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The death of Julius Ceasar
Julius Caesar was a charismatic leader and one of the well known figures in the political scene of the Roman Republic. He was born to a once very influential patrician family in the Republic of Rome. However, at the time of his birth, the wealth had gone, and they were never prominent. The death of his father left Caesar vulnerable, given the instability in the Roman republic during his teenage years. There was a bloody civil war between the Sulla and Caesar forces, which made the young Caesar pick sides with Marius, which later lose the battle. Caesar was the force to flee Rome to save his life, and he later joined the army to escape execution (Jiménez). At the military, Julius Caesar rose in the ranks to become a one of a kind leader, and upon the demise of Sulla, Caesar made it back to Rome and was elected as a leader in the popular party. Caesar entered into an informal political arrangement that ended with him being a commander of several legions of Rome, which aided in his endeavor to conquer his region, achieving victory in 44 B.C., making him the most influential personality in Rome. He was elected by the Senate as a dictator for five years and later extended the period to be of a lifetime (Goldsworthy). With the military in his support, he seemed indispensable. However, this changed on the eve of March 44 BCE when he was assassinated.
Several arguments have been fronted by scholars regarding the events that surrounded Julius Caesars’ death and the reasons for his death. While some scholars have argued that Caesar’s death was as a result of personal jealousy, some researchers have attributed his death to his dictatorial tendencies and the tensions that existed between Caesar and the Senate. Albeit the divergence of opinions, one thing is for sure, Julius Caesars’ assassination occurred on the Ides of March 44 B.C. in the chamber while sitting at the front of the hall in the place of honor (Kamm). A group of senators crowded around the ceremonial chair and at a given signal, attacked Ceasar with their daggers delivering fatal wounds. Even though they thought they were saving the Roman Republic, they, however, set a stage for its complete destruction. The question, however, remains, why did these senators assassinate Julius Caesar, a celebrated ruler of Rome and an aristocrat?
A popular theory suggests that the conspirator intended to restore the republican liberties by eliminating democratic usurper. They were angered by the Caesars apparent lack of respect for the SenateSenate, which, according to them, was the epitome of ultimate authority in the Roman Republic. The conspirators saw the dismissive actions and behavior of Caesar towards the SenateSenate as an effort to subvert the traditional form of governement and marginalize the SenateSenate. Many senators wanted the principal decision-making role in the republic to be exclusively the role of the SenateSenate. Furthermore, the influential and revered legislators were abashed when Caesar used his largely symbolic power to cement his position in Rome. They feared that Julius Caesar was gathering more personal power at the expense of the SenateSenate, which was a subversion of the Roman constitution (Shakespeare).
The conspirators believed that Ceasar wanted to become King of Rome, an idea that did not settle well with the conspirators, the idea of a monarch was not palatable to the Roman aristocrats. According to them, it was a threat to liberty and would lead to tyrannical tendencies making them lose their freedom to partake in the republics’ life and, more importantly, be unable to protect their property (Andrew). These Roman elites were convinced that they would lose dignity due to the loss of their liberty. Julius Caesar had made it clear to them that he was going for the top seat and that he was determined to retain power permanently contrary to his predecessors. Worse still, there unrelenting public demonstrations by the Roman citizens who wanted Caesar to declare himself king outside the senate-house persuaded many other Roman nobles to join in the conspiracy against Julius Caesar (Kamm). This strained relationship between the traditional elites and Caesari is believed to have culminated in the death of the mighty ruler (Michael).
Arguably, Caesar was a vastly divisive figure in Rome, while many of the Roman citizens loved him because of introducing the limited benefits to debtors, small powers, and the urban proletarian at the expense of the few wealthy roman elites, many of the nobles did not find the position attractive. The senatorial elites and their sympathizers haded Caesar and were, in many cases, suspicious of their actions. Many of them held a personal vendetta against Julius Caesar (Michael). He was responsible for the death of many of the senatorial order and the elites of Rome during the civil wars, and the other sin was not the fear that he would subvert the constitution but the loosening of the oligarchy’s overbearing grip which made more low-class citizens gain some benefits. Moreover, many of the friends and relatives of the elite also died on many battlefields against Caesar. The deaths were mostly witnessed during the civil wars (Holland).
According to (Goldsworthy), many revered and prominent roman elites took their life to escape the dominion of the one-person rule in Rome. For instance, Cato is reported to have committed suicide to escape Julius Caesars’s rule. Besides, the policies fronted by Caesar did not work towards consolidating or reconciling the elites under his regime. Many of his pardoned enemies were very instrumental in plotting and carrying out his assassination, (Andrew) argues that mercy was a characteristic of a tyrant or a king and accepting such as a sign of dishonor. The social class system of the time had made senators depend on Caesar, Cassius and Brutus, therefore, had put it in their plan to clean any dishonor upon them by the mercy of a despised dictatorial and autocratic of the Roman ruler by ending his regime (Kamm).
This theory reveals the elites as those who were only interested in the republic only if it served their way of life of opulence and luxury and therefore were not hospitable for any policies and their frontiers that threatened to damage the status quo (Michael). The wealthy nobles in their word and actions also hated and feared the common people who sympathized with the policies of Caesar. Furthermore, anyone else who infringed upon the class prerogatives also met rejection. The hired goons of the oligarchs partook in the killing of the Roman commoners who supported or entertained any of the reformers Caesar included (Holland). As such, revenge and politico-economic factors were almost an inevitable factor for the assassination of Julius Caesar.
In conclusion, even though the role of the material intent should not be downplayed concerning the assassination of Julius Caesar, I am persuaded to believe that, the death of Caesar was carried out by a small group of members of the elite who believed they were acting in the best interest to preserve the roman republic. They were preventing the perpetual degeneration od the roman republic to a permanent dictatorship. These elites genuinely believed it was just a matter of time till Caesar declared or crowned himself king of Rome. The weak relationship between Caesar and the Senate added to the mistrust and therefore played a vital role in the unfolding conspiracy to assassinate Caesar (Jiménez).
Caesar’s actions may have betrayed whatever good intentions he had for the public. The nobles perceived is actions as a steady but sure plot to destroy the old constitution and government structure and replace it with a monarchy where he would be a tyrant with ultimate re-establish royal rule in Rome (Syme). Besides, being a divisive figure, he was supposed to seek to unite and heal Rome, for instance, the Pompey’s supporters who hated, he fronted policies of clemency which were not only an embarrassment to the pardoned but also failed to win him adherents. The elites did not, however, achieve their goal as the roman republic plunged into civil was that marked the end of the roman republic that had existed for nearly 500 years.
Works Cited
Andrew, Glass. Politico: Roman senators assassinate Julius Caesar: March 15, 44 B.C. March 15, 2016. https://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/julius-caesar-is-assassinated-by-roman-senators-march-15-44-bc-220694
Freeman, Philip. Julius Caesar. Simon and Schuster, 2008, p. 16
Goldsworthy, Anthony. Caesar: Life of a Colossus. Yale, Yale University Press, 2006, p. 61
History. The Ides of March. July 27, 2019. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-ides-of-march
Holland, Tom, Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic. London, Anchor Books, 2003, p 189
Jiménez, Ramon L. Caesar Against Rome: The Great Roman Civil War. New York, Praeger, 2006, p. 117
Kamm, Antony. Julius Caesar: A Life. Routledge, 2006.
Michael, Parenti. Columbian College of Arts & Science: Why Was Caesar Killed? August 18, 2003.https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/1643
Shakespeare, William. The life and death of Julius Caesar. University of Adelaide Library, 2004.
Syme, Ronald, The Roman Revolution. Oxford, Oxford University, 2002, p 218