![]() When Caesar reached the age of 18 he married his wife Cornelia. At the young age of 16 Caesar’s father passed away, causing him to become very close with his mother Aurelia. Caesar’s family was still far from rich even though they were considered to be Roman aristocrats. Caesar’s Aunt Julia was wife to Gaius Marius, who at the time of Caesar’s birth was the leader of the Popular faction of Roman Politics. Eventually he went by the name of Augustus.Gaius Julius Caesar was born in Rome, Italy in the year 100 BCE to the patrician family of Gaius Julius Caesar and his wife Aurelia. Octavius, by contrast, continued on his bloody rise to power, and eventually ended up as Rome’s first emperor. A year later, Brutus and Cassius lost a battle and committed suicide. A year and a half after the Ides of March, Decimus was abandoned by his soldiers, captured by his enemies and executed. Named as Caesar’s heir and adopted son in Caesar’s will, Octavius first allied with Decimus and then turned on him. Although he started out strong he was outfoxed by Octavius. Decimus came in for particular criticism because his closeness to Caesar made his treachery seem all the worse.ĭecimus soon left Rome to lead an army in northern Italy and defend what he saw as the cause of the republic. They escorted the assassins to safety on the Capitoline Hill and guarded the perimeter during the tense days that followed.Īt first the Roman people supported the assassins as defenders of constitutional liberty but they changed their minds when they saw the strength of Caesar’s supporters. He owned a troupe of gladiators who doubled as a private police force. All of this was too much for Roman traditionalists.Īfterwards Decimus provided security to the killers. Her young son was, she claimed, Caesar’s illegitimate child. she lived in Caesar’s villa on the outskirts of Rome. ![]() He even took a queen as his mistress, Cleopatra of Egypt. Now, Caesar was Rome’s first dictator for life-a king in all but name. In practice, Rome teetered for decades on the brink of military dictatorship. In theory Rome was a constitutional republic. Many Romans feared the power that Caesar amassed. Why, then, did Decimus raise a dagger against Caesar only nine months later? After more than four years of hard fighting, Caesar returned to Rome triumphant in 45 B.C., with Decimus at his side. A grateful Caesar named Decimus acting governor of Gaul while Caesar went off to challenge his enemies elsewhere. Once again, Decimus won a victory at sea, this time on Gaul’s Mediterranean coast. It was civil war and Decimus chose Caesar. Later, his enemies in the Roman senate tried to strip Caesar of power but he fought back. (Credit: The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images) Julius Caesar laying siege to Alesia, Gaul, 52 BC. “I waged war against the most warlike peoples, captured many strongholds and destroyed many places.” He did all that, he wrote, to impress his men, to serve the public, and to advance his reputation. “My soldiers have experienced my generosity and my courage,” Decimus wrote. Then Caesar came along and offered Decimus the chance to restore his house’s name.ĭecimus was a soldier at heart, educated but rough and ambitious, as his surviving correspondence shows. But Decimus’s father had a mediocre career and his mother dabbled in revolution. His grandfather extended Rome’s rule to the Atlantic, in Spain. He always fought for Caesar, never against him, and so he held a place in Caesar’s inner circle.ĭecimus belonged to the Roman nobility, the narrow elite that ruled both Rome and an empire of tens of millions of people. Caesar pardoned Brutus and Cassius and rewarded them with political office but he didn’t trust them. Only when he started winning the war did they defect to his cause. In fact, they opposed Caesar during his bloody rise to power in a civil war. (Credit: Fototeca Gilardi/Getty Images)ĭecimus was closer to Caesar than either Brutus or Cassius was. Brutus and other conspirators after killing Julius Caesar.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |