Corruption in Rome did not begin until the Late Republic. Rome could not keep up with its own success and growth. There was a lot of competition within the ladder of offices in Republican Rome which was also a significant source of the destruction of Rome. Only two consuls were elected each year causing intense and violent competition between candidates. The candidates were thirsty for power and would do whatever it took to be at the top. One consul, in particular, is that of Pompey.
Plutarch considers Julius Caesar’s assassination to be justified. He believed the group felt they had to keep their plans in secret with a select few which they could trust to further their cause. Despite the fact that there prophesies and warnings alerting Caesar to his eminent Demise, the assassins continued their plan feeling that they would be deemed as “noble leaders of the commonwealth” when they had done this great deed. Because of Caesars hand in the murder of Pompey, it was believed to be a “divine appointment” to hold a senate meeting where there statue of Pompey stood for whom they also sought vengeance. Therefore at the start of the meeting, Plutarch states that when Cassuis turned and faced Pompey’s statues, this when Caesar walked in the room and the men struck him, making it look like it was providence. At the end, Brutus was prepared to make a speech but there was nothing but chaos. The elitist group had come to the agreement to only kill Caesar but when they sought Antony as a threat, Marcus felt enough had been done “restore Rome and saved Antony’s life,” illustrates
The enemies of Julius Caesar are dead. He was gracious; in return for their kindness when they kidnapped him, he slit their throats and then crucified them so they would suffer less. He was kidnapped as he traveled to greece in 75 B.C. In captivity he was treated well and had even become somewhat friends with the pirates. They told him that they were asking twenty talents for his safe return. He became furious and told them he was worth at least fifty talents. From then until the day he was released he told them that they would regret this abduction of him with their lives. They took his threat as a joke. Soon after his release they realized they were dead wrong, because they were soon dead.,
Once in power, Crassus and Pompey extended Caesar's time as governor of Gaul, and then chose for themselves long-term governorships, (Crassus in Syria and Pompey in Spain). However, at the end of 55BC, Pompey did not leave for Spain, instead remaining as the only Triumvir in Rome, while Caesar and Crassus took the heads of powerful armies.
In the victory over the battle of Pompey, supporters that sided with Pompey, Caesar still forgave them, “Surely not his former opponents, the defeated Pompey supporters like Cicero himself, who had been allowed to return to Rome and the Senate with their properties intact, and who were now his staunchest and most appreciative friends” (Parenti 172). Caesars concerns wasn’t to be biased and was only in favor of returning to the prosperous, content Rome. The aristocrats then decided to mastermind a plan with the senators in order to take Caesar’s life and remove his reign of reforms. Upon arrival, Caesar would be gathered around his senators and hear about Tillius Climber’s petition about allowing his brother to be return from being exiled. Delivering the first assault would be led by Casca, followed by a slash from Cassius, and after encountering twenty-three stab wounds, Caesar would bleed to death and lay motionless.
The First Triumvirate was an informal alliance between three prominent men in the Roman Republic: Julius Caesar, Pompey the Great, and Marcus Licinius Crassus. Crassus was the wealthiest man in Rome at the time. Pompey joined the two men despite his hostile nature toward Crassus. From 60 BCE until 53 BCE, the three joined forces to dominate the government of Rome, helping to consolidate power in the Roman Empire (Mark 2011). Caesar was then made the Consul, the ruler of the Roman citizens (Everitt 398-399). With this consolidation of power led by Caesar, Caesar became more successful in Rome and became allies with moguls. The First Triumvirate came to an end when Crassus died in 53 BCE (Hefele 2013). After the First Triumvirate ended, a civil war between Pompey and Caesar
Caesar's successes in Gaul, along with his growing power and wealth, drove Pompey. While Caesar was fighting in Gaul, Pompey proceeded with a legislative agenda for Rome, which revealed that he was now covertly allied with Caesar's enemies. Pompey also made it clear that Caesar would not be permitted to stand for Consul unless he turned over control of his armies. This would, of course, leave Caesar defenseless before his enemies. Pompey was elected consul without colleague in 52. The
Events which stretch as far back as the reforms of the Gracchi brothers’ meant that the Rome was facing a Republic that was already deteriorating before Pompey had stepped into power. While Pompey’s quest for power was harmful, many other factors were also baleful to the Republic, and were hence instrumental in its decline. Gnaeus Pompeius’s measures to gain power were harmful because it was primarily a paradox to the principles of being part of a Republic with all its notions of shared and short power. The fundamental reason why there were other reasons for the decline of the system are that the military power was given to him, the already weak Senate, and the fact that Pompey was not the only player in the breakdown of the Republic due
Continuing on his success, Caesar was unstoppable, but even though he was an ally of Pompey, Pompey envied Caesar and did not really support him that much through his success. Jealousy struck him. Crassus, on the other hand, had not grown fond of Pompey. They reconciled once again at a conference in Luca in 56 BC. This peace expanded Caesar’s reign for another five years, because he gave Crassus a five-year rule in Syria and Pompey in Spain for five years. Syria marks the location where Crassus was killed in battle. (Julius Caesar Biography, April
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, better known as Pompey, once said, “More people worship the rising than the setting sun.” He transformed the last generation of the Roman Republic forever. He solved many of Rome’s problems. Pompey was a great military and political figure.Need a specific thesis statement
Once Caesar’s wife, Cornelia, had died, he remarried to a woman named Pompeia who ironically was “a wealthy Optimate granddaughter of the Emperor Sulla.” Caesar went on to gain the support of Gnaeus Pompeius (Pompey or Pompey the Great) and become friends with Marcus Licinius Crassus, the wealthiest man in Rome, which allowed him to run for generalship and Chief Priest in 63 BC. He divorced Pompeia after finding out she cheated with another man, and moved to Spain to serve as praetor of Hispania. Caesar served as consul in the year 59 BC and with his friends Pompey and Crassus, led as the first triumvirate for 10 years. From 58 BC to 50 BC, Caesar led his Roman army to conquer Gaul, modern day France, and making him loved by his soldiers and a hero to the Roman people. He prevented Germanic attacks in his conquered lands by building walls and making a spectacle of his armies, a message the German tribes understood clearly. To finalize the conquest of Gaul in 52 BC, Caesar killed the Gallic leader Vercingetorix in the Battle of Alesia. In 50 BC Pompey, who was running the senate in Rome, ordered for Caesar and his troops to return to the capital, but Caesar refused the senate’s orders and brought his army across the Rubicon River of Italy to Rome to fight Pompey’s army in 49 BC where Pompey and his army fled. Caesar then defeated Pompey’s armies in Greece, Egypt, Asia, and
Cicero was exiled from 58 B.C.E. to 57 B.C.E. because Clodius introduced a law that exiled those who had executed Roman citizens without a trial, knowing that Cicero had executed members of the Catiline Conspiracy without trial four years earlier. As a result of the exile, Cicero became depressed, but in 57 B.C.E. Pompey begged the senate to let him return, and it was passed. Cicero additionally writes about the trial of Clodius, who was on trial because he had dressed as a woman and had gone to the woman’s sacrifice to the Good Goddess at Caesar’s house. Cicero expresses his disdain for the men who gave testimonies for Clodius and said they were a “disreputable crew … senators with a black mark, knights without a penny, treasury officials in the role of treasure hunters.” (34) He also explained how Clodius bribed members of the senate, as far as to offer them nights with woman, in order to get himself out of trouble. Cicero wrote that there were still some jurymen who remained upstanding against Clodius’ bribes; however, Clodius’ trial still showed how the senate and jurymen were corrupt as he was able to get out of trouble without punishment. Furthermore, Cicero writes about the trial of Milo. Clodius had gangs of men that he used to further his political agenda and organize riots and Milo had gangs of men that were countering Clodius’ men. Milo intended to put Clodius on trial for breach of
He then campaigned for consulship and was successful. Caesar then devoted most of his time in Gaul. He then became governor of Cisalpine and then Transalpine Gaul. He divorced Pompeia in 62 BC and married Calpurnia. In 58 BC, the Helvetii attempted to migrate to Central Gaul. Caesar proclaimed them as potential threats and drove them out to their homeland. The Chieftains of Gaul who now trusted Julius Caesar were afraid of Germany being a threat to them, so "in the summer of 58, after defeating the Helvetians, Caesar marched against the Germans and drove them out of Gaul."(www.history.com). After a few years, he sought to conquer Gaul and was successful and made it a Roman Province. In 54 BC, he invaded England because the prince harrassed the Romans living in Gaul. This invasion was one of his finest accomplishments yet because of the strong opposing force. Early 49 BC, his rule over Gaul was slowly coming to an end and he also began a civil war with Pompey[See Figure 3], his old associate who allied himself with a Roman senator. Caesar successfully invaded Italy and drove Pompey 's forces into Macedonia "in less than seventy days"(www.history.com). In 48 BC, Caesar then sailed Macedonia to deal the final blow but was unsuccessful which caused him to retreat to Greece where he defeated Pompey in the Battle of Pharsalus. In 47 BC, Caesar’s forces marched to Asia Minor and defeated the Pharnaces in the battle of Zela, but his glory did not stop increasing
“The Senate commanded Caesar to surrender his legions in late 50BC.” (Roman Civil Wars of 88–30 BCE) Pompey would not surrender his own army so Caesar decided war was the only way to keep power. With German and Gallic help, Caesar marched into Cisalpine Gaul through Italy.5 He took the city of Ariminum, which allowed him to cut off Cisalpine Gaul from Italy.5 Pompey tried to keep Caesar back, and with Pompey’s army being twice the size of Caesar’s one would assume he could
“Caesar attended the last meeting of the Senate before his departure, held at its temporary quarters in the portico of the theater built by Pompey the Great (the Curia, located in the Forum and the regular meeting house of the Senate, had been badly burned and was being rebuilt). The sixty conspirators, led by Marcus Junius Brutus, Gaius Cassius Longinus, Decimus Brutus Albinus, and Gaius Trebonius, came to the meeting with daggers concealed in their togas and struck Caesar at least 23 times as he