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The Causes Of Julius Caesar

Decent Essays

On the 15th of March 44 BC, a group from the Roman Senate led by Gaius Cassius Longinus, Decimus Junius Brutus and Marcus Junius Brutus assassinated Julius Caesar. Most people know this, or they at least know that Julius Caesar was assassinated, but no one ever really talks about why he was killed. As a general rule, politicians who end up with too much power or politicians who have ideas too radical for their time end up getting assassinated. It’s a recurring pattern throughout history. For example John F. Kennedy; Abraham Lincoln; Martin Luther King Jr; Mahatma Gandhi. When one is making huge changes, there is always going to be a person who doesn’t like them or those changes, which can motivate them to assassinate the person in power. The people trying to stop Caesar wanted to reverse his actions, but what they did ended up doing was counterproductive. They were trying to get rid of this threat on their Dignitas, so they completely annihilated it. Though Caesar was just in his separated world trying to be successful and creating his complex, his actions had huge effects on other people in the business. Some say this means that he may have just brought it upon himself through not being careful enough Caesar’s character was one full of what the Romans called Dignitas, which played a huge part in his success. Dignitas was a Roman version of prestige or charisma, serving as a direct root to the modern English word dignity. Dignitas was of massive importance to Roman men as it ruled their socio-political lives. The fact that Caesar was a very proud character would have undoubtedly been frustrating. For example, he often mentioned his family and their [supposed] heritage; “The family of my aunt Julia is descended by her mother from the kings, and on her father's side is akin to the immortal Gods; for the Marcii Reges go back to Ancus Marcius, and the Julii, the family of which ours is a branch, to Venus. Our stock therefore has at once the sanctity of kings, whose power is supreme among mortal men, and the claim to reverence which attaches to the Gods, who hold sway over kings themselves.” These are very boastful statements and the crudest and bluntest recorded. But there are others that appear to be less black

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