Julius Caesar

"Caesar was and is not lovable. His generosity to defeated opponents, magnanimous though it was, did not win their affection. He won his soldiers' devotion by the victories that his intellectual ability, applied to warfare, brought them. Yet, though not lovable, Caesar was and is attractive, indeed fascinating. His political achievement required ability, in effect amounting to genius, in several different fields, including administration and generalship, besides the minor arts of wire pulling and propaganda. In all these, Caesar was a supreme virtuoso."

"Brutus, quia reges eiecit, consul primus factus est; Hic, quia consules eiecit, rex postremo factus est."

"Caesar was a logical man; and the heir of Caesar displayed coherence in thought and act when he inaugurated the proscriptions and when he sanctioned clemency, when he seized power by force, and when he based authority upon law and consent."

"Veni, vidi, vici."

"Alea iacta est."

"Gallia omni pacata est."

"Sed fortuna, quae plurimum potest cum in reliquis rebus tum praecipue in bello, parvis momentis magnas rerum commutationes efficit; ut tum accidit."

"I assure you I had rather be the first man here than the second man in Rome."

"I will not ... that my wife be so much as suspected."

"It is not the well-fed long-haired man I fear, but the pale and the hungry looking."

"Καὶ σύ, τέκνον;"

"Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres."

"Gaul is divided into three parts, one of which the Belgae inhabit, the Aquitani another, those who in their own language are called Celts, in our [Latin] language Gauls the third. All these differ from each other in language, customs and laws. The River Garonne separates the Gauls from the Aquitani, the Marne and the Seine separates them from the Belgae. Of all these the most powerful are the Belgae."

"Horum omnium fortissimi sunt Belgae."

"Consuesse enim deos immortales, quo gravius homines ex commutatione rerum doleant, quos pro scelere eorum ulcisci velint, his secundiores interdum res et diuturniorem impunitatem concedere."

"Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt."

"Sunt item, quae appellantur alces. Harum est consimilis capris figura et varietas pellium, sed magnitudine paulo antecedunt mutilaeque sunt cornibus et crura sine nodis articulisque habent neque quietis causa procumbunt neque, si quo adflictae casu conciderunt, erigere sese aut sublevare possunt. His sunt arbores pro cubilibus: ad eas se applicant atque ita paulum modo reclinatae quietem capiunt. Quarum ex vestigiis cum est animadversum a venatoribus, quo se recipere consuerint, omnes eo loco aut ab radicibus subruunt aut accidunt arbores, tantum ut summa species earum stantium relinquatur. Huc cum se consuetudine reclinaverunt, infirmas arbores pondere adfligunt atque una ipsae concidunt."

"It is, after all, well known that impulsive and inexperienced people are often terrified by false gossip and impelled to take inconsiderate action, making their own decisions about what should actually be matters of state."

"[Of England] the coastal areas are inhabited by invaders who crossed from Belgica…settled there…all kept the names of the tribes from where they originated."

"Vercingetorix, having convened a council the following day, declares, "That he had undertaken that war, not on account of his own exigencies, but on account of the general freedom; and since he must yield to fortune, he offered himself to them for either purpose, whether they should wish to atone to the Romans by his death, or surrender him alive." Ambassadors are sent to Caesar on this subject. He orders their arms to be surrendered, and their chieftains delivered up. He seated himself at the head of the lines in front of the camp, the Gallic chieftains are brought before him. They surrender Vercingetorix, and lay down their arms."

"Qui se ultro morti offerant facilius reperiuntur quam qui dolorem patienter ferant."

"It was an enormous struggle to destroy the Belgian nation."

"Nihil enim malo quam et me mei similem esse et illos sui."

"Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so. How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar."

"I'd rather ten guilty persons should escape, than one innocent should suffer."

"He had inaugurated a new era. Before him Rome had been a city with a few scattered colonies. He was the one who founded the Empire. He had codified the law, reformed the currency and even modified the calendar on the basis of scientific knowledge. His Gallic campaigns, which had taken the Roman flag as far as distant Britain, had opened up a new continent to trade and civilization. His statue had its place with those of the Gods, he had given his name to cities as well as a month in the calendar, and the monarchs added his illustrious name to their own. The history of Rome had found its Alexander. It was already apparent that he would become the unattainable model for every dictator."

"Caesar was the only man who undertook to overthrow the state when sober."

"In that man were combined genius, method, memory, literature, prudence, deliberation, and industry. He had performed exploits in war which, though calamitous for the republic, were nevertheless mighty deeds. Having for many years aimed at being a king, he had with great labor, and much personal danger, accomplished what he intended. He had conciliated the ignorant multitude by presents, by monuments, by largesses of food, and by banquets; he had bound his own party to him by rewards, his adversaries by the appearances of clemency. Why need I say much on such a subject? He had already brought a free city, partly by fear, partly by patience, into a habit of slavery. With him I can, indeed, compare you Mark Antony] as to your desire to reign; but in all other respects you are in no degree to be compared to him."

"Wherever you are, remember that you are equally within the power of the conqueror.""

"Julius Caesar, a radical aristocrat of unbounded ambition, and a successful commander and politician, gained wealth and glory by conquering Gaul, then won supreme power in a civil war. He destroyed the Roman Republic and seemed to be moving toward monarchy, but was assassinated before he could complete his plans."

"A hundred or even fifty years ago, Gaius Julius Caesar was variously described as the greatest man of action who has ever lived, the greatest man the earth has ever produced, and even as "the entire and perfect man". In an age like our own which has seen too much of men of action, enthusiasm on this particular score may have become somewhat muted. But it still remains impossible to think of anyone who has ever united a more spectacular and varied collection of talents. He was an astute politician, a masterly propagandist and showman, a clever and effective administrator, an exceptionally gifted writer, a man of great and wide learning and taste, and a military genius who moved with terrifying speed and exercised magnetic authority over his troops."

"The greatest man that ever lived was Julius Caesar."

"Rome officially became an Empire on 16 January 27 BC, when the Senate awarded Octavian – an adopted son of Julius Caesar – the title of Augustus. Prior to this the Republic had been tortured by two decades of bloody civil wars; in the course of these, in 49 BC, Caesar had seized power and ruled as a military dictator. Yet Caesar was an autocrat both of his time and ahead of it, and on 15 March 44 BC – the Ides of March – he was murdered – direct reward, said the scholar and bureaucrat Suetonius (c. AD 70-130), for his vaunting ambition, in which many Romans perceived a desire to revive the monarchy. ‘Constant exercise of power gave Caesar a love for it,’ wrote Suetonius, who also repeated a rumour that as a young man Caesar dreamed of raping his own mother, a vision soothsayers interpreted as a clear sign ‘he was destined to conquer the earth.’"

"Acer, et indomitus: quo spes, quoque ira vocasset, Ferre manum, et nunquam temerando parcere ferro: Successus urgere suos: instare favori Numinis: impellens quicquid sibi summa petenti Obstaret: gaudensque viam fecisse ruina."

"Jesus, not Cæsar, I repeat,—this is the meaning of our history and democracy."

"In his campaigns I find more restraint and reflection than in those of Alexander, who seems to go looking for dangers and charging at them like a rushing torrent which indiscriminately batters and unselectively attacks anything it meets."

"Whilst this great man was preparing himself to fulfil these lofty destinies, the remains of the aristocratic party, which owed their life to his generosity, conspired against his life. Brutus and Cassius were the leaders: Brutus was a stoic, the disciple of Cato. Cæsar loved him and had twice saved his life, but the sect to which he belonged admitted no mitigation of its austere principles. He was full of the ideas taught in the schools of Greece against tyranny; the assassination of every man who actually stood above the laws was regarded as a legitimate action. Cæsar, the perpetual dictator, governed the whole Roman world; he had only the semblance of a senate; it could not be otherwise, after the proscriptions of Marius and Sylla, the violation of the laws by Pompey, five years of civil war, so many veterans established in Italy, attached to their generals, awaiting every thing from the greatness of certain men, and nothing from the republic. In such a state of things, these deliberative assemblies could no longer govern: the person of Cæsar was then the guarantee of the supremacy of Rome over the world, and constituted the security of all parties of citizens: his authority was therefore legitimate."

"[T]he rule of Caesar, although during its establishment it gave no little trouble to its opponents, still, after they had been overpowered and had accepted it, they saw that it was a tyranny only in name and appearance, and no cruel or tyrannical act was authorized by it; nay, it was plain that the ills of the state required a monarchy, and that Caesar, like a most gentle physician, had been assigned to them by Heaven itself. Therefore the Roman people felt at once a yearning for Caesar, and in consequence became harsh and implacable towards his murders..."

"Even following in Caesar's footsteps with the benefits of modern travel's been a pretty exhausting business. But at the end of my 2,000 mile quest, I can certainly say I hail Caesar, even if given his ruthless ambition, I can't actually say that I like him very much. Nevertheless, he was one of history's truly epic figures. He lived life with an energy and a ferocity that it's hard to imagine in anyone today. And his achievements were really colossal. His conquests ensured that European culture would be classical and not Celtic. And perhaps most important of all, he persuaded the Roman people that one-person rule could work, and this new model of the Roman Caesar would change Roman history forever."

"Caesar overtook his advanced guard at the river Rubicon, which formed the frontier between Gaul and Italy. Well aware how critical a decision confronted him, he turned to his staff, remarking:"

"Homines quod volunt credunt."

"Divide et impera."