of booty and huge numbers of slaves covered Caesar's debts and made him exceptionally wealthy. He lavished much of this on his victorious soldiers, further increasing their loyalty to him.

Crassus had fallen at Carrhae in 53 and by the end of the Gallic wars, Pompey was unwilling to accept Caesar as a political equal and rival. He sided with Caesar's ardent opponents in the Senate who were determined to prosecute him as soon as the Gallic command expired. This led to the outbreak of the civil war in 49, when Caesar led his troops across the Rubicon, the narrow stream separating his province, where he legally exercised command, with Italy, where he did not. He secured Italy in a matter of weeks, with hardly a blow being struck. Then he moved to Spain and manoeuvred a Pompeian army into a hopeless position, forcing it to surrender at Ilerda. In 48 he crossed to Macedonia and after a hard campaign defeated Pompey himself at Pharsalus. Following Pompey to Egypt, he wintered there, making Queen Cleopatra his mistress, and fighting with small forces against a serious rebellion. In 47 he moved against Pharnaces, king of Bosphorus, who had overrun much of Asia, and defeated him in a few days at Zela. It was of this rapid victory that he made the famous comment, ‘Veni, Vidi, Vici’ (I came: I saw: I conquered). In 46 he smashed another Pompeian army at Thapsus in Africa, before finally crushing the last resistance at Munda in Spain in 45. Returning to Rome he was made dictator for life, but was murdered by a senatorial conspiracy on 15 March 44, a few weeks before he was to have embarked on a series of major campaigns, first against Dacia, then Parthia.

Like many great commanders Caesar did little to reform his army, but took the existing Roman army organization and raised it to the peak of efficiency. He instituted a rigorous programme of training, with regular exercises and route marches which he often led in person. As a leader he was inspirational. Conspicuous bravery was lavishly rewarded with decorations, promotions, and a larger share of the booty. In particular he rewarded his centurions, who figure prominently in his Commentaries for their loyalty and courage. Caesar was also skilled at fostering unit pride. When his army was reluctant to march against Ariovistus, Caesar announced that he would go on alone with the X Legion. The Tenth responded to the flattery with enthusiasm and the rest of the army was shamed into emulating their behaviour. During the civil war many of the Tenth were long overdue for discharge and mutinied at the prospect of another campaign. Caesar quelled the disturbance with a single word, addressing them as Quirites, civilians rather than soldiers. The legion gave the ringleaders up for execution and won the day for Caesar at Munda.

As a commander Caesar's most striking quality was his speed of action. He always tried to seize the initiative, launching counter offensives in winter with whatever troops were immediately available against the Gallic rebellions in 54 and 52. Crossing the Rubicon with a single legion, and invading Macedonia in the civil war were equally bold actions. In battle, Caesar moved around his army, ever present where there was a crisis, and willing to go into the front line himself if the situation was desperate. Modern scholars have criticized Caesar for his rashness, pointing out that his genius was all too often exercised in extricating his army from the poor position which his recklessness had placed it in. Yet this type of behaviour was typically Roman. The Romans expected a general to be very bold, ranking luck as important an attribute of a successful commander as ability.

— Adrian K. Goldsworthy

See Giulio cesare.

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Gaius Julius Caesar (100-44 B.C.) was a Roman general and politician who overthrew the Roman Republic and established the rule of the emperors.

At the time of Julius Caesar's birth the political, social, economic, and moral problems created by the acquisition of a Mediterranean empire in the 3d and 2d centuries B.C. began to challenge the Roman Republic. The senatorial oligarchy that ruled Rome was proving inadequate to deal with these new challenges. It could not control the armies and the generals and was unwilling to listen to the pleas of the Italian allies for equal citizenship and of the provinces for justice. The system also had no real answers for the growth of an urban proletariat and the mass importation of slaves. Caesar saw these inadequacies of the Senate and used the problems and dilemmas of the period to create his own supreme political and military power.

Caesar was born on July 13, 100 B.C. His father had been only a moderate political success, attaining the praetorship but not the consulship. Caesar's mother came from plebeian stock. The family could claim a long, if not overly distinguished, history. It was a patrician family on his father's side and therefore one of the founders of Rome and was entitled to certain traditional privileges and offices. However, in comparison with many other leading Roman families it had produced few distinguished people.

Early Training

Caesar received the classic, rhetorically grounded education of a young Roman at Rome and in Rhodes. He was considered one of the most cultured and literate of Romans by such an expert as Cicero himself. Caesar followed the traditional Roman practice of conducting some prosecutions in order to gain political attention. He served as a young officer in Asia Minor and was quaestor (financial official) in Farther Spain (69 B.C.).

Caesar first rose to political prominence in the internal struggles that followed the revolt of Rome's allies - the "Social Wars" - after Rome refused to grant them full citizenship in 90. Caesar's family was related to the revolt's leader, Gaius Marius, and joined his faction. Caesar married Cornelia, the daughter of Cinna, one of the leading Marians, and was nominated for the priesthood of flamen dialis. However, Marius died, and his followers were defeated by the Roman general Sulla. Caesar was spared in the proscriptions that followed the victory of Sulla, even though he refused to divorce Cornelia, to whom he remained married until her death in 69.

First Political and Military Successes

In the following years Caesar emerged as one of the leading political and social personalities of Rome. Cultivated, charming, and handsome, vain about his appearance, he made his love affairs the talk of Roman society. He recognized the urban proletariat as one of the major sources of political power and cultivated this group assiduously. He maintained Marian connections, and in 65 B.C., when he was aedile, he restored the triumphal monuments of Marius that had been dismantled under Sulla. Caesar was famous for his hospitality and was often heavily in debt. His aedileship was especially noted for its lavish displays and games.

Caesar's first really important electoral success was his election as pontifex maximus in 63 B.C. This was regarded as the chief religious office in Rome and had important political possibilities.

Caesar was elected praetor for 62 B.C. and served his propraetorship in Farther Spain. For over a century Spain had provided Roman governors the opportunity for a triumph. Caesar was quick to take advantage of the situation by waging a successful campaign against some native tribes in Lusitania. His political enemies accused him of provoking the war - he would not have been the first Roman governor in Spain who had done so - but he was nevertheless awarded the right of a triumph for his victory.

First Triumvirate

In the meantime a political crisis was developing in Rome. Pompey had returned from the East after having eliminated Mithridates and made major political settlements. He was having difficulty persuading the Senate to ratify these settlements and provide compensation for his veterans. Caesar at the same time was setting his sights on the consulship for the year 59 B.C. He returned from Spain in 60 B.C. and waived his right of triumph in order to campaign for election. He won, together with a representative of the senatorial oligarchy, Bibulus. The Senate immediately moved to block his hopes of future political power by voting as his postconsular area of responsibility the care of the woodlands of the Roman state, a command with no possibilities for military glory. Caesar, desiring more glamorous political and military opportunities, saw that he would need allies to circumvent his senatorial opponents.

Out of the specific problems of two of Rome's great men and the general ambition of the third grew the political alliance known as the First Triumvirate. Pompey brought wealth and military might, Crassus wealth and important political connections, and Caesar the key office of consul along with the brains and skill of a master political infighter. Caesar was to obtain the necessary settlements for Pompey and was in turn to receive a choice province. The alliance was further cemented in 58 B.C. by the marriage of Caesar's only daughter, Julia, to Pompey.

Caesar showed soon after his election that he intended to ignore Bibulus, his weak consular colleague, by using the political and religious machinery to advance Pompey's requests. Caesar's land bills indicated an intelligent effort to solve the problem of Rome's urban proletariat by returning people to the land. Pompey's veterans were settled on their own land allotments; and Caesar received as a reward the governorship of the provinces of Cisalpine Gaul, Illyricum, and Transalpine Gaul for a period of 5 years after his consulship.

Proconsul in Gaul

At the time Caesar took command, Roman control in Gaul was limited to the southern coast, the area known as Gallia Narbonensis. However, Rome had political relations with tribes beyond the actual border of the province. Caesar quickly took advantage of these connections and the shifting power position in Gaul to extend the sphere of Roman control. At the request of the Aedui, a tribe friendly to Rome, Caesar prevented the Helvetii from migrating across Gaul and then defeated Ariovistus, a German chieftain, who was building his own political power among the Sequani, a rival tribe to the Aedui. From there, Caesar extended Roman arms north with military victories over the Belgi (57 B.C.) and the Venetic tribes on the north coast of Gaul (56).

Meanwhile political strains had appeared in the alliance of Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus. Caesar's 5-year command was coming to a close, and political enemies were demanding his recall to make him explain his often high-handed actions in Gaul in provoking war with the native tribes. Crassus had been viewing with jealousy the power base that Caesar was building in Gaul and desired his own military command.

The three men met at the northern Italian city of Luca in April 56 B.C. and recemented their political ties. Caesar received a 5-year extension of his command. Pompey and Crassus were to have another consulship, after which Crassus would assume the important post of governor of Syria and Pompey would receive the governorship of Spain.

Revolt in Gaul

Caesar turned his energies to Gaul again. He decided to undertake an expedition against Britain, whose tribes maintained close contacts with Gaul. These expeditions in 55 B.C. and 54 B.C. were probably not a complete success for Caesar, but they aroused great enthusiasm at Rome. For the first time Roman arms had advanced over the sea to conquer strange, new peoples.

Caesar probably thought that his main task of conquest was complete. However, in 52 B.C. Gaul arose in widespread rebellion against Caesar under Vercingetorix, a nobleman of the tribe of the Arverni. Caesar's power base was threatened.

At the same time the political situation in Rome was equally chaotic. The tribune Clodius had been murdered, and his death was followed by great civic disorder. Pompey was called upon to assume the post of sole consul for 52 B.C. Caesar had crossed the Alps to watch more closely the changing conditions in Rome, and when the news of the Gallic revolt reached him, he recrossed the Alps, still partly blocked by winter, and rallied his divided army. He won a striking victory by capturing the Gallic town of Avaricum but was repulsed when he tried to storm the Arvernian stronghold of Gergovia. This defeat added Rome's old allies, the Aedui, to the forces of Vercingetorix. However, Vercingetorix made the mistake of taking refuge in the fortress of Alesia, where Caesar brought to bear the best of Roman siege techniques. A relieving army of Gauls was defeated, and Vercingetorix was forced to surrender. He was carried to Rome, where he graced Caesar's triumph in 46 B.C.

Dissolution of the Triumvirate

Caesar's long absence from Rome had partially weakened his political power. He naturally kept numerous contacts in Rome through agents and through extensive correspondence. Profits from his conquests were used for building projects to impress the people and for personal loans to leading figures such as Cicero in order to win their allegiance. Caesar's conquests were well publicized; his Commentaries, which described the campaigns in a controlled, matter-of-fact, third-person style, circulated among the reading public at Rome. Recent scholarship has emphasized the propaganda aspects of the Commentaries, even claiming that Caesar seriously distorted facts to justify his actions. Certainly, Caesar sought to place his conquests in the best possible light, stressing their basically defensive nature and the importance of defending friends and allies of Rome against traditional Roman enemies. He had made extensive additions to the Roman Empire (about 640,000 square miles) at the expense of peoples who had long been enemies of Rome.

Pompey, on the other hand, had remained in Rome and strengthened his political position by appearing as a savior in a time of chaos. Other tensions in the alliance were Julia's death in 54 B.C., which removed an important bond between the two men; and the death of Crassus in 53 B.C., which left Pompey and Caesar in a confrontation of power.

Caesar's second term as governor ended in 50 B.C. His enemies were awaiting the day when he lost the immunity of an official position and could be prosecuted for various actions during his consulship and proconsulship. This was the traditional republican method of breaking a political opponent by securing his condemnation and exile. Caesar countered this by requesting to stand for the consulship for the year 49 B.C. in absentia, thus moving directly from proconsulship to consulship without being exposed to the vulnerability of a private citizen.

Civil War

In 52 B.C. the bill allowing Caesar to run for consul in absentia was passed, but its effect was vitiated by a decree of the Senate which would have forced Caesar to yield his provinces to a successor before he was elected consul. The majority of the senators wanted peace but were pushed along by a determined minority who wanted to destroy Caesar. Pompey was caught in a dilemma. He did not want civil war, but he also did not want to yield his prime position in the state. Finally Caesar's opponents in the Senate won. A decree was passed in January 49 B.C. demanding that Caesar yield his province and return to Rome as a private citizen to stand for the consulship.

The proconsul now had two choices. He could bow to the will of the Senate and be destroyed politically, or he could provoke civil war. Caesar chose the latter course and led his troops over the Rubicon, the small river that divided Cisalpine Gaul from the Roman heartland. At the beginning the greater power seemed to rest with Pompey and the Senate. Most men of prestige, such as Cato and Cicero, joined Pompey's cause. Pompey had connections with the provinces and princes of the Roman East, where he could draw enormous resources. Furthermore, he was defending the cause of the Senate and the established order at Rome.

However, Caesar had at his command a tough and experienced army, as well as an extensive following in Italy. Most of all, he was fighting for his own interests alone and did not have to face the divisions of interest, opinion, and leadership that plagued Pompey.

Pompey quickly decided to abandon Italy to Caesar and fell back to the East. Caesar secured his position in Italy and Gaul and then defeated Pompey at Pharsalus on Aug. 9, 48 B.C. Pompey fled to Egypt and was killed by the young pharaoh, Ptolemy. Although his rival was eliminated, much work remained to be done to make Caesar's position secure.

Caesar followed Pompey to Egypt and became involved in the dynastic struggle of the house of Ptolemy.

Caesar supported Cleopatra, but caught in Alexandria without sufficient troops, he was nearly destroyed before reinforcements could arrive. The main result of this sojourn was the affair that developed between Caesar and Cleopatra, which ultimately resulted in a son, Caesarion.

Caesar still had numerous unconquered enemies in Africa and Spain. Turning first to Africa, on April 6, 46 B.C., at Thapsus he crushed a republican army led by Cato the Younger, his old and bitter enemy. Cato retreated to Utica, where he committed suicide rather than surrender to Caesar. Caesar moved into Spain and on March 17, 45 B.C., defeated the sons of Pompey at Munda.

Consolidation of the Empire

Meanwhile Caesar had to define his political position in Rome. He adopted a policy of special clemency toward his former enemies and rewarded political opponents with public office. For himself he adopted the old Roman position of dictator. However, what had been traditionally a 6-month emergency magistracy he turned into an office of increasing duration.

There has been much debate about what political role Caesar planned for himself. He certainly regarded the old oligarchic government as inadequate and desired to replace it with some form of rule by a single leader. Significantly, just before his death, Caesar was appointed dictator for life. About the same time, he began issuing coins with his own portrait on them, a practice unparalleled in Rome up to that time.

Caesar was planning major projects and reforms. Public works, such as a new, massive basilica in the old forum complex, were progressing. Even more grandiose schemes, like the draining of the Pontine marshes, were planned. New colonial foundations were under way, including settlements in Carthage and Corinth, both destroyed by the Romans in 146 B.C. Among his reforms was the reordering of the inadequate Roman calendar.

However, Caesar's restless temperament was not satisfied by administration and legislation at Rome. He was preparing equally extensive military campaigns. Trouble was brewing in Dacia across the Danube, and the Parthians had not been punished for the destruction of Crassus' army.

Death and Legacy

In Rome dissatisfaction was growing among the senatorial aristocrats over the increasingly permanent nature of the rule of Caesar. A conspiracy was formed aimed at eliminating Caesar and restoring the government to the Senate. The conspirators hoped that, with Caesar's death, government would be restored to its old republican form and all of the factors that had produced a Caesar would disappear. The conspiracy progressed with Caesar either ignorant of it or not recognizing the warning signs. On the Ides of March (March 15), 44 B.C., he was stabbed to death in the Senate house of Pompey by a group of men that included old friends and comrades-in-arms.

With Caesar's murder Rome plunged into 13 years of civil war. Caesar remained for some a symbol of tyranny, and for others the heritable founder of the Roman Empire whose ghost has haunted Europe ever since. For all, he is a figure of genius and audacity equaled by few in history.

Further Reading

Two ancient biographies of Caesar survive: one by the Greek moralist Plutarch in his Lives and the other by the Roman courtier and bureaucrat Suetonius in his The Lives of the Twelve Caesars. Caesar speaks for himself in Commentaries on the Gallic War and Commentaries on the Civil Wars. For a vivid account of the politics of the period, with Caesar playing a major role, nothing surpasses the letters of Cicero.

The best modern biography of Caesar is Matthias Gelzer, Caesar: Politician and Statesman (1921; trans. 1968). Michael Grant, Julius Caesar (1969), is a detailed survey of Caesar's career. Other biographies include John Buchan, Julius Caesar (1932), and Alfred L. Duggan, Julius Caesar: A Great Life in Brief (1955; new ed. 1966). For an understanding of how Caesar operated in the politics of his time see Lily Ross Taylor, Party Politics in the Age of Caesar (1949). Ronald Syme, The Roman Revolution (1939; rev. ed. 1952), places Caesar in the political developments of the 1st century B.C. F. E. Adcock discusses Caesar's literary achievements in Caesar as Man of Letters (1956). T. Rice Holmes, Caesar's Conquest of Gaul (1899; 2d ed. 1911), is still the fullest commentary in English on Caesar's Gallic War. For general historical background see T. Rice Holmes, The Roman Republic and the Founder of the Empire (3 vols., 1923), and A. H. McDonald, Republican Rome (1966).

For more information on Gaius Julius Caesar, visit Britannica.com.

Roman politician and general. Born in 100BC of a leading patrician family, Caesar rose to be consul in 59 BC. His command included the Roman province of southern Gaul. In a series of brilliant campaigns from 58 to 54 BC he conquered Gaul as far as the Rhine. Late in the campaigning season of 55 BC he invaded Britain, but retreated when his fleet was wrecked by storms. The following year he returned and defeated the tribes of south-eastern Britain under Cassivellaunus. For these incursions into a semi-mythical island the Senate voted a longer thanks giving than for the conquest of Gaul.

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Roman general and statesman born c.100 bc who came to prominence as a member of the First Triumvirate in 60 bc along with Pompey and Crassus. From 58 bc to 51 bc he was engaged in military campaigns in Gaul, Germany, and Britain. In 49 bc he refused to disband his army and instead crossed the Rubicon and marched on Rome, thereby signalling the outbreak of civil war. Between 49 bc and 44 bc he progressively consolidated his power with campaigns in Egypt, Asia Minor, North Africa, and Spain. He was murdered on the Ides of March 44 bc. His commentaries on the Gallic Wars represent one of the principal literary sources relevant to the later prehistory of Celtic Europe.

Roman general, statesman, and historian (100–44 BC) whose seven-volume Gallic War [De Bello Gallico] is a much-cited source for information on early Celtic ethnography and religion. Although much admired for his clarity of style, Caesar cannot be accepted without qualification: not only did he rely on the reports of subordinates, but he may have taken more from Posidonius (c.135–c.51 BC) than from his own observations. As the conqueror first of the Gauls and then of the Britons, he had an understandably patronizing view of the Celts, finding them eager for battle but easily dashed by adversity. He also found them superstitious, given to submitting to druids for arbitration in public and private affairs. As for religious beliefs, he was struck by their view that the soul did not perish at the death of the body. His vision of a Celtic pantheon is more troubling to modern commentators. Thinking that Celtic conceptions differed little from Roman, he assigned Roman names to native gods, ranking them in order of perceived preference: Mercury, Apollo, Mars, Jupiter, and Minerva. Although it is not supported by any non-Roman evidence, Caesar enunciated clear differentiation of function among different Celtic gods as well as the existence of a universal pantheon.

(Caius Julius Caesar), 100? B.C.–44 B.C., Roman statesman and general.

Rise to Power

Although he was born into the Julian gens, one of the oldest patrician families in Rome, Caesar was always a member of the democratic or popular party. He benefited from the patronage of his uncle by marriage, Caius Marius. In 82 B.C., when Caesar refused to obey Sulla's order to divorce Cornelia, the wealthy daughter of Lucius Cornelius Cinna, he was proscribed and subsequently fled from Rome (81 B.C.).

On Sulla's death, Caesar returned (78 B.C.) and began his political career. He quickly gained popularity with his party and a reputation for oratory. In 74 B.C. he went into Asia to repulse a Cappadocian army. Upon his return, he agitated for reform of the government on popular lines and helped to advance the position of Pompey, the virtual head of the popular party. Caesar was made military tribune before 70 B.C. and was quaestor in Farther Spain in 69 B.C.; he helped Pompey to obtain the supreme command for the war in the East. He returned to Rome in 68 B.C., and in Pompey's absence was becoming the recognized head of the popular party. His praise of Marius and Cinna made him popular with the people, but earned him the hatred of the senate.

In 63 B.C. he was elected pontifex maximus [high priest], allegedly by heavy bribes. His later reform of the calendar with the help of Sosigenes, was one of his greatest contributions to history. In Dec., 63 B.C., Caesar advocated mercy for Catiline and the conspirators, thereby increasing the enmity of the senatorial party and its leaders, Cato the Younger and Quintus Lutatius Catulus (see Catulus, family). In 62 B.C., Clodius and Caesar's second wife, Pompeia, were involved in a scandal concerning the violation of the secret rites of Bona Dea, and Caesar obtained a divorce, saying, “Caesar's wife must be above suspicion.”

The First Triumvirate

Having served in Farther Spain as proconsul in 61 B.C., he returned to Rome in 60 B.C., ambitious for the consulate. Against senatorial opposition he achieved a brilliant stroke—he organized a coalition, known as the First Triumvirate, made up of Pompey, commander in chief of the army; Marcus Licinius Crassus, the wealthiest man in Rome (see Crassus, family); and Caesar himself. Pompey and Crassus were jealous of each other, but Caesar by force of personality kept the arrangement going.

In 59 B.C. he married Calpurnia. In the same year, as consul, he secured the passage of an agrarian law providing Campanian lands for 20,000 poor citizens and veterans, in spite of the opposition of his senatorial colleague, Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus. Caesar also won the support of the wealthy equites by getting a reduction for them in their tax contracts in Asia. This made him the guiding power in a coalition between people and plutocrats.

He was assigned the rule of Cisalpine and Transalpine Gaul and Illyricum with four legions for five years (58 B.C.–54 B.C.). The differences between Pompey and Crassus grew, and Caesar again moved (56 B.C.) to patch up matters, arriving at an agreement that both Pompey and Crassus should be consuls in 55 B.C. and that their proconsular provinces should be Spain and Syria, respectively. From this arrangement he drew an extension of his command in Gaul to 49 B.C. In the years 58 B.C. to 49 B.C. he firmly established his reputation in the Gallic Wars.

In 55 B.C., Caesar made explorations into Britain, and in 54 B.C. he defeated the Britons, led by Cassivellaunus. Caesar met his most serious opposition in Gaul from Vercingetorix, whom he defeated in Alesia in 52 B.C. By the end of the wars Caesar had reduced all Gaul to Roman control. These campaigns proved him one of the greatest commanders of all time. In them he revealed his consummate military genius, characterized by quick, sure judgment and indomitable energy. The campaigns also developed the personal devotion of the legions to Caesar. His personal interest in the men (he is reputed to have known them all by name) and his willingness to undergo every hardship made him the idol of the army—a significant element in his later career.

In 54 B.C. occurred the death of Caesar's daughter Julia, Pompey's wife since 59 B.C. She had been the principal personal tie between the two men. During the years Caesar was in Gaul, Pompey had been gradually leaning more and more toward the senatorial party. The tribunate of Clodius (58 B.C.) had aggravated conditions in Rome, and Caesar's military successes had aroused Pompey's jealousy. Crassus' death (53 B.C.) in Parthia ended the First Triumvirate and set Pompey and Caesar against each other.

Civil War

After the First Triumvirate ended, the senate supported Pompey, who became sole consul in 52 B.C. Meanwhile, Caesar had become a military hero as well as a champion of the people. The senate feared him and wanted him to give up his army, knowing that he hoped to be consul when his term in Gaul expired. In Dec., 50 B.C., Caesar wrote the senate that he would give up his army if Pompey would give up his. The senate heard the letter with fury and demanded that Caesar disband his army at once or be declared an enemy of the people—an illegal bill, for Caesar was entitled to keep his army until his term was up.

Two tribunes faithful to Caesar, Marc Antony and Quintus Cassius Longinus (see under Cassius) vetoed the bill and were quickly expelled from the senate. They fled to Caesar, who assembled his army and asked for the support of the soldiers against the senate. The army called for action, and on Jan. 19, 49 B.C., Caesar with the words “Iacta alea est” [the die is cast] crossed the Rubicon, the stream bounding his province, to enter Italy. Civil war had begun.

Caesar's march to Rome was a triumphal progress. The senate fled to Capua. Caesar proceeded to Brundisium, where he besieged Pompey until Pompey fled (Mar., 49 B.C.) with his fleet to Greece. Caesar set out at once for Spain, which Pompey's legates were holding, and pacified that province. Returning to Rome, Caesar held the dictatorship for 11 days in early December, long enough to get himself elected consul, and then set out for Greece in pursuit of Pompey.

Caesar collected at Brundisium a small army and fleet—so small, in fact, that Bibulus, waiting with a much larger fleet to prevent his crossing to Epirus, did not yet bother to watch him—and slipped across the strait. He met Pompey at Dyrrhachium but was forced to fall back and begin a long retreat southward, with Pompey in pursuit. Near Pharsalus, Caesar camped in a very strategic location. Pompey, who had a far larger army, attacked Caesar but was routed (48 B.C.) and fled to Egypt, where he was killed.

Caesar, having pursued Pompey to Egypt, remained there for some time, living with Cleopatra, taking her part against her brother and husband Ptolemy XII, and establishing her firmly on the throne. From Egypt he went to Syria and Pontus, where he defeated (47 B.C.) Pharnaces II with such ease that he reported his victory in the words “Veni, vidi, vici” [I came, I saw, I conquered]. In the same year he personally put down a mutiny of his army and then set out for Africa, where the followers of Pompey had fled, to end their opposition led by Cato.

Dictatorship and Death

On his return to Rome, where he was now tribune of the people and dictator, he had four great triumphs and pardoned all his enemies. He set about reforming the living conditions of the people by passing agrarian laws and by improving housing accommodations. He also drew up the elaborate plans (which Augustus later used) for consolidating the empire and establishing it securely. In the winter of 46 B.C.–45 B.C. he was in Spain putting down the last of the senatorial party under Gaeus Pompeius, the son of Pompey. He returned to Rome in Sept., 45 B.C., and was elected to his fifth consulship in 44 B.C. In the same year he became dictator for life and set about planning a campaign against Parthia, the only real menace to Rome's borders.

His dictatorial powers had, however, aroused great resentment, and he was bitterly criticized by his enemies, who accused him of all manner of vices. When a conspiracy was formed against him, however, it was made up of his friends and protégés, among them Cimber, Casca, Cassius, and Marcus Junius Brutus. On Mar. 15 (the Ides of March), 44 B.C., he was stabbed to death in the senate house. His will left everything to his 18-year-old grandnephew Octavian (later Augustus).

Legacy

Caesar has always been one of the most controversial characters of history. His admirers have seen in him the defender of the rights of the people against an oligarchy. His detractors have seen him as an ambitious demagogue, who forced his way to dictatorial power and destroyed the republic. That he was gifted and versatile there can be little doubt. He excelled in war, in statesmanship, and in oratory.

His literary works are highly esteemed. Of Caesar's literary works, his commentaries on the Gallic Wars (seven books) and on the civil war (three books) survive. They are masterpieces of clear, beautiful, concise Latin, and they are classic military documents. Caesar wrote poetry, but the only surviving piece is a poem on Terence.

Bibliography

A literary classic on Caesar is Shakespeare's tragedy, Julius Caesar. See biographies by M. Gelzer (tr. 1968, repr. 1985), S. Weinstock (1971), and C. Meier (1996).

A Roman general and dictator in the first century b.c. In military campaigns to secure Roman rule over the province of Gaul, present-day France, he gained much prestige. The Roman senate, fearing his power, ordered him to disband his army, but Caesar refused, crossed the Rubicon River, returned to Rome with his army, and made himself dictator. On a subsequent campaign in Asia, he reported to the senate, “I came, I saw, I conquered.” Caesar was assassinated by his friend Brutus and others on the ides of March in 44 b.c.

Quotes:

"I love the name of honor, more than I fear death."

"Men in general are quick to believe that which they wish to be true."

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

"I would rather be first in a little Iberian village than second in Rome."

"I have lived long enough to satisfy both nature and glory."

"Men freely believe that which they desire."

See more famous quotes by Julius Caesar