Soldiers ford the Thames and the Loire with water to their shoulders expecting to have to fight on the far bank the Thames in the past was far wider and shallower than it is today. In the face of overwhelming opposition they fight on. What is striking about the Romans is their sheer bloodymindedness. Vercingetorix, who led the big campaign against Caesar that involved most of the peoples of Gaul, is reported as realising this and advised that they should carry out a scorched earth defence, abandoning all towns that couldn't be defended against the Romans as well as starting fighting in winter. It seems that an ad hoc supply network was created (p.174 and p.183) to meet Roman needs but in addition the soldiers regularly gathered in crops whenever they could and occasionally cattle. Tens of thousands of men roaming round Gaul needed food and fodder. Part of the reason for the savagery is logistics. Though of course he could have been exaggerating to impress the people back home. One of the Gaulish leaders, Vercingetorix, has the ears cut off or an eye gouged out of his own soldiers "even for a minor fault" (p157), Roman civilians are massacred on occasion while Caesar in his own account records the extermination of substantial proportions of entire peoples, sells the populations of captured towns in to slavery and in a moment of mercy has a hand of every man captured in one of his last campaigns chopped off to serve as a visual aid to clarify the folly of resisting Rome to the unenlightened. The warfare is savage, and at the end Caesar tumbles into The Civil War that ends the Roman republic. Unlike Asterix the injuries aren't restricted to black eyes and broken bones, nor is there a big feast at the end. This is what I was brought to by a childhood of reading Asterix. Poems by Julius Caesar are also mentioned in ancient sources. Among his lost works are his funeral oration for his paternal aunt Julia and his Anticato, a document written to defame Cato in response to Cicero's published praise. A few sentences from other works are quoted by other authors. Only Caesar's war commentaries have survived. Caesar is considered by many historians to be one of the greatest military commanders in history.ĭuring his lifetime, Caesar was regarded as one of the best orators and prose authors in Latin - even Cicero spoke highly of Caesar's rhetoric and style. The later biographies of Caesar by Suetonius and Plutarch are also major sources. Much of Caesar's life is known from his own accounts of his military campaigns, and from other contemporary sources, mainly the letters and speeches of Cicero and the historical writings of Sallust. Octavian set about solidifying his power, and the era of the Roman Empire began. Caesar's adopted heir Octavian, later known as Augustus, rose to sole power after defeating his opponents in the civil war. A new series of civil wars broke out, and the constitutional government of the Republic was never fully restored. But the underlying political conflicts had not been resolved, and on the Ides of March (15 March) 44 BC, Caesar was assassinated by a group of rebellious senators led by Marcus Junius Brutus. He centralised the bureaucracy of the Republic and was eventually proclaimed "dictator in perpetuity", giving him additional authority. Civil war resulted, and Caesar's victory in the war put him in an unrivalled position of power and influence.Īfter assuming control of government, Caesar began a programme of social and governmental reforms, including the creation of the Julian calendar. Caesar refused the order, and instead marked his defiance in 49 BC by crossing the Rubicon with the 13th Legion, leaving his province and illegally entering Roman Italy under arms. With the Gallic Wars concluded, the Senate ordered Caesar to step down from his military command and return to Rome. These achievements granted him unmatched military power and threatened to eclipse the standing of Pompey, who had realigned himself with the Senate after the death of Crassus in 53 BC. Caesar became the first Roman general to cross both the Channel and the Rhine, when he built a bridge across the Rhine and crossed the Channel to invade Britain. Caesar's victories in the Gallic Wars, completed by 51 BC, extended Rome's territory to the English Channel and the Rhine. Their attempts to amass power as Populares were opposed by the Optimates within the Roman Senate, among them Cato the Younger with the frequent support of Cicero. In 60 BC, Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey formed a political alliance that dominated Roman politics for several years. He played a critical role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire. Gaius Julius Caesar, known as Julius Caesar, was a Roman politician, general, and notable author of Latin prose.
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