Julius Caesar (38 page)

He was moving away when another stabbed him in the side and Cassius pierced him full in the face with his dagger. Now they were all on to him like a pack of wolves, one striking him in the thigh, another in the back. Caesar, says Appian, fought for his life like a wild animal. Inflamed with hatred and bloodlust, the conspirators were like madmen, striking out so wildly that they wounded several of their own number. Fighting to the last, defending himself to left and right with his stylus, Caesar slowly sank to the ground in the Theater of Pompey at the foot of the statue of his old enemy. It was at this moment, so tradition has it, that he saw Brutus coming toward him with his dagger in his hand. His last words, spoken in Greek, were to Brutus: “And you too, my child!”

Covering his head with his toga, he slid to the floor and died. Twenty-three dagger wounds were later counted upon his body, but it was so mangled that there may well have been more. They were wounds that would be paid for terribly, and over and over again, in the body of Italy and the empire.

36

Apotheosis

IF the death of Cato had strengthened the forces that opposed Caesar, his assassination unleashed a hurricane that devastated the Roman world. Far from ensuring the triumph of republicanism, the death of Caesar ended the republic for ever, and provided Octavius with the opportunity to erect the military monarchy of the Roman imperial period. Far from the senate immediately taking over the government, a panic-stricken fear gripped every member who had not taken part in the plot, while even those who had participated in the murder seemed at a loss once the deed was done. Rome itself was paralyzed.

Caesar had well known what a vacuum his death would cause, and the city and the senate now experienced it. The power, as Caesar had known for so many years, lay in the hands of the general who could command the legionaries. Antony was the only man who had their trust and, since he had access to all Caesar’s papers as well as his will, was in a position within a few days to take command. The conspirators, Brutus and Cassius and their fellows, were faced with the fact that they had no control over the real source of power—the legions. The accuracy of Caesar’s assessment of the situation was made abundantly clear. “If Caesar,” as Gaius Matius, one of his friends remarked, “with all his genius could not find a way out, who will find one now?”

It took thirteen years of further civil war before Octavius finally resolved the legacy of Caesar. The military monarchy which the dead dictator had all but established was confirmed by his successor, who had the opportunity to judge what mistakes Caesar had made and to apply a superficially more amiable dominion over senate and people. Augustus (as he became) inherited a world in which the desire, above all, was for peace; in which the foundation stones of empire were laid; and in which his natural characteristic of “hastening slowly” suited the times. In due course it would present a unified Near-Eastern, Mediterranean and European world where, as Gibbon wrote:

The frontiers of that extensive monarchy were guarded by ancient renown and disciplined valour. The gentle but powerful influence of laws and manners had gradually cemented the union of the provinces… The image of a free constitution was preserved with decent reverence: the Roman senate appeared to possess the sovereign authority, and devolved on the emperors all the executive powers of government.

Such a unity, which Caesar had sought to achieve, has not been known again since the fifth century AD.

The immediate effect of the murder was that the streets were full of panic and confusion, most of the senators fleeing to their homes, while Cicero, who had not been invited to take part in the plot “because of his age,” misunderstanding events as usual, hastened to the Capitol to congratulate the conspirators. He soon learned that nothing was as expected. The senate had not by some miraculous means regained its old republican glory, and had meekly and fearfully assembled when summoned by Antony as consul. Furthermore, Lepidus, Caesar’s Master of the Horse, occupied the city with his troops. As it had begun, so it would continue. Caesar’s funeral, and the moment when the people learned the dead dictator’s legacy to them, would merely confirm the feelings that had already taken possession of Rome. Some time or other, early in the days after the assassination, Queen Cleopatra left the city. She sailed back for Alexandria, where one future day she would again attempt the empire—by the side of Antony. Her son Caesarion was not mentioned in the will, for testamentary bequests were not allowed from Romans to foreigners. If Caesar had established a second capital in Alexandria, Caesarion would no doubt in due course have become Ptolemy—King of the East. But as it was, it seems that Caesar had chosen well enough in Octavius.

As a general, Caesar was lucky—and he would have been the first to admit it. Time and again he might have been killed; he never scrupled to hazard himself; and he often plunged into actions which most generals, however brave, would have considered foolhardy. That same aristocratic nonchalance, that insouciance which had distinguished him all his days never failed him. That he was an excellent general cannot be doubted, although he was again lucky to find ready waiting for him the form and pattern of the legions which Marius had prepared. Very many of his actions, although hard-fought, were against brave but undisciplined barbarians, unfamiliar with organized warfare, Roman weapons or siege engines. In North Africa he enjoyed less success, and the culminating battle of Thapsus seems almost to have been won by his soldiers alone. Zela, which he made a mock of in his triumph, was a “close-run” thing—although it suited him to pretend otherwise. Pharsalus was a brilliant victory, but his last battle at Munda in Spain was probably the hardest of his whole career. The Alexandrian campaign, fought throughout a palace, a city and a disaffected people, showed his mastery of tactics and his understanding of politics—as when, for instance, he sent the young Pharaoh back to his army. The rapidity of his movements was what always impressed and startled his enemies: at sea, indeed, as well as on land. He relied very greatly on the courage of his soldiers, and it must perhaps be doubted whether he would have been the equal of Hannibal given the latter’s tenuous supply lines and mercenary army. Both had one thing in common—they were aristocrats.

Oratory has relatively little standing nowadays—probably because those who are called upon to speak are insufficiently literate—but Caesar, even before he had attained any great fame, had a reputation second only to Cicero; and time and time again, both in formal speeches or in battlefield addresses to his troops, he reveals his ability to convince and move his listeners. As a prose writer he has been recognized throughout the ages for his commentaries on the Gallic wars, which (though necessarily biased at times) have remained one of the monuments of Roman literature. His other writings are lost; one or two juvenilia, it is believed, having been destroyed by Augustus as either unworthy of or unsuitable to the Divine Julius.

Certainly he became divine—within a day or so of his murder. The foreign communities mourned him deeply, particularly the Jews, who remembered how much he had done for them, and a cousin of his built an altar on the funeral pyre where his body had lain. This was later replaced by a marble column in the Forum, with the inscription “To the Father of his Country.” But, quite apart from the super-natural signs which had presaged his death, a comet traced itself across the sky for the six nights following. People believed that it was Caesar’s spirit being translated to the heavens and that was why, on his posthumous coinage, he is shown with a star above his head.

It was as a politician that Caesar proved himself supreme. From the beginning of his career he had followed the popular, Marian alignment of his family. He had greatly restored the power of the people, as a means of reducing the power of the
Optimate
senate. At the same time he was no liberal democrat and he bought whatever votes he needed with complete cynicism, while his attitude to the masses was that of a stern but indulgent master. As a true aristocrat he was completely at home with the ordinary people, being so far removed from them by breeding and nature that, although—again like Hannibal—legendary for “living rough” along with his men, he was untouched by the daily life of camp or barracks—though never forgetful of the needs of the men who furnished his power. As a conqueror in a civil war and as dictator, he showed himself completely unlike Sulla by his policy of conciliation toward his enemies. Time and again he displayed a far wider vision than the old-style
Optimates
, who tried always to cling to the narrow prerogatives of their rank. Middle-class men such as Cicero, who idolized the old institutions, and men of similar stock like Pompey, could not understand that their talents were used by the
Optimates
as tools—no more. Caesar, as aristocratic as any of his opponents, knew them through and through—and was not deceived. His folly was to allow the senators to see that he despised them, and to allow the Caesar cult to reach absurd proportions. “We have killed the king,” cried Cicero bitterly, “but the kingdom is still with us. We have removed the tyrant, but the tyranny still survives.”

All men are mad who devote themselves to the pursuit of politics and power when they could be harmoniously engaged in cultivating a garden or fishing, or in a myriad activities both harmless and fruitful. At the same time, since history is made by the mad, it must be conceded that de Tocqueville’s description of Napoleon is even more relevant to Caesar: “He was as great as a man can be without morality.”

19 April 1983
 

Chronology of Caesar’s Life

BC

100 - Born on July 12.

84 - Marries Cornelia, the daughter of Cinna, mother of his daughter Julia.

81 - Endangered by victory of Sulla. Is pardoned but refuses to divorce Cornelia.

80 - Military service in Asia. Involved in scandal with King of Bithynia. Wins Civic Crown at Mitylene.

78 - Military service in Cilicia. Returns to Rome on death of Sulla.

77 - Achieves fame by prosecution of Dolabella.

75 - Visits Rhodes and is captured by pirates.

74 - Involved in Mithridatic War.

72 - Military tribune.

69 - Death of his wife Cornelia. Quaestor in Farther Spain.

67 - Marries Pompeia.

65 - Curule Aedile.

63 - Pontifex Maximus. Consulship of Cicero. Conspiracy of Catiline.

62 - Praetor. Clodius scandal and divorce of Pompeia.

61 - Proconsul of Farther Spain.

60 - With the help of Pompey and Crassus stands for consulship. The Triumvirate.

59 - Consul. Marries Calpurnia. Pompey marries his daughter Julia. Secures provinces of Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum, and finally Transalpine Gaul.

58 - Proconsul. Campaigns against Helvetii and Ariovistus successful.

57 - Campaign against the Belgae.

56 - Further campaigns in Brittany and Normandy. The Triumvirate renewed.

55 - Proconsulship renewed for five years. Successful campaigns against German tribes and crossing of the Rhine. First expedition to Britain.

54 - Invasion of Britain. Rising under Ambiorix against Romans in Gaul. Death of Julia.

53 - Risings in Gaul suppressed. Second crossing of the Rhine. Death of Crassus in Mesopotamia.

52 - Outbreak of the rebellion of Vercingetorix in Gaul. Finally surrounded in Alesia, Vercingetorix surrenders. Disturbances in Rome. Clodius is murdered and Pompey is elected sole consul.

51 - Gaul pacified. Publication of Caesar’s
Commentaries
on the Gallic war. His enemies in Rome attempt to get him recalled.

50 - Continued attempts by the Optimates in Rome to bring Caesar to trial.

49 - Caesar ordered to dismiss his army. Pompey granted dictatorial powers.

January 10 Caesar crosses Rubicon. Pompey crosses Adriatic to Greece in March. Pompeian forces surrender in Spain in August. Caesar is elected dictator.

48 - Caesar’s second consulship. After inconclusive struggle at Dyrrhachium, Pompey is defeated at Pharsalus on 9 August. Pompey is murdered in Egypt and Caesar occupies Alexandria.

47 - Conclusion of the Alexandrian war. Cleopatra is installed as queen. Caesar defeats Pharnaces in Asia Minor on 1 August. Returns to Rome in October and lands in Africa in December.

46 - Victorious over Pompeian forces at Thapsus on 6 April. Third consulship. Returns to Rome and is made dictator for ten years. Leaves Rome for Spain in November.

45 - Victorious at Munda on 17 March. Fourth consulship. Returns to Rome to receive dictatorship for life. Divine honors.

44 - Fifth consulship. Attempts made to crown Caesar as king. Preparations for Parthian expedition. Caesar is murdered on 15 March.
 

Further Reading

Balsdon, J. P. Y. D.:
Julius Caesar & Rome,
1967

Bradford, E.:
Cleopatra
, 1971

Cambridge Ancient History: Vol. IX, 1932

Clare, J. S.:
Caesar and Roman Politics, 1971