The Rise Of The Roman Revolution

Julius Caesar, a Roman general, dictator, and leader, is considered to be one of history 's most influential and powerful rulers to this day, in which his rise to power, conquest of Europe, and controversial downfall all remain to be told during modern days. The play Julius Caesar written by William Shakespeare, portrays the events leading up to Julius Caesar’s assassination, and how those who conspired against him banded together and plotted Caesar’s demise. Many of those conspirators assassinated Caesar due to his quick rise to absolute power, his “acts” of disrespect against the senate such as his failing to stand to receive the title of becoming a “god,” and pure jealousy and anger towards Caesar’s success and rule over the Roman empire. Caesar, an ambitious man, was able to conquer many lands and peoples for Rome through successful military campaigns in which he became one Rome’s best generals due to the amount of successful battles he had won and the amount of blood he had shed for Rome’s expansion. However, Caesar’s trait of ambitiousness would prove to be a double edged sword.

Julius Caesar (100-44 BC) was one of the most outstanding leaders in history. He was the first ruler of the Romano-Hellenic civilization and achieved his goals with great success throughout his life of 56 years. He was assassinated by the conspirators, who accused him for practicing tyranny. This essay will discuss whether it was right for the conspirators to murder Caesar and what its consequences were.

In this play, Julius Caesar returns to Rome to find that he has the unconditional support of the Plebeians. As he gains more power, his friends worry that he will completely take over the city, and so they conspire with one another to kill him. Preceding the attack, the conspirators notice many strange occurrences in Rome, such as a “lion who looked at [them] and strutted by without bothering to attack,” a “threatening” and “destructive” storm, and a “common slave” whose “hand did flame and burn.” The conspirators perceive these bizarre circumstances as omens that they should kill Caesar and quickly carry out their plan. When the conspirators confront him, they stab him thirty-three times, and then announce his death to the citizens of Rome, expecting a positive response but receiving the opposite. Rome is plunged into violence as the plebeians attempt to find the conspirators responsible for Caesar’s death. Citizens swarm the streets of their city, killing innocent people, such as Cinna the Poet, believing that they are among the group of people responsible for killing Caesar. This violence and death represents the weak condition that Rome continues in throughout the play. Caesar’s body represents the body of Rome, and when he is wounded, the entire city feels wounded as well. The chaos that Rome undergoes after Caesar’s death is symbolic of his importance to the city. The

Caesar’s boundless power was not agreeable to all of the Senate. Sixty members of the Senate, led by Marcus Brutus, secretly plotted to assassinate Caesar and restore power to the Senate and Republic. Marcus philosophically tested members of the Senate to determine who would support the cause, least he be discovered before the deed could be carried out. Cassius, Labeo, Brutus surnamed Albinus, Tillius Cimber and Casca were among the sixty senate members willing to support Marcus. The conspirators determined the best opportunity to carry out the deed non-conspicuously was during a Senate meeting in which Caesar

This investigation evaluates the question, to what extent did Julius Caesar 's assassination affect Rome, politically and socially. Gaius Julius Caesar, famously known for his brilliant military strategies and shrewd political expertise, helped transform the Roman Republic into one of the greatest civilization in the western world. During his reign, Julius Ceasar expanded Rome’s geographical territory across Ancient Europe immensely, conquering areas of present-day France and Britain. The investigation will primarily focus on the political opportunities created by Caesar 's death, as well as the public reaction, from the immediate ramifications to its long-term effect on the Roman government. Effects in foreign and other civilizations not directly involved with Roman affairs or within Rome will not included in the investigation. Sources for the investigation will include The Emperors of Rome by David Potter and the Ancient History Encyclopedia .

Cicero is presenting his version of events; he is focused on gaining more dignitas, as most Romans are. Cicero is going to present a much more nefarious-seeming Cataline intent on destroying the Roman republic. He accuses Catiline of being a sore loser over his defeat in the consular election the previous year:

Cicero had many tough decisions during his life. One of these was what to do about Catiline and his conspirators. Cicero had made a law that prohibited people from running for legislatures to not be able to bribe voters in order to get elected. Catiline, while running for a position in the legislature, knew that this law had been partially made because of him. Catiline wanted to obtain consulship and overthrow the Roman government. Catiline, at first, just wanted to kill the two consuls, but then he decided to kill all of the Senate. Although Catiline was planning on killing the men running the government, he still tried to get legitimately elected. Catiline recruited other conspirators

My fellow senators, if I may begin by bringing attention to the issue at hand. We speak of Catiline and his crimes, and what should be done to defend Rome from his devious plots of insurrection. I have heard several of his followers speak before me, and they seem to disregard the accusations against the very man that leads them. His proposals are not the matter we are currently discussing. How can you speak of highly of reforms without voicing defense of the man who proposed them? He, who has been accused of attempted assassination upon our presiding magistrate? Even worse, he denies his involvement in the face of his failure. Unlike the brave Gaius Mucius Scaevola, Catiline will not show honor by thrusting his hand into the fire and facing these accusations as a true Roman should. Instead, he proves himself to be a coward by hiding in claims that the assassination was never attempted; or, at least, not by him.

The conquest of Gaul took place from 58 BCE until 51 BCE, in which Caesar fought in a number of large battles including the decisive battle of Alesia in 52 BCE, which completed the conquest and gained Rome full control over Gaul. During his time as proconsul, Caesar saw a great opportunity in obtaining control over the Gallic province to the North of Rome, as he believed that the centralization of power was accomplished through gaining land. By the end of the Gallic Wars in 51 BCE, Caesar had “reduced to the form of a province the whole of Gaul enclosed by the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Cevennes, the Rhine, and the Rhone – about 640 000 square miles” (Suetonius, Julius Caesar, 25). One of Caesar’s motives for taking control of this much land was that it was a major expansion of the Roman frontier. It created a complete “circuit of his empire, which would then be bounded on all sides by the ocean” (Plutarch. 579). Caesar’s strong interest in centralizing power within Rome died with him, the old form of a republic government was exhausted. Knowing this, Caesar made no attempt to mask his opinion, bypassing traditional practices (Bradley, 393). With Caesar naming himself Dictator perpetuo “Dictator for life” in 47 BCE, the senate soon began to see Caesar’s power as a major threat to their own roles as senators. A step towards imperialism was a result of Caesar’s death and his idea to centralize power in Rome through an individual, forthcoming the second

was a leader of Rome, but the citizens wanted him to be their king, and the conspirators saw that

Catiline is dutiful as well but as Sallust tells us these duties is tainted with its intent and motives. Catiline’s sense of duty is focusing on serving himself instead of the valued Roman sense of duty where the good of the state, city or empire is meant to benefit instead of an individual. Sallust provides an example of this selfishness that Catiline displays a “covetous of others' possessions, he was prodigal of his own; he was violent in his passions. He possessed a certain amount of eloquence, but little discretion. His disordered mind ever craved the monstrous, incredible, gigantic” (5.4-5).

     It is incredible to think of the many men who sided with Catiline and took up arms against their own state, their own people, and even at times their own fathers. Catiline, as evil as he might have been, was also a man of genius. For one to poison the minds of so many takes much talent of the mind. Based on greed and jealousy of his loss in the running for consul against Cicero, he alone developed a plan to destroy Rome. Followers of Catiline justified their rebellion and treason by claiming they wanted a change. These men were those who wanted to gain riches by pillaging, and to free themselves of debt through anarchic chaos. Catiline’s biggest mistake might have been that he was all too blatant and outright about his plan. He seemed to have been careless in who overheard his discussions and whom he told. This ultimately led his plans to be discovered. He fled from Rome where he fought in battle until his death.

" If this man alone were put to death, I know that this disease of the Republic would be only checked for a while, not eradicated forever." Cicero then turns to declaring Catiline and his fellow conspirators a disease and that would merely lie dormant in the veins of Rome.(Safire 263) Through use of such imagery Cicero successfully depicts his concerns with the handling of Catiline and his fears of the future. To further Cicero's imagery of Catiline and his fellow conspirators I will address them as a cancer. Cicero's reasoning is that it is easier to cut out a cancer when it is located in a single area. Allow the cancer to spread and it now becomes intertwined with the fabric of society, not only making it harder to remove but infecting the

Julius Caeser was the most important person in Rome, and also known as one of the best generals and protagonists. However, his power ended only a few years after the start of his assassination. During Caeser’s rise to power, he dealt with his opponents effectively, but failed to recognize the potential danger from less obvious sources. Originally, Caesar

Julius Caesar is perhaps the most well known in the history of Roman Emperors, yet there is no denying that his reign was filled with controversy, no reason more so than his devious rise to power and his mischievous ways of suppressing the senate. There is no doubt that in ruling as a Dictator; Caesar lost the support of the Roman people, who had fought for freedom against an Etruscan King, a role in which Caesar was playing. His death in 44BC coincided with what many believe to be the year in which the Republic completely its eventual ‘fall’ that it had been plummeting to since 133BC, and it is only by looking at the differences in the end of his reign to that of Augustus’ in 27BC that