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See also:GAIUS See also:JULIUS See also:CAESAR (102—44 B.c.) , the See also:great See also:Roman soldier and statesman, was See also:born on the 12th of See also:July 102 B.c.1 His See also:family was of patrician See also:rank and traced a legendary descent from See also:Iulus, the founder of See also:Alba Longa, son of See also:Aeneas and See also:grandson of See also:Venus and See also:Anchises . See also:Caesar made the most of his divine ancestry and built a See also:temple in his See also:forum to Venus Genetrix; but his patrician descent was of little importance in politics and disqualified Caesar from holding the tribunate, an See also:office to which, as a See also:leader of the popular party, he would naturally have aspired . The Julii Caesares, however, had also acquired the new nobilitas, which belonged to holders of the great magistracies . Caesar's See also:uncle was See also:consul in 91 B.C., and his See also:father held the praetorship . Most of the family seem to have belonged to the senatorial party (optimates) ; but Caesar himself was from the first a popularis . The determining See also:factor is no doubt to be sought in his relationship with C . See also:Marius, the See also:husband of his aunt Julia . Caesar was born in the See also:year of Marius's first great victory over the Teutones, and as he See also:grew up, inspired by the 'traditions of the great soldier's career, attached himself to his party and its fortunes . Of his See also:education we know scarcely anything . His See also:mother, See also:Aurelia, belonged to a distinguished family, and See also:Tacitus (See also:Dial. de Orat. See also:xxviii.) couples her name with that of See also:Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi, as an example of the Roman matron In spite of the explicit statements of Suetonius, See also:Plutarch and See also:Appian that Caesar was in his fifty-See also:sixth year at the See also:time of his See also:murder, it is, as See also:Mommsen has shown, practically certain that he was born in 102 B.c., since he held the See also:chief offices of See also:state in See also:regular See also:order, beginning with the aedileship in 65 B.c., and the legal See also:age for this was fixed at 37-38.whose disciplina and severitas formed her son for the duties of a soldier and statesman . His See also:tutor was M . See also:Antonius Gnipho, a native of See also:Gaul (by which Cisalpine Gaul may be meant), who is said to have been equally learned in See also:Greek and Latin literature, and to have set up in later years a school of See also:rhetoric which was attended by See also:Cicero in his praetorship 66 B.c . It is possible that Caesar may have derived from him his See also:interest in Gaul and its See also:people and his sympathy with the claims of the Romanized Gauls of See also:northern See also:Italy to See also:political rights . In his sixteenth year (87 B.c.) Caesar lost his father, and assumed the toga virilis as the token of manhood . The social See also:war (90—89 B.C.) had been brought to a See also:close by the enfranchisement of See also:Rome's See also:Italian subjects; and the See also:civil war which followed it led, after the departure of See also:Sulla for the See also:East, to the temporary See also:triumph of the populares, led by Marius and See also:Cinna, and the indiscriminate See also:massacre of their political opponents, including both of Caesar's uncles . Caesar was at once marked out for high distinction, being created Jlamen Dialis or See also:priest of See also:Jupiter . In the following year (which saw the See also:death of Marius) Caesar, rejecting a proposed See also:marriage with a wealthy capitalist's heiress, sought and obtained the See also:hand of Cornelia, the daughter of Cinna, and thus became further identified with the ruling party . His career was soon after interrupted by the triumphant return of Sulla (82 B.c.), who ordered him to See also:divorce his wife, and on his refusal deprived him of his See also:property and priesthood and was induced to spare his See also:life only by the intercession of his aristocratic relatives and the See also:college of vestal virgins . Released from his religious obligations, Caesar now (81 B.C.) See also:left Rome for the East and served his first See also:campaign under Minucius Thermus, who was engaged in stamping out the embers of resistance to Roman See also:rule in the See also:province of See also:Asia, and received from him the " civic See also:crown " for saving a See also:fellow-soldier's life at the See also:storm of Mytilene . In 78 B.C. he was serving under Servilius Isauricus against the Cilician pirates when the See also:news of Sulla's death reached him and he at once returned to Rome . Refusing to entangle himself in the abortive.and equivocal schemes of See also:Lepidus to subvert the Sullan constitution, Caesar took up the only See also:instrument of political warfare left to the opposition by prosecuting two senatorial See also:governors, Cn . See also:Cornelius See also:Dolabella (in 77 B.C.) and C . Antonius (in 76 B.c.) for See also:extortion in the provinces of See also:Macedonia and See also:Greece, and though he lost both cases, probably convinced the See also:world at large of the corruption of the senatorial tribunals . After these failures Caesar determined to take no active See also:part in politics for a time, and retraced his steps to the East in order to study rhetoric under Molon, at See also:Rhodes . On the See also:journey thither he was caught by pirates, whom he treated with consummate nonchalance while awaiting his See also:ransom, threatening to return and crucify them; when released he lost no time in carrying out his See also:threat . Whilst he was studying at Rhodes the third Mithradatic War See also:broke out, and Caesar at once raised a See also:corps of See also:volunteers and helped to secure the wavering See also:loyalty of the provincials of Asia . When See also:Lucullus assumed the command of the Roman troops in Asia, Caesar returned to Rome, to find that he had been elected to a seat on the college of pontifices lef t vacant by the death of his uncle, C . Aurelius See also:Cotta . He was likewise elected first of the six tribuni militum a populo, but we hear nothing of his service in this capacity . Suetonius tells us that he threw himself into the agitation for the restoration of the See also:ancient See also:powers of the tribunate curtailed by Sulla, and that he secured the passing of a See also:law of See also:amnesty in favour of the partisans of See also:Sertorius . He was not, however, destined to See also:compass the downfall of the Sullan regime; the crisis of the Slave War placed the See also:Senate at the See also:mercy of See also:Pompey and See also:Crassus, who in 70 B.C. swept away the safeguards of senatorial ascendancy, restored the initiative in legislation to the tribunes, and replaced the Equestrian order, i.e. the capitalists, in partial See also:possession of the See also:jury-courts . This judicial reform (or rather See also:compromise) was the See also:work of Caesar's uncle, L . Aurelius Cotta . Caesar himself, however, gained no See also:accession of See also:influence . In 69 B.C. he served as See also:quaestor under Antistius Vetus, See also:governor of Hither See also:Spain, and on his way back to Rome (according to Suetonius) promoted a revolutionary agitation See also:Early years . amongst the Transpadanes for the acquisition of full political rights, which had been denied them by Sulla's See also:settlement . Caesar was now best known as a See also:man of See also:pleasure, celebrated for his debts and his intrigues; in politics he had no force behind him See also:save that of the discredited party of the populares, Opposition reduced to lending a passive support to Pompey and to the Optlmates . Crassus . But as soon as the proved incompetence of the senatorial See also:government had brought about the See also:mission of Pompey to the East with the almost unlimited powers conferred on him by the Gabinian and Manilian See also:laws of 67 and 66 B.C . (see POMPEY), Caesar plunged into a network of political intrigues which it is no longer possible to unravel . In his public acts he lost no opportunity of upholding the democratic tradition . Already in 68 B.C. he had paraded the bust of Marius at his aunt's funeral; in 65 B.C., as See also:curule See also:aedile, he restored the trophies of Marius to their See also:place on the Capitol; in 64 B.C., as See also:president of the murder See also:commission, he brought three of Sulla's executioners to trial, and in 63 B.C. he caused the ancient See also:procedure of trial by popular See also:assembly to be revived against the murderer of See also:Saturninus . By these means, and by the lavishness of his See also:expenditure on public entertainments as aedile, he acquired such popularity with the See also:plebs that he was elected See also:pontifex See also:maximus in 63 B.C. against such distinguished rivals as Q . Lutatius See also:Catulus and P . Servilius Isauricus . But all this was on the See also:surface . There can be no doubt that Caesar was cognizant of some at least of the threads of See also:conspiracy which were See also:woven during Pompey's See also:absence in the East . According to one See also:story, the enfants perdus of the revolutionary party—See also:Catiline, Autronius and others—designed to assassinate the consuls on the 1st of See also:January 65, and make Crassus See also:dictator, with Caesar as See also:master of the See also:horse .
We are also told that a public proposal was made to confer upon him an extraordinary military command in See also:Egypt, not without a legitimate See also:
He returned to Rome in 6o B.C. to find that the senate had sacrificed the support of the capitalists (which Cicero had worked so hard to secure), and had finally alienated Pompey by refusing to ratify his acts and See also: The senate, in virtue of its constitutional See also:prerogative, had assigned Gallic as the provincia of the consuls of 59 B.c.the supervision, See also:wars. of roads and forests in Italy . Caesar secured the passing of a legislative enactment conferring upon himself the government of Cisalpine Gaul and See also:Illyria for five years, and exacted from the terrorized senate the addition of Transalpine Gaul, where, as he well knew, a storm was See also:brewing which threatened to sweep away Roman See also:civilization beyond the See also:Alps . The mutual jealousies of the Gallic tribes had enabled See also:German invaders first to gain a foothold on the left See also:bank of the See also:Rhine, and then to obtain a predominant position in Central Gaul . In 6o B.C. the German king Ariovistus had defeated the See also:Aedui, who were See also:allies of Rome,. and had wrested from the See also:Sequani a large portion of their territory . Caesar must have seen that the Germans were preparing to dispute with Rome the mastery of Gaul; but it was necessary to gain time, and in 59 B.C . Ariovistus was inscribed on the See also:roll of the See also:friends of the Roman people . In 58 B.C. the See also:Helvetii, a See also:Celtic people inhabiting See also:Switzerland, determined to migrate for the shores of the See also:Atlantic and demanded a passage through Roman territory . According to Caesar's statement they numbered 368,000, and it was necessary at all hazards to save the Roman province from the invasion . Caesar had but one See also:legion beyond the Alps . With this he marched to See also:Geneva, destroyed the See also:bridge over the See also:Rhone, fortified the left bank of the See also:river, and forced the Helvetii to follow the right bank . Hastening back to Italy he withdrew his three remaining legions from See also:Aquileia, raised two more, and, See also:crossing the Alps by forced See also:marches, arrived in the neighbourhood of See also:Lyons to find that three-fourths of the Helvetii had already crossed the See also:Saone, marching westward . He destroyed their rearguard, the Tigurini, as it was about to See also:cross, transported his army across the river in twenty-four See also:hours, pursued the Helvetii in a northerly direction, and utterly defeated them at See also:Bibracte (Mont Beuvray) .
Of the survivors a few were settled amongst the Aedui; the See also:rest were sent back to Switzerland lest it should fall into German hands
.
The Gallic chiefs now appealed to Caesar to deliver them from the actual or threatened tyranny of Ariovistus
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He at once demanded a See also:conference, which Ariovistus refused, and on See also:hearing that fresh swarms were crossing the Rhine, marched with all haste to Vesontio (See also:Besancon) and thence by way of See also:Belfort into the See also:plain of See also:Alsace, where he gained a decisive victory over the Germans, of whom only a few (including Ariovistus) reached the right bank of the Rhine in safety
.
These successes roused natural alarm in the minds of the See also:Belgae—a confederacy of tribes in the See also:north-See also:west of Gaul, whose civilization was less advanced than that of the Celtae of the centre—and in the See also:spring of 57 B.C
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Caesar determined to anticipate the offensive See also:movement which they were understood to be preparing and marched northwards into the territory of the Remi (about See also:Reims), who alone amongst their neighbours were friendly to Rome
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He successfully checked the advance of the enemy at the passage of the See also:Aisne (between See also:Laon and Reims) and their See also:ill-organized force melted away as he advanced
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But the Nervii, and their neighbours further to the north-west, remained to be dealt with, and were
crushed only after a desperate struggle on the See also:banks of the Sambre, in which Caesar was forced to expose his See also:person in the me"See also: A fleet was hastily constructed in the See also:estuary of the Loire, and placed under the command of Decimus See also:Brutus . The decisive engagement was fought (probably) in the Gulf of See also:Morbihan and the See also:Romans gained the victory by cutting down the enemy's See also:rigging with See also:sickles attached to poles . As a See also:punishment for their treachery, Caesar put to death the senate of the Veneti and sold their people into slavery . Meanwhile Sabinus was victorious on the northern coasts, and Crassus subdued the Aquitani . At the close of the See also:season Caesar raided the territories of the Morini and Menapii in the extreme north-west . In 55 B.C. certain German tribes, the Usipetes and Tencteri, crossed the See also:lower Rhine, and invaded the See also:modern See also:Flanders . Caesar at once marched to meet them, and, on the pre-See also:text that they had violated a truce, seized their leaders who had come to parley with him, and then surprised and practically destroyed their See also:host . His enemies in Rome accused him of treachery, and Cato even proposed that he should be handed over to the Germans . Caesar meanwhile constructed his famous bridge over the Rhine in ten days, and made a demonstration of force on the right bank . In the remaining See also:weeks of the summer he made his first expedition to See also:Britain, and this was followed by a second crossing in 54 B.C . On the first occasion Caesar took with him only two legions, and effected little beyond a landing on the See also:coast of See also:Kent . The second expedition consisted of five legions and 2000 See also:cavalry, and set out from the See also:Portus Itius (See also:Boulogne or Wissant; see T .
See also:Rice See also:Holmes, Ancient Britain and the Invasions of See also:Julius Caesar, 1907, later views in Classical See also:Review, May 1909, and H
.
S
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See also:
Indutiomarus, indeed, chief of the Treveri (about Troves), revolted and attacked See also:Labienus, but was defeated and killed
.
The campaign of 53 B
.
C. was marked .by a second crossing of the Rhine and by the destruction of the Eburones, whose leader Ambiorix, however, escaped
.
In the autumn Caesar held a conference at Durocortorum (Reims), and Acco, a chief of the See also:Senones, was convicted of See also:treason and flogged to death
.
Early in 52 B.C. some Roman traders were massacred at Cenabum (See also:
In the meantime his own position was becoming See also:critical
.
In 56 B.C., at the conference of Luca (See also:Lucca), Caesar, Pompey and Crassus had renewed their agreement, and Caesar's command in Gaul, which would have expired on the 1st of See also: Caesar was soon joined by two legions from war . Gaul and marched rapidly down the Adriatic coast, overtaking Pompey at See also:Brundisium (See also:Brindisi), but failing to prevent him from embarking with his troops for the East, where the See also:prestige of his name was greatest . Hereupon Caesar (it is said) exclaimed " I am going to Spain to fight an army without a See also: |