Gaius Julius Caesar (lat. Dictator Gaius Iulius Caesar [ˈɡaːjːus juːlius ˈkajsar] - Dictator Gaius Julius Caesar) (July 12, 100 or 102 BC - March 15, 44 BC) - ancient Roman state and political activist, commander, writer.

With his conquest of Gaul, Caesar expanded the Roman power to the shores of the North Atlantic and subjugated the territory of modern France to Roman influence, and also launched an invasion of the British Isles. Caesar's activities radically changed the cultural and political face of Western Europe and left an indelible mark on the lives of the next generations of Europeans. Gaius Julius Caesar, possessing brilliant abilities as a military strategist and tactician, won the battles of the civil war and became the sole ruler of Pax Romana. Along with Gnaeus Pompey, he began the reform of Roman society and the state, which, after his death, led to the establishment of the Roman Empire. Caesar wanted to centralize the government of the republic. Evil tongues said that he was striving for royal power. However, Caesar, remembering the unsuccessful practice of the reign of the first seven kings (because of them, the Romans did not tolerate the monarchy and condemned to death anyone who tried to appropriate this title), went the other way: he became a lifelong dictator. He insisted on being called simply - Caesar. His assassination led to the resumption of civil wars, the decline of the Roman Republic and the birth of the Empire, which was headed by Octavian Augustus, adopted by him.

Later, many monarchs wanted to associate themselves with the legendary Caesar. That is how it happened. Kaiser ("kaiser"), as well as the Russian concept of "tsar", which is a term related to the word "Caesar".

Family

Gaius Julius Caesar was born in Rome, in a patrician family from the Julius family, which played a significant role in the history of Rome from ancient times.

The Yuliev family descended from Yul, the son of the Trojan elder Aeneas, who, according to mythology, was the son of the goddess Venus. At the height of his glory, in 45 BC. e. Caesar founded the temple of Venus the Ancestor in Rome, thus hinting at his relationship with the goddess. The cognomen Caesar had no meaning in Latin; the Soviet historian of Rome A. I. Nemirovsky suggested that it comes from Cisre, the Etruscan name for the city of Caere. It is difficult to establish the antiquity of the Caesar family itself (the first known one dates back to the end of the 3rd century BC). The father of the future dictator, also Gaius Julius Caesar the Elder (proconsul of Asia), stopped his career as a praetor. On the maternal side, Caesar came from the Cotta family of the Aurelius family with an admixture of plebeian blood. Caesar's uncles were consuls: Sextus Julius Caesar (91 BC), Lucius Julius Caesar (90 BC)

Gaius Julius Caesar lost his father at the age of sixteen; with his mother, he maintained close friendly relations until her death in 54 BC. e.

A noble and cultured family created favorable conditions for its development; careful physical education served him later a considerable service; a thorough education - scientific, literary, grammatical, on Greco-Roman foundations - formed logical thinking, prepared it for practical activities, for literary work.

Marriage and service in Asia

Before Caesar, the Julii, despite their aristocratic origin, were not rich by the standards of the Roman nobility of that time. That is why until Caesar himself, almost none of his relatives achieved much influence. Only his paternal aunt, Julia, married Gaius Maria, a talented general and reformer of the Roman army. Marius was the leader of the democratic faction of the populares in the Roman Senate, and sharply opposed the conservatives of the optimates faction.

Internal political conflicts in Rome at that time reached such a sharpness that they led to civil war. After the capture of Rome by Mary in 87 BC. e. for a time the power of the popular was established. Young Caesar was awarded the title of Flamin Jupiter. But, in 86 BC. e. Marius died, and in 84 BC. e. during a mutiny in the troops, Cinna was killed. In 82 BC e. Rome was taken by the troops of Lucius Cornelius Sulla, and Sulla himself became dictator. Caesar, on the other hand, was connected by double family ties with the party of his opponent - Maria: at the age of seventeen he married Cornelia, the youngest daughter of Lucius Cornelius Cinna, an associate of Marius and the worst enemy of Sulla. This was a kind of demonstration of his commitment to the popular party, by that time humiliated and defeated by the all-powerful Sulla.

It is not surprising, therefore, that Sulla almost immediately after the wedding demanded that Caesar divorce his wife, as did Marc Piso, who was married to Annia, the widow of Lucius Cinna and others, at his request.

Despite the threat of being put on the proscription lists in case of refusal, Caesar remained faithful to his wife. The requests of numerous relatives, personally connected with Sulla, saved him from the wrath of the dictator. Although, in general, it is doubtful that the stubborn youth could seem especially dangerous to Sulla.

The disgrace of the dictator, however, forced Julius Caesar to resign his powers as a flamingo and leave Rome for Asia Minor, where he served military service at the headquarters of the propraetor Mark Minucius Terma. Here he also had to fulfill diplomatic missions at the court of the Bithynian king Nicomedes. There was a persistent rumor in Rome, even to a certain extent, the belief that Caesar had entered into a homosexual relationship with Tsar Nicomedes, and, according to some evidence, he openly acted as a cup-bearer at royal feasts. Accusations and ridicule in connection with this episode haunted Caesar until the end of his life.

During the siege and assault on Mitylene, he earned a military distinction - corona civica, a civil wreath (it was woven from oak leaves), which he received from the hands of the propraetor Mark Minucius Terma himself. In connection with the reforms of Sulla, the owner of a civil wreath immediately, regardless of age, became member of the Senate. Subsequently, he was in Cilicia, in the camp of Servilius the Isaurian. Three years of stay in the East did not pass without a trace for the young man; in further conclusions about the nature of his policy, one must always keep in mind the first impressions of his youth received in a cultured, rich, orderly monarchical Asia.

Return to Rome and participation in the political struggle

After the death of Sulla (78 BC), Caesar returned to Rome and joined the political struggle (speaking at the Roman Forum with speeches against the supporters of Sulla Gnaeus Cornelius Dolabella and Gaius Antony, who were accused of extortion in the provinces of Macedonia and Greece, respectively, where they were governors). Caesar lost both trials, but despite this he gained fame as one of the best orators of Rome.

In order to perfectly master the skill of oratory, Caesar specifically in 75 BC. e. went to Rhodes to the famous teacher Apollonius Molon. On the way, he was captured by Cilician pirates, he had to pay a significant ransom of twenty talents for his release, and while his friends collected money, he spent more than a month in captivity, practicing eloquence in front of the kidnappers. After his release, he immediately gathered a fleet in Miletus, captured a pirate fortress and ordered the captured pirates to be crucified on the cross as a warning to others. But, since they treated him well in their time, Caesar ordered to break their legs before the crucifixion in order to alleviate their suffering. Then he often showed leniency towards defeated opponents. This was the manifestation of the "Caesar Mercy" so praised by the ancient authors.

Caesar participates in the war with King Mithridates at the head of an independent detachment, but does not stay there for long. In 74 BC. e. he returns to Rome. In 73 BC e. he was co-opted to the priestly college of pontiffs in place of the deceased Lucius Aurelius Cotta, his uncle.

Subsequently, he wins the election to the military tribunes. Always and everywhere, Caesar never tires of recalling his democratic convictions, connection with Gaius Marius and dislike for aristocrats. He actively participates in the struggle for the restoration of the rights of the people's tribunes, curtailed by Sulla, for the rehabilitation of Gaius Maria's associates, who were persecuted during the period of Sulla's dictatorship, seeks the return of Lucius Cornelius Cinna, the son of Consul Lucius Cornelius Cinna and the brother of Caesar's wife. By this time, the beginning of his rapprochement with Gnaeus Pompey and Mark Licinius Crassus, on the close connection with which he builds his future career, belongs.

Meanwhile, in 70 BC. e. between Pompey and Crassus begins a struggle for power in Rome. Both of these commanders had just won outstanding victories - Crassus led the army that defeated the rebellious slaves led by Spartacus, and Pompey, having crushed the uprising of Sertorius in Spain, returned to Italy and destroyed the remnants of Spartacus's troops. Both competitors claimed to receive the entire Roman army under their command.

In 69 BC e. Caesar becomes a widower - Cornelia dies in childbirth. In 68 BC e. his aunt Julia, the widow Gaia Maria, dies. Caesar's funeral speech is full of political allusions and calls for political reform.

In the same year, 30-year-old Caesar was elected quaestor. Caesar performs the duties of a quaestor in Further Spain.

The years between the questura and the edilete are busy with a judicial career and with Caesar's ever closer rapprochement with Pompey and Crassus. The new marriage of Caesar - to Pompey, granddaughter of Sulla, daughter of Quintus Pompey Rufus (65 BC) - cements, according to the Hellenistic custom of political marriages, this rapprochement. Caesar is in favor of granting emergency military powers to Pompey. Pompey prevails in the fight against Crassus, leads the fleet and army, and in 66 BC. e. begins a campaign to the East, during which the Romans conquer most of Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine.

In 65 BC e. Caesar is elected aedile. Its functions include the organization of urban construction, transport, trade, and the daily life of Rome. Caesar arranges expensive spectacles for the Romans, magnificent theatrical performances, gladiator fights, public dinners, gaining popularity in wide circles of Roman citizenship. He spends almost all of his money on this. By the end of the year, he is bankrupt. Huge debts (several hundred gold talents) threaten his future career.

Caesar's success as aedile, however, allows him to be elected in 63 BC. e. great pontiff, which gives him the opportunity to get rid of part of the debt. The entry into a new position was overshadowed by a scandal. The second wife of Caesar, Pompeia, was responsible as the wife of the high priest for organizing the religious festival of the Good Goddess (Bona Dea), in which only women could participate. However, a man (Clodius) dressed in a woman's dress made his way into the building intended for the sacred ceremony, which was a monstrous sacrilege. Caesar was forced to file for divorce - recognizing that his wife may be innocent, he nevertheless declares: "Caesar's wife must be above suspicion."

Caesar and Catiline

In 65 BC BC, according to some conflicting accounts of contemporaries, Caesar is involved in an unsuccessful plot to seize power.

The great successes of Pompey in the East, the fame he acquired, the army he created, aroused in Rome the conviction that Pompey would undoubtedly play the role of Sulla's dictator in Rome in the near future. This was especially clearly recognized by those who, like Pompey, sought supremacy in Rome - his recent allies, Crassus and Caesar. To achieve their goals, they tried to arrange an anti-state conspiracy, as a result of which Crassus was to be proclaimed dictator, and Caesar - his closest assistant. The plot failed, and the planned murders were not carried out. However, this is only a legend. Caesar helped Cicero uncover the plot. In addition, it is possible that his participation in the conspiracy is inflated by Cicero himself, Bibulus and Cato. Not one of them could not help but hate Caesar. The conspirators, however, were left without punishment - moreover, the authorities decided not to admit at all that any coup d'état was planned (the reason for not fanning the scandal may have been the significant influence of Caesar and Crassus at that time).

In 64 BC. e. Caesar and his supporters are trying to consul one of the participants in the unsuccessful conspiracy - Lucius Sergius Catilina, who at one time under Sulla made his fortune on proscriptions, and now an impoverished patrician. This desire is prevented from being fulfilled by the Roman Senate and later by the brilliant orator Marcus Tullius Cicero, who was later elected consul. Angry with constant failures and feeling that his political life was over, Catiline tries in 62 BC. e. organize the seizure of power himself, but the new conspiracy also fails, Catiline, after an unsuccessful attempt on the life of Cicero, flees from Rome and dies in battle, and five of his supporters are captured and executed without trial by decision of the Senate.

Caesar, being in a difficult position, does not say a word in justification of the conspirators, but insists on not subjecting them to death. His offer does not pass, and Caesar himself almost perishes at the hands of an angry mob.

According to Gaius Sallust Crispus, Caesar only offers not to execute the captured conspirators without trial. In his speech in the Senate, he draws attention to the fact that "neglect of the law in a seemingly justified situation will lead in the near future to the fact that this very law will be violated constantly and everywhere." However, the alarming situation in the Republic did not allow for a trial, and the detention of Catiline's accomplices in custody also did not seem safe. Caesar almost manages to win over the senators to his side, but the efforts of Mark Cato send the conspirators to execution. Subsequently, Marcus Tullius Cicero, who was consul that year, will be sent into exile for approving this decision.

First triumvirate

In 62 BC e. Julius Caesar sends a praetor. His plans for independent action, which would have paralyzed Pompey, are crumbling. It is not without difficulty that he manages to avoid accusations of participation in the Catiline conspiracy. Pompey's return draws near. There is only one thing left: to take on secondary roles under Pompey and, above all, to make amends for those actions that could arouse his displeasure.

Caesar openly takes the side of Pompey. He demands that Pompey be commissioned to complete the construction of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, an honor that was destined for the recognized head of the optimates, Quintus Lutatius Catulus; he even accuses Catulus of embezzling the money allocated for the building. With his active support, the Senate allows Pompey to attend the games in the clothes of a triumphant. Finally, he also demands military power in Italy for Pompey, under the pretext of the need to finally deal with Catiline and his army. The Senate, however, did not agree to the latter, and even removed Caesar from office for a while.

Meanwhile, Pompey returns to Rome as a private citizen, without an army, and settles outside the city, in anticipation of a triumph.

Caesar, after the praetorship in 62 BC. e., for 2 years he is the governor in the Roman province of Further Spain, where he shows outstanding administrative and military abilities, makes a fortune for himself and finally pays off his debts. Spain at that time was the only place where a strong army was stationed and where, without much effort, both laurels and money could be quickly acquired.

In 60 BC. e. Caesar is again in Rome, where he is waiting for a triumph and the post of consul. He, however, sacrifices the first for the second - he sacrifices willingly, albeit involuntarily, under pressure from the senate - all the more so since his triumph could hardly have made a strong impression after the just celebrated triumph of Gnaeus Pompey the Great. In 59 BC e. Caesar is elected senior consul of the Roman Republic. His political opponent Mark Calpurnius Bibulus, a member of the optimates faction, becomes his junior partner.

The consulate of Caesar is necessary both to him and to Pompey. Having disbanded the army, Pompey, for all his greatness, turns out to be powerless; none of his proposals pass because of the stubborn resistance of the senate, and meanwhile he promised his veteran soldiers land, and this question could not be postponed. The supporters of one Pompey were not enough, a more powerful influence was needed - this was the basis of Pompey's alliance with Caesar and Crassus. The consul Caesar himself was in dire need of the influence of Pompey and the money of Crassus. It was not easy to convince the former consul Mark Licinius Crassus, an old enemy of Pompey, to agree to an alliance, but in the end it was possible - this richest man in Rome could not get troops under his command for the war with Parthia.

Thus arose what historians would later call the first triumvirate - a private agreement of three persons, sanctioned by no one and nothing but their mutual consent. The private nature of the triumvirate was also emphasized by its marriages: Pompey - to the only daughter of Caesar, Julia Caesaris (despite the difference in age and upbringing, this political marriage turned out to be sealed with love), and Caesar - to the daughter of Calpurnius Piso.

As consul, Caesar in 59 BC. e. despite the stubborn resistance of the Senate and its junior partner, a number of laws are being carried out in order to strengthen the state structure and solve some social problems (in particular, about 20 thousand citizens - veterans of Pompey and fathers of at least three children - receive land plots in Campania). In addition, in the interests of Pompey, Caesar approves the orders that he made in the East during his military campaign. The main task of Caesar is to weaken the Senate. And he achieves this by passing a number of laws that have raised his authority among the Roman people - on the free distribution of bread, on the right to unite in organizations for a political purpose, and finally, on condemning all those who illegally encroached on the life of a Roman citizen.

The most important for the future was the law of Vatinius, according to which Caesar was to receive, after the consulate, not the supervision of forests and roads in Italy, that is, the fight against robbery, as the senate wanted, but the control of Northern Italy (Cisalpine Gaul) and Illyria (the coast of Dalmatia). ), for 5 years, with the right to recruit an army (3 legions - more than 10,000 people). And here the Senate was forced to yield and even go further: to add to the above the administration of Gaul Transalpine for the same period (there was 1 legion). Subsequently, this period was extended for another five years.

Chapter 4

Caesar crossed over to Italy. The tireless commander decided that it was time to take advantage of the fruits of his victories. As always, he easily achieved what he wanted: he was re-elected dictator, although earlier this position was not a one-year one (the dictator performed his duties from several days to several months and resigned as the danger to the state disappeared). Tired of blood, the Romans dutifully elected Caesar as consul for the year 46.

At all times, people who accepted dictatorial power hoped that the iron hand would bring order to the country. Alas! A dictator cannot rule a country alone; the persons who were intermediaries between him and the people turned out to be most often dishonest. Why? Because the dictatorship itself is a violation of the law, and if the lion has broken it, then the jackals follow him without much thought. This fate did not pass and Caesar. And if he himself sincerely hoped to make the state better, then the executors of his will took more care of themselves. Plutarch talks about it.

Caesar was blamed for the extravagances of Dolabella, the greed of Mattius, and the debauchery of Antony; the latter, on top of everything else, appropriated Pompey's house by some unclean means and ordered it to be rebuilt, since it seemed to him not spacious enough.

Among the Romans, dissatisfaction with such actions spread. Caesar noticed all this, but the state of affairs in the state forced him to use the services of such assistants.

Plutarch, as always, simply, clearly and very accurately characterizes the changes that have taken place in Roman society:

Bowing before the happy fate of this man and allowing himself to be put on a bridle, the Romans believed that sole power was a rest from civil wars and other disasters. They elected him dictator for life.

Beloved Legion

Caesar achieved what he wanted, but, as it turned out, he even had a lot of the one-year consulate prescribed by law - fate allowed him to enjoy power for no more than five months ... Well, in the end, it is important to live not how long, but how; and Caesar enjoyed every day, taking advantage of the fear of nonentities who had survived in the general civil meat grinder. The honors assigned to him by the Senate were not enough for him, and his entourage was well aware of this. Toadies, flatterers, cunning, haters, as Plutarch tells us, "vyed with each other to offer excessive honors, the inappropriateness of which led to the fact that Caesar became unpleasant and hated even by the most well-meaning people." Discontent grew. The building, built by Caesar with such difficulty, was almost destroyed by his own legionnaires. The 10th Legion, dearest to his heart, rebelled. It was no longer the quiet grumbling of the Roman inhabitants, to which the dictator did not pay attention: the soldiers killed two former praetors - Cosconius and Galba, and after that a threat was created to Rome itself.

Legionnaires can be understood. The situation is analyzed by T. Mommsen.

The almost inhuman demands that the commander made of them, and the consequences of which showed themselves quite clearly in the terrible devastation of their ranks, created discontent even in these iron people - and only time and rest were needed to set the minds in fermentation. The only person who impressed them for a whole year was far away, as if he had completely disappeared, the people who commanded them were much more afraid of their soldiers than their soldiers, and unleashed on these conquerors of the universe gross violence against the hosts in the quarters and in general any violation of discipline.

Ancient historians reported that at the beginning of the civil war, not a single legionnaire left Caesar. It really was so, but the legionnaires then had no idea what lay ahead of them. Time passed, and the Romans were tired of the endless war, they were tired of killing their own brothers, and only the genius of Caesar made the bloody wheel spin from year to year. The dictator could no longer stop, because he was used to bringing all his undertakings to the end, despite the fact that Rome paid an unprecedented price for the realization of his innermost desires. He passionately wanted to be the first, even in half-empty Rome.

In the legions of Caesar, hardly a fifth of their composition remained; the rest perished in Gaul, Spain, Greece, Asia, and Egypt. Now these mortally tired people were offered to leave the fertile Campaign and go to the next war, although their term of service had ended. They were promised rewards after the battle of Pharsalus, but nothing was given.

Caesar sent to the soldiers "some of the chiefs with a promise to give each soldier another thousand drachmas." It would be better if he sent these drachmas! The army said they did not want to hear any more promises, and demanded money immediately. Gaius Sallust Crispus, the famous historian and praetor of 47 (BC), who was acting as an ambassador, was almost killed, only a hasty flight saved him.

Caesar still did not give money; apparently, he decided to blackmail his legionnaires, promising to pay after the final victory over the Pompeians. Then his army approached the gates of Rome with clearly unfriendly intentions.

Interestingly, at this dangerous time, Caesar showed unexpected concern for Antony, who, with his acquisitiveness and revelry, aroused universal hatred. The legion, intended to protect the city, he "ordered to guard his house and the gates of Rome, fearing robbery."

What did Caesar do? The dictator and consul went alone to the angry mob, which until recently had been his army. Neither the persuasion of his friends, nor the atrocities committed by the legionnaires, including the murders of his envoys, stopped him. Appian of Alexandria tells what happened next.

Noisily, but without weapons, the soldiers ran and, as always, seeing their emperor in front of them, greeted him. When he asked them what they wanted, in his presence they did not dare to talk about rewards, but shouted, considering the demand that they be dismissed as more moderate, hoping only that, needing an army for the upcoming wars, Caesar would talk to them and about rewards. Caesar, to the amazement of everyone, did not hesitate at all, said:

I'm firing you.

And I will give out everything promised when I celebrate a triumph with other troops.

When they heard such an unexpected and at the same time gracious statement, shame seized them, to which calculation and greed joined; they understood that if they left their emperor before the end of the war, the triumph would be celebrated instead of them by other parts of the troops, and for them all the booty from Africa, which they believed should be great, would be lost; besides, having hitherto been hated by their enemies, they will now also be hated by Caesar. Worried and not knowing what to do, the soldiers became completely silent, waiting for Caesar to give in to them in something and change his mind under the pressure of circumstances. Caesar, for his part, also fell silent, and when those close to him began to exhort him to say something else and not to speak briefly and sternly, leaving the army with whom he had fought for so long, he at the beginning of his speech turned to them: "citizens" instead of "warriors" - this treatment serves as a sign that the soldiers have already been dismissed from service and are private people.

The soldiers, unable to endure this, shouted that they repented and asked him to continue the war with them. When Caesar turned around and left the platform, they insisted with even greater urgency and shouts that he should not leave and punish the guilty among them. He lingered a little more, not rejecting their requests and not returning to the podium, showing an air of hesitation. However, he nevertheless went up to the podium and said that he did not want to punish any of them, but was upset that the 10th Legion, which he always preferred to all others, took part in the rebellion.

He alone, - he said, - I am dismissing from the army. But I will give him what I promised when I return from Africa. When the war is over, I will give land to everyone, and not in the same way as Sulla, taking it away from private owners and settling the robbed with the robbers next to each other, so that they are in eternal enmity with each other, but I will give you public land and my own, and If need be, I will buy more.

Applause and gratitude were heard from all, and only the 10th Legion was in deep sorrow, since in relation to him alone Caesar seemed implacable. The soldiers of this legion then began to ask to throw lots between them and put every tenth to death. Caesar, with such deep repentance, did not consider it necessary to irritate them anymore, reconciled with everyone and immediately sent them to war in Africa.

That's how masterly Caesar single-handedly put out the bubbling volcano; and he escaped with only promises. True, I had to forget about the gravest crime, which was the murder of two former praetors. According to Suetonius, Caesar limited himself to curtailing promises for some of the legionnaires: “he punished all the main rebels by reducing their promised share of booty and land by a third.”

African War

While Caesar wasted his time in a senseless war in Egypt and walking with Cleopatra, defeated Pompeians flocked from all over the world to Africa. The second opposition leader after Pompey, Scipio, fled here, Cato, Labienus, Aphranius, Petreus and other leaders defeated by Caesar at different times found refuge here. The overseas province turned into a second Rome: a Senate of 300 people and other authorities functioned here. But most importantly, taking advantage of the respite, the Pompeians gathered a huge army.

Everyone who is able to hold a sword or a spear was put into operation: fugitives from Greece, Spain, the Mediterranean islands, Libyan peasants and freedmen. The heavy infantry of Caesar's opponents reached 14 legions. The heavy cavalry of the Gauls, Germans and Romans numbered 1,600 people. Another 20 thousand light cavalry, many spearmen were brought by the Numidian king Yuba. Finally, the Numidians brought 120 elephants.

King Yuba I (Louvre. Paris)

Scipio had high hopes for elephants and therefore personally trained them. A description of this procedure has been preserved by the author of The African War.

He (Scipio) built two battle lines: one, consisting of slingers, was supposed to represent the enemy and let the elephants in the forehead with small pebbles; opposite them were lined up elephants; and behind them was the actual battle line, which in the same way was supposed to fire stones at the elephants and drive them back at the enemy when the enemy began to throw stones at them and they turned on their own from fear. But this training proceeded with great difficulty and very slowly: stupid elephants are difficult to succumb to even many years of training with constant exercise, and when they are taken into battle, they are equally dangerous for both sides.

Caesar managed to prepare only 6 legions for sending to Africa, most of them consisting of recruits; Yes, even 2 thousand horsemen.

The delivery of this modest army to the neighboring continent was a big problem. As we wrote above, Caesar had to work hard to persuade even his devoted veterans to another war. He could not wait for good weather, fearing that the mood of the soldiers would again change for the worse. From the coast of Sicily, a hastily assembled fleet set off in the midst of storms and sea storms. What happened was to be expected: only 3,000 infantry and a small detachment of cavalry reached the African coast with Caesar. “The rest of the ships were mostly scattered by the storm, and they, having lost their course, headed in different directions. Some of the transport ships were captured.

Everything was against Caesar, but he was used to arguing with nature and circumstances, fate and the gods.

Suetonius says:

Never had any superstition forced him to abandon or postpone an enterprise. He did not put off his speech against Scipio and Yuba because, during the sacrifice, the animal escaped from his hands. Even when he stumbled while leaving the ship, he turned it into a good omen, exclaiming:

You are in my hands, Africa!

Gaius Julius learned that the opponents rely on some old oracle, which says: the Scipio family is always destined to win in Africa (one ancestor of the current Scipio defeated Hannibal and ended the 2nd Punic War, the other won the 3rd Punic War and destroyed Carthage in 146 BC). Then Caesar found in his army a certain Scipio Sallution, “an insignificant man and despised by everyone,” and in every battle he gave him an honorable place at the head of the army. This ploy calmed the legionnaires a little.

Caesar landed near Hadrumet. He had little strength even to capture this city. While waiting for his troops, Caesar tried to enter into negotiations with Considius, the head of the garrison, hoping to reason with him.

Taking this opportunity, Caesar writes a letter and gives it to the prisoner to deliver Considius to the city. When the prisoner arrived there and, as he was instructed, began to hand out the letter to Considius, he, before taking it, asked:

Who is it from? The prisoner replied:

From Emperor Caesar. Then Considius said:

At present, the Roman people have one emperor - Scipio.

Then, in front of his own eyes, he ordered the immediate death of the prisoner, and without reading or opening the letter, he gave it to a faithful person for delivery to Scipio.

Caesar had to leave the vicinity of Hadrumet - news was received that large cavalry forces were coming to the aid of the garrison. He could not move away from the sea and choose a convenient position, as he continued to receive warriors from ships scattered by a storm.

The small army had to constantly fight off the enemy, but the subjects of Yuba were especially annoyed.

Plutarch says:

The enemy cavalry from the Numidians dominated the country, quickly appearing every time in large numbers. Once, when Caesar's cavalry detachment settled down to rest and some Libyan danced, remarkably playing along with his flute, and the soldiers had fun, entrusting the care of the horses to the slaves, suddenly the enemies surrounded and attacked them. Part of Caesar's soldiers were killed on the spot, others fell during a hasty flight to the camp. If Caesar and Asinius Pollio had not rushed from the camp to help, the war would probably have been over.

During another battle, as they say, the enemy also gained the upper hand in the ensuing hand-to-hand fight, but Caesar grabbed the standard-bearer, who was running at full speed, by the neck and turned him around with the words:

Where are the enemies!

Appian of Alexandria has a similar picture of an unsuccessful battle for Caesar. And here Caesar escaped death by accident - only because the opponents, who boasted of their own superiority, did not finish what they started.

He (Caesar) was opposed by Labienus and Petreus, assistants of Scipio, they won a great victory over Caesar, putting his army to flight and pursuing him with pride and contempt until a horse wounded in the stomach threw off Labienus. Labienus was immediately carried away by his bodyguards, who stood with shields near the combatant. Petreus, believing that the army was at a height during the test and that he would be able to win when he wanted, did not continue the pursuit that had begun and said:

Let's not take away the victory from our general Scipio.

The rest was a matter of Caesar's happiness. When the enemies seemed to be able to win, the victors themselves suddenly stopped the battle. They say that during the flight of his army, Caesar molested all the soldiers so that they turned around, some of the carrying "eagles" - the most important banners among the Romans - Caesar turned with his hand and again directed forward until Petreus turned back, and Caesar willingly stepped back. Such was the result of Caesar's first battle in Africa.

Caesar occupied a narrow coastal strip and eked out a rather miserable existence. In Africa, he did not find anything that was necessary for the life of the army, but the activity did not leave him here either. He created iron workshops, ordered to make as many arrows and spears as possible, cast bullets and make a palisade, sent letters and messengers to Sicily to bring for him something that was not at all in Africa - fascines and timber for rams, as well as iron and lead.

He had to use only imported bread. Last year in Africa there was a crop failure due to the fact that the fields lost their owners: the Pompeians turned all the plowmen into hired soldiers. Enemies brought all the grain to fortified cities, and smaller settlements were simply destroyed. Considering that Scipio's fleet often intercepted ships going to Caesar, his army also knew such a feeling as hunger. Even more difficult was the matter of horse food - there was none at all. According to Plutarch, "the warriors were forced to feed the horses with sea moss, washing off sea salt from it and adding a little grass as a seasoning."

The African War says that Caesar writes letters to his legates in Sicily with orders.

... Without wasting time and not allowing himself any references to winter and weather, send an army to him as soon as possible: the province of Africa, he wrote, is dying, and his opponents are ruining it completely; if ambulances are not given to the allies against criminal and insidious enemies, then nothing will survive from Africa but bare earth, there will not even be a roof under which one can hide. At the same time, he himself showed such haste and impatience that the very next day after sending letters and messengers to Sicily, he complained that the army and fleet were slow in arriving, and day and night his thoughts and eyes were focused only on the sea.

Not so much the fate of Africa worried Caesar, but his own; disturbing thoughts aroused not only the superior forces of the enemies, but also the mood of their own soldiers.

They (the legionnaires) did not see any consolation for themselves in the present state of affairs, nor did they find any moral support from each other, except for the expression on the commander’s face, his cheerfulness and amazing gaiety: he showed a high and courageous spirit. In this, people found peace and hoped that the knowledge and mind of their leader would help them overcome all difficulties.

Caesar's position was colossally difficult, almost hopeless. But strangely enough, the legionnaires again believed in his lucky star. So strong was the power of his spirit over these unfortunate people that not a single person left him, did not run over to a successful opponent. The veterans of Gaius Julius still gave their lives for him without hesitation. A very remarkable story from the "African War".

One of Caesar's ships was captured by a Pompeian squadron. All prisoners were taken to Scipio. The leader of the republicans showed them special mercy: Caesar's soldiers were given life, promised a monetary reward and enrollment in the legions. Scipio expected words of gratitude for his kindness. The answer of the centurion of the 14th legion unpleasantly struck the commander:

For your great mercy, Scipio (I don’t call you emperor), - said the old soldier, - I am grateful to you, because you promise me, a prisoner of war, life and mercy; and, perhaps, I would have taken advantage of your mercy, if it had not been joined by the greatest crime. Should I take up arms against my emperor Caesar, with whom I served as commander of the century, and against his army, for the honor and victory of which I fought for more than 36 years? I do not intend to do this and I strongly advise you to quit your idea.

After the centurion calmly spoke out against Scipio, the latter, who did not expect such an answer, became angry and offended and made it clear to his centurions what he wanted from them: the centurion was killed at his feet, and he ordered the rest of the veterans to be separated from the recruits.

Take away, - he said, - these people, defiled by a godless crime, saturated with the blood of their fellow citizens!

Then they were taken outside the rampart and executed with a painful execution.

Meanwhile, Caesar spent his time not only in the tense expectation of reinforcements and bread from overseas - he was looking for ways out of the most hopeless situation and found it. He managed to find a strong ally in Africa: the Moorish king Bokh attacked the possessions of Yuba and took three large cities. The Numidians had to take care not of the interests of Scipio, but of their own lands. Yuba also recalled the auxiliary troops sent by him to Scipio, and left him with only 30 elephants.

However, the rest of the elephants could return back to Scipio, and it was they who, with their huge growth and mass, horrified Caesar's legionnaires. Guy Julius found a way to overcome the fear of soldiers who were not familiar with unusual weapons.

He ordered elephants to be transported from Italy so that the soldiers would get acquainted with the appearance and characteristics of this animal and know which part of its body can be easily hit with a spear, and which even then remains uncovered when the elephant is equipped and dressed in armor. In addition, it was necessary to accustom the horses to the smell, roar and appearance of these animals, so that they would no longer be afraid of them. By this he won a lot: his soldiers touched these animals with their hands and were convinced of their slowness, the horsemen threw spears with blunt ends into them, the horses also got used to the animals thanks to their patience.

Caesar left for a while his former swiftness with which he was used to fighting, he became cautious and slow. The situation obliged him to change, and he accepted the rules dictated by it. Gaius Julius did not have the right to make a mistake, and he did everything not to share the fate of his favorite, Curio, in Africa.

On the eve, we see Caesar again as we are used to seeing in his countless campaigns. He finally waited for his irreplaceable veterans and, "with incredible speed passing through wooded places convenient for an unexpected attack," found himself in front of the astonished Scipio.

An amazing metamorphosis took place with Caesar's legionnaires: not so long ago they mourned their fate, they now had no doubts about their own victory. The sources are silent about how Caesar managed to raise the morale of the soldiers, who fell below the roadside grass, to an unprecedented height. However, there is nothing surprising in such a transformation: Caesar had such great charisma that he could lead anyone even to hell.

Another thing is more interesting: before the battle, the legionnaires were as if under hypnosis. The same state - before the start of the Battle of Pharsalus, when it was required to defeat the numerically superior enemy, and before the battle of Taps, when the numerical superiority is on the side of the enemies, and again we see not the army of Caesar, but a flock of rabid animals, immediately thirsting for blood; they did not care how many enemies were ahead - 80 thousand or a million. They will destroy everyone, sweep away everything in their path!

When the army of Scipio appeared, suddenly the legates and volunteers - veterans began to beg Caesar without hesitation to give a signal for battle; the immortal gods, they said, portend complete victory. Caesar hesitated and resisted their ardent desire, he shouted that he did not want to fight, and more and more restrained his battle lines, when suddenly, without any order from him, on the right wing, the soldiers themselves forced the trumpeter to blow. At this signal, all the cohorts with banners rushed to the enemies, although the centurions blocked the soldiers with their breasts and by force kept them from unauthorized attacks without the order of the emperor. But it was already useless.

It is possible that Caesar was nervous before the battle; he had an attack of epilepsy - a disease that, over the years, manifested itself in him more and more often.

The presence of Caesar on the battlefield was not at all necessary: ​​they brilliantly dealt with the enemies, and even the god of war himself could not control the crowds of rabid animals.

As we remember, Caesar's soldiers experienced a panic feeling of fear of elephants. And it disappeared somewhere: the 5th Legion even decided to line up against the elephants.

One of the episodes of the battle of people with huge animals is described by the author of the "African War".

On the left flank, a wounded elephant, from severe pain, rushed at an unarmed convoy servant, crushed him under his feet, and then knelt down, crushed him to death, and raised his trunk and began to turn them in different directions with a terrible roar. Our soldier could not stand it and, with a weapon in his hands, rushed at the beast. When the elephant noticed that he was being attacked with weapons, he left the dead one, wrapped his trunk around the soldier and lifted him up. The armed soldier, realizing that one should not lose one's head in such a danger, began to cut with all his might with a sword on the trunk into which he was captured.

In pain, the elephant finally dropped the soldier, turned back with a terrible roar and ran towards the rest of the animals.

It was the last major battle in antiquity involving elephants. The tactics of battle improved, the inventive Romans learned to deploy a formidable weapon on their own masters. Increasingly, elephants did more harm to their own troops than to the enemy. This happened during the Battle of Tapsa.

The animals, frightened by the whistle of slings and stones, turned, trampled behind them a lot of crowded people and rushed violently into the unfinished gates of the rampart.

Under the frantic pressure of Caesar's legionnaires, no one could resist: neither elephants, nor cavalry, nor the Romans, nor the Numidians. A few hours later, Caesar took possession of three camps. 50 thousand soldiers fell from the enemies, at Caesar - no more than 50 people. They completely forgot the word "mercy" and ruthlessly cut down not only compatriots in the camp of the enemy, but also their own commanders.

The African War describes the last moments of the Battle of Taps.

The troops of Scipio were completely defeated and scattered across the whole field, and the legions of Caesar pursued them, not giving them time to recover. They finally ran to the camp they were striving for in order to recover there, start defending again and find some authoritative and prominent leader on whom they could rely and continue the battle. But, noticing that there was no support for them there, they immediately threw down their weapons and hastened to flee to the royal camp. It turned out that he was already occupied by the Julians. Desperate for their salvation, they sat down on one hill and from there, lowering their weapons, saluted the victor with their swords in a military manner. But this did little to help the unfortunate: the embittered and furious veterans not only could not be persuaded to spare the enemy, but even in their own army they wounded or killed several prominent persons whom they called the culprits. Among them was the former quaestor Tullius Rufus, who was deliberately killed by a soldier who speared him; also Pompey Rufus, wounded in the hand with a sword, would have been killed if he had not hastened to flee to Caesar. Therefore, many Roman cavalry and senators retired from the battlefield in fear, so that they would not be killed by the soldiers, who, hoping, in view of their brilliant deeds for impunity, decided after the great victory that everything was allowed to them. Scipio's soldiers, although they appealed to Caesar for mercy, were all killed before his very eyes, no matter how much he asked his own soldiers to give them mercy.

The author of The African War is trying to whitewash Caesar. He undoubtedly fought on his side in this campaign, for he is well aware of all its details. The author was a soldier of Caesar; he had absolutely no literary talent, unlike Plutarch, and he did not shine with eloquence, like Cicero, but his work is of great interest to historians as documentary evidence of an eyewitness. About the "kindness" of Caesar, one can draw a conclusion from the careless words of the author of the "African War" and other ancient historians. According to Plutarch, Gaius Julius did not call for merciful treatment of Roman citizens and did not show mercy himself.

Some of the former consuls and praetors who fled were captured and committed suicide, and many were ordered to be executed by Caesar.

As always, Caesar gets the job done. A simple victory is not enough for him. Gaius Julius continues to destroy everyone who is able to bear arms.

Appian writes:

... he did not stop the victorious battle even at nightfall. Thus, this army, which consisted of approximately 80 thousand people ... was completely destroyed.

The formation of a senate in exile aroused Caesar's particular hatred. According to Appian, "everyone he captured from the council of three hundred, he destroyed." This attitude is understandable: the dictator does not need his equals, and the Roman nobility would be bad cogs in his dictatorial machine. Caesar wants only obedient executors of his will, and it is preferable that they owe their position only to him. In the same way, Napoleon will easily hand out marshal's batons to the sons of a washerwoman or a butcher, and we will admire the dizzying careers and justice of the new successor to the cause of Caesar. We forget at least one little thing: that they took the place of the color of France sent to the guillotine. The dictator destroys the best of the best, and they are replaced by either individuals without any principles, or complete insignificance. They use the results of bloody civil wars and revolutions.

The republicans who remained alive after the pitch hell also turned into rabid animals. The author of The African War says:

The horsemen of Scipio, who fled from the battlefield, reached the city of Parades. Since the inhabitants there did not want to receive them, who had already been warned by rumors about the victory of Caesar, they took the city from battle, carried a pile of firewood with all the belongings of the townspeople to its square, set fire to it, all the inhabitants without distinction of sex, rank and age were tied up and alive were thrown into the fire, thus betraying them to a painful execution.

The Numidian king Yuba also survived the Battle of Thapsa. He fled to the city of Zama, "where he had his own palace and kept his wives and children, here he brought all his money and jewelry from all over the kingdom, and at the beginning of the war he built very strong fortifications here." But they could not save the king, and Yuba decided to commit suicide - theatrically, beautifully, spectacularly. This ambitious man dreamed that if not his victory, then death would remain in the memory of his descendants.

I didn't want to die alone. On the eve of the battle, just in case, Yuba prepared.

... collected a lot of firewood in the city of Zama and erected a huge fire in the middle of the square. In case of defeat, he wanted to lay down all his property on it, kill and throw all the citizens there and set it all on fire, and then, finally, commit suicide on this fire and burn himself together with children, wives, citizens and with all the royal treasures. And now Yuba, standing in front of the gates, at first threatened the inhabitants of Zama long and powerfully; then, seeing that this was of little help, he began to beg them to admit him to the gods - penates; finally, convinced that they were stubborn in their decision and that neither threats nor requests could persuade them to accept him into the city, he already began to ask them to give up their wives and children in order to take them away with them. Seeing that the townspeople did not give him any answer, and having obtained nothing from them, he left Zama and, together with Petreus and several horsemen, retired to one of his estates.

Yuba wandered around his domain for some time, but all the communities refused him shelter. Then, “in order to look like people who died the death of the brave, he and Petreus entered into a sword fight with each other, and the stronger Petreus easily killed the weaker Yuba. Then he tried to pierce his chest with the same sword, but could not. Then he begged his slave to put an end to him, which he achieved. Caesar annexed the possessions of Yuba to the Roman province of Africa.

Scipio, having lost his army, tried to find salvation at sea. However, a storm carried his ships straight into Caesar's fleet. Scipio did what a Roman does when his honor is in danger. He killed himself as soon as the enemy captured the ship; the corpse of the commander-in-chief of the African army was thrown overboard.

Suicide of Cato

For some time the most consistent of the Republicans, Mark Porcius Cato, survived. He did not participate in the battle of Tapsa, as he was the commandant of Utica. He was a man of distinguished, noble character. At a time when all truth was at the edge of the sword, when treachery and meanness replaced Roman laws, the last defender of republican traditions seemed like a black sheep. Since at the time of fratricidal wars the laws were violated by all the more or less significant Romans, Cato caused discontent both of his opponents and allies. Even less clear are the actions of Cato in the eyes of our contemporaries - who care more about material wealth and their own well-being than about the fatherland and homeland. Historian T. Mommsen often speaks of him without respect: "a hard-nosed stubborn and half-clown." But the Romans loved their incorrigible, stubborn and incorruptible idealist. Still not completely spoiled by the devilish brilliance of yellow metal, they understood: this is how a real citizen should be.

News of Caesar's victory reached Utica on the third day after the battle. Complete anarchy began in the city. Plutarch testifies to this.

Cato immediately went out into the street and, stopping the rushing and heart-rendingly screaming residents, tried to calm each one individually, to at least somehow calm their fear and confusion, saying that perhaps the events were by no means so terrible, but simply exaggerated by rumor. So he finally put things in order.

But every day brought new tests to the commandant of the African city. The Romans, who fled from Taps, rushed to Utica, killed many townspeople there, and took their houses from battle and plundered them. Defending the inhabitants of Utica (who, by the way, were more sympathetic to Caesar than to the Republicans), Cato showed remarkable courage.

Cato rushed to the horsemen at a run and snatched the prey from the hands of the first who caught his eye, while the rest themselves began to throw and stack the stolen, and they all retired, bowing their heads, not daring to utter a word from shame.

He did not punish anyone, but finally calmed the robbers in an unusual way, giving them 100 sesterces from his personal funds. He tried to establish the defense of the city, but even on the edge of the abyss, Cato sacredly honored the law.

Some senators suggested freeing all slaves in order to recruit warriors from among them. Cato allowed to call only those slaves whose masters give consent. According to Mommsen, "Cato, with his inveterate legal formalism, was more likely to destroy the republic on a legal basis than to save it illegally."

Soon, Octavius ​​appeared in the vicinity of Utica with two fairly battered legions. He sent a man to Cato "with a proposal to agree on the division of power and command."

Cato left his envoy unanswered, and said to his friends:

Is it possible to be surprised that our cause has perished, if the love of power does not leave us even on the edge of the abyss!

The news that Caesar was moving in the direction of Utica caused another wave of panic.

The situation is described by Appian.

An involuntary general flight began. Cato did not hold back anyone, but he gave them to all of the nobles who asked him for ships. He himself remained completely calm, and the inhabitants of Utica, who promised him that they would intercede for him even earlier than for themselves, laughingly replied that he did not need reconciliation with Caesar.

Although T. Mommsen accuses Cato of fanaticism, stubbornness, he realized that it was impossible to save the republic. He is trying with his last strength to save those who fought for the republic. Cato persuades the senators to leave Africa as soon as possible; he foresaw the fate of the Roman nobility.

Taking care of everyone, Cato did nothing for his own salvation. Lucius Caesar, "a relative of that Caesar", went to the enemy camp with a request for mercy for the senators.

For your own sake, - he turned to Cato, - I will not be ashamed either to fall at the knees of Caesar, or to catch his hands.

He just asked not to.

If I wanted to be saved by the grace of Caesar, - said Cato, - I myself should go to him. But I do not want the tyrant, while doing iniquity, to also bind me with gratitude. After all, he breaks the laws, giving, like a lord and sovereign, salvation to those over whom he should not have any power!

That day, Cato, as usual, dined in a crowded society. After dinner, over wine, a pleasant philosophical conversation began. Someone from those present touched, as Plutarch tells, one of the so-called strange judgments of the Stoics: only a decent, moral person is free, and all bad people are slaves.

Cato abruptly, in a stern tone, interrupted not entirely appropriate conversations about freedom - after all, Caesar was almost at the gates of the city. And then he delivered a "lengthy and surprisingly heated speech." Silence reigned at the table, for the companions understood in what way Cato decided to preserve his freedom and get rid of all disasters at once.

Toward evening, Cato took a bath and had supper. Appian tells about the last hours of the life of the most noble citizen of Rome.

He did not change anything in his habits, no more and no less than always, turned to those present, talked with them about those who had sailed, asked about the wind - whether it was favorable, about the distance that they had already sailed, - whether they would precede the arrival of Caesar by East. And, going to sleep, Cato also did not change anything of his habits, except that he embraced his son more cordially. Not finding his dagger by the bedside, he shouted that his family were betraying him to his enemies, for what else, he said, could he use if the enemies came at night. When they began to ask him not to plot anything against himself and to go to bed without a dagger, he said very convincingly:

Can't I suffocate myself with clothes if I want to, or smash my head against the wall, or throw myself upside down, or die holding my breath?

So saying, he convinced his loved ones to return the dagger. When he received it, he asked for Plato's book and read his essay on the soul.

He finished Plato's dialogue and, believing that everyone at his door had fallen asleep, wounded himself with a dagger under the heart. When his insides fell out and a groan was heard, those who were at his door ran in; the whole innards of Cato the doctors again folded inside and sewed together the torn parts. He immediately pretended to be encouraged, reproached himself for the weakness of the blow, expressed his gratitude to those who had saved him, and said that he wanted to sleep. They took his dagger with them and closed the doors for his peace. He, pretending to be asleep, in silence tore the bandages with his hands and, opening the seams of the wound, like a beast, opened up his wound and stomach, expanding the wounds with his nails, rummaging through them with his fingers and scattering the insides until he died.

Cato was 48 years old.

The inhabitants of Utica hated the republicans who plundered them, but the death of Cato shocked everyone. Caesar was approaching, “but neither fear, nor the desire to please the conqueror, nor mutual disagreement and discord could dull or weaken their respect for Cato,” says Plutarch. “They richly cleaned the body, staged a magnificent funeral procession and buried the corpse on the seashore.” Subsequently, a statue of Cato with a sword in his hand was erected on this site.

Historian T. Mommsen, as always, mocks Cato, but ... (for all the rejection of his actions by a practical German) still cannot restrain admiration. Behind the habitual insults addressed to him, it seemed, involuntarily, Mommsen finds great meaning in the life and death of a noble Roman.

Cato can least of all be called a great man; but with all the short-sightedness, the vicissitudes of his views, the tedious annoyingness and false phrases that made him for that time, and forever, the ideal of stupid republicanism and the favorite of those who speculate on it, he was still the only person who managed during this agony with honor and courage to be the representative of a great, but doomed to collapse, system. Cato played a larger historical role than many people who far surpassed him in mentality, because in the face of unpretentious truth, even the most wise lie feels deeply powerless, and also because all the greatness and valor of human nature is determined, in the end, everything - not wisdom, but honesty. The profound and tragic significance of his death is reinforced by the fact that he himself was insane; it is precisely because Don Quixote is a madman that he becomes a tragic personality. You endure a tremendous impression, seeing that on the world stage, where so many great and wise men were agitated and acted, the epilogue was left to the fool. But he didn't die in vain. It was a terrifyingly sharp protest of the republic against the monarchy, when the last republican left the stage at the moment when the first monarch appeared: it was a protest that tore, like a web, all the imaginary legality with which Caesar had clothed his monarchy.

Everyone saw: learning about the suicide of Cato, Caesar was saddened. The great actor knew about the attitude of the Romans towards Cato and simply played his part, just as in Egypt he had to squeeze a tear over Pompey's head.

Oh, Cato, - exclaimed Caesar, - your death is hateful to me, because it was hateful for you to accept salvation from me!

Undoubtedly, in the depths of his soul, Caesar was glad of the death of Cato; he could only grieve the kind of death chosen by the enemy and becoming a kind of last act of struggle. Living Cato was absolutely useless to Caesar, for he was not one of those people who change principles and beliefs. A healthy Cato would always stand between Caesar and the throne. And even after the death of Cato, the fearless Caesar continued to be afraid of him and wage a fierce struggle with him, dead.

How could he have spared Cato alive, if he poured out so much anger on the dead? - Plutarch asks a rhetorical question.

All who subsequently disagreed with Caesar, who dreamed of restoring the republic, made the name of Cato the banner of their struggle; his honest life and courageous death became an example for many Romans, and not only them.

Plutarch says:

Cicero wrote a laudatory essay in honor of Cato under the title "Cato". This essay, of course, was a great success with many, since it was written by a famous orator and on a noble topic. Caesar was stung by this writing, believing that the praise of the one whose death he was the cause of, serves as an accusation against him. He collected many accusations against Cato and called his book Antikaton. Each of these two works had many supporters, depending on who sympathized with - Cato or Caesar.

After four years of continuous war, Caesar returned to Rome. The dictator decided that it was time to enjoy the fruits of victories. First of all, he addressed the people and delivered a speech praising his victory. He did not fail to please his compatriots.

Plutarch writes:

He said that he had seized so much land that he would annually deliver 200,000 Attic medimns of grain and 3 million pounds of olive oil to the state store.

Then Caesar celebrated a triumph that consisted of several separate triumphs: Egyptian, Pontic and African. Caesar's biggest victories were over the Romans, but he was careful not to mention them (the African triumph, for example, was celebrated not to commemorate the victory over Scipio, but only over Juba).

And yet Caesar's ambition could not remain silent: no matter how shameful and ominous his victories seemed to the Romans, he could not help but be proud of them. He ordered that all the defeats of his enemies be depicted in paintings and in the form of statues.

Appian tells about the reaction of the Romans.

The people, though not without fear, still uttered groans at the depiction of the misfortune of their fellow citizens, especially at the sight of Lucius Scipio, the commander-in-chief, who wounded himself in the stomach and was thrown into the sea, or Petreus, killing himself at dinner, or Cato, himself tearing like a beast.

However, even without paintings, the Romans had many reasons not to share Caesar's joy - after all, his ambition brought grief to almost every Roman house, every family buried someone close in this fratricidal war. Caesar also understood the mood of the Romans, which is why he tried his best to sweeten their bitterness, reduce pain with momentary joys. “After the triumphs, Caesar began to distribute rich gifts to the soldiers, and arranged refreshments and games for the people.”

Caesar gave pleasure to the people and his favorite spectacle - gladiatorial games. Gaius Julius himself also loved the bloody event - he was considered a recognized master in its organization. The massacres in the circus arena were striking in their scale and spectacle; however, like all the cases that Caesar undertook.

He also provided the people with various spectacles with the participation of cavalry and music; performances were given of the battles of a thousand infantrymen against the same number of opponents, 200 horsemen against another 200, a battle of mixed infantry against cavalry, a battle with the participation of 20 elephants against another 20, a naval battle with 4 thousand soldiers, in which a thousand rowers took part from each side .

According to the vow given before the Battle of Pharsalus, Caesar erected a temple to the Ancestor. Caesar built a lot, and there would be nothing surprising in the construction of the temple, but ... next to the statue of the goddess, "he placed a beautiful image of Cleopatra." Gaius Julius not only did not forget the Egyptian queen, like most of his wives and mistresses, but revered her as a goddess. Cleopatra became the greatest and last love of Caesar.

Soon Caesar conducted a census of the population. The terrible result of this action was a consequence and an indicator of Caesar's struggle for primacy in Rome.

Plutarch reports:

Before there were 320 thousand people, and now there are only 150 thousand left. The civil wars have done such damage, they have exterminated such a large part of the people - and this is not even taking into account the disasters that have befallen the rest of Italy and the province!

Every second Roman died (this despite the fact that the warring parties tried to spare the citizens; non-Romans were destroyed without any mercy) - the losses cannot be compared even with the most terrible war of the 20th century - the Second World War. In battles, the whole color of Rome fell down - some old patrician and plebeian families were mowed down to the root. The Senate met the dictator with empty benches. To rectify the situation, Caesar, according to Suetonius, "introduced into the senate citizens who had just received civil rights, and among them several half-savage Gauls." Rome, for which Caesar fought, was so depopulated that the dictator urgently had to take action. Suetonius says:

Desiring to replenish the depleted population of the city, he issued a law that no citizen over 20 and under 40 years of age who was not in military service would leave Italy for more than three years; that none of the senatorial children leave the country otherwise than as part of a military and civil retinue with an official; and that no less than a third of their shepherds be recruited by cattle-owners from adult free-born men.

The last requirement to make the Romans shepherds at first glance seems strange. However, everything becomes clear if you delve deeper into Roman life in the time of Caesar. This warlike people quickly turned into a nation of parasites and loafers. And none other than Caesar contributed to this - it was he who flooded Italy with cheap Gallic slaves.

Now physical labor was considered shameful for a Roman: the plebeians were accustomed to generous gifts from those in power, accustomed to free bread distributions and were engaged only in selling their votes in elections and demanding circuses.

To save the Romans, who had been corrupted by himself, Caesar had to make an unpopular decision: he more than halved the number of those who received bread at public expense. But with the death of the republic, the process became irreversible, and the clock of Roman history began to count down.

Battle of Munda

Bad assistants are the scourge of any dictator. However, the guilt of the dictator is relative. People are driven to unseemly acts by a force called power. Each person noticed how his good old acquaintance changes, and not for the better, as soon as he becomes a big or small boss. In times of dictatorship, this law of life manifests itself with terrible force, because the representatives of power are not elected, but appointed by one person; Naturally, no one is immune from mistakes, even if he is the brilliant Gaius Julius Caesar.

One of the most unsuccessful appointments of Caesar is associated with the governor of Spain, Quintus Cassius Longinus. Even rivals - the Pompeians did not bring so much harm to the dictator as a man who, on duty, was obliged to protect the interests of him and Rome.

Cassius arrived in Spain with an old hatred for that country. According to the author of The Alexandrian War, he hated this province from the time of his Questura, when he was wounded there from around the corner. The Spaniards reciprocated their governor. But he did not lose heart, and decided to compensate for the dislike of his subjects with the love of the army. Upon arrival in the province, Cassius gathered an army and promised each legionary 100 sesterces; and the soldiers received the promised money as soon as they had conquered some of the Spanish territories. In gratitude, Cassius was proclaimed emperor. “Although these awards temporarily created a beautiful illusion of the troops’ love for him, they, on the other hand, little by little and imperceptibly weakened the severity of military discipline” (“Alexandrian War”). For the favor of the soldiers to the newly-made emperor, the unfortunate province had to pay. “As is generally the case with generous cash distributions,” the ancient author rightly notes, “the distributor must invent as many sources of money as possible in order to give shine to his generosity.”

His own debts also haunted Cassius, for their payment the province was heavily taxed. Even Archimedes could envy the ingenuity of Cassius.

In the "Alexandrian War" we read:

Sums of money were collected from wealthy people, and Cassius not only allowed, but even forced them to pay them to him personally. But for the sake of appearance, the poor were also included in the number of the prosperous, and in general the emperor's house and tribunal did not miss and did not shy away from any kind of self-interest - big and obvious, the smallest and dirty. In general, everyone, without exception, who was only capable of any material sacrifices, was either obliged to appear in court, or was put on the list of defendants.

Approximate Cassius zealously followed his example. And soon they became competitors of the one in whose name they committed crimes, and what they managed to steal they appropriated for themselves, and what slipped out of their hands or what they were denied was attributed to Cassius.

The province, which did not receive the slightest respite, was ruined worse than after the invasion of enemies. At this time, Cassius received a letter from Caesar with an order to send an army to Africa and invade the possessions of the Numidian king Yuba through Mauritania. "This letter led Cassius to great delight, since he had an extremely favorable opportunity to make money in new provinces and in the richest kingdom." However, Cassius never got to Africa, and Caesar never received any support from the negligent governor.

The case ended as it should have ended; a conspiracy was drawn up against the hated governor and an assassination attempt was organized. The nearest lictor Cassius was pierced with a sword, his legate was killed, the governor himself was knocked down and several blows were inflicted on the already recumbent. Many ran to congratulate each other on getting rid of this high-ranking robber, but the joy was premature.

Cassius' wounds were light, he recovered and went about his usual business. Some of the conspirators were executed after severe torture, but the governor allowed some to pay off with money.

By the way, he openly reprimanded himself from Calpurnius 600 thousand sesterces, and from Quintus Sestius - 500 thousand. And although the most guilty were punished, but the fact that, for the sake of money, Cassius forgot about the danger to which his life was exposed, and about the pain from the wounds, showed to what extent cruelty fought in him with greed.

Cassius continued to prepare an invasion of Africa in a very unusual way: by recruiting Roman horsemen from all corporations and colonies, he offered them to pay off overseas military service (which they were afraid of). This gave more income, but gave rise to even more hatred. This time the newly recruited 5th Legion rebelled, joined by the 2nd Legion. In Spain, a real civil war broke out. Cassius fought the rebels for some time, but then abandoned this idea. Having loaded the stolen gold onto the ship, the governor, who had lost all authority, decided to flee. How it ended, the author of the "Alexandrian War" tells:

Having left in fine winter weather, he turned into the Iber River so as not to remain at sea at night. Although then the storm intensified, he still hoped to continue his voyage without much danger and headed against the stormy oncoming waves at the mouth of the river. However, at the very mouth, being unable to either turn the ship due to the strength of the current, or keep it across the huge waves, he died along with the ship.

The Republicans defeated in Africa fled to Spain. Here they found fertile ground, unwittingly prepared by Caesar's viceroy Cassius Longinus. The sons of Pompey, Gnaeus and Sextus, who survived the African massacre, were the spark that ignited the robbed and humiliated Spain. In a short time they managed to gather a huge army of fugitives from all over the world, the Spaniards and the disgruntled legionnaires of Cassius. So, having celebrated a triple triumph, Caesar was on the verge of a new war.

Caesar realized the danger of a new center of resistance; he went from Rome to Spain "with a very loaded army" in 27 days. The meeting of opponents took place near the city of Munda on March 17, 45 BC. e.

The battle was perhaps the most difficult in the entire civil war. Caesar's soldiers were tired of endless battles and were unwilling to sacrifice themselves, especially when a peaceful life loomed on the horizon. The enemy, however, did not count on leniency in the event of a defeat, for he was convinced of the ruthlessness of the dictator on African soil.

Appian describes the battle.

When the troops came into conflict, fear attacked Caesar's army, and some kind of indecision joined the fear. Caesar implored all the gods, stretching out his hands to the sky, not to stain so many brilliant feats with this one battle, exhorted, running around the soldiers, and, removing the helmet from his head, shamed them in the eyes, urging them to stop the flight. But the fear of the soldiers did not subside at all until Caesar himself, grabbing the shield of one of them and exclaiming to the commanders standing near him:

May this be the end for me - life, and for you - campaigns! - ran forward from the battle formation towards the enemies so far that he was at a distance of 10 feet from them.

Up to 200 spears were thrown at him, but he deviated from some, repulsed others with a shield. Here, each of his generals, running up, stood next to him, and the whole army rushed into battle with bitterness, fought all day with varying success, but by evening, finally, they prevailed.

Appian is complemented by Plutarch.

Caesar, seeing that the enemy was pressing his army, which was weakly resisting, shouted, running through the ranks of the soldiers, that if they were no longer ashamed of anything, then let them take it and give it to the boys. Caesar managed to overpower the enemies only with great difficulty. The enemy lost over thirty thousand people; Caesar lost a thousand of his finest soldiers. After the battle, Caesar told his friends that he had often fought for victory, but now for the first time he fought for his life.

Fearing that the defeated enemies would return, Caesar ordered the construction of a wall to protect the camp. Among the field covered with corpses, the material for its construction was not looked for for a long time.

The soldiers, although tired of what had happened, began to pile one on top of the bodies and weapons of the dead, and, nailing them to the ground with spears, stood by this wall, as if in a bivouac, all night.

Pompey's eldest son was found a few days later; exhausted by the wound, he nonetheless sold his life dearly. The head of the young man, as the most valuable trophy, was delivered to Caesar. But the youngest - Sextus - again managed to escape.

The victory went to Caesar so hard that he did not hide his triumph over his opponents - the Romans. The winner this time did not reckon with the feelings of the Romans.

Plutarch is outraged:

The triumph celebrated on the occasion of the victory, like nothing else, upset the Romans. It was not good for Caesar to celebrate a triumph over the misfortunes of his fatherland, to be proud of what only necessity could serve as an excuse before gods and people. After all, Caesar did not defeat foreign leaders and not barbarian kings, but destroyed the children and the family of a man, the most famous among the Romans, who fell into misfortune.

Crown fitting

A flatterer is the worst enemy of any ruler, and he is more terrible than numerous armies. If an open enemy can defeat the dictator in battle, then there is a chance to win in the next battle. The flatterer kills slowly but methodically and irrevocably the mind of the ruler. The one who loses his mind soon loses his life. Honors rained down on Caesar, as if from a cornucopia.

Appian says:

In all sanctuaries and public places, sacrifices and dedications were made to him, military games were organized in his honor in all tribes and provinces, with all the kings who were friends with Rome. Various decorations were made over his images; on some of them there was a wreath of oak leaves as the savior of the fatherland ... He was called the father of the fatherland ... His person was declared sacred and inviolable; for public affairs, he was given seats made of ivory and gold; when sacrificing, he always had the vestments of a triumphant. It was decreed that the city should annually celebrate the days of Caesar's military victories, that the priests and vestals should perform prayers for him every five years, and that immediately after taking office, the magistrates would swear not to oppose anything that Caesar decreed. In honor of his birth, the month of Quintilius was renamed Julius.

Under the influence of flatterers, Caesar became more and more arrogant, and therefore unpleasant and even disgusting. Suetonius cites his contemptuous remarks about the political system, which was preferred by the majority of citizens: “the republic is nothing, an empty name without a body and appearance”, “Sulla did not know the basics if he abandoned dictatorial power”, “with him, Caesar, people must speak more carefully and consider his words as law.

The dictator began to openly laugh at the predictions of the priests, and without their approval, the God-fearing Romans did not start any important business.

He reached such arrogance that when a fortuneteller once announced an unfortunate future - the slaughtered animal turned out to be without a heart - he declared:

Everything will be fine if I wish it; and there is nothing surprising in the fact that cattle have no heart.

Nevertheless, Caesar understood that in complete solitude he could not hold out in the place won with such difficulty. I had to drop handouts from time to time. He delighted the plebeians with grandiose gladiatorial performances; soon the good intentions of introducing citizens to work were forgotten - "he again resorted to treats and grain distributions for the people."

Caesar's flirting with the nobility was at times anecdotal.

Reading from Plutarch:

As for the nobility, he promised some for the future the positions of consuls and praetors, he seduced others with other posts and honors, and equally inspired high hopes in all, striving to rule over those who voluntarily obey. When the consul Maximus died, for the remaining one day before the end of his term, Caesar appointed Caninius Rebilius as consul. As was the custom, many went to greet him, and Cicero said:

Let's hurry to catch him in the post of consul.

Dictators who have reached the highest earthly power, and it becomes not enough. Alexander the Great stubbornly tried to confirm his relationship with the gods; this cup did not pass even Caesar. Flatterers did not keep themselves waiting here either; The temple of Mercy was dedicated to the man who destroyed half of the citizens as a token of gratitude for his philanthropy.

The last act played a positive role: Caesar, as befitted a deity, really tried to become more merciful. He forgave many who fought on the side of Pompey, and granted honorary posts to some, such as Brutus and Cassius, both of whom became praetors. Caesar even ordered the statues of Pompey thrown down from their pedestals to be erected.

The dictator stopped using the services of the Praetorian cohorts that had guarded him since the beginning of the civil war; he went out to the people accompanied only by lictors. According to Velleius Paterculus, his friends, Pansa and Hirtius, constantly warned Caesar "that a principate acquired by arms must also be held by arms. Repeating that he would rather die than inspire fear, Caesar expected mercy, which he himself showed. According to Plutarch, he rejected the bodyguards, "stating that he thought it was better to die once than to constantly expect death."

All this was said for the people, but Caesar was a subtle psychologist. He understood that the dictator would come to an end as soon as the subjects felt that he was subject to fear. Caesar preferred to risk his life once again, but not to show with a hint that he, as a mere mortal, was not alien to this feeling unworthy of a Roman. In the end, hardly anyone was saved from death by bodyguards.

Caesar's ambition did not allow him to be satisfied with the title of dictator for life, because there was one more highest position left on earth. To occupy her in Rome, glorified by centuries of republican traditions, was not an easy task, but Caesar was not afraid of difficulties. Step by step he probed the ground; the dictator showed unprecedented ingenuity to accustom the Romans to the idea that they, too, might have a king.

Once, the full Senate, headed by the consuls, came to Caesar to read him a decree on the next honors. Caesar greeted the fathers of the people, but did not get up, as was required by law. Suetonius and Plutarch claim that Caesar tried to rise, but he was restrained by one of the flatterers - Cornelius Balbus:

Don't you remember that you are Caesar? Will you not demand that you be honored as a higher being?

The behavior of the dictator seemed all the more outrageous because he himself, riding in triumph past the tribune seats and seeing that one of the tribunes named Pontius Aquila did not stand before him, became so indignant that he exclaimed:

Shouldn't you also return the republic, L'Aquila, the people's tribune?

A curious incident occurred during the Latin Games: a man from the crowd laid "a laurel wreath intertwined with a white band" on the statue of Caesar. However, the tribunes of the people, Marullus and Flav, ordered the bandage to be torn off the wreath, and the man to be taken to prison. Caesar was extremely annoyed that the allusion to royal power was not successful.

He soon took revenge on these reckless defenders of the Republic. At a meeting of the Senate, the dictator accused the tribunes of “that they treacherously accuse him of striving to be a tyrant,” Appian narrates, “and added at the same time that he considers them deserving of death, but is limited only to depriving them of their office and expulsion from the senate. With this act, Caesar blamed himself most of all for striving for this title, because the reason for the punishment of the tribunes was that they fought against the title of Caesar as king, while the power of the tribunes was both by law and by oath, observed since ancient times, sacred and inviolable ... "

Caesar understood that the Romans did not like his actions, and even repented (we will not find out how sincerely), but he could not help himself. According to Plutarch, the next popular holiday - Lupercalia - Caesar watched from the dais for speakers, sitting on a golden chair, discharged, as for a triumph.

Anthony, as consul, was also one of the spectators of the sacred run. Antony entered the forum and, when the crowd parted before him, he handed Caesar a crown entwined with a laurel wreath. Among the people, as was prepared in advance, liquid applause was heard. When Caesar rejected the crown, the whole people applauded. After Antony offered the crown a second time, unfriendly claps were heard again. At the second refusal of Caesar, everyone again applauded.

Caesar realized that the idea had failed, and ordered that the crown be taken to the Capitol.

Well, the dictator was rebuffed by the citizens in a frontal attack and was now sneaking up from the other side: a rumor was stubbornly spreading in Rome that the mysterious Sibylline books predicted that the Parthians would be defeated by the Romans only when they were led into battle by the king.

He did not lose hope that the Romans would someday favorably accept the royal diadem on his head. Caesar always got what he wanted; it remains only a mystery in what way a man of genius would solve this historical question. He just didn't have time...

At the same time, Caesar reached such a level that he stopped thinking rationally. In the same way, the unceasing thirst for glory, honor, world domination haunted Alexander the Great and will haunt Napoleon - until ordinary human death reminds these supermen that they are not gods. How similar they are! In this regard, Plutarch's information is interesting.

Numerous successes were not for the active nature of Caesar the basis for calmly enjoying the fruits of his labors. On the contrary, as if inflaming and inciting him, they gave rise to plans for even greater undertakings in the future and the desire for new glory, as if he had not been achieved. It was a kind of competition with oneself, as if with a rival, and the desire to surpass the past with future exploits. He was preparing for a war with the Parthians, and after conquering them, he had the intention, having passed through Hyrcania along the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus, bypass Pontus and invade Scythia, then attack the countries neighboring Germany and Germany, then return to Italy through Gaul, closing the circle Roman possessions so that on all sides the empire bordered on the Ocean.

Like any dictator, Caesar sought to leave a memory of himself in grandiose building projects. Among them: digging a canal across the Isthmus of Corinth, draining marshes to provide land for tens of thousands of citizens, building a dam in the sea near Rome, and even changing the course of the Tiber to force it into the sea in a completely different place.

All Caesar's plans were not destined to come true.

Premonitions

As a truly great man, Caesar read the thoughts and intentions of the people around him, foresaw his fate and even knew the names of those who would try to shorten his life.

More than 60 people participated in the conspiracy against the dictator, and, naturally, such an event could not remain secret. Denunciations followed one after another, but Caesar did not pay due attention to them: surrounded by servile envious flatterers, he learned to value their opinion and words accordingly. There were so many lies around him that even Caesar found it difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Once he was informed of Mark Junius Brutus. Touching his hand to his body, Caesar answered the informer:

Brutus will wait a little longer with this body!

The dictator hoped: Brutus is grateful to him for having survived after the battle of Pharsalus and having received a high public position. But soon Caesar will not be so sure of his favorite.

Plutarch writes:

On another occasion, having received a denunciation that Antony and Dolabella were plotting a rebellion, he said, alluding to Cassius and Brutus:

I'm not especially afraid of these long-haired fat men, but rather pale and skinny ones.

Mark Junius Brutus (National Museum, Rome, Italy)

One fortuneteller predicted to Caesar that on the Ides of March (March 15) he should beware of great danger.

On the eve of the predicted day, Caesar dined in the company of noble Romans. It was about what kind of death is the best. Caesar was the first to say:

Unexpected!

It is unlikely that his own death came as a surprise to him: bad forebodings stubbornly pursued the dictator.

Plutarch describes Caesar's last night:

When Caesar went to bed with his wife, all the doors and windows in his bedroom disappeared at once. Awakened by the noise and the bright light of the moon, Caesar saw Calpurnia sobbing in her sleep, making indistinct, inarticulate sounds. She dreamed that she was holding her murdered husband in her arms. With the onset of the day, she began to ask Caesar, if possible, not to go out and postpone the meeting of the senate; if he does not pay attention to her dreams at all, then at least through other omens and sacrifices, let him find out the future. Here, apparently, apprehension and anxiety crept into Caesar's soul, for before he had never noticed in Calpurnia the superstitious fear so characteristic of female nature, but now he saw her very agitated.

A meeting of the Senate was scheduled for March 15, and Caesar, according to tradition, performed a sacrifice before this. It was extremely unfavorable, as Appian claimed.

... The first animal turned out to be without a heart, and, as others say, its insides were deprived of a head. And the soothsayer replied that it was a sign of death. Caesar said with a laugh that something similar happened to him in Spain during the wars with Pompey. To this, the soothsayer said that Caesar was then in great danger and that now the sign is even more indicative of death. Caesar then ordered a new sacrifice to be made.

It did not give even a hint of a favorable outcome of the future meeting of the Senate. The dictator was not a superstitious person, but, like any genius, he had a highly developed intuition. Caesar decided to send Antony to dissolve the senate, but did not have time.

At this time, a worried Decimus Brutus, the cousin of Mark Brutus, appeared to him. The envoy of the conspirators knew how to lull Caesar's vigilance and how to bring him to the place where the treacherous daggers were waiting.

Plutarch writes:

He began to ridicule the fortune-tellers, saying that Caesar would incur accusations and reproaches of ill will from the senators, as it seemed that he was mocking the senate. Indeed, he continued, the senate had met at the suggestion of Caesar, and everyone was ready to decide that he should be proclaimed king of the extra-Italian provinces and wear the royal crown while in other lands and seas. But if someone announces to the already assembled senators that they disperse and assemble again when Calpurnia happens to have more favorable dreams, what will Caesar's ill-wishers say then? And if after that one of Caesar's friends begins to assert that this state of affairs is not slavery, not tyranny, who will want to listen to their words? And if Caesar, because of bad omens, nevertheless decided to consider this day not present, then it is better for him to come himself and, addressing the Senate with a greeting, adjourn the meeting. With these words, Brutus took Caesar by the hand and led him.

So, Caesar, with the help of Brutus, plucked up his resolve and went, as it seemed to him, towards the coveted crown. On the way, he met a fortuneteller who predicted big troubles on that particular day. Having greeted him, Caesar jokingly said:

But the Ides of March have arrived.

Yes, they came, but they didn’t pass, - he answered calmly.

Artemidorus of Cnidus, an expert in Greek literature, came into contact on this basis with some of the people who participated in the conspiracy of Brutus, and he managed to learn almost everything that was done from them. He approached Caesar, holding a scroll in his hand, in which was written everything that he intended to convey to Caesar about the conspiracy. Seeing that all the scrolls that are handed to him, Caesar is handing over to the slaves around him, he came very close, moved close to him and said:

Read it, Caesar, yourself, without showing it to others - and immediately! Here is something very important for you.

Caesar took the scroll in his hands, but many petitioners prevented him from reading it, although he tried many times to do so. So he entered the Senate, holding only this scroll in his hands.

Alas! Inevitable is what is appointed by fate.

Revolutionaries and terrorists of all subsequent eras will idolize Brutus, who delivered Rome from a tyrant. In Plutarch's biography of Brutus, we see Caesar's chief assassin in the most beautiful light. The author endowed his hero with outstanding moral virtues, good fame, and the reader is not inclined to reflect on the moral side of his act. But he killed a man who saved his life and gave him considerable power, killed treacherously vilely.

Moreover, Brutus, as far as can be judged, would certainly have taken the first place in the state, if, for some time longer, he had been content with the second, he had let the power of Caesar fade and fade the glory of his exploits.

This is the conclusion of Plutarch. But what Roman would rely on the natural course of life! This impatient people needs to get what they want here and now, and at any cost. Velleius Paterculus, who lived much earlier than Plutarch and wrote history, one might say, in hot pursuit, is not so complacent towards the conspirators.

In the year in which Brutus and Cassius committed this atrocity, they were praetors, and Brutus was consul designatus. Together with a gang of conspirators, accompanied by a detachment of gladiators D. Brutus, they occupied the Capitol.

And Plutarch himself slips other motives than a simple fight against tyranny. Upon careful consideration of the issue, the female trace is more and more clearly visible, which is not surprising given the exorbitant love of Caesar.

Listen to Suetonius.

Most of all he loved Brutus's mother, Servilia: even in his first consulate, he bought for her a pearl worth six millions, and during the civil war, apart from other gifts, he sold her the richest estates at auction for next to nothing. When many marveled at this cheapness, Cicero wittily remarked: “What is the bad deal if the third part remains with the seller?” The fact is that Servilia, as they suspected, brought her daughter Junia III together with Caesar.

It was this connection that protected Brutus in the most memorable battle of the Civil War. Plutarch says.

They say that Caesar was not indifferent to his fate and ordered the chiefs of his legions not to kill Brutus in battle, but to bring him alive if he surrenders voluntarily, and if he resists, release him without using violence. He gave such an order to please Servilia, the mother of Brutus. It is known that in his younger years he was in connection with Servilia, who was in love with him without memory, and Brutus was born in the midst of this love, and therefore, Caesar could consider him his son.

Caesar was glad of his salvation, called Brutus to him and not only freed him from all guilt, but also accepted him as one of his closest friends. Brutus, in general, used the power of Caesar to the extent that he himself desired it.

Mark Brutus was by no means proud of his mother's love affair, which became the property of general rumor. And Appian, listing the motives that pushed Brutus to kill Caesar, puts the personal in the first place, and only then the sublime.

... or because he was ungrateful; or because he did not know about his mother's misdeed, or did not believe it, or was ashamed; or because he loved freedom too much and preferred the fatherland to his father; or because, being a descendant of Brutus, who expelled kings in ancient times, he was incited and excited more than others by the people.

Much clearer with the motives of Cassius - the second largest figure in the conspiracy. There is not even a hint of lofty thoughts and nobility.

Plutarch states:

Brutus was kindled and hurried by Cassius, quick-tempered, passionate, in whom personal enmity towards Caesar boiled rather than hatred of tyranny. They say that Brutus was weary of power, and Cassius hated the ruler. He blamed Caesar for a lot and, by the way, could not forgive him for capturing the lions, which he, preparing to take the post of aedile, obtained for himself, and Caesar captured in Megara - when the city was taken by his commander Kalen - and did not return Cassia.

Lions - this is very serious, for this you can kill. All those who aspired to take elective office "treated" the people with gladiator games, and the organization of grandiose public spectacles with the persecution of exotic animals guaranteed votes, fame and career advancement.

In addition to lions, Cassius had another reason to hate. As we remember, Servilia brought her daughter Junia with Caesar. This same Junia later became the wife of Cassius.

And, finally, another woman of Caesar was the cause of the discontent of the Romans. In distant Egypt lived the greatest passion of Caesar - Cleopatra. He did not forget the queen, like most of the women who rapidly appeared in his life and disappeared just as quickly.

Suetonius testifies:

He invited her to Rome and released her with great honors and rich gifts, allowing her even to name her newborn son after him. Some Greek writers report that this son was similar to Caesar in face and posture.

If Caesar sought the crown, then he should have taken care of the heir. He had no children with Calpurnia, but Caesar did not want to divorce this kindest devoted woman. And he, according to Suetonius, solves the problem in his own spirit, that is, radically.

Helvius Cinna, a popular tribune, admitted to many that he had written and prepared a bill that Caesar ordered to be carried out in his absence: according to this law, Caesar was allowed to take as many wives as he liked and any, for the birth of heirs.

Having several wives was considered normal for the Macedonian kings Philip and Alexander, but in the eyes of the Romans, this was too much.

The bloody affair of the conspirators

Any dictator who ruled over millions of people, who decided the fate of the world, remains infinitely lonely at the end of his life. Alexander the Great was dying in Babylon, surrounded by military leaders waiting for his death, who were eager to tear apart a huge empire; they were so carried away by the division of the king's inheritance that they even forgot to bury his cooled body. Napoleon, betrayed by his marshals, generals and wife, spent his last days on an abandoned island in the company of sworn enemies - the British. Nobody even gave Stalin medicine on the eve of his death to ease his suffering. Caesar is no exception.

Caesar's murder is reminiscent of scenes from the cartoon "The Italian Job", when the whole city screams that the main character is going to rob a bank tomorrow. Virtually the entire Senate knew that the assassination of the dictator was to take place today. Everyone expected this event, and no one tried to prevent it. This is not surprising: the aristocracy was used to using power, and Caesar did not want to share it with anyone.

One of the senators - Popiliy Lena - even decided to have fun while waiting for the spectacle, and mocked the slowness of the conspirators to his heart's content. The conspirators appeared in advance at the Curia of Pompey, where a meeting of the Senate was scheduled.

Appian says:

When they learned of the inauspicious omens at Caesar's sacrifices and of the adjournment of the meeting, they were greatly embarrassed. When they were in a state of embarrassment, someone, taking Casca by the hand, said:

You are hiding from me, friend, but Brutus informed me.

And Casca, realizing his guilt, became embarrassed. The same, laughing, continued:

Where will you get the money you need for the post of aedile?

Then Casca came to his senses. Brutus and Cassius, thoughtfully negotiating something with each other, one of the senators, Popilius Lena, taking them aside, said that he wished success to what they had planned, and exhorted them to hurry, they were frightened and were silent from fright.

The nerves of the conspirators were strained to the limit when Caesar appeared on the threshold of the curia. And the merry Popiliy Lena continued to mock the fears of future killers.

As soon as Caesar stepped off the stretcher, Lena, the same one who recently wished success to Cassius' friends, crossed his path and started a serious conversation with him about some personal matter. At the sight of what was happening, and at the length of the conversation, the conspirators were frightened and were already preparing even to give each other a sign to kill themselves before they were captured. But seeing that, continuing the conversation, Lena looks more like asking and pleading for something than informing, they recovered, and when they saw that Lena said goodbye to Caesar at the end of the conversation, they became bolder again.

When Caesar appeared in the Curia, the entire Senate rose from their seats - this was the last sign of respect for the dictator. Enemies rushed towards him from all sides, like wolves smelling prey.

Here is how Plutarch describes the last moments of Caesar's life:

The conspirators, led by Brutus, were divided into two parts: some stood behind Caesar's chair, others went out to meet him, together with Tullius Cimbri, to ask for his exiled brother; with these requests, the conspirators escorted Caesar to his chair. Caesar, sitting in an armchair, rejected their requests, and when the conspirators approached him with even more insistent requests, he expressed his displeasure to each of them. Suddenly Tullius grabbed Caesar's toga with both hands and began to pull it from his neck, which was a sign of an attack. Casca was the first to stab at the back of the head with his sword; this wound, however, was not deep and not fatal: Casca, apparently, was at first embarrassed by the audacity of his terrible act.

Caesar, turning, grabbed and held the sword. Almost simultaneously, both shouted - the wounded Caesar in Latin: "Scoundrel, Casca, what are you doing?" - and Casca in Greek, referring to his brother: "Brother, help!"

The uninitiated senators, stricken with fear, did not dare to run, defend Caesar, or even scream. All the conspirators, ready to kill, surrounded Caesar with drawn swords: wherever he turned his gaze, he, like a wild beast surrounded by catchers, met the blows of swords aimed at his face and eyes, since it was agreed that all the conspirators would accept participation in the murder and, as it were, taste the sacrificial blood. Therefore, Brutus struck Caesar in the groin. Some writers say that, fighting off the conspirators, Caesar rushed about and shouted, but when he saw Brutus with a drawn sword, he threw a toga over his head and exposed himself to blows.

According to Suetonius, Caesar let out a cry of surprise when Marcus Brutus rushed at him: - And you, my child?

Brutus's blow fell on the groin: not a consistent defender of the republic could beat like that, but a son avenging the offended dignity of his mother.

And yet another revenge overtook Caesar at the moment of death, as Plutarch writes about.

Either the killers themselves pushed the body of Caesar to the plinth on which the statue of Pompey stood, or it ended up there by accident. The plinth was heavily spattered with blood. It might have been thought that Pompey himself appeared to avenge his adversary, who was prostrate at his feet, covered with wounds and still trembling.

Caesar was beaten long and hard, beaten at random, without choosing a place on the body - the failed king received 23 wounds, but, according to the doctor Antistius, only one of them turned out to be fatal. A huge crowd of murderers, according to the agreement, should be tied with blood, as a result, "many conspirators wounded each other, directing so many blows into one body."

The cut up corpse lay for quite a long time in the empty curia. The senators fled in all directions. Finally, three slaves placed the body on a stretcher and carried it home.

Appian compares Caesar's recent position with the current situation.

Most of the officials and a large crowd of citizens and visitors, many slaves and freedmen usually accompanied him from home to the senate. Of all of them, only three now remain, since all the rest have fled; they put the body of Caesar on a stretcher and carried it, but in a different way than it usually happened: only three carried home the one who had so recently been the ruler of the whole world.

Will

At first, it seemed that the greatest murder, committed "in a sacred place and over a special sacred and inviolable", was extremely successful.

There were unrest in the city, but they did not arise through the fault of the conspirators or those who wanted to punish them. Robbers and lovers of easy money took advantage of the events in the curia: "many of the townspeople and foreigners" died, "all goods were plundered."

Mark Antony - the right hand of Caesar - dressed in the clothes of a slave and fled away from the unfortunate place. The assassins became the masters of Rome.

Plutarch tells about the upcoming events.

The conspirators, led by Brutus, still not calmed down after the murder, flashing with drawn swords, gathered together and set off from the Curia to the Capitol. They did not look like fugitives: joyfully and boldly they called the people to freedom, and people of noble birth who they met on the way were invited to take part in their procession. Some, such as Gaius Octavius ​​and Lentulus Spinter, went with them and, posing as accomplices in the murder, attributed glory to themselves. Later they paid dearly for their boasting: they were executed by Antony and the young Caesar. So they did not enjoy the glory, because of which they died, because no one believed them, and even those who punished them punished them not for a committed offense, but for an evil intention.

The next day, the conspirators, led by Brutus, went to the forum and delivered speeches to the people. The people listened to the orators, expressing neither displeasure nor approval, and with complete silence showed that they pity Caesar, but honor Brutus. The Senate, trying to forget the past and universal reconciliation, on the one hand, appointed Caesar divine honors and did not cancel even his most unimportant orders, and on the other, distributed the provinces among the conspirators who followed Brutus, honoring them with due honors; therefore everyone thought that the state of affairs in the state was consolidated and the best balance was again achieved.

And what about Mark Antony - the most powerful person after Caesar, who was considered his friend? He was among the first to try to reach an agreement with the rebels and even sent them his son as a hostage. It was Anthony who convened the senate and did everything to peacefully divide the Roman provinces between the murderers of his friend.

On that day, Anthony left the curia the most famous and famous person in Rome - everyone believed that he had destroyed the civil war in the bud and, with the wisdom of a great statesman, settled matters fraught with unprecedented difficulties and dangers.

The situation, down to the smallest detail, resembles the story that took place after the death of Alexander the Great. Alas! People are the same everywhere, no matter where they live, no matter what languages ​​they communicate with each other. We repeat: for many days the corpse of Alexander remained without burial, for his military leaders were busy dividing his lands and wealth; in the same way, Caesar's body waited for burial until the lands of Rome were divided by his friends and murderers.

Alexander took revenge on them all in a very simple way. To the question: “To whom does he leave the kingdom,” the dying man answered: “To the most worthy.” And for several decades, his military leaders in heated internecine battles found out who corresponded to this word - until they killed each other.

At first glance, it seems that Caesar acted more noblely: he left a will and appointed Gaius Octavius, the grandson of his sister, as the heir. The young man was adopted in absentia, received the name of his adoptive father and three-quarters of his property. But Caesar created a precedent: many hotheads realized that from now on the power of the consuls is worthless, and whoever is more agile will be able to repeat the path of Caesar. The division of provinces began, and Mark Antony, who had sat in a secluded place while a friend was being killed, now dreamed of taking his place. The boy, appointed by Caesar as heirs, was not taken into account by anyone. And in vain! Caesar knew to whom to convey his dream.

Caesar knew how to please the Romans even after his own death and how to take revenge on his murderers - a perspicacious man did not leave them a single chance. All hopes for civil peace were destroyed by the generosity of the dictator. According to his will, Caesar left the gardens beyond the Tiber to the people for public use and 300 sesterces to each citizen. The love of the Romans for everything free became too great, and the dead tyrant again became a universal favorite after the announcement of his last will.

Suetonius says:

On the day of the funeral, a funeral pyre was built on the Field of Mars near the tomb of Julia, and in front of the rostral platform, a gilded building like the temple of Venus; inside there was an ivory bed, covered with purple and gold, at the head - a pillar with clothes in which Caesar was killed. It was clear that everyone who was walking with offerings would not have enough day for the procession: then they were ordered to converge on the Field of Mars without order, by any means. At the funeral games, arousing indignation and grief over his death, they sang verses from Pacuvia's "Court on Arms":

Wasn't I the savior of my killers?

The burial bed was brought to the forum by officials of this year and previous years. Some suggested burning it in the temple of Capitoline Jupiter, others in the curia of Pompey, when two unknown men suddenly appeared, belted with swords, brandishing darts, and set fire to the building with wax torches.

This saved the temple of Jupiter or the meeting place of the senate from destruction, but the Romans continued to rampage.

Immediately the surrounding crowd began to drag dry brushwood, benches, judicial chairs and everything that was brought as a gift into the fire. Then the flutists and actors began to tear off their triumphal clothes, put on for such a day, and, tearing them, threw them into the flames; the old legionaries burned the weapons with which they adorned themselves for funerals, and many women burned their headdresses that were on them, bullas and children's dresses. In the midst of this immeasurable universal sorrow, here and there many foreigners mourned the murdered man, each in his own way, especially the Jews, who, and then for many more nights, gathered in the ashes.

The promised sestertia helped the Romans realize that they had lost their dearest person, and, naturally, their hatred fell on the murderers.

Immediately after the burial, people with torches rushed to the houses of Brutus and Cassius. He was hardly restrained; but meeting Helvius Cinna along the way, the people killed him, confusing his name with Cornelius Cinna, who was sought for his speech against Caesar delivered the day before in the assembly; Cinna's head was put on a spear and carried through the streets. Subsequently, the people erected in the forum a column of solid Numidian marble, about 20 feet high, with the inscription "to the father of the fatherland." At its foot, for a long time, sacrifices were made, vows were made and disputes were resolved, taking an oath in the name of Caesar.

The case ended as it should have ended - a new civil war. The conspirators did not achieve any of the intended goals: the Romans soon had new tyrants - and far from being as kind, prudent and talented as Caesar. Not long Brutus and Cassius enjoyed power in the provinces allocated to them. Caesar's revenge overtook everyone.

Suetonius sums it up:

Of his killers, almost no one lived after that for more than three years, and no one died a natural death. All of them were condemned, and all died in different ways: some in a shipwreck, some in battle. And some struck themselves with the same dagger with which they killed Caesar.

Young successor

Mark Antony tried to take Caesar's place - he could not understand that this nut was too tough for him: 19-year-old Gaius Octavius ​​(almost a boy!), Which Caesar appointed as his successor, methodically destroyed his plans, took one position after another.

The consul Antony at first received Octavius ​​arrogantly; admitting him to the Pompeian gardens, he barely found time for a conversation.

This is told by Velley Paterkul. Plutarch agrees with him:

At first, Antony, full of disdain for his (Octavius) youth, told him that he was simply out of his mind and deprived not only of reason, but also of good friends, if he wanted to take on his shoulders such an unbearable burden as Caesar's inheritance.

Antony felt himself master of the situation. Still would! He was a consul, and his brothers occupied the highest positions: Guy - the praetor, and Lucius - the people's tribune. Under his command was an army; in addition, the consul embezzled 700 million sesterces from the state treasury.

Octavian (the name of the new Caesar is often found in such a transcription) deprived Antony of money in a very simple way: he only recalled that Caesar bequeathed to each citizen three hundred sesterces; Antony could not rob all the Romans, because he was afraid to be left all alone. The frail, sickly young man very soon drove the powerful Antony into a corner.

Plutarch writes:

... when he entrusted himself to the cares of Cicero and all the others who hated Antony, and through them began to dispose the senate in his favor, while he himself tried to gain the favor of the people and gathered old warriors from their settlements to Rome, Antony was frightened and, having arranged a meeting with Caesar on the Capitol, reconciled with him.

The union with the young Gaius Julius Caesar (the heir took the name of his father who adopted him; in 27 the young emperor took the title Augustus) Antony had to pay with the blood of close relatives: he sacrificed Lucius Caesar, his maternal uncle. For this, he received the right to kill the greatest orator, Cicero, who pretty much annoyed him. Here Antony gave vent to his passions.

Antony ordered Cicero to cut off his head and right hand, with which the orator wrote his speeches against him. This prey was delivered to him, and he looked at it, happy, and laughed for a long time with joy, and then, having seen enough, he ordered to put it on the forum, on the oratory's dais. He thought that he was mocking the dead, but rather, in front of everyone, he insulted Fate and dishonored his power!

Three hundred of the most prominent citizens were outlawed and executed, the new Caesar, trying not to repeat the fate of his adoptive father, surpassed him with cruelty. Entire families were mowed down to the root: by the beginning of the imperial period, no more than fifty patrician families remained in existence. Due to the fact that there was no one to send priestly cults, served exclusively by the noble class, Octavian transferred several plebeian families to the category of patricians.

Slowly but surely, Octavian took Rome into his own hands. He fought rather unsuccessfully with Brutus and Cassius, and even in the first battle he was forced to flee. The victory was brought by another wing of the army, commanded by Mark Antony. Well, Octavian knew how to rake in the heat with the wrong hands.

Suetonius testifies:

Nevertheless, after the victory, he showed no gentleness: he sent the head of Brutus to Rome to throw it at the feet of the statue of Caesar, and taking out his fury on the most noble captives, he also showered them with abuse. So, when someone humbly asked not to deprive his body of burial, he replied:

The birds will take care of it!

He ordered two others, a father and a son, who asked for mercy, to decide by lot or a game of fingers who would stay alive, and then watched how they both died - the father succumbed to his son and was executed, and the son then committed suicide.

And another example of the sophisticated cruelty of the new Caesar is described by Suetonius.

After the capture of Perusius, he executed many prisoners. Anyone who tried to beg for mercy or make excuses, he cut off with three words:

You must die!

Some write that he selected from the surrendered three hundred people of all classes and on the ides of March at the altar in honor of the divine Julius killed them like sacrificial cattle. There were also those who claimed that he deliberately brought the matter to war, so that his secret enemies and all who followed him out of fear and against their will, took advantage of the opportunity to join Antony and betray themselves, and so that he could, having defeated them, from confiscated property to pay promised rewards to veterans.

The new dictator was too smart to be kind. The power that the adoptive father had acquired by violence, he preferred to retain with the help of the same means, diluting it only with deceit.

After the death of the first dictator for life for 14 years (44-30 BC), a new civil war flared up, and a new generation of Romans carried their heads to its altar. It was not family relics that were inherited, but love, fate and death.

At the end of another bloody epic, Mark Antony will die by his own sword, having inherited from Caesar, perhaps, only one real thing - a fatal love for the Egyptian queen Cleopatra. And the royal mistress of the two most powerful Romans preferred the bite of a snake to shame in Octavian's triumphal procession.

The new Caesar thought for some time: what to do with Caesarion, the son of Cleopatra and his adoptive father. Thought for a while; he ordered his half-brother to be killed, believing that two Caesars on earth were too many. So the last man turned to dust, in whose veins the blood of the hero of our story flowed.

The children of Marcus Porcius Cato were worthy of his name. The son of the most resolute defender of the republic, according to Plutarch, was a frivolous person and too greedy for female charms.

However, he crossed out all this notoriety and erased it with his death. He fought at Philippi for freedom against Caesar and Antony, and when the battle formation had already faltered, he did not want to either run or hide at all, but fell, challenging his enemies, shouting his name loudly to them and encouraging his comrades who remained near him, so that even the enemy could not help but admire his courage.

The fate of Cato's daughter, Portia, is also tragic. She was married to Marcus Brutus and was involved in a conspiracy that aimed to assassinate Caesar. When the woman received the news that her husband had died under Philippi, she decided that she had no reason to live anymore. None of the friends agreed to help Portia leave after her husband. Then the worthy daughter of Cato snatched a red-hot coal from the fire, “swallowed it, clenched her teeth tightly and died without opening her mouth.”

The son of Titus Labienus - Quintus - after the defeat of Brutus and Cassius went to the service of the worst enemies of the Romans - the Parthians. He was even appointed governor of Mesopotamia, but soon died in battle with the commander Mark Antony.

And again Caesar fought with Pompey. Octavian, who took the name of the dictator, brought a lot of trouble to the youngest son of Pompey - Sextus. He hid in the mountains of Spain for a long time and even led a successful guerrilla war after Caesar celebrated his triumphs, including the Spanish one. The death of the dictator from the daggers of the conspirators gave Sextus hope that he would be able to return to Rome and end the life of a wanderer. Not here - it was! The young heir to the dictator included Sextus in the list of persons to be destroyed as involved in the murder of the "father of the fatherland." Although the last son of Pompey was far from Italy and Rome at the moment when Brutus and Cassius, on a memorable day on March 15, 44 BC, e. raised treacherous daggers.

Octavian regretted a thousand times that he had so carelessly treated the last son of Gnaeus Pompey the Great. The offended Sextus concluded an agreement with the pirates and with their help occupied Sicily, and then Sardinia and Corsica. The Pompeians who remained after the defeat in Spain and Africa fled to him, in Sicily, the like-minded people of Brutus and Cassius, who were on the proscription lists and were defeated, found a warm welcome. He took on the service of young Pompey and slaves; “So many slaves fled at that time,” says Dio Cassius, “that the Vestal virgins made sacrifices so that their flight would stop.”

Sextus Pompey became the most powerful force among the participants in another fratricidal war. He easily repelled an attempt to expel him from the island and captured many prisoners in the process. To laugh at his opponents, Pompey arranged a gladiatorial naval battle in the strait between Italy and Sicily - captive Romans fought among themselves.

Octavian, who did not appreciate the abilities of Sextus Pompey in time, now wanted only one thing - to reach a peace agreement with him. And more recently, the almighty Caesar and Antony were forced to accept Pompey's offer to dine on his flagship.

Plutarch reports:

The ship anchored closer to land, built something like a bridge, and Pompey cordially received his guests. In the midst of the feast, when jokes about Cleopatra and Antony were pouring in, Pompey was approached by the pirate Men and whispered in his ear:

Do you want me to cut off the anchor ropes and make you master not of Sicily and Sardinia, but of the Roman Empire? On hearing these words, Pompey, after a moment's reflection, answered:

What would you do without warning me, Men! And now I have to be content with what I have - breaking an oath is not in my custom.

Having been, in turn, at the reciprocal feasts of Antony and Caesar, Sextus sailed to Sicily.

Concessions to Pompey were made beyond even his expectations. According to Dion Cassius, it was assumed that Sextus, who had previously been sentenced to death, “would be elected consul, admitted to the college of augurs, received seventy million sesterces from his father’s fortune and would govern Sicily, Sardinia and Achaia for five years…”

The joy of the Romans was indescribable, as Dio Cassius relates.

After drawing up and signing this treaty, they sent it to the Vestals for safekeeping, and then exchanged gifts and embraced each other. At the same moment, a great deafening cry arose from the mainland and from the ships. Most of the soldiers and civilians present cried out at the same time, being terribly weary of the war and looking forward to peace, so that even the mountains trembled; and thereupon a great alarm arose among them, and many died of fright, and others were trampled or suffocated. Those who were in small boats did not wait to reach the land on them, but jumped into the sea, and those who were on the shore threw themselves into the water, which presented an extraordinary spectacle. Some knew that their relatives and friends were alive, and, meeting with them, gave vent to unbridled joy. Others, who thought those dear to them dead, now suddenly saw them and for a long time did not know what to do, remained silent, not believing their eyes and praying that this turned out to be true; and could not believe until they called them by their names and heard their voices in response; then, verily, they rejoiced no less than if their friends had risen from the dead, and, yielding to a surge of joy, could not refrain from tears.

However, is it possible to conclude an agreement between wolves and share one desired sheep named Rome? Immediately after the historic meeting of the highest officials of Rome on a pirate ship, Antony returned "to Greece and stayed there for a long time, satisfying his passions and ruining the cities so that they went to Sextus in the most deplorable state."

The new Caesar also did not want to share power with anyone. The unsurpassed master of intrigue, the genius of cunning - Octavian - lured the praetor of Sardinia Mena, the best naval commander Pompey, to his side. The first meeting of rivals was unsuccessful for Octavian: he was defeated at sea, the remnants of the fleet were destroyed by a storm. Pirate Men, who cared only about his own benefit, again went over to Pompey.

The worthy heir of Caesar began to build new ships and recruit teams for them, while the ground forces landed in Sicily. Octavian's perseverance was appreciated by Men and again went over to his side.

The decisive battle took place in September 36 BC. e. The sea battle was extremely cruel, despite the fact that sometimes blood relatives fought among themselves. Appian writes:

The approaching ships fought in every way, their crews jumped onto enemy ships, and it was equally difficult to distinguish the enemy from both sides, since everyone had the same weapons, and almost everyone spoke Italian. The agreed password in this mutual scuffle was made known to everyone - a circumstance that served for many different deceptions - on both sides; they did not recognize each other both in battle and in the sea, filled with the bodies of the dead, weapons, shipwrecks.

Pompey lost most of the fleet, his land army then surrendered to the commander Octavian - Agrippa. The recent ruler of Sicily and the entire Mediterranean Sea fled to Asia and, like Hannibal, decided to fight to the end. Sextus Pompey managed to capture the cities of Nicaea and Nicomedia; he, not without reason, hoped to get the help of the Parthians and tried to make an alliance with Antony.

However, the short-sighted Mark Antony hurried to get rid of the warlike offspring of Pompey the Great - the only person who could give him real help in the fight against Octavian. Abandoned and betrayed by all, Sextus Pompey surrendered without any conditions to the commander of Anthony - Titius.

So Sextus Pompey, the last of the sons of Pompey the Great, was captured. Remaining very young after his father, and being a young man during the life of his brother, he lived for a long time after them in obscurity, engaged in secret robbery in Spain, until, as for the son of Pompey the Great, many adherents gathered around him. Then he began to act more openly and, after the death of Gaius Caesar, began a great war, gathered a large army, ships, money, and, capturing the islands, became master of the entire western sea, plunged Italy into hunger and forced the enemies to conclude the treaty that he desired. His greatest deed was that he acted as a protector when the city suffered from destructive proscriptions, and saved the lives of many of the best people who, thanks to him, at that time found themselves back in their homeland. But due to some kind of blindness, Pompey himself never attacked the enemies, although a favorable opportunity presented itself for this; he was only defending himself.

At the behest of Antony, Titius ordered the death of Sextus Pompey. The last hero of the republic was about 33 years old when the executioner's tool forever calmed his rebellious soul in Miletus.

Caesar's dream of an ideal ruler turned out to be a utopia. The cunning and cruel Octavian would be considered a "good" emperor. Good because Rome will shudder more than once from the follies of Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Commodus, Antoninus - Elagabalus ...

One can endlessly enumerate Caesar's merits to Rome and world history, the most important of which is the annexation of a huge territory inhabited by the Gauls to Rome, and its subsequent Romanization. However, it was his experiments that led to the fact that the greatest state began to decline. The point is not so much that Rome lost more than half of its population in the fires of civil wars and that it could not recover from such losses; more and more often the Romans will include barbarian contingents in their troops. Perhaps more terrible is something else: not least thanks to Caesar, the word “fatherland” in the mind was transformed into the word “I”. Citizens think less and less about their homeland - the legionnaires are not fighting for it, but for the person leading them into battle. And they fight not for glory, but for prey.

The Romans began to live today. But for those who do this, tomorrow turns out to be bleak.

Gaius Julius Caesar (July 13 or 12, 100 or 102 BC - March 15, 44 BC) - Ancient Roman statesman and politician, dictator, commander, writer. With his conquest of Gaul, Caesar expanded the Roman power to the shores of the North Atlantic and subjugated the territory of modern France to Roman influence, and also launched an invasion of the British Isles. Caesar's activities changed the cultural and political face of Western Europe and left an indelible mark on the lives of the next generations of Europeans. Gaius Julius Caesar, possessing brilliant abilities as a military strategist and tactician, won the battles of the civil war and became the sole ruler of Pax Romana. Along with Gnaeus Pompey, he began the reform of Roman society and the state, which, after his death, led to the establishment of the Roman Empire. Caesar wanted to centralize the government of the republic. His assassination led to the resumption of civil wars, the decline of the Roman Republic and the birth of the Empire, which was headed by Octavian Augustus, adopted by him.

Biography
Gaius Julius Caesar was born in Subura, a suburb of Rome, located near the Forum, in a patrician family from the Julius family, which played a significant role in the history of Rome. The Yuliev family descended from Yul, the son of the Trojan elder Aeneas, who, according to mythology, was the son of the goddess Venus. At the height of his glory, in 45 BC. e. Caesar founded the temple of Venus the Ancestor in Rome, alluding to his kinship with the goddess. The father of the future dictator, also Gaius Julius Caesar the Elder (proconsul of Asia), stopped his career as a praetor. On the maternal side, Caesar came from the Cotta family of the Aurelius family with an admixture of plebeian blood. Caesar's uncles were consuls: Sextus Julius Caesar (91 BC), Lucius Julius Caesar (90 BC). Gaius Julius Caesar lost his father at the age of sixteen, and maintained close friendly relations with his mother until her death in 54 BC. e.
A noble and cultured family created favorable conditions for its development; careful physical education served him later a considerable service; a thorough education - scientific, literary, grammatical, on Greco-Roman foundations - formed logical thinking, prepared it for practical activity, for literary work.

Marriage and service
Before Caesar, the Julius family, despite their aristocratic origin, were not rich by the standards of the Roman nobility of that time. That is why, until Caesar himself, almost none of his relatives achieved much influence. Only his paternal aunt, Julia, married Gaius Maria, a talented commander and reformer of the Roman army. Internal political conflicts in Rome at that time reached such a sharpness that they led to civil war. After the capture of Rome by Mary in 87 BC. e. for a time the power of the popular was established. Young Caesar was awarded the title of Flamin Jupiter. In 86 BC e. Marius died, and in 84 BC. e. during a mutiny in the troops, the consul Cinna, who had usurped power, was killed. In 82 BC e. Rome was taken by the troops of Lucius Cornelius Sulla, and Sulla himself became dictator. Caesar was connected by double family ties with the party of his opponent - Maria: at the age of seventeen he married Cornelia, the youngest daughter of Lucius Cornelius Cinna, an associate of Marius and the worst enemy of Sulla. Despite the threat of getting into the proscription lists and being executed if he was refused, Caesar remained faithful to his wife. The requests of numerous relatives, personally connected with Sulla, saved him from the wrath of the dictator. The disgrace of the dictator forced Julius Caesar to resign from the powers of the flamingo and leave Rome for Asia Minor, where he served military service at the headquarters of propraetor Mark Minucius Fermas. Here he also had to fulfill diplomatic missions at the court of the Bithynian king Nicomedes. During the siege and assault on Mitylene, he earned a military distinction - a civil wreath, which he received from the hands of the propraetor Mark Minucius Fermas himself. In connection with the reforms of Sulla, the owner of the civil wreath immediately, regardless of age, became a member of the Senate. Subsequently, he was in Cilicia, in the camp of Servilius Isauricus. Three years of stay in the East did not pass without a trace for the young man; in further conclusions about the nature of his policy, one must always keep in mind the first impressions of his youth received in a cultured, rich, orderly monarchical Asia.

Return to Rome
After the death of Sulla, Caesar returned to Rome and joined the political struggle. Both processes Caesar lost, but gained fame as one of the best orators of Rome. In order to perfectly master the skill of oratory, Caesar specifically in 75 BC. e. went to Rhodes to the famous teacher Apollonius Molon. On the way, he was captured by Cilician pirates, he had to pay a significant ransom of twenty talents for his release, and while his friends collected money, he spent more than a month in captivity, practicing eloquence in front of the kidnappers. After his release, he assembled a fleet in Miletus, captured a pirate fortress and ordered the captured pirates to be crucified on the cross as a warning to others. But, since they treated him well at one time, Caesar ordered to break their legs before the crucifixion in order to facilitate and their suffering. Then he often showed leniency towards defeated opponents. This was the manifestation of the “mercy of Caesar”, so praised by the ancient authors. Caesar takes part in the war with King Mithridates at the head of an independent detachment, but does not stay there for long. In 74 BC. e. he returns to Rome. In 73 BC e. Subsequently, he wins the election to the military tribunes. He actively participates in the struggle for the restoration of the rights of the people's tribunes, curtailed by Sulla, for the rehabilitation of the associates of Gaius Maria, who were persecuted during the period of Sulla's dictatorship, seeks the return of Lucius Cornelius Cinna, the son of the consul Lucius Cornelius Cinna and the brother of Caesar's wife. In 70 BC. e. between Pompey and Crassus begins a struggle for power in Rome. Both of these commanders had just won outstanding victories - Crassus led the army that defeated the rebellious slaves led by Spartacus, and Pompey, having crushed the uprising of Sertorius in Spain, returned to Italy and destroyed the remnants of Spartacus's troops. Both competitors claimed to receive the entire Roman army under their command. In 69 BC e. Caesar becomes a widower - Cornelia dies in childbirth. In 68 BC e. his aunt Julia, the widow Gaia Maria, dies. Caesar's funeral speech is full of political allusions and calls for political reform. In the same year, 34-year-old Caesar was elected quaestor. The new marriage of Caesar - to Pompey, granddaughter of Sulla, daughter of Quintus Pompey Rufus - cements, according to the Hellenistic custom of political marriages, this rapprochement. Caesar is in favor of granting emergency military powers to Pompey. Pompey prevails in the fight against Crassus, leads the fleet and army, and in 66 BC. e. begins a campaign to the East, during which the Romans conquer most of Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine. In 65 BC e. Caesar is elected aedile. Its functions include the organization of urban construction, transport, trade, and the daily life of Rome. Caesar's second wife, Pompeia, was responsible as the wife of the high priest for organizing the religious festival of the Good Goddess, in which only women could participate. However, a man dressed in a woman's dress made his way into the building intended for the sacred ceremony, which was a monstrous sacrilege. Caesar was forced to file for divorce - while recognizing that his wife may be innocent, he nevertheless declares: "Caesar's wife must be above suspicion."

Gallic War
The reason for the outbreak of hostilities in 58 BC. e. in Transalpine Gaul, there was a massive migration to these lands of the Celtic tribe of the Helvetians. After the victory over the Helvetians in the same year, a war followed against the Germanic tribes invading Gaul, led by Ariovistus, which ended in the complete victory of Caesar. The rise of Roman influence in Gaul caused unrest among the Belgae. Campaign 57 BC e. begins with the pacification of the Belgae and continues with the conquest of the northwestern lands, where the Nervii and Aduatuki tribes lived. In the summer of 57 BC. e. on the bank of the river Sabris, a grandiose battle took place between the Roman legions and the army of the Nervii, when only luck and the best training of the legionnaires allowed the Romans to win. At the same time, a legion under the command of the legate Publius Crassus conquered the tribes of northwestern Gaul. Based on Caesar's report, the senate was forced to decide on a celebration and a 15-day prayer of thanksgiving. But in 56 BC. e. riots take place in various parts of Gaul. Caesar hastily returns from Illyria to put down the rebellions. To defeat the Veneti that had fallen away from Caesar, a fleet was built at the mouth of the Loire, which won a victory under the command of Decimus Brutus. As a result of three years of successful war, Caesar greatly increased his fortune. New 55 BC e. It began with the capture of the Gallic lands in the territory of modern Flanders by the Germanic tribes of the Usipets and Tencters. Having dealt with uninvited guests in a short time, Caesar establishes a crossing over the Rhine and makes a trip to Germany. That same summer, Caesar organizes his first, and the next, 54 BC. e. second expedition to Britain. The legions met here with such fierce resistance from the natives that Caesar had to return to Gaul with nothing. In 53 BC e. unrest continued in the Gallic tribes, who could not come to terms with oppression by the Romans. In 52 BC e. unrest among the Gauls continued. The uprising of the Arverni was led by Vercingetorix. The successes of Vercingetorix brought him new supporters, as a result of which the war swept over the whole of Gaul. Finally, Caesar laid siege to Vercingetorix in Alesia, surrounding the fortress with a double ring of fortifications, with Caesar's legions stationed between the siege fortifications. After the successful Gallic Wars, Caesar's popularity in Rome reached its highest peak. Even such opponents of Caesar as Cicero and Gaius Valerius Catullus recognized the grandiose merits of the commander.

The power of Julius Caesar
For a long time of his political activity, Julius Caesar realized that one of the main evils that cause a serious illness in the Roman political system is the instability, impotence and purely urban character of the executive power, the selfish, narrow party and class nature of the power of the senate. From the first moments of his career, he openly and definitely struggled with both. The agrarian commission, the triumvirate, then the duumvirate with Pompey, to which J. Caesar held on so tenaciously, show that he was not against collegiality or the division of power. With the death of Pompey, Caesar actually remained the sole head of state; the power of the senate was broken and power was concentrated in one hand, as once in the hands of Sulla. To carry out all the plans that Caesar had conceived, his power had to be as strong as possible, perhaps unrestricted, possibly complete, but at the same time, at least at first, it should not formally go beyond the framework of the constitution.
In the year 49 - the year of the beginning of the civil war - during his stay in Spain, the people, at the suggestion of Praetor Lepidus, choose him as dictator. Returning to Rome, J. Caesar passes several laws, collects comitia, at which he is elected consul for the second time, and renounces dictatorship. In the next year 48, he received a dictatorship for the 2nd time, on the 47th year. In the same year, after the victory over Pompey, during his absence, he receives a number of powers: in addition to the dictatorship - a consulate for 5 years (from the year 47) and tribunal power, that is, the right to sit with the tribunes and conduct investigations with them - moreover, the right to name to the people their candidate for magistracies, with the exception of plebeian ones, the right to distribute provinces without lot to former praetors and the right to declare war and make peace. The representative of Caesar this year in Rome is the dictator's assistant M. Antony, in whose hands, despite the existence of consuls, all power is concentrated. In 46, Caesar was both dictator for the third time and consul; Lepidus was the second consul. This year, after the African war, his powers are significantly expanded. He was elected dictator for 10 years and at the same time the leader of morals, with unlimited powers. Moreover, he receives the right to vote first in the Senate and to occupy a special seat in it, between the seats of both consuls. At the same time, his right to recommend candidates for magistrates to the people was confirmed, which was tantamount to the right to appoint them. In 45 he was dictator for the 4th time and at the same time consul; his assistant was the same Lepidus. After the Spanish war, he was elected dictator for life and consul for 10 years. The inviolability of the tribunes is added to the power of the tribunes; the right to appoint magistrates and pro-magistrates is extended by the right to appoint consuls, allocate provinces to proconsuls, and appoint plebeian magistrates. In the same year, Caesar was given the exclusive authority to dispose of the army and the money of the state. Finally, in 44 he was granted lifelong censorship and all his orders were approved in advance by the Senate and the people.

Foreign policy
The guiding idea of ​​Caesar's foreign policy was the creation of a strong and integral state with natural, if possible, borders. Caesar pursued this idea in the north, and in the south, and in the east. His wars in Gaul, Germany and Britain were caused by the necessity he realized to push the border of Rome to the ocean on the one hand, and at least to the Rhine on the other. His plan for a campaign against the Getae and Dacians proves that the Danube border also lay within the limits of his plans. Within the border that united Greece with Italy by land, Greco-Roman culture was supposed to reign; the countries between the Danube and Italy and Greece were to be as much a buffer against the peoples of the north and east as the Gauls were against the Germans. Closely connected with this is Caesar's policy in the East. His Eastern policy, including the actual annexation of the Roman state of Egypt, was aimed at rounding off the Roman Empire in the East. The only serious opponent of Rome here were the Parthians. The revival of the Persian kingdom ran counter to the tasks of Rome, the successor to the monarchy of Alexander, and threatened to undermine the economic well-being of the state, which was entirely based on the monetary East. A decisive victory over the Parthians would have made Caesar, in the eyes of the East, the direct successor of Alexander the Great, the rightful monarch. In Africa, Julius Caesar continued a purely colonial policy. Africa had no political significance: its economic importance, as a country capable of producing a huge amount of natural products, depended to a large extent on regular administration, stopping the raids of nomadic tribes and recreating the best harbor of northern Africa, the natural center of the province and the central point for exchange with Italy - Carthage. All aspects of the life of the state were concentrated in his hands. He controlled the army and provinces through his agents. The movable and immovable property of the community was in his hands as a lifelong censor and by virtue of special powers. The Senate was finally eliminated from the leadership of finance. The activity of the tribunes was paralyzed by his participation in the meetings of their collegium and the tribunal and tribune power granted to him. He disposes of the Senate at will, both as its chairman and as the first to give an answer to the question of the presiding officer: since the opinion of the almighty dictator was known, hardly any of the senators would have dared to contradict him. The spiritual life of Rome was in his hands, since already at the beginning of his career he was elected the great pontiff, and now the power of the censor and the leadership of morals joined this. Caesar did not have special powers that would give him judicial power, but the consulate, the censorship, and the pontificate had judicial functions. The newly created power, Caesar sought to give a new name: it was the honorary cry with which the army greeted the winner - the emperor. Y. Caesar put this name at the head of his name and title, replacing them with his personal name Guy.

Caesar's reforms
In the field of constitutional reforms, Caesar also to a certain extent continued the policy of Sulla. The number of senators was brought up to 900 people, being diluted with a large number of completely new people: Caesarian officers, freedmen and similar "dubious" elements. But if Sulla sought to raise the authority of the Senate, then Caesar did not even subjectively set himself this goal. On the contrary, as a democrat who fought against the senatorial nobility, Caesar set himself the goal of weakening the Senate in every possible way, reducing it to the role of a state council, that is, an advisory body with him. With the increase in the number of senators, an increase in the number of officials, in particular, quaestors, was also associated. Their number was increased from 20 to 40, aediles - from 4 to 6, praetors - from 8 to 16. Caesar increased the administrative apparatus of the old republic, which ceased to satisfy the needs of a world power. It was an attempt to create a bureaucratic apparatus already within the framework of the republic. Moreover, it was precisely in relation to the quaestors, aediles and praetors that Caesar received the right to "recommend" to the people, that is, simply to appoint half of the magistrates. The People's Assembly continued to exist, but was obedient to the dictator. Among the reforms of Caesar, his measures aimed at streamlining provincial government were of particular importance and progressive importance. It was in this area, more than in any other, that Caesar laid the foundation of the future empire. Caesar founded many colonies. Colonies were founded on the site of Carthage and Corinth, they appeared in Spain, southern Gaul, Macedonia, and even on the southern coast of Pontus. The colonization of the provinces was determined as much by the lack of free land in Italy as by Caesar's desire to Romanize the provinces. Transpadanian Gaul and some Spanish cities received full rights of Roman citizenship. Latin law was given to many cities in Narbonne Gaul, Spain, Sicily and Africa. The law on extortion, passed back in 59, began to be truly applied only by Caesar the dictator. Significant improvements were also made in the field of tax policy: in many provinces, the collection of direct taxes was taken away from the publicans and transferred to the communities under the supervision of Caesar's agents - his freedmen and slaves. Caesar deprived the provincial governors of military power, leaving them only the court and civil administration under his control. The municipal organization of Italy, begun by Sulla, was completed by Caesar.
Among the huge number of Caesar's events that affected the most diverse aspects of life, we also note the introduction of a new gold coin and the reform of the calendar. The latter, as we know, was extremely inconvenient in Rome. In the era of Caesar, the discrepancy between the civil and astronomical years reached 90 days. Caesar, with his characteristic courage and disregard for tradition, in 46 carried out a reform based on the Egyptian calendar. The corrected calendar, called the Julian, was then used in Western Europe until the end of the 16th century, and in Russia until the October Revolution. Caesar developed a great building activity in Rome. He built the forum of Julius, the theater, the temples of Venus the mother, Mars, etc. He closely followed the improvement of the city and its cultural life.

Assassination of Caesar
On the day of his death on March 15, Caesar hesitated whether to go to the Senate, but he was persuaded by one of his friends. On the way, one of the people he met thrust a note into Caesar's hand with a warning about a conspiracy being prepared against him. But the emperor attached it to other notes that he held in his left hand - he was going to read them in the senate. However, he did not have time to do this. " He sat down, and the conspirators surrounded him as if to greet him. Immediately Tillius Cimbri, who had assumed the first role, came closer to him, as if with a request, and when he, refusing, made him a sign to wait, grabbed him by the toga above the elbows. Caesar shouts: "This is already violence!"- and then Casca, swinging from behind, inflicts a wound on him below the throat. Caesar grabs Casca by the hand, pierces it with a stylus, tries to jump up, but the second blow stops him. When he saw that naked daggers were directed at him from all sides, he threw a toga over his head and with his left hand spread its folds below his knees in order to fall more decently, covered to the heels; and so he was struck with twenty-three blows, only at the first he uttered not even a cry, but a groan - although some say that the one who rushed at him He said to Mark Brutus: "And you, my child?". Everyone fled; lifeless, he remained lying until three slaves, having loaded him on a stretcher, with his arm hanging down, carried him home. And among so many wounds, only one, but in the opinion doctor Antistius, turned out to be fatal - the second one, inflicted on the chest ... Some friends had a suspicion that Caesar himself did not want to live longer, and therefore did not care about declining health and neglected the warnings of signs and the advice of friends. Others think that he relied to the last decision and oath of the Senate, and after that he even refused the guard of Spaniards with swords that accompanied him; others, on the contrary, believe that he preferred once to meet with treachery threatening from everywhere than to avoid it in eternal anxiety. Some even report that he often said: his life is dear not so much to him as to the state - he himself has long since reached the fullness of power and glory, the state, if something happens to him, will not know peace, but will only plunge into much more disastrous civil wars.

Caesar as writer and historian
Despite the stormy political activity and personal life, Caesar found time to study poetry, drama, philosophy and science. Especially famous are his historical writings - "Notes on the Gallic War" in 7 books and "Notes on the Civil War" in 3 books. The "Notes on the Gallic War" recounts year after year the course of the military campaign in Gaul from 58 to 52 BC. The "Notes on the Civil War" tells of the events from January 49 to mid-November 48 BC. 4. The name "Notes", which Caesar gave his writings, refers more to memoirs than to purely historical writings. "Notes" will belong to the historical genre, because they are subject to a certain artistic design and have a pronounced historical concept. The form and content of the "Notes" are opposite to that historiographical literature, which was very common then in Rome and placed at the forefront not reliability, but persuasiveness, not documentary, but plausibility. "Notes" meet the main political goal of Caesar - to defend against the accusations of opponents who charged him with responsibility for unleashing a civil war in Italy. Caesar's task is to show that the civil war was forced and was of a defensive nature, and the war with Pompey was provoked by the Senate party, while he himself - Caesar did everything possible to prevent it. In this regard, the persistence with which the author speaks of the provocation of the Helvetian and other Gallic and Germanic tribes against Rome and its allies is understandable. Caesar went beyond the boundaries of the genre of strictly official business "notes" and introduced into his narrative geographical and ethnographic excursions characteristic of artistic historiography. The dryness and simplicity of Caesar's style is expressive in the descriptions of the tactics of military operations, for example, the battle of Alesia in book 7 of the Gallic War, or in the story about the construction of the famous bridge over the Rhine in book 4. In Caesar's Notes, the reader is not left without the author's attention: the reader does not simply follow the thread of events, he is given or even imposed such an interpretation of the stated facts that would meet the conceptual tasks of the writer. The author's approach to history is exclusively rationalistic: causal relationships are established between events, and the role of supernatural forces and everything incredible and anecdotal is minimal. "Notes" do not distort historical facts, they only interpret them differently than we know from other ancient sources: events are sometimes shifted in time or are generally hushed up.

(45 ... 44 BC).

Returning to Rome, Caesar celebrated his fifth triumph, which greatly upset the Romans: after all, Caesar did not defeat the barbarian kings, but destroyed the children of the famous Roman. But neither the Senate nor the people expressed their indignation openly, but, on the contrary, paid tribute to the winner. Caesar was appointed dictator for life and bore the honorary title of emperor (supreme commander), as an independent representative of the military and civil authorities. All positions, especially that of the tribune, who had extensive powers, were united in the person of Caesar. He could, at his own discretion, decide all important issues of legal proceedings and financial matters. As the great pontiff, Caesar also decided all religious affairs. With the assistance of the Alexandrian scholar Sosigenes, Caesar established a new calendar to replace the Roman calendar, which had fallen into a terrible mess. Instead of a lunar year of 355 days, he adopted a solar year of 365 days and 6 hours. These 6 hours created the need to add an extra day every four years. Then Caesar ordered to mint a coin with his image, appeared in public in a purple toga and with a laurel wreath on his head. His statues were placed in temples. Caesar's birthday, which fell on the month of Quinctilii, was considered a universal celebration, and this month was called "July". All this testified to the fact that the principle of one-man rule was introduced into public administration. Caesar himself often said that the republic was left with one empty name, one phantom. However, the external forms of the republic were preserved, the people's assembly and the senate remained. Caesar increased the number of members of the Senate to 900, but belittled their importance by granting free access to the Senate to foreigners, centurions and the sons of freedmen.

Having achieved unlimited dictatorial power, Caesar began to implement a number of generally useful measures. In order to clear the capital of a huge number of poor people, whose number reached 320,000 people, he founded colonies. 80,000 people were sent there. Thanks to this measure, many restless people were removed from Rome, who could at any time serve as a dangerous tool in the hands of ambitious demagogues. To deliver profitable earnings to artisans, Caesar undertook a number of buildings at the expense of the state. He also ordered the draining of large swamp areas, divided the confiscated lands among the new settlers, to whom he attached a significant number of his veterans.

To raise morality, Caesar issued strict laws against luxury, which manifested itself in the content of too many servants, intemperate excesses of the table, in excessive luxury in clothing, in exorbitant decoration of buildings, tombstones, etc. In particular, debtors should have been grateful to him: interest not collected for the previous time was recognized as not subject to satisfaction, and those that were paid were deducted from the principal debt. For the future, lenders were deprived of the right to enslave insolvent debtors and could only take away their property from them for their own benefit. Caesar rendered no less services to the provinces, which were suffocating under the yoke of abuses; they were devastated by greedy commanders and soldiers greedy for prey, or robbed by unscrupulous governors and tax-farmers. Under Caesar, taxes and tributes were reduced, the return of taxes and taxes on farming was abolished, and strict laws were issued against covetousness. Thus, those terrible wounds that were inflicted on the provinces by devastating campaigns, and even more by the cruelty and greed of the governors, could gradually heal. Of course, the deep-rooted ulcers that plagued the Roman state, the general immorality and increasing impoverishment of the people, along with the accumulation of enormous wealth in the hands of a few, could not be healed even by the organizational talent of Julius Caesar.

A very bad impression was made on the people by the fact that Caesar summoned the Egyptian queen Cleopatra to Rome and openly began to live with her; she treated the Romans very arrogantly. Hatred of Caesar was also caused by the fact that he more and more clearly showed the desire to bring royal dignity even into external forms. He did not spare the pride of the optimates, but treated the senate with arrogance and contempt: when the senators appeared, he did not get up from his chair. He left all government posts to his favorites, who, for their part, fulfilled the slightest desires of their master. However, all their efforts to give him royal dignity were shattered by the resistance of the people. When Antony, on the day of the shepherd's feast of Lupercalia, seeing Caesar, dressed in a purple toga and looking from the oratory at the solemn procession, approached him and wanted to lay the royal crown on him, a loud murmur was heard. Caesar thought it prudent to decline this honorable offer. A universal shout of approval was the reward for the refusal of this honor. Thus, there was nothing to think of getting the voluntary consent of the people to the restoration of this title. Then Caesar turned to the senate.

Caesar presented to the Senate a plan of campaign against the Parthians. His supporters spread rumors throughout the city that ancient books say that Rome can defeat the Parthians only when the king is at the head of the army. Based on this prophecy, Caesar's followers proposed that he be allowed to assume the title of king outside of Italy. They believed that upon returning from Parthia, nothing would prevent the victor crowned with glory from receiving the royal title. But fate decided otherwise: the dagger was already sharpened, which prepared the end of life and with it, the end of all the vast plans of Caesar.

The Romans had not known autocracy for almost 550 years. In the person of the monarch, they imagined a despot like the last Roman king Tarquinius Superbus, and they met with hatred any attempt to transform the republican state system into a monarchy. Although in Rome they often cursed the pernicious dominance of the mob, they always rebelled against the only means that could put an end to its power - monarchical rule. The old polity was considered excellent, and only minor changes and improvements needed to be made. But at the same time, the huge difference in the state of things, which was in the time of the ancestors and at the present time, was overlooked. The republican state system, in which every capable citizen could achieve an appropriate position in society, most of all corresponded to those times when people were distinguished by republican virtues: simplicity, purity of morals, selflessness. Now such virtues have completely disappeared, and luxury and selfishness have taken their place, which, like a destructive disease, have shaken the foundations of public institutions and led to the decay of society. Plutarch says: "The state of the state demanded healing in the form of a monarchy, and it was necessary to thank the gods for sending such an indulgent physician in the person of Caesar." But short-sightedness and fanaticism did not want to admit it. Like Cato, to whom the state of the state seemed so desperate that not a single free person could live in it anymore, many thought that by killing the emperor they would render the greatest service to the state and deserve immortal glory.

One of these people was Marcus Brutus, son-in-law of Cato, whom he resembled in honesty and admiration for ideal freedom. Gaius Cassius Longius shared his views. Both Brutus and Cassius were shown favors by Caesar. When they, being adherents of Pompey, were taken prisoner in Africa, Caesar gave life to both, and then gave both the title of praetors. As for Brutus, Caesar, patronizing him from childhood for the sake of his beautiful mother Servia, intended to make him consul the next year. Nevertheless, both harbored an implacable hatred for Caesar. Brutus and Cassius were also hoped by those who wished for the death of Caesar, especially Cicero.

Like-minded people made a conspiracy and decided to put Brutus at the head of it, since he was a brave commander, a truthful person, highly respected by the people and therefore could give a noble character to a daring enterprise.

Gaius Cassius

First of all, they tried to get Brutus out of his indecision with all sorts of notes that he found in the mornings on his praetor's chair. One of them said: "You are not a true Brutus", the other was: "Are you sleeping, Brutus?" On the statue of old Brutus, his ancestor, who once expelled the Tarquins, notes like: “Oh, if you lived now!”

These appeals and speeches of Cassius awakened the young, ardent descendant of an ancient enemy of tyrants from indecision, and Brutus became the head of the conspirators. Their number reached 60 people.

On the Ides of March (Ides - the middle of the month), 44 years, a meeting of the Senate was to take place, at which it was supposed to proclaim Caesar king before the Parthian campaign. The conspirators chose this day to fulfill their plan. Caesar received numerous warnings: one soothsayer warned Caesar to be wary of the Ides of March; Calpurnia had a bad dream and begged Caesar not to go to the meeting, citing illness. But in the morning Caesar was visited by a cousin of Brutus and said to him: "You should not offend the senate by postponing consideration of an important issue." Caesar left the house. On the street, one of the followers who were waiting for him handed him a note with a message about the impending assassination, but Caesar, without reading it, handed it over to his scribe. On the way, he winded the fortuneteller, who warned him of danger. Why doesn't your prediction come true? - mockingly asked Caesar. “Ides of March have come, but I am still alive.” “They came, but did not pass,” the soothsayer replied. When Caesar entered the Senate and sat on the golden chair, the conspirators surrounded him. One of them, Tullius Cimvres, filed a request for pardon for his brother. Caesar turned down the request. Then the rest of the conspirators approached Caesar, as if wishing to personally support the request of Cimbrus. He suddenly grabbed Caesar by the toga and pulled it off his shoulders. It was the agreed sign. Casca struck the first blow with a dagger, but so uncertainly that he only slightly wounded Caesar in the neck.

Mark Junius Brutus

Caesar quickly turned to him and exclaimed: “The scoundrel Casca! What are you doing?" and grabbed his hand. But at the same instant, blows rained down on Caesar in the chest and in the face. The killers acted with such haste that they wounded each other. Wherever Caesar turned, he was met with blows everywhere. Covered in blood, he suddenly saw that Brutus was also rushing at him. Then Caesar exclaimed: "And you, Brutus?" After that, he covered his face with a toga and, struck by twenty-three blows, fell at the foot of the statue of Pompey, which stood not far from his chair. With silent horror, the senators looked at this terrible scene and, without giving Caesar help, fled to the meeting rooms. When Brutus, after the bloody deed, wanted to address the senators with a speech, all the seats were abandoned.

Having fulfilled their terrible plan, the conspirators rushed to the forum and began to call the people to freedom. The people received this news in silence; expressing neither approval nor displeasure. Deceived in their expectations, fearing for their safety, the conspirators took refuge in the Capitol temple. From here they began negotiations with the consul Mark Antony and the senate. In the Senate, they met with approval for their crime and, at the suggestion of Cicero, were forgiven. But Anthony did not agree to this outcome. He resisted Caesar's solemn funeral and at the same time delivered an ardent speech in which he outlined the virtues, merits and heartfelt care of Caesar for the well-being of the people. When Antony read the spiritual testament, according to which Caesar bequeathed his gardens to the people, and to each Roman citizen 75 denarii, there was a loud murmur: they cursed the Senate for leaving the murderers of the universal benefactor unpunished. When Antony unfolded the toga of Caesar, bloody and pierced in many places, the frenzy of the crowd reached its extreme limits. The people burst into loud cries of indignation and demanded revenge. Crowds rushed through the streets and rushed to look for the killers. One tribune named Helvius Cinna, whom the crowd mistook for a conspirator of the same name, was torn to pieces. The conspirators and other opponents of Caesar considered it prudent to flee Rome as soon as possible. Brutus and Cassius fled to Macedonia.

Caesar's wife Calpurnia

Mark Antony

Mark Antony immediately took power into his own hands. He was not slow to take advantage of his powerful position and easily obtained permission from the frightened Senate to assemble security guards for personal safety. For this, he chose 6,000 Caesar veterans. Relying on this guard, Antony committed countless abuses with the written acts left after Caesar. By virtue of Caesar's false orders, Antony issued a whole series of laws and decrees and, at his own discretion, disposed of honorary positions, governorships and kingdoms. Those who offered more money were awarded places of honor, land and entire provinces.

Most modern people are familiar with the name of Julius Caesar. It is mentioned as a name for a salad, one of the months of summer, and in films and television. How did this conquer people, that they remember who Caesar is, even two thousand years after his death?

Origin

The future commander, politician, writer was from the patrician family of Yuliev. At one time, this family played a significant role in the life of Rome. Like any ancient family, they had their own mythical version of origin. The line of their surname led to the goddess Venus.

Guy's mother was Aurelius Cotta, who came from a family of wealthy plebeians. By name it is clear that her family was named Aurelius. The elder was the father. He belonged to the patricians.

Intense discussions continue regarding the dictator's year of birth. Most often called 100 or 101 BC. There is also no consensus on the number. As a rule, three versions are called: March 17, July 12, July 13.

To understand who Caesar is, one should turn to his childhood. He grew up in the Roman region, which had a rather bad reputation. He studied at home, mastering the Greek language, literature, rhetoric. Knowledge of Greek allowed him to receive further education, since most scientific works were written in it. One of his teachers was the famous rhetorician Gniphon, who at one time taught Cicero.

Presumably in 85 BC. Guy had to lead the Yuliev family due to the unexpected death of his father.

Personality: appearance, character, habits

Quite a lot of descriptions have been left about the appearance of Gaius Julius, many of his sculptural portraits, including lifetime ones, have been made. Caesar, whose photo (reconstruction) is presented above, was, according to Suetonius, tall, with fair skin. He was well built and had dark, lively eyes.

The politician and military leader took good care of himself. He cut his nails, shaved, plucked his hair. Having a bald spot on the front of his head, he hid it in every possible way, combing his hair from the parietal part to his forehead. According to Plutarch, Caesar's physique was very frail.

Ancient authors unanimously agree that the dictator had energy. He reacted quickly to changing circumstances. According to Pliny the Elder, he communicated with many people through correspondence. If desired, the dictator could simultaneously read and dictate letters to several secretaries to different addressees. At the same time, he could write something himself at that moment.

Guy Julius practically did not drink wine and was very unpretentious in food. At the same time, he brought luxury items from his military campaigns, such as expensive dishes. He bought paintings, statues, beautiful slaves.

Family and personal life

Julius Caesar, whose biography is being considered, was officially married three times. Although there is also information that before these marriages he was engaged to Cossusia. His wives were:

• Cornelia is from the consul's family.
• Pompeia is the granddaughter of the dictator Sulla.
• Calpurnia is a representative of a wealthy plebeian family.

Cornelia and the commander had a daughter, whom he married to his colleague Gnaeus Pompey. As for his relationship with Cleopatra, they took place while Gaius Julius was in Egypt. After this, a child was born to Cleopatra, to whom the Alexandrians gave the name Caesarion. However, Julius Caesar did not recognize him as his son and did not write him in his will.

Military and political activities

The beginning of his career was the position of Flamin Jupiter, which Gaius took in the 80s BC. To do this, he broke off the engagement and married the daughter of Cornelius Zinn, who nominated him for this honorary position. But everything quickly changed when power changed in Rome, and Guy had to leave the city.

To understand who Caesar is, many examples from his life allow. One of them is the case when he was captured by pirates, demanding a ransom. The politician was ransomed, but immediately after that he organized the capture of his captors and executed them by crucifying them on crosses.

Who was Julius Caesar in Ancient Rome? He held the following positions:

• pontiff;
• military tribune;
• quaestor for financial matters in Further Spain;
• the caretaker of the Appian Way, which he repaired at his own expense;
• curule edil - was engaged in the organization of urban construction, trade, ceremonial events;
• head of the permanent criminal court;
• pontiff great for life;
• Viceroy of Further Spain.

All of these jobs were very costly. He took funds from his creditors, who provided them with understanding.

First triumvirate

After a successful governorship in Farther Spain, the politician was expected to triumph in Rome. However, he refused such honors for reasons of career advancement. The fact is that the term (by age) came up when he could be elected consul to the senate. But for this it was required to personally register their candidacy. At the same time, the person who is waiting for the Triumph must not appear in the city ahead of time. He had to make a choice in favor of a further career, abandoning the honors that were due to the winner.

After studying who Caesar is, it becomes clear that his ambition was more flattered to take a seat in the Senate in the first year when this is legally permissible. At the time, it was considered very honorable.

As a result of long political combinations, the politician reconciled his two associates with each other, as a result of which the first triumvirate arose. The expression means "the union of three husbands." The year of its creation is not known for certain, since this union was of a secret nature. Historians suggest that this happened in 59 or 60 BC. It included Caesar, Pompey, Crassus. As a result of all the actions, Guy Julius managed to become a consul.

Participation in the Gallic War

With his triumvirate, Julius Caesar, whose biography is presented in the article, began to disappoint the citizens of Rome. However, because of his departure to the provinces, all discontent should have poured out on Gnaeus Pompey.

At this time, the province of Gallia Narbonne was formed on the territory of present-day France. Caesar arrived in Genava, on the site of which Geneva is now located, for negotiations with the leaders of one of the Celtic tribes. Under the onslaught of the Germans, these tribes began to settle in the territory of Guy had to fight for the lands of the province with the Gauls and Germans. At the same time, he led an expedition to Britain.

After a series of victories, Caesar succeeded by 50 BC. subjugate all of Gaul to Rome. At the same time, he did not forget to follow the events in the Eternal City. Sometimes he even intervened in them through his proxies.

Establishment of a dictatorship

Returning to Rome, the commander came into conflict with Gnaeus Pompey. In 49-45 BC. this led to the Civil War. Gaius Caesar had many supporters throughout Italy. He attracted a significant part of the army to his side and went to Rome. Pompey was forced to flee to Greece. The war unfolded throughout the republic. The commander and his legions alternated victories and defeats. The decisive battle was the battle of Pharsalus, the winner of which was Caesar.

Gnaeus had to run again. This time he went to Egypt. Julius followed him. None of the opponents expected that Pompey would be killed in Egypt. Here Gaius Julius was forced to linger. At first, the reason was the wind unfavorable for the ships, and then the commander decided to improve his financial situation at the expense of the Ptolemaic dynasty. Thus, he became a participant in the struggle for the throne between Ptolemy the Thirteenth and Cleopatra.

He spent several months in Egypt, after which he continued his campaign to restore the territory of Rome, which began to disintegrate due to the Civil War.

Caesar became dictator three times:

1. In 49 BC, for a period of 11 days, after which he resigned.
2. In 48 BC, for a period of a year, after which he continued to rule as proconsul, and later consul.
3. In 46 BC. became a dictator without formal justification for a period of 10 years.

All his power rested on the army, so the election of Caesar to all subsequent posts was a formality.

During his reign, Gaius Julius Caesar (a photo of the sculpture can be seen above), along with his associates, carried out many reforms. However, it is quite difficult to determine which of them relate directly to the time of his reign. The most famous is the reform of the Roman calendar. Citizens had to switch to the solar calendar, which was developed by the scientist from Alexandria Sosingen. So, from 45 BC. appeared known to everyone today

Death and testament

Now it is clear who Julius Caesar is, whose biography ended rather tragically. In 44 BC. a conspiracy was formed against his autocracy. Opponents and supporters of the dictator were afraid that he would call himself king. One of the groups was led by Mark Junius Brutus.

At a meeting of the Senate, the conspirators implemented the plan to destroy Caesar. 23 were found on his body after the murder. The body was burned by the citizens of Rome at the Forum.

Gaius Julius made his nephew Gaius Octavian his successor (having adopted him), who received three-quarters of the inheritance and became known as Gaius Julius Caesar.

During his reign, he pursued a policy of sacralization and clan. Apparently, the success of his actions regarding the popularization of his own person exceeded his expectations. Perhaps that is why in the modern world Gaius Julius Caesar is known to both schoolchildren and representatives of the art world.