Julius Caesar

See how Caesar goes out of his way to make us understand his ingenuity in building bridges and siege weapons.

I have also had several occasions to judge of what Caesar says, namely that things often seem bigger from a distance than up close.

Caesar, after he glanced at the decrepit figure of one of his guards, a soldier, exhausted and injured, who had met him in the street to ask leave to kill himself, answered jokingly:

’Tis known to be to this day cast in the dish of those two great men, Octavius and Cato, in the two civil wars of Sylla and Caesar, that they would rather suffer their country to undergo the last extremities, than relieve their fellow-citizens at the expense of its laws, or be guilty of any innovation;

What, hast thou neither means nor power in any other thing, but only to undertake Caesar?

Caesar only opposed the authority of his countenance and the haughty sharpness of his rebukes to his mutinous legions in arms against him:

I look upon Julius Caesar’s way of winning men to him as the best and finest that can be put in practice.

not like a pedant, a preacher, or a pleader, but rather a soldier-like style, as Suetonius calls that of Julius Caesar;

and if Caesar was of opinion, that it has often happened, that the report has preceded the incident, shall we not say, that these simple people have suffered themselves to be deceived with the vulgar, for not having been so clear-sighted as we?

as our own ancestors, who being besieged by Caesar in the city Alexia, resolved to sustain the famine of the siege with the bodies of their old men, women, and other persons who were incapable of bearing arms.

Caesar, says Suetonius, marched always at the head of his army, for the most part on foot, with his head bare, whether it was rain or sunshine, and as much is said of Hannibal,tum vertice nudo, Excipere insanos imbres, coelique ruinam.

as Plutarch complains, that in his time some attributed the cause of the younger Cato’s death to his fear of Caesar, at which he seems very angry, and with good reason;

Sit Cato, dum vivit, sane vel Caesare major,Let Cato, whilst he live, be greater than Caesar.

And the third, speaking of the civil wars betwixt Caesar and Pompey,Victrix causa diis placuit, set victa Catoni.

And the fourth, upon the praises of Caesar:

When Pompey’s head was presented to Caesar, the histories tell us that he turned away his face, as from a sad and unpleasing object.

If the acts of Xenophon and Caesar had not far transcended their eloquence, I scarce believe they would ever have taken the pains to have written them;

A gladiator of Caesar’s suffered the pain of his wounds being probed and cut clean with a smile on his face!

Who ever looked for safety and rest as greedily as Alexander and Caesar looked for worry and hardship.

Caesar borrowed a million more in gold than he was worth to become Caesar.

Caesar borrowed a million more in gold than he was worth to become Caesar.

Caesar calls all the lords of France, having free franchise within their own demesnes, roitelets or petty kings;

but it was the next day, in the forenoon, that the controversy was to be decided, where Metellus, besides the favor of the people and of Caesar — at that time of Pompey’s faction — was to appear accompanied with a rabble of slaves and gladiators;

In the encounter where Caesar had the worst, near the city of Oricum, he reproached Pompey’s soldiers that he had been lost had their general known how to overcome;

In like manner, if a man were to choose whether he would have his soldiers richly and sumptuously accoutred or armed only for the necessity of the matter in hand, this argument would step in to favor the first, of which opinion was Sertorius, Philopoemen, Brutus, Caesar, and others, that it is to a soldier an enflaming of courage and a spur himself in brave attire;

Alexander, Caesar, and Lucullus loved to make themselves known in a battle by rich accoutrements and armor of a particular lustre and color:

But if Caesar had come by the worse, why might it not as well have been urged by another, that, on the contrary, the strongest and most steady posture of fighting is that wherein a man stands planted firm without motion;

’Tis said, both of Caesar and Pompey, that among their other excellent qualities they were both very good horsemen, and particularly of Caesar, that in his youth, being mounted on the bare back, without saddle or bridle, he could make the horse run, stop, and turn, and perform all its airs, with his hands behind him.

’Tis said, both of Caesar and Pompey, that among their other excellent qualities they were both very good horsemen, and particularly of Caesar, that in his youth, being mounted on the bare back, without saddle or bridle, he could make the horse run, stop, and turn, and perform all its airs, with his hands behind him.

Caesar had also one which had forefeet like those of a man, his hoofs being divided in the form of fingers, which likewise was not to be ridden, by any but Caesar himself, who, after his death, dedicated his statue to the goddess Venus.

Caesar had also one which had forefeet like those of a man, his hoofs being divided in the form of fingers, which likewise was not to be ridden, by any but Caesar himself, who, after his death, dedicated his statue to the goddess Venus.

There are several examples in the Roman history (and Suetonius more particularly observes it of Caesar) of captains who, on pressing occasions, commanded their cavalry to alight, both by that means to take from them all hopes of flight, as also for the advantage they hoped in this sort of fight, quo baud dubie superat Romanus, Wherein the Roman does questionless excel.

And so the first thing they did to prevent the mutinies and insurrections of nations of late conquest was to take from them their arms and horses, and therefore it is that we so often meet in Caesar:

Caesar, speaking of the Suabians:

says Caesar;

they will as soon say Oppius and Caesar, as Caesar and Oppius;

they will as soon say Oppius and Caesar, as Caesar and Oppius;

and for that reason they called Caesar, spondam regis Nicomedis.

the very same soul of Caesar, that made itself so conspicuous in marshalling and commanding the battle of Pharsalia, was also seen as solicitous and busy in the softer affairs of love and leisure.

Of the same strain was Statilius’ answer, when Brutus courted him into the conspiracy against Caesar;

Pompey, Caesar, Crassus, Lucullus, Lentulus, Metellus, thence took their chiefest spring, to mount to that degree of authority at which they at last arrived, making it of greater use to them than arms, contrary to the opinion of better times;

and man concluding it to be the fault of the things he is possessed of, fills himself with and feeds upon the idea of things he neither knows nor understands, to which he devotes his hopes and his desires, paying them all reverence and honor, according to the saying of Caesar:

And the design of killing Caesar was as safely communicated to Cimber, though he would often be drunk, as to Cassius, who drank nothing but water.

And this very Plutarch has given me to understand, that Julius Caesar had preserved himself, if, going to the Senate the day he was assassinated by the conspirators, he had read a note which was presented to him by, the way.

Among other particular customs of our ancient Gauls, this, as Caesar reports, was one, that the sons never presented themselves before their fathers, nor dared ever appear in their company in public, till they began to bear arms;

There was one Labienus at Rome, a man of great worth and authority, and among other qualities excellent in all sorts of literature, who was, as I take it, the son of that great Labienus, the chief of Caesar’s captains in the wars of Gaul;

and who, afterward, siding with Pompey the great, so valiantly maintained his cause, till he was by Caesar defeated in Spain.

or that Alexander or Caesar ever wished to be deprived of the grandeur of their glorious exploits in war, for the convenience of children and heirs, how perfect and accomplished soever.

for I take it for certain that he speaks against his judgment when he condemns the action of the generous murderers of Caesar.

But Caesar, in my opinion, particularly deserves to be studied, not for the knowledge of the history only, but for himself, so great an excellence and perfection he has above all the rest, though Sallust be one of the number.

Asinius Pollio found in the histories of Caesar himself something misreported, a mistake occasioned;

Some one having to give testimony of Julius Caesar’s clemency;

“For in Pythagoras’s metempsychosis, and the change of habitation that he imagined in souls, can we believe that the lion, in whom the soul of Caesar is enclosed, does espouse Caesar’s passions, or that the lion is he?

“For in Pythagoras’s metempsychosis, and the change of habitation that he imagined in souls, can we believe that the lion, in whom the soul of Caesar is enclosed, does espouse Caesar’s passions, or that the lion is he?

For if it was still Caesar, they would be in the right who, controverting this opinion with Plato, reproach him that the son might be seen to ride his mother transformed into a mule, and the like absurdities.

Thence proceeded those words of Caesar to his pilot, more tumid than the sea that threatened him:

credit iam digna pericula CaesarFatis esse suis;

Caesar being dead, the sun in mourning clouds, pitying Rome, clothed himself.

In the civil wars of Caesar, Lucius Domitius, being taken in the Abruzzi, and thereupon poisoning himself, afterwards repented.

For this reason it was that Caesar, being asked what death he thought to be the most desired, made answer, “The least premeditated and the shortest.

”If Caesar dared to say it, it is no cowardice in me to believe it.

To what do Caesar and Alexander owe the infinite grandeur of their renown but to fortune?

Among so many and so great dangers I do not remember I have anywhere read that Caesar was ever wounded;

he must have won two-and-fifty set battles, and always the weaker in number, as Caesar did:

if it be Caesar, let him boldly think himself the greatest captain in the world.

Julius Caesar scratched his head with one finger, which is the fashion of a man full of troublesome thoughts;

and though the short round periods of Sallust best suit with my humor, yet I find Caesar much grander and harder to imitate;

Caesar and Xenophon had a just and solid foundation whereon to found their narrations, the greatness of their own performances;

Caesar is sometimes called thief, and sometimes drunkard, to his teeth.

Caesar says, that Lucius Vibullius Rufus, being in great haste to carry intelligence to Pompey, rode night and day, still taking fresh horses for the greater diligence and speed;

and they who, instead of familiar, have substituted “ad Familiares,” may gather something to justify them for so doing out of what Suetonius says in the Life of Caesar, that there was a volume of letters of his ad Familiares) there is one directed to Caesar, then in Gaul, wherein Cicero repeats these words, which were in the end of another letter that Caesar had written to him:

and they who, instead of familiar, have substituted “ad Familiares,” may gather something to justify them for so doing out of what Suetonius says in the Life of Caesar, that there was a volume of letters of his ad Familiares) there is one directed to Caesar, then in Gaul, wherein Cicero repeats these words, which were in the end of another letter that Caesar had written to him:

and they who, instead of familiar, have substituted “ad Familiares,” may gather something to justify them for so doing out of what Suetonius says in the Life of Caesar, that there was a volume of letters of his ad Familiares) there is one directed to Caesar, then in Gaul, wherein Cicero repeats these words, which were in the end of another letter that Caesar had written to him:

”It was no new thing for a simple citizen of Rome, as Caesar then was, to dispose of kingdoms, for he took away that of King Deiotarus from him to give it to a gentleman of the city of Pergamus, called Mithridates;

And besides the example of Caesar, who commanded his men to shoot chiefly at the face of Pompey’s soldiers in the battle of Pharsalia, a thousand other commanders have also bethought them to invent new forms of weapons and new ways of striking and defending, according as occasion should require.

Suetonius reports that Caius Rabirius having been condemned by Caesar, the thing that most prevailed upon the people (to whom he had appealed) to determine the cause in his favor, was the animosity and vehemence that Caesar had manifested in that sentence.

Suetonius reports that Caius Rabirius having been condemned by Caesar, the thing that most prevailed upon the people (to whom he had appealed) to determine the cause in his favor, was the animosity and vehemence that Caesar had manifested in that sentence.

and I will allege no other reproach against Dion’s report but this, which I cannot avoid, namely, that he has so weak a judgment in the Roman affairs, that he dares to maintain Julius Caesar’s cause against Pompey, and that of Antony against Cicero.

The sole example of Julius Caesar may suffice to demonstrate to us the disparity of these appetites;

and the Curios, both father and son, afterwards reproached Pompey, when he married Caesar’s daughter, that he had made himself son-in-law to a man who had made him cuckold, and one whom he himself was wont to call Aegisthus.

But I return to Caesar.

And as to the same Cato’s calling, him one day drunkard, it fell out thus being both of them in the Senate, at a time when Catiline’s conspiracy was in question of which was Caesar was suspected, one came and brought him a letter sealed up.

Cato believing that it was something the conspirators gave him notice of, required him to deliver into his hand, which Caesar was constrained to do to avoid further suspicion.

to which may be added that the vice with which Cato upbraided him is wonderfully near akin to that wherein he had surprised Caesar;

they are extraordinary means, and that only appertain to Caesar’s fortune, and to his admirable foresight in the conduct of affairs.

Caius Calvus, who had composed several injurious epigrams against him, having employed many of his friends to mediate a reconciliation with him, Caesar voluntarily persuaded himself to write first to him.

but the late Marshal Strozzi, who had taken Caesar for his man, doubtless made the best choice, seeing that it indeed ought to be the breviary of every soldier, as being the true and sovereign pattern of the military art.

Rheni mihi Caesar in undis Dux erat;

With this courtesy Caesar mixed great severity to keep them in awe;

Before that great battle with those of Tournay, “Caesar” says he, “having given order for everything else, presently ran where fortune carried him to encourage his people, and meeting with the tenth legion, had no more time to say anything to them but this, that they should remember their wonted valor;

and, indeed, he was a general in the flower and first heat of his youth, whereas Caesar took up the trade at a ripe and well advanced age;

to which may be added that Alexander was of a more sanguine, hot, and choleric constitution, which he also inflamed with wine, from which Caesar was very abstinent.

one, that the Gauls having drawn their powers together to encounter Caesar, after they had made a general muster of all their forces, resolved in their council of war to dismiss a good part of this great multitude, that they might not fall into confusion.

To return to Caesar.

In the war against Ariovistus, whilst he was parleying with him, there happened some commotion between the horsemen, which was occasioned by the fault of Ariovistus’s light horse, wherein, though Caesar saw he had a very great advantage of the enemy, he would make no use on it, lest he should have been reproached with a treacherous proceeding.

Scipio having put the rest to death, sent him word that he gave him his life, for he was a man of quality and quaestor, to whom Petronius sent answer back, that Caesar’s soldiers were wont to give others their life, and not to receive it;

Of their fidelity there are infinite examples among them, that which was done by those who were besieged in Salona, a city that stood for Caesar against Pompey, is not, for the rarity of an accident that there happened, to be forgotten.

whoever, I say, will seriously consider these particulars, will confess that, all these things put together, I had reason to prefer him before Caesar himself, who alone could make me doubtful in my choice:

They were in many things equal, and peradventure Caesar had some greater qualities they were two fires, or two torrents, overrunning the world by several ways;

but though Caesar’s ambition had been more moderate, it would still be so unhappy, having the ruin of his country and universal mischief to the world for its abominable object, that, all things raked together and put into the balance, I must needs incline to Alexander’s side.

Of this virtue of his, he has, in my idea, given as ample proof as Alexander himself or Caesar:

The sight of Caesar’s robe troubled all Rome, which was more than his death had done.

I do not know whether the exploits of Alexander and Caesar really surpass the resolution of a beautiful young woman, bred up after our fashion, in the light and commerce of the world, assailed by so many contrary examples, and yet keeping herself entire in the midst of a thousand continual and powerful solicitations.

Lucullus, Caesar, Pompey, Antony, Cato, and other brave men were cuckolds, and knew it, without making any bustle about it;

to which may be added the lightning and thunder of our cannon and harquebuses, enough to frighten Caesar himself, if surprised, with so little experience, against people naked, except where the invention of a little quilted cotton was in use, without other arms, at the most, than bows, stones, staves, and bucklers of wood;

another evil may succeed, and a worse, as it happened to Caesar’s murderers, who brought the republic to such a pass, that they had reason to repent the meddling with the matter.

Betwixt Caesar and Pompey, I should frankly have declared myself;

Heaven never saw a greater animosity than that betwixt Caesar and Pompey, nor ever shall;

for Pompey and Caesar were but the offsets and continuation of the two others:

and, therefore, it was the opinion of Caesar, that the least premeditated death was the easiest and the most happy.

Truly, it is much more easy to speak like Aristotle, and to live like Caesar, than to speak and live as Socrates did;

And I find that Cyrus, Alexander, and Caesar, the three masters of the world, never neglected beauty in their greatest affairs;

The life of Caesar has no greater example for us than our own:

for the most part, a man hardens himself by being obstinate, and corrects his constitution, as Caesar did the falling-sickness, by dint of contempt.

When I see both Caesar and Alexander in the thickest of his greatest business, so fully enjoy human and corporal pleasures, I do not hold that they slackened their souls, but wound them up higher, by vigor of courage, subjecting these violent employment and laborious thoughts to the ordinary usage of life: