Julius Caesar years of reign. Three myths about Julius Caesar

Gaius Julius Caesar (born July 12, 100 BC, death March 15, 44 BC) - great commander, politician, writer, dictator, high priest of Ancient Rome. He began political activity as a supporter of a democratic group, served as a military tribune in 73, an aedile in 65, a praetor in 62. Wanting to achieve a consulate, in 60 he entered into an alliance with Gnei Pompey and Crassus (1st triumvirate).
Consul in 59, then governor of Gaul; in 58-51 years. was able to subjugate to Rome all the trans-alpine Gaul. 49 - relying on the army, he began to fight for autocracy. Defeating Pompey and his allies in 49-45. (Crassus died in 53), concentrated in his hands a number of important republican positions (dictator, consul, etc.) and, in fact, became a monarch.
With the conquest of Gaul, Caesar expanded the Roman Empire to the shores of the North Atlantic and was able to subjugate modern France to Roman influence, and also launched an invasion of British Isles. Caesar's activities radically changed the cultural and political landscape Western Europe leaving an indelible mark on the lives of future generations of Europeans. He was killed in a Republican conspiracy.
Origin. early years
Gaius Julius Caesar was born in Rome. As a child, he studied the Greek language, literature, rhetoric at home. He was also engaged in physical activities: swimming, horseback riding. Among the teachers of the young Caesar was the well-known major rhetorician Gniphon, who was also one of the teachers of Marcus Tullius Cicero.
Being a representative of the old patrician family of Julius, Caesar from a young age began to engage in politics. In ancient Rome, politics was closely intertwined with family relationships: Caesar's aunt, Julia, was the wife of Gaius Maria, who was the ruler of Rome at that time, and Caesar's first wife, Cornelia, is the daughter of Cinna, the successor of the same Maria.
It is difficult to establish the antiquity of the Caesar family itself (the first known dates back to the end of the 3rd century BC). The father of the future dictator, also Gaius Julius Caesar the Elder (proconsul of Asia), stopped his career as a praetor. Guy's mother, Aurelius Cotta, was from a noble and wealthy Aurelius family. My paternal grandmother was descended from the ancient Roman family of Marcius. Approximately in 85 BC. e. Guy lost his father.

Carier start
The young Caesar showed particular interest in the art of eloquence. In the year of his 16th birthday, Caesar dressed in a one-color toga, which symbolized his maturity.
The young Caesar began his career by becoming a priest of Jupiter, the supreme god of Rome, and asked for the hand of Cornelia. The consent of the girl made it possible for the novice politician to receive the necessary support in power, which will be one of the starting points that predetermined his great future.
But his political career was not destined to take off too quickly - power in Rome was seized by Sulla (82 BC). He ordered the future dictator to divorce his wife, but, having heard a categorical refusal, deprived him of the title of priest and all his property. Only the patronizing position of his relatives, who were in the inner circle of Sulla, saved his life.
And yet, this turn in fate did not break Guy, but only contributed to the formation of his personality. Having lost priestly privileges in 81 BC, Caesar began his military career, went to the East, where he took part in his first military campaign under the command of Minucius (Mark) Therma, the purpose of which was to suppress pockets of resistance to power in the Roman province of Asia (Asia Minor , Pergamum). During the campaign, the first military glory came to Guy. 78 BC - during the assault on the city of Mytilene (the island of Lesbos), he was awarded the sign "oak wreath" for saving the life of a Roman citizen.
But Julius Caesar did not devote himself only to military affairs. He began to pursue a career as a politician, returning to Rome after the death of Sulla. Caesar began to speak at trials. The speech of the young speaker was so captivating and temperamental that crowds of people gathered to listen to him. So Caesar replenished the ranks of his supporters. His speeches were recorded, and the phrases diverged into quotations. Guy was truly passionate about oratory and improved all the time in this matter. To develop his oratory skills, he went to the island of Rhodes to learn the art of eloquence from the famous rhetorician Apollonius Molon.

However, on the way there he was taken prisoner by pirates, from where he was later ransomed by Asian ambassadors for 50 talents. Wanting revenge, Caesar equipped several ships and himself took the pirates prisoner, executing them by crucifixion. 73 BC e. - Caesar was included in the collegiate governing body of the pontiffs, where his uncle Gaius Aurelius Cotta used to rule.
69 BC e. - died during the birth of his second child, his wife - Cornelia, the baby also did not survive. At the same time, Caesar's aunt, Julia Maria, also died. Soon, Caesar became a Roman magistrate ordinary, which gave him the opportunity to enter the Senate. He was sent to Far Spain, where he was to take over financial matters and fulfill the orders of the propraetor Antistius Veta. 67 BC e. Gaius Julius married Pompey Sulla, Sulla's granddaughter.
Political career
65 BC e. — Caesar was elected to the magistrates of Rome. His responsibilities included expanding construction in the city, maintaining trade and public events.
64 BC e. - Caesar becomes head of the judicial commission for criminal trials, which made it possible for him to call to account and punish many of Sulla's supporters. 63 BC e. - Quintus Metellus Pius died, vacating the life-long seat of the Great Pontiff. Guy Julius decided to nominate his candidacy for her. Caesar's opponents were the consul Quintus Catulus Capitolinus and the commander Publius Vatia Isauricus. After many bribes, Gaius Julius Caesar won the election by a large margin and moved to live on the Sacred Way in the pontiff's government housing.

Military career
In order to strengthen his own political position and existing power, Gaius Julius entered into a secret agreement with Pompey and Crassus, thereby uniting two influential politicians with opposing views. As a result of the collusion, a powerful alliance of military leaders and politicians appeared, called the First Triumvirate.
The beginning of Gaius Julius' military career was his Gallic proconsulate, when he received large military forces that enabled him to begin his invasion of Transalpine Gaul in 58 BC. After victories over the Celts and Germans in 58-57 BC. Gaius set about conquering the Gallic tribes. Already in 56 BC. e. vast territories between the Alps, the Pyrenees and the Rhine came under Roman rule.
Gaius Julius rapidly developed success: having crossed the Rhine, he inflicted a number of defeats on the Germanic tribes. His next dizzying success is two campaigns in Britain and its complete subjugation to Rome.
53 BC e. - a fateful event for Rome occurred: Crassus died in the Parthian campaign. After that, the fate of the triumvirate was sealed. Pompey did not want to comply with previous agreements with Caesar and began to pursue an independent policy. The Roman Republic was on the verge of collapse. The dispute between Caesar and Pompey for power began to take on the character of an armed confrontation.

Civil War
The capture of Gaul made in Rome Caesar, who was already a prominent political figure, a popular hero - as his opponents considered, too popular and powerful. When his term of military command ended, he was ordered to return to Rome as a private citizen - that is, without his troops. Caesar feared—and apparently rightly so—that if he returned to Rome without an army, his opponents might seize the opportunity and destroy him.
On the night of January 10-11, 49 BC. e. he throws down an open challenge to the Roman Senate - he crossed the Rubicon River in northern Italy with an army and marched troops to Rome. This apparently illegal action caused a civil war between Caesar's legions and the forces of the senate. It lasted for 4 years and ended with the complete victory of Caesar. last fight occurred under the city of Munda in Spain on March 7, 45 BC. e.
Dictatorship
Gaius Julius had already realized that the effective, enlightened despotism required by Rome could only be provided by himself. He returned to Rome in October 45 BC. e. and soon became dictator for life. 44 BC e., February - he was offered the throne, but Caesar refused.
All the power of Gaius Julius Caesar was based on the army, so his election to all subsequent positions was a formality. During his reign, Caesar and his associates carried out many reforms. But it is quite difficult to determine which of them belong to the time of his reign. The most famous is the reform of the Roman calendar. Citizens had to switch to the solar calendar, which was developed by a scientist from Alexandria Sosingen. So, from 45 BC. The Julian calendar known to everyone today appeared.

Assassination of Caesar
Caesar was assassinated on March 15, 44 BC. e., on the way to the meeting of the Senate. When once friends advised Caesar to beware of enemies and surround himself with guards, the dictator replied: "It is better to die once than to constantly expect death." During the attack, the dictator had a stylus in his hands - a writing stick, and he somehow resisted - in particular, after the first blow, he pierced the hand of one of the conspirators with it. One of his killers was Marcus Junius Brutus, one of his close friends. Seeing him among the conspirators, Caesar cried out: “And you, my child?” and stopped resisting.
Most of the wounds inflicted on him were not deep, although there were many: 23 stab wounds were counted on the body; frightened conspirators themselves wounded each other, trying to reach Caesar. There are two different versions of his death: that he died from a mortal blow and that death came after a large loss of blood.

Guy Julius Caesar (lat. Gaius Iulius Caesar). Born July 12 or 13, 100 BC. e. - died March 15, 44 BC. e. Ancient Roman statesman and politician, commander, writer. Consul 59, 48, 46, 45 and 44 BC e., dictator 49, 48-47 and 46-44 BC. e., the great pontiff from 63 BC. e.

Gaius Julius Caesar was born into an ancient patrician Julius family.

In the V-IV centuries BC. e. Julii played a significant role in the life of Rome. From the representatives of the family came, in particular, one dictator, one master of cavalry (deputy dictator) and one member of the board of decemvirs who developed the laws of the Ten Tables - the original version of the famous laws of the Twelve Tables.

Like most families with ancient history, the Julias had a common myth about their origin. They built their family to the goddess Venus through Aeneas. The mythical version of the origin of the Julii was already well known by 200 BC. e., and Cato the Elder wrote down a version about the etymology of the generic name Yuliev. In his opinion, the first bearer of this name Yul received a nickname from the Greek word "ἴουλος" (fluff, the first hair on the cheeks and chin).

Almost all Julia in the V-IV centuries BC. e. wore the cognomen Yul, which was probably originally the only one in their family. The branch of the Julius Caesars certainly descended from the Julius Jules, although the links between them are unknown.

The first known Caesar was a praetor in 208 BC. e., mentioned by Titus Livy.

The etymology of the cognomen "Caesar" is not known for certain. and was forgotten already in the Roman era. Aelius Spartian, one of the authors of the Augustan biographies, wrote down four versions that existed by the 4th century AD. e.: “The most learned and educated people believe that the first one who was so named received this name from the name of an elephant (which is called caesai in the language of the Moors) killed by him in battle; [or] because he was born of a dead mother and was cut out of her womb; or because he left the womb of the parent already with long hair; or because he had such brilliant gray-blue eyes, which people do not have..

Until now, the reliable etymology of the name is unclear, but more often the origin of the cognomen from the Etruscan language is assumed (aisar - god; the Roman names Caesius, Caesonius and Caesennius have a similar origin).

By the beginning of the 1st century BC. e. in Rome, two branches of the Julius Caesars were known. They were with each other in a fairly close, but not precisely established relationship. Two branches were recorded in different tribes, and by the 80s BC. e. they also had a completely opposite political orientation, focusing on two warring politicians.

The closest relatives of the future dictator were guided by Gaius Maria (his wife was Julia, Gaia's aunt), and the Caesars from another branch supported Sulla. Moreover, the last branch played a greater role in public life than the one to which Guy belonged. Guy's relatives through his mother and grandmother could not boast of kinship with the gods, but they all belonged to the elite of Roman society - the nobility. Caesar's mother, Aurelius Cotta, belonged to the wealthy and influential plebeian Aurelius family. Relatives of Gaius's grandmother - Marcia - built their family to the fourth Roman king Ank Marcius.

The date of Caesar's birth remains a subject of debate for researchers. Source evidence on this issue varies. Indirect indications of most ancient authors allow us to date the birth of the dictator to 100 BC. e., although Eutropius mentions that at the time of the battle of Munda (March 17, 45 BC) he was 56 years old. In two important systematic sources about the life of the dictator - his biography of authorship and - the beginning of the text with stories about the circumstances of his birth has not been preserved.

The reason for the discrepancies in historiography, however, was the discrepancy between the timing of Caesar's masterships with known practice: Caesar took all the magistracies earlier than the normal sequence (cursus honorum) by about two years.

Because of this, Theodor Mommsen suggested that Caesar's birth date be 102 BC. e. Since the beginning of the 20th century, other options for solving the discrepancy began to be proposed. Causes discussions and Guy's birthday - July 12 or 13. The fourth day before the ides of the quintile (July 12) is mentioned by Macrobius in the Saturnalia. Dio Cassius, however, relates that after the death of the dictator, the date of his birth was moved from July 13 to July 12 by a special decree of the second triumvirate. Thus, there is no consensus on the date of Caesar's birth. The year of his birth is most often recognized as 100 BC. e. (in France it is more often attributed to 101 BC, as suggested by Jérôme Carcopino). The dictator's birthday is equally often considered July 12 or 13.

The house where Caesar grew up was in Subur, a district of Rome who had a reputation for being dysfunctional. As a child, he studied Greek, literature, rhetoric at home. practiced physical exercise, swimming, horseback riding. Among the teachers of young Gaius, the great rhetorician Gniphon, who was also one of the teachers of Cicero, is known.

Around 85 B.C. e. Caesar lost his father: according to Pliny the Elder, he died bending over to put on his shoes. After the death of his father, Caesar, who passed the initiation rite, actually headed the entire Julius family, since all the closest male relatives older than him died. Soon Guy got engaged to Cossutsia, a girl from a wealthy family from the class of riders (according to another version, they managed to get married).

In the middle of the 80s BC. e. Cinna nominated Caesar for the honorary position of Flamin Jupiter. This priest was bound by many sacred restrictions, which seriously limited the possibilities of taking magistracies. To take office, he first needed to marry a girl from a patrician family in the old rite of confarreatio, and Cinna offered Gaius his daughter Cornelia. The young Julius agreed, although he had to break off his engagement to Cossutia.

However, Caesar's accession to office is questioned. According to Lily Ross Taylor, the great pontiff Quintus Mucius Scaevola (opponent of Marius and Cinna) refused to perform the inauguration ceremony of Gaius. Ernst Badian, however, believes that Caesar was nevertheless inducted. As a rule, the appointment of Caesar is considered in historiography as an insurmountable obstacle to his further political career. However, there is an opposite point of view: the occupation of such an honorary position was a good opportunity to strengthen the authority of the ancient family for this branch of the Caesars, not all of whose representatives achieved the highest magistracy of the consul.

Shortly after his marriage to Cornelia, Cinna was killed by mutinous soldiers, and the following year a civil war broke out, in which Caesar probably did not participate. With the establishment of the dictatorship of Lucius Cornelius Sulla and the beginning of proscriptions, Caesar's life was in danger: the dictator did not spare political opponents and personal enemies, and Gaius turned out to be the nephew of Gaius Marius and son-in-law of Cinna. Sulla demanded that Caesar divorce his wife, which was not a unique case of proof of loyalty, but he refused to do so.

Finally, Sulla added Caesar's name to the proscription list. and he was forced to leave Rome. Sources say that Caesar was in hiding for a long time, distributing bribes to the Sullans who were looking for him, but these stories are unlikely. In the meantime, Gaius's influential relatives in Rome managed to secure a pardon for Caesar. An additional circumstance that softened the dictator was the origin of Caesar from the patrician class, whose representatives the conservative Sulla never executed.

Soon Caesar left Italy and joined the retinue of Marcus Minucius Terma Viceroy of Asia Province. The name of Caesar was well known in this province: about ten years ago, his father had been its governor. Guy became one of the contubernals of Therme, children of senators and young horsemen who were trained in military affairs and provincial government under the supervision of an acting magistrate.

First, Thermus instructed the young patrician to negotiate with the king of Bithynia, Nicomedes IV. Caesar managed to convince the king to transfer part of his fleet to Terma so that the governor could capture the city of Mytilene on Lesbos, who did not recognize the results of the First Mithridatic War and resisted the Romans.

Gaius' stay with the Bithynian king subsequently became the source of many rumors about their sexual relationship. After the successful execution of this assignment, Thermus sent troops against Mytilene, and soon the Romans took the city. After the battle, Caesar was awarded the civil crown (Latin corona civica) - an honorary military award, which was supposed to save the life of a Roman citizen. After the capture of Mytilene, the Lesbos campaign ended. Therm soon resigned, and Caesar went to Cilicia to her governor, Publius Servilius Vatia, who was organizing a military campaign against the pirates. However, when in 78 BC. e. news of the death of Sulla came from Italy, Caesar immediately returned to Rome.

In 78 BC. e. the consul Marcus Aemilius Lepidus attempted to revolt among the Italics in order to repeal the laws of Sulla. According to Suetonius, Lepidus invited Caesar to join the rebellion, but Guy refused. In 77 B.C. e. Caesar brought the Sullan Gnaeus Cornelius Dolabella to court on charges of extortion during his governorship in Macedonia. Dolabella was acquitted after major court speakers came out in his support. The accusatory speech delivered by Caesar turned out to be so successful that for a long time it was distributed in handwritten copies. The following year, Gaius began the prosecution of another Sullanian, Gaius Antonius Hybridis, but he requested protection from the tribunes of the people, and the trial did not take place.

Shortly after the failure of the trial of Antony, Caesar went to improve his oratory skills in Rhodes to the famous rhetor Apollonius Molon, Cicero's mentor.

During the journey, Caesar was captured by pirates who had long hunted in the Eastern Mediterranean. He was held on the small island of Pharmacussa (Farmakonisi) in the Dodecanese archipelago. The pirates demanded a large ransom of 50 talents (300,000 Roman denarii). Plutarch's version that Caesar, on his own initiative, increased the amount of the ransom from 20 talents to 50, is certainly implausible.

Ancient authors vividly describe Guy's stay on the island: he allegedly joked with the kidnappers and recited poems of his own composition to them. After the ambassadors of the cities of Asia ransomed Caesar, he immediately equipped a squadron to capture the pirates themselves, which he managed to do. Having captured his captors, Guy asked to judge and punish their new viceroy of Asia, Mark Junk, but he refused.

After that, Guy himself organized the execution of the pirates - they were crucified on crosses.

Suetonius adds some details of the execution as an illustration of Caesar's softness of character: “He swore to the pirates who he was in captivity that they would die on the cross, but when he captured them, he ordered them to be stabbed first and only then crucified”.

During his second stay in the East, Caesar once again visited the Bithynian king Nicomedes. He also participated in the very beginning of the Third Mithridatic War at the head of a separate auxiliary detachment, but soon left the combat zone and returned to Rome around 74 BC. e. The following year, he was co-opted to the priestly college of pontiffs in place of the deceased uncle Gaius Aurelius Cotta.

Soon Caesar wins election to military tribune. The exact date of his tribunate is unknown: 73 is often suggested, but 72 or 71 BC is more likely. e. What Caesar did during this period is not known for certain. It is hypothesized that Caesar could have been involved in the suppression of the Spartacus uprising- if not in combat, then at least in the training of recruits. It is also suggested that it was during the suppression of the uprising that Caesar became close friends with Marcus Licinius Crassus, who in the future played a significant role in Guy's career.

At the beginning of 69 BC. e. Cornelia, Caesar's wife, and his aunt Julia die almost simultaneously. At their funeral, Guy made two speeches that attracted the attention of his contemporaries.

Firstly, public performances in memory of dead women were practiced only from the end of the 2nd century BC. e., but they usually recalled elderly matrons, but not young women. Secondly, in a speech in honor of his aunt, he recalled her marriage to Gaius Marius and showed the people his wax bust. Probably, the funeral of Julia was the first public display of the image of the general since the beginning of the dictatorship of Sulla, when Marius was effectively forgotten.

In the same year Caesar becomes quaestor, which guarantees him a seat in the Senate. Caesar performed the duties of a quaestor in the province of Further Spain. The details of his mission are unknown, although it was usually the quaestor in the province who dealt with financial matters. Apparently, Gaius accompanied the governor of Gaius Antistius Vet on trips around the province, carrying out his instructions. It was probably during the Questura that he met Lucius Cornelius Balbus, who later became Caesar's closest associate.

Soon after returning from the province, Guy married Pompey, the granddaughter of Sulla (she was not a close relative of the influential Gnaeus Pompey the Great in those years). At the same time, Caesar began to openly lean towards the support of Gnaeus Pompey, in particular, he was almost the only senator who supported the Gabinius law on the transfer of emergency powers to Gnaeus in the fight against pirates.

Caesar also supported the law of Manilius on granting a new command to Pompey, although here he was no longer alone.

In 66 BC. e. Caesar became the caretaker of the Appian Way and repaired it at his own expense (according to another version, he was engaged in the repair of the road in 65 BC, being an aedile). In those years, the main creditor of the young politician, who did not skimp on spending, was probably Crassus.

In 66 BC. e. Caesar is elected curule aedile for the following year, whose duties included the organization of city building, transport, commerce, the daily life of Rome, and ceremonial events (usually at his own expense). April 65 B.C. e. new aedile organized and held the Megalesian Games, and in September - the Roman Games, which with their luxury surprised even the Romans, experienced in entertainment. Caesar shared the costs of both events equally with his colleague Mark Calpurnius Bibulus, but only Gaius received all the glory.

Initially, Caesar planned to show a record number of gladiators at the Roman Games (according to another version, gladiator fights were arranged by him in memory of his father), but the Senate, fearing a riot of many armed slaves, issued a special decree prohibiting one person from bringing more than a certain number of gladiators to Rome . Julius obeyed the restrictions on the number of gladiators, but gave each of them silver armor, thanks to which his gladiator fights were still remembered by the Romans.

In addition, the aedile overcame the resistance of conservative senators and restored all the trophies of Gaius Marius, the demonstration of which had been forbidden by Sulla.

In 64 BC. e. Caesar presided over a permanent criminal court for robberies accompanied by murder (quaestio de sicariis). In the courts under his presidency, many participants in the proscriptions of Sulla were convicted, although this dictator passed a law that did not allow criminal prosecution against them. Despite the vigorous activity of Caesar in condemning the accomplices of the dictator, the active perpetrator of the murders of the proscribed Lucius Sergius Catiline was fully acquitted and was able to nominate his candidacy for consuls for the next year. The initiator of a significant part of the trials, however, was Caesar's opponent, Mark Porcius Cato the Younger.

Caesar - great pontiff:

At the beginning of 63 BC. e. the great pontiff Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius died, and the highest position in the system of Roman religious magistracies became vacant. At the end of the 80s BC. e. Lucius Cornelius Sulla brought back the ancient custom of co-opting the high priests by the college of pontiffs, but shortly before the new elections, Titus Labienus returned the procedure for electing the great pontiff by voting in 17 out of 35 tribes.

Caesar announced his candidacy. The alternative candidates were Quintus Lutacius Catulus Capitolinus and Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus. Ancient historians report numerous bribery during elections, due to which Guy's debts increased greatly. Since the tribes that voted were determined by lot immediately before the election, Caesar was forced to bribe representatives of all 35 tribes. Guy's creditors were sympathetic to spending on a prestigious but unprofitable position: a successful election testified to his popularity in the run-up to the elections of praetors and consuls.

According to legend, leaving home before the announcement of the results, he said to his mother “Either I return as a pontiff, or I don’t return at all”; according to another version: "Today, mother, you will see your son either a high priest or an exile". The vote took place, according to different versions, either on March 6 or at the end of the year, and Caesar won. According to Suetonius, his advantage over his opponents turned out to be huge.

Julius's election as pontiff grand for life brought him national attention and almost certainly guaranteed a successful political career. Unlike the flaminus of Jupiter, the great pontiff could participate in both civil and military activities without serious sacred restrictions.

Although people who were consuls (consulars) were usually elected great pontiffs, there were also cases in Roman history when relatively young people occupied this honorary position. Thus, Caesar could not be accused of becoming a great pontiff only because of exorbitant ambitions. Immediately after his election, Caesar took advantage of the right to reside in the state house of the great pontiff and moved from Subura to the very center of the city, on the Sacred Way.

Caesar and the Catiline Conspiracy:

In 65 BC. BC, according to some conflicting evidence of ancient historians, Caesar participated in the unsuccessful plot of Lucius Sergius Catiline to seize power. However, the question of the "first conspiracy of Catiline" remains problematic. The evidence of the sources varies, which gives some researchers grounds to completely deny the existence of the “first conspiracy”.

Rumors about the participation of Caesar in the first conspiracy of Catiline, if it existed, were spread by opponents of Crassus and Caesar already in the 50s BC. e. and are most certainly not true. Richard Billows believes that the spread of rumors about the "first conspiracy" was beneficial to Cicero, and later to Caesar's political opponents.

In 63 BC. e., after his failure in the election of consuls, Catiline made a new, more famous attempt to seize power. The possible involvement of Caesar in the conspiracy was argued back in ancient times, but reliable evidence was never provided. In the days of the climax of the crisis, Catulus and Piso demanded that Cicero arrest Caesar for complicity in the conspiracy, but to no avail. According to Adrian Goldsworthy, by 63 BC. e. Caesar could count on legal ways to take up new positions and was not interested in participating in a conspiracy.

December 3, 63 B.C. e. Cicero presented evidence of the danger of the conspiracy, and the next day a number of conspirators were declared state criminals. On December 5, the Senate, which met in the Temple of Concord, discussed a measure of restraint for the conspirators: in emergency circumstances, it was decided to act without a court order. Decimus Junius Silanus, elected consul for the following year, advocated the death penalty, a punishment applied to Roman citizens in the rarest of cases. His proposal was met with approval.

Caesar was next.

His speech in the senate, recorded by Sallust, is certainly based on the real speech of Julius. Sallust's version of the speech contains both a common appeal to Roman customs and traditions, and an unusual proposal to sentence the conspirators to life imprisonment - a punishment almost never used in Rome - with confiscation of property.

After Caesar, Cicero spoke, objecting to Gaius's proposal (an edited record of his fourth speech against Catiline has been preserved). However, after the speech of the acting consul, many were still inclined to the proposal of Julius, but the floor was taken by Mark Porcius Cato the Younger, who strongly opposed Caesar's initiative. Cato also hinted at Caesar's involvement in the conspiracy and rebuked the wavering senators for their lack of resolve, after which the senate voted to betray the conspirators. death penalty. Since the meeting of December 5 was held in open doors, people listening attentively outside reacted violently to Cato's speech, including his allusion to Caesar's connections with the conspirators, and after the meeting they saw off Gaius with threats.

Barely Assuming the office of praetor on January 1, 62 BC. e., Caesar took advantage of the right of legislative initiative of the magistrate and proposed to the people's assembly to transfer the authority to restore the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus from Quintus Lutacius Catulus to Gnaeus Pompey. Catulus was engaged in the restoration of this temple for about 15 years and almost completed the work, but if this proposal was accepted, the dedicatory inscription on the pediment of this most important sanctuary of Rome would have mentioned the name of Pompey, and not Catulus, Caesar's influential opponent.

Guy also accused Catulus of embezzling public funds and demanded an account of the expenses. After a protest from the senators, the Praetor withdrew his bill.

When, on January 3, the tribune Quintus Caecilius Metellus Nepos proposed that Pompey be recalled to Rome to defeat the troops of Catiline, Gaius supported this proposal, although the troops of the conspirators were already surrounded and doomed to defeat. Apparently, Nepos - Gnei's brother-in-law - hoped by his proposal to enable Pompey to arrive in Italy without disbanding his troops. After Nepos provoked a mass brawl in the forum, a determined Senate passed an emergency law removing Nepos and Caesar from office, but a few days later Gaius was reinstated.

In the fall, at the trial of Lucius Vettius, a participant in the Catiline conspiracy, the accused told the judge that he had evidence of Caesar's involvement in the conspiracy - his letter to Catiline. In addition, during interrogation in the Senate, the witness Quintus Curius stated that he had heard personally from Catiline about Caesar's participation in the preparation of the rebellion. However, Cicero, at the request of Gaius, testified that he told the consul everything he knew about the conspiracy, and thereby deprived Curius of the reward for information and refuted his testimony. Against the first accuser, Caesar acted very decisively, arresting both Vettius (he did not appear at the next meeting and did not present evidence of the praetor's guilt), and Judge Novia Niger (he accepted the denunciation of the senior magistrate).

December 62 B.C. e. in the new house of Caesar, a celebration was held in honor of the Good Goddess with the participation of women alone, but it was interrupted after a man, Publius Clodius Pulchr, secretly entered the house. The senators, having learned about the incident, decided to consider the incident a sacrilege, and also demanded that the holiday be held anew and the perpetrators punished. The latter meant the inevitable public exposure of Caesar's personal life, since it was rumored that Clodius arrived at Caesar's house in a woman's dress precisely for his wife.

Without waiting for judgment Pontiff divorced Pompeii Sulla. The trial took place the very next year, and Clodius was acquitted because Caesar refused to testify against him. Adrian Goldsworthy believes that Pompeii really had an affair with Clodius, but Caesar still did not dare to testify against the rapidly gaining popularity of the politician.

In addition, the majority of the judges in the college voted with illegible signs, not wanting to incur the wrath of Clodius' supporters and opponents. During the trial, when Caesar was asked why he divorced his wife if he did not know anything about what had happened, he allegedly replied that Caesar's wife should be above suspicion(various sources cite various options this phrase. According to Michael Grant, Caesar meant that the wife of the great pontiff - the high priest of Rome - should be beyond suspicion. The British historian also points to another possible reason that hastened the divorce - the absence of children over several years of marriage.

At the beginning of 61 BC. e. Caesar was to go to the province of Further Spain, the westernmost in the Roman Republic, to rule as propraetor, but numerous creditors made sure that he did not leave Rome without paying off his huge debts. Nevertheless, Crassus vouched for Caesar with 830 talents, although this huge amount hardly covered all the debts of the governor. Thanks to Crassus, Guy went to the province before the end of the trial of Clodius. On the way to Spain, Caesar allegedly said, passing through a remote village, that “I would rather be first here than second in Rome”(According to another version, this phrase was already uttered on the way from Spain to Rome).

By the time of Caesar's arrival in the underdeveloped northern and northeastern parts of the province, there was strong dissatisfaction with Roman power and large debts. Caesar immediately recruited a militia from the locals to subjugate the discontented regions, which was presented as the extermination of bandits.

According to Dio Cassius, thanks to the military campaign, Caesar hoped to equal Pompey with his victories, although a lasting peace could be established without military action.

Having 30 cohorts (about 12 thousand soldiers) at his disposal, he approached the Herminian mountains (the modern Serra da Estrela range) and demanded that the local tribes settle on the flat territory in order to deprive them of the opportunity to use their fortifications in the mountains in case of an uprising.

Dio Cassius believes that Caesar hoped from the very beginning for a refusal, since he expected to use this answer as a motive for attacking. After the mountain tribes refused to submit, the governor's troops attacked them and forced them to retreat to the Atlantic Ocean, from where the mountaineers sailed to the Berlenga Islands. Caesar ordered several detachments to cross to the islands on small rafts, but the Lusitanians killed the entire Roman landing.

After this failure, Guy summoned a fleet from Hades and with its help ferried a large force to the islands. While the commander conquered the mountainous Lusitans on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, the neighbors of the expelled tribes began preparations to repel a possible attack by the governor. All summer long, the propraetor subdued the scattered Lusitanians, taking by storm a number of settlements and winning one enough major battle. Soon, Caesar left the province and headed for Brigantia (modern La Coruña), quickly capturing the city and its surroundings. In the end, the troops declared him emperor, which in the terminology of the middle of the 1st century BC. e. meant recognition as a victorious commander. Even then, Caesar proved himself a decisive commander, able to quickly move his troops.

Having completed his campaign, Caesar turned to solving the everyday problems of the province. His vigorous activity in the administrative sphere was manifested in the revision of taxation and in the analysis of court cases. In particular, the governor canceled the tax imposed as a punishment for the support of Quintus Sertorius by the Lusitanians in the recent war. In addition, he ruled that creditors could not recover more than two-thirds of their annual income from debtors.

In a difficult situation with the payment of loans and interest by the inhabitants of the province, such a measure turned out to be beneficial for both borrowers and creditors, since Caesar nevertheless confirmed the need for mandatory repayment of all debts. Finally, Caesar may have banned the human sacrifice practiced in the province.

Some sources claim that the viceroy extorted money from wealthy residents of the province and robbed neutral tribes, but this evidence is probably based only on rumors. Richard Billows believes that if Caesar had in fact openly plundered the province, political opponents would have immediately brought him to justice upon his return to Rome. In fact, there was no prosecution, or even hints of its beginning, which indicates at least Caesar's caution.

Roman law in the 1st century BC e. provided for the responsibility of the governor for extortion, but did not establish clear boundaries between a gift and a bribe, and therefore sufficiently cautious actions could not be qualified as bribery.

Caesar, on the other hand, could count on solid offerings, since the inhabitants of the province (especially the rich south) saw in the young aristocrat a potentially influential patron - the protector of their interests in Rome.

Masinta's extremely vigorous defense showed them that Caesar would go to any lengths to protect his clients. Apparently, Caesar received the greatest income precisely from civilian activities in the southern part of the province, since the main military operations were carried out in the impoverished northern and northeastern regions of Further Spain, in which it was hardly possible to get rich. After the governorship in the province, Caesar significantly improved his financial situation, and creditors no longer bothered him. Guy probably did not pay off all his debts, but he proved that he was able to repay loans by taking on new positions. As a result, creditors could temporarily stop disturbing Caesar, counting on a new, more profitable appointment, which Guy's opponents subsequently tried to use.

At the beginning of 60 BC. e. Caesar decided to return to Rome without waiting for his successor. Early termination of the powers of a viceroy, with delegation of authority to a junior magistrate (probably a quaestor), was considered unusual, but was sometimes practiced.

Having received reports of Caesar's victories, the Senate considered him worthy of a triumph. In addition to this honorable celebration, in the summer of 60 BC. e. Caesar hoped to take part in the election of consuls for the following year, since he had reached the minimum age for employment. new position and completed all previous master's programs in the cursus honorum system.

However, the applicant for the triumph did not have the right to cross the sacred boundaries of the city (pomerium) before the start of the event, and for the registration of a candidate for consuls, a personal presence in Rome was required. Since the election date had already been set, Caesar asked the senators to grant him the right to register in absentia. There was already a precedent for such a decision in Roman history: in 71 BC. e. the senate allowed Gnaeus Pompey to stand his candidacy, who was also preparing a triumph.

Caesar's opponents were not in the mood to meet him halfway. By putting Guy before a choice between triumph and consulship, they may have hoped that Caesar would choose triumph., counting on Guy's creditors not to wait another year, but to demand their money immediately. However, Caesar had another reason not to postpone participation in the elections until the next year: election to a new position in “his year” (Latin suo anno), that is, in the first year when this was legally permissible, was considered especially honorable.

At the last meeting of the Senate before the elections, when it was still possible to pass a special resolution, Cato took the floor and kept speaking all day, until the close of the meeting. Thus, Caesar did not receive special permission, and he entered the city, having made a choice in favor of taking up a new position and refusing to triumph.

By the summer of 60 BC. e. Caesar agreed to cooperate with the rich and educated, but little known to the public, Roman Lucius Lucceus, who also put forward his candidacy. According to Suetonius, "they agreed that Lucceus would promise the centuries his own money on behalf of both." The Roman author mentions that, with the approval of the senators, his rival Bibulus also bribed the voters: his father-in-law Cato called this "bribery in the interests of the state." According to the results of the elections by consuls for 59 BC. e. became Caesar and Bibulus.

Around the same time, Caesar entered into secret negotiations with Pompey and Crassus to create a political alliance: in exchange for the support of Gaius by the two most powerful and wealthy Romans, the new consul undertook to pass several laws in their interests, which had previously been blocked by the senate.

The fact is that Pompey, who returned from the Third Mithridatic War back in 62 BC. e., has not yet achieved the ratification of all the orders made in the eastern provinces. He also could not overcome the resistance of the Senate in the issue of granting land allotments to veterans of his army. Crassus also had reasons for dissatisfaction with the Senate, who defended the interests of the publicans (tax farmers), who unsuccessfully asked to reduce the amount of the ransom for the province of Asia.

Thanks to the unification around Caesar, both politicians hoped to overcome the resistance of the senators and pass laws beneficial to themselves. It is not clear what Caesar received from the union. Undoubtedly, he benefited from the mere rapprochement with two influential politicians and their no less high-ranking friends, clients and relatives.

There is a version that when organizing the triumvirate, Caesar hatched plans to seize power with his help.(a similar point of view was shared, in particular, by Theodor Mommsen and Jerome Carcopino).

Despite the fact that Pompey and Crassus had long been at enmity and even interfered with the implementation of laws in each other's interests, Caesar managed to reconcile them. Suetonius claims that at first Caesar entered into an alliance with Pompey, but Christian Meyer believes that he first agreed to cooperate with Crassus, who was closer to him. It is possible that the fourth member, Cicero, was also planned to be included in the political union.

The union of the three politicians is currently known as the first triumvirate (lat. triumviratus - “the union of three husbands”), however, this term arose by analogy with the later second triumvirate, whose members were officially called triumvirs.

The exact date of the creation of the triumvirate is unknown, which is a consequence of its secret nature. Following the conflicting versions of ancient writers, modern historians also offer different versions: July-August 60 BC. e., the period shortly before the elections or shortly after they were held, after the elections or 59 BC. e. (in final form).

At the very beginning of the consulate, Guy ordered that the minutes of the meetings of the senate and the people's assembly be made public every day: apparently, this was done so that citizens could monitor the actions of politicians.

Caesar, on behalf of the Roman Republic, recognized Ptolemy XII Avletes as the pharaoh of Egypt, which was tantamount to renouncing claims to Egypt using the well-known will in Rome (probably forged) of Ptolemy XI Alexander II. According to this document, Egypt was to come under the rule of Rome, just as, according to the will of Attalus III, the Kingdom of Pergamon went to the Roman Republic. Ancient historians report that the issue was settled for a huge bribe, which was divided among the triumvirs.

Despite significant support for Caesar's initiatives at the beginning of the year, by the end of 59 BC. e. the popularity of the triumvirs fell sharply.

By the beginning of Caesar's proconsulship, the Romans controlled southern part the territory of modern France, where the province of Narbonne Gaul was formed. At the end of March 58 BC. e. Guy arrived in Genava (modern Geneva), where he entered into negotiations with the leaders of the Celtic tribe of the Helvetians, who began to move because of the onslaught of the Germans. Caesar managed to prevent the Helvetians from entering the territory of the Roman Republic, and after they entered the lands of the Aedui tribe allied to the Romans, Gaius pursued and defeated them. In the same year, he defeated the troops of the German leader Ariovistus, who was trying to gain a foothold in the Gallic lands on the left bank of the Rhine.

In 57 B.C. e. Caesar, having no formal reason for war, attacked the Belgic tribes in northeastern Gaul and defeated them in the battles of Axon and Sabis. The legate of the commander Publius Licinius Crassus bloodlessly subjugated the lands in the lower reaches of the Loire. However, the following year, the Gauls conquered by Crassus united against the Roman conquest. Caesar was forced to divide his forces between Titus Labienus, who was supposed to subjugate the Trever tribe in Belgica, Publius Crassus (he was entrusted with the conquest of Aquitaine) and Quintus Titurius Sabinus, who suppressed the peripheral tribes of the rebels. Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus began building a fleet on the Loire capable of fighting the coastal tribes, and Caesar himself went to Luca, where the triumvirs met and discussed current issues.

Returning to his troops, Caesar led the attack on the rebellious Gauls. Gaius and Sabinus captured all the rebel settlements, and Decimus Brutus destroyed their fleet in a naval battle.

In 55 BC. e. the commander defeated the Germanic tribes who crossed the Rhine. He then crossed to the right bank of the river using a 400-meter bridge built near the camp "castellum apud confluentes" (modern Koblenz) in just ten days.

The Roman army did not linger in Germany (during the retreat, the first ever bridge over the Rhine was destroyed), and already at the end of August, Caesar undertook a reconnaissance expedition to Britain - the first trip to this island in Roman history. However, due to insufficient preparation, a month later he had to return to the continent.

next summer Caesar led a new expedition to Britain, however, the Celtic tribes on the island were constantly retreating, weakening the enemy in small clashes, and Caesar was forced to conclude a truce, which allowed him to report to Rome about the victory. After returning, Caesar divided his troops between eight camps, concentrated in northern Gaul.

At the end of the year, the Belga tribes rebelled against the Romans and almost simultaneously attacked several of their wintering grounds. The Belgae managed to lure the XIV legion and five more cohorts (about 6-8 thousand soldiers) out of the fortified camp and kill them from an ambush. Caesar managed to lift the siege from the camp of Quintus Tullius Cicero, the brother of the orator, after which the Belgae abandoned the attack on the camp of Labienus. In 53 BC. e. Guy made punitive expeditions against the Belgic tribes, and in the summer he made a second trip to Germany, again building (and again destroying during the retreat) a bridge over the Rhine. Faced with a shortage of troops, Caesar requested one of his legions from Pompey, to which Gnaeus agreed.

At the beginning of 52 BC. e. most of the Gallic tribes united to fight the Romans. The leader of the rebels was Vercingetorix. Since the Gauls cut off Caesar in Narbonne Gaul from the main part of his troops in the north, the commander, with the help of a deceptive maneuver, lured Vercingetorix into the lands of his native Arverni tribe, and he himself united with the main troops. The Romans took several fortified Gallic cities, but were defeated when they tried to storm Gergovia. In the end, Caesar managed to blockade Vercingetorix in the well-fortified fortress of Alesia and begin a siege.

The Gallic commander called for help from all the Gallic tribes and tried to lift the Roman siege after their arrival. A fierce battle broke out in the most poorly defended section of the fortifications of the siege camp, in which the Romans won not without difficulty. The next day, Vercingetorix surrendered to Caesar, and the uprising was generally over. In 51 and 50 BC. e. Caesar and his legates completed the conquest of distant tribes and individual groups of rebels. By the end of Caesar's proconsulship, all of Gaul was subject to Rome.

During his entire stay in Gaul, the commander was aware of the events taking place in Rome and often intervened in them. This became possible due to the fact that two confidants of Caesar remained in the capital, with whom he constantly corresponded - Gaius Oppius and Lucius Cornelius Balbus. They distributed bribes to the magistrates and carried out his other orders as a commander.

In Gaul, under the command of Caesar, several legates served, who later played a prominent role in Roman history - Mark Antony, Titus Labienus, Lucius Munacius Plancus, Gaius Trebonius and others.

Consuls 56 B.C. e. Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus and Lucius Marcius Philippus treated the triumvirs unkindly. Marcellinus prevented the passage of laws by Caesar's supporters and, more importantly, managed to appoint a successor to Caesar from among the not yet elected consuls of the next year. Thus, no later than March 1, 54 BC. e. Guy had to cede the province to a successor.

The most likely candidate to replace Caesar in Cisalpine Gaul was Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, a staunch opponent of the triumvirate. In addition, Caesar's opponents hoped to take Narbonne Gaul from him. The first attempts to bring Caesar to court date back to this time, which failed due to the judicial immunity of the proconsul until the end of his powers.

Mid-April 56 B.C. e. triumvirs gathered in Luke(modern Lucca; the city belonged to Cisalpine Gaul, which allowed Caesar to be present) to coordinate further actions.

They agreed that Pompey and Crassus would put forward their candidacies for consuls the next year in order to prevent the election of opponents (in particular, Ahenobarbus). Since the outcome of the elections, held in full accordance with the law, was not obvious, the triumvirs decided to influence the elections by attracting legionnaires. The supporters of the triumvirs had to get the elections postponed until the end of the year, and Caesar promised to send all his soldiers to participate in the vote. After the election, Pompey and Crassus were to obtain an extension of Caesar's powers for five years in exchange for the support of the Caesarians for the distribution of several other provinces in their favor.

In the spring of 55 BC. e. the new consuls fulfilled their obligations assumed at the meeting in Luke: Caesar extended his powers in all three provinces for five years. In addition, Pompey received for the same period Far and Near Spain, and Crassus Syria. In May or June 55 BC. e. Cicero, who became close to the triumvirate, actively supported, and possibly even initiated, a bill to compensate for the costs of maintaining Caesar's four new legions at public expense. This proposal was accepted. In exchange for Cicero's services to Caesar, the proconsul responded by including Quintus Tullius Cicero, the orator's brother, among his legates.

In August or September 54 BC. e. Julia, daughter of Caesar and wife of Pompey, died in childbirth. However, the death of Julia and the failure of attempts to conclude a new dynastic marriage did not have a decisive influence on the relationship between Pompey and Caesar, and for several more years the relationship between the two politicians remained quite good.

A much greater blow to the triumvirate and to all Roman politics was dealt death of Crassus at the battle of Carrhae. Although Crassus was considered more of a "junior" triumvir, especially after Caesar's successful conquests in Gaul, his wealth and influence smoothed over the contradictions between Pompey and Caesar.

At the beginning of 53 BC. e. Caesar asked Pompey for one of his legions for use in the Gallic War, and Gnaeus agreed. Soon, Caesar recruited two more legions to make up for the losses of his troops due to the Belgian uprising.

In 53-52 BC. e. the situation in Rome was extremely tense due to the struggle (often armed) between the supporters of the two demagogues - Clodius and Milo. The situation was significantly aggravated due to the murder of Clodius by the slave of Milo in January 52 BC. e. By this time, elections for consuls had not been held, and calls were made in Rome to elect Pompey as consuls, along with Caesar, to restore order.

Caesar invited Pompey to organize a new dynastic marriage. According to his plan, Pompey was to marry Octavia the Younger, a relative of Caesar, and he himself intended to marry Pompey, the daughter of Gnaeus. Pompey refused the offer, marrying some time later Cornelia Metella, daughter of Caesar's longtime enemy Metellus Scipio. When it became clear that Caesar would not be able to return from Gaul to restore order in Rome, Cato (according to another version - Bibulus) proposed an emergency measure - the appointment of Gnaeus as consul without a colleague, which allowed him to make the most important decisions alone. However, the Senate certainly saw Pompey as a temporary coordinator for the suppression of unrest, and not as a long-term ruler.

Soon after the appointment, the new consul initiated passage of laws on violent acts (lex Pompeia de vi) and on electoral bribery (lex Pompeia de ambitu). In both cases, the wording of laws was refined to meet the new requirements, more stringent preventive measures were established, and court hearings in these cases were to be held under armed guard. Both decisions were retroactive. The law on bribery extended up to 70 BC. e., and Caesar's supporters considered this decision a challenge to their patron.

At the same time, the tribunes of the people, with the approval of Pompey, passed a decree allowing Caesar to put forward his candidacy for consuls while absent from Rome, which he failed to achieve in 60 BC. e. However, soon, at the suggestion of the consul, laws were adopted on the magistracies and on the provinces. Among the provisions of the first decree was a ban on seeking office in the absence of a candidate in Rome.

The new legislation was not only directed against Caesar, but also came into conflict with the recent decree of the tribunes. However, soon Pompey, who allegedly forgot to make an exception for Caesar, ordered to add a clause to the law on magistracies on the possibility of special permission to apply without being present in the capital, but he did this after the law was approved.

Pompey's ordinances brought uncertainty into Caesar's future after the end of his proconsulship. It is not clear when he could present his candidacy for consulship for the next year in accordance with special permission - in 50 or 49 BC. e.

Due to the fact that Gnaeus made an amendment to the law on magistrates after its approval, Caesar's opponents had the opportunity to protest the effect of this clarification and demand the mandatory presence of Caesar as a private person in the elections. Guy was seriously afraid that immediately after his arrival in Rome and the termination of immunity, Caesar's opponents, led by Cato, would bring him to trial.

Because Pompey's laws were retroactive, Gaius could have been held accountable for his actions in 59 BC. e. and earlier. Moreover, it was not clear whether a successor to Caesar should be appointed under the old law, or under the new one. If the priority of Pompey's decree was recognized, the successor could replace Caesar in the province as early as March 1, 49 BC. e., and it was supposed to be one of the consuls five years ago. However, since the second consul Appius Claudius Pulcher managed to get an appointment in Cilicia, Gaius's implacable opponent Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus should have become Gaius' successor.

Although Cato failed in this election of consuls, Marcus Claudius Marcellus, an enemy of Caesar, was elected. At the very beginning of the year Marcellus demanded that Caesar leave the province and disband all ten legions, citing the completion of active hostilities after the capture of Alesia. However, the rebels continued to operate on the periphery of Gaul, and Marcellus's colleague Servius Sulpicius Rufus refused to support this proposal. Pompey tried to maintain the appearance of neutrality, but his statements indicated a rapid cooling of relations with Caesar.

Consuls 50 BC. e. after Cato's refusal to participate in the elections, Gaius Claudius Marcellus, cousin of Mark and his associate, and Lucius Aemilius Paul became. The latter was not a staunch opponent of Caesar, and therefore Guy took advantage of his difficult financial situation and persuaded him to cooperate for a huge bribe of 1,500 talents (approximately 36 million sesterces, or slightly less than the annual tax revenues from conquered Gaul).

In addition, one of his longtime opponents Gaius Scribonius Curio, unexpectedly for everyone, went over to the side of Caesar. Later sources attribute this change of political position to another bribe comparable to that received by Aemilius Paul. It was Curio who used the tribune's veto to repeal the laws by which the senators tried to legalize the removal of Caesar. However, the stands carefully concealed his defection. In his public speeches, he positioned himself as an independent politician and defender of the interests of the people, and not Pompey or Caesar. May 50 B.C. e. the Senate, under the pretext of the Parthian threat, recalled two legions from Caesar at once, including the one lent to him by Pompey.

As the end of the proconsul's office drew near, Caesar and his Roman opponents began vigorous activity to defend their position in accordance with their vision of legislation.

By 50 B.C. BC, when Caesar's break with Pompey became apparent, Caesar had significant support from the inhabitants of Rome and the population of Cisalpine Gaul, but among the nobles his influence was small and often relied on bribes.

Although the senate was generally not inclined to trust Caesar, the idea of ​​​​a peaceful resolution of the dispute was supported by the majority of senators. Thus, 370 senators voted in support of Curio's proposal on the need for the simultaneous disarmament of both commanders, and 22 or 25 voted against. However, Marcellus closed the meeting before the voting results were entered into the minutes. According to another version, Gaius Fournius vetoed the decision of the Senate.

There were other proposals, although neither Caesar nor Pompey and his supporters were willing to yield. In particular, even before the election of magistrates, Gnaeus suggested that Caesar return to Rome on November 13, 50 BC. e., surrendering proconsular powers and troops, so that on January 1, 49 BC. e. become consul. However, contemporaries noticed that Pompey clearly did not want reconciliation. False rumors soon spread in Rome that Caesar had already crossed the borders of Italy and occupied Arimin, which meant the beginning of a civil war.

In 50 B.C. e. Caesar succeeded in getting Mark Antony and Quintus Cassius Longinus into the tribunes of the plebs the following year, but his consul candidate Servius Sulpicius Galba failed. According to the results of the vote, staunch opponents of the proconsul were elected - Gaius Claudius Marcellus, the full namesake and cousin of the consul of the previous year, as well as Lucius Cornelius Lentulus Cruz.

From the second half of the year Caesar begins to make persistent attempts to negotiate with the Senate, offering mutual concessions.

In particular, he agreed to renounce Narbonne Gaul and keep only two legions and two provinces - Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum - on condition of inviolability and absentee participation in the elections.

The senators refused to accept Caesar's proposal. In response, on January 1, 49 BC. e. in Rome, Caesar's letter was read out, in which the proconsul's determination was already sounded to defend by all available means his right to absentee participation in the elections.

In response, the Senate decided that Caesar should be considered an enemy of the state if he did not resign and disband the troops by a certain date, but Antony and Longinus, who took office, vetoed and the decision was not adopted. Several people, including Cicero, tried to mediate a reconciliation between the two generals, but their attempts were unsuccessful.

On January 7, at the initiative of a group of senators led by Cato, an emergency law (Latin senatusconsultum ultimum) was issued to call citizens to arms, which actually meant a complete rejection of negotiations. Troops began to pour into the city, and Antony and Longinus were given to understand that their safety could not be guaranteed.

Both tribunes and Curio, who had already surrendered their powers, immediately fled from Rome to Caesar's camp - according to Appian, they left the city "at night, in a hired cart, disguised as slaves."

On January 8 and 9, the senators decided to declare Caesar an enemy of the state if he does not resign. They also approved his successors - Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus and Mark Considius Nonianus - transferring Cisalpine and Narbonne Gaul to them. They also announced the recruitment of troops.

Caesar, back in December 50 BC. e. summoned the VIII and XII legions from Narbonne Gaul, but by the beginning of January they had not yet arrived. Although the proconsul had only about 5,000 soldiers of the XIII Legion and about 300 cavalry at his disposal, he decided to act.

After the arrival of the tribunes who fled from Rome to Caesar's camp, the commander gathered the troops at his disposal and addressed them with a speech. In it, he informed the soldiers about the violation of the sacred rights of the tribunes and the unwillingness of the senators to recognize his legitimate demands. The soldiers expressed their full support for their commander, and he led them across the border river Rubicon(according to legend, before crossing the river, Caesar said the words "the die is cast" - a quote from Menander's comedy).

However, Caesar did not move towards Rome. On January 17, after receiving news of the outbreak of war, Pompey tried to start negotiations, but they were unsuccessful, and the commander sent his troops along the Adriatic coast. Most of the cities along the way did not even try to resist. Many supporters of the senate retreated to Corfinium (modern Corfinio), where Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus was located.

Soon, 30 cohorts, or 10-15 thousand soldiers, turned out to be under his control. Due to the lack of a unified command (since Ahenobarbus had previously been appointed governor, Gnaeus did not have the authority to order him), Domitius was locked up in Corfinia and cut off from Pompey's troops. After Caesar received reinforcements and the siege could not be lifted, Ahenobarbus decided to flee the city with only friends. His soldiers became aware of the plans of the commander, after which the disgruntled troops opened the gates of the city to Caesar and gave him Ahenobarbus and their other commanders.

The troops stationed in Corfinia and the surrounding area, Caesar attached to his army, and Ahenobarbus and his associates released.

Upon learning of the surrender of Corfinius, Pompey began preparations for the evacuation of his supporters to Greece. Pompey counted on the support of the eastern provinces, where his influence had been great since the time of the Third Mithridatic War. Due to a shortage of ships, Gnaeus had to transport his forces to Dyrrachium (or Epidamnus; modern Durrës) piecemeal.

As a result, by the time Caesar arrived (March 9), not all of his soldiers had crossed. After Gnaeus refused to negotiate, Gaius began a siege of the city and tried to block the narrow exit from the harbor of Brundisium, but on March 17, Pompey managed to get out of the harbor and leave Italy with his remaining troops.

The rapid development of events in the first stage of the war took the people of Rome and Italy by surprise. Many Italians supported Caesar, because they saw in him the successor of Gaius Marius and hoped for his patronage. Italic support for Caesar contributed greatly to Caesar's success in the first phase of the civil war.

The attitude of the nobility towards Julius was mixed. The soft treatment of commanders and soldiers in Corfinia was aimed at persuading both opponents and vacillating members of the nobility not to oppose Caesar.

Caesar's supporters Oppius and Balbus made every effort to present Caesar's actions to the whole republic as an act of outstanding mercy (Latin clementia). Contributed to the appeasement of Italy and the principle of encouraging the neutrality of all hesitant: “Meanwhile, as Pompey declared his enemies all who would not stand up for the defense of the republic, Caesar proclaimed that those who abstain and do not join anyone, he will consider friends”.

The widespread opinion that the bulk of the senators fled Italy with Pompey is not entirely true. It gained fame thanks to Cicero, who later justified the legitimacy of the “senate in exile” by the presence of ten consuls (former consuls) in its composition, but hushed up the fact that there were at least fourteen of them left in Italy. More than half of the senators chose to remain neutral, holed up on their estates in Italy.

Caesar was supported by many young people from noble, but poor aristocratic families, many representatives of the equestrian class, as well as various outcasts and adventurers.

Caesar was unable to immediately pursue Pompey in Greece, as Gnaeus had requisitioned all available warships and transport ships. As a result, Guy decided to secure his rear by heading through Gaul, which was loyal to him, to Spain, where from 54 BC. e. Pompey's legates were with seven legions.

Before leaving, Gaius entrusted the leadership of Italy to Mark Antony, who received from him the powers of a propraetor, and left the capital in the care of Praetor Mark Aemilius Lepidus and the senators. In dire need of money, Guy took possession of the remains of the treasury. Tribune Lucius Caecilius Metellus tried to stop him, but Caesar, according to legend, threatened to kill him, adding that it was "much more difficult for him to say this than to do it."

In Narbonne Gaul, where all the Gallic troops of Caesar gathered, Caesar encountered unexpected resistance from the richest city of Massilia (modern Marseille). Not wanting to linger halfway, Caesar left part of the troops to conduct the siege.

By the beginning of the campaign in Spain, according to the Notes on the Civil War, the Pompeians Lucius Afranius and Mark Petreus had about 40 thousand soldiers and 5 thousand cavalry against Caesar's about 30 thousand soldiers and 6 thousand horsemen.

Caesar's troops, with skillful maneuvers, forced the enemy out of Ilerda (modern Lleida / Lleida) into the hills, where it was impossible to find either food or water. On August 27, the entire Pompeian army surrendered to Caesar. Caesar sent all the soldiers of the enemy army home, and allowed those who wished to join his army. After the news of the capitulation of the Pompeians, most of the communities of Near Spain went over to the side of Caesar.

Soon Guy went to Italy by land. At the walls of Massilia, Caesar received news of his appointment as dictator at the initiative of Praetor Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. In Rome, Caesar took advantage of the rights of the dictator and organized the election of magistrates for the next year.

Caesar himself and Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus were elected consuls, while other positions went mainly to supporters of the dictator. In addition, Guy used his right of legislative initiative and passed a number of laws designed not only to mitigate the consequences of the war (for example, the law on loans), but also for the long term (granting full Roman citizenship to residents of certain cities and territories).

While Caesar was in Spain, Caesar's generals suffered defeat after defeat in Illyricum, Africa, and the Adriatic Sea. However, Caesar was able to derive some benefit from the defeat of Curio in Africa: it allowed him to argue that Pompey's position had become so desperate that he was forced to call on the barbarians to help him. The unsuccessful actions of the legates on the Adriatic coast left Caesar with only one option for crossing to Greece - by sea.

Apparently, Caesar was afraid that Pompey would cross over to Italy in the spring, and therefore began preparations for the landing in the winter of 49-48 BC. e. However, this idea was considered risky due to the unfavorable season for navigation, the dominance of the Pompeians at sea and the lack of food for a large army in Epirus. In addition, Guy did not manage to collect enough ships to cross the entire army.

However, January 4 or 5, 48 B.C. e. Caesar's fleet with about 20 thousand soldiers and 600 cavalry landed in Epirus, avoiding a meeting with the Pompeian fleet, led by Bibulus. Another part of Caesar's army, led by Mark Antony, managed to break through to Greece only in April.

Immediately after landing, Caesar sent envoys to Pompey to offer a truce, but at the same time he began to capture the cities on the coast, which discredited any attempts to negotiate an end to the war.

Skillfully maneuvering, Caesar, after uniting with Antony, managed to surround the superior forces of Gnaeus on a coastal hill near Dyrrhachium and build strong fortifications, who were supposed to protect Guy's camp and troops from attacks both from the besieged and from outside. This siege is remarkable not only for the superiority of the besieged over the besiegers, but also for the famine in the camp of the latter, in contrast to the normal supply situation at the besieged Pompey: according to Plutarch, by the summer, Caesar's soldiers ate bread from the roots. Soon Gnaeus took advantage of the access to the coast and his advantage at sea, landing part of the troops in the weakest place of the enemy's fortifications.

Caesar threw all his strength into repulsing the attack, but in the battle known as the battle of Dyrrachium (about July 10), Pompey put his opponent to flight. For some reason, Pompey did not dare to strike a decisive blow against Caesar - either because of the advice of Labienus, or out of caution against the possible tricks of Gaius. After the battle, Caesar, according to Plutarch and Appian, said “Today, the opponents would have won if they had someone to win”.

Having gathered the defeated troops, Caesar set out to the southeast, into the fertile Thessaly, where he managed to replenish food supplies. In Thessaly, Caesar was joined by two legions of troops that he had previously sent to Macedon for support operations. However, the number of Pompey's soldiers exceeded the number of Caesar's troops by about two times (about 22 thousand versus about 47 thousand).

Opponents met at Pharsalus. Pompey for some time did not want to start a general battle in the open area and decided to give battle to Caesar only under pressure from the senators. According to legend, on the day before the battle, confident of victory, the senators began to distribute the magistracies among themselves. Probably, the battle plan for Pompey was prepared by Titus Labienus, but Caesar managed to unravel the plans of the Pompeians and prepare countermeasures (after the battle, Gnaeus suspected that someone from his entourage had passed the plans to Caesar). On August 9, a decisive battle took place, the outcome of which was decided by Caesar's counterattack on the right flank. In total, 15 thousand soldiers died in the battle, including 6 thousand Roman citizens. More than 20 thousand Pompeians surrendered the day after the battle, and among them were many nobles, including Mark Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus.

Shortly after the battle Caesar went in pursuit of Pompey, but Gnaeus disoriented his pursuer and went through Cyprus to Egypt. It was only when Caesar was in the province of Asia that news of his opponent's new preparations reached him, and he went to Alexandria with one legion (probably the VI Iron).

Caesar arrived in Egypt a few days after the assassination of Pompey by the Egyptians. Initially, his stay in Egypt was prolonged due to unfavorable winds, and the dictator tried to take the opportunity to solve his urgent need for money. Guy hoped to recover from King Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator 10 million denarii of debts left by his father Ptolemy XII Auletes (a significant part of the debt was an incompletely paid bribe for not recognizing the will of Ptolemy XI Alexander II).

For this commander intervened in the struggle of supporters of Ptolemy XIII and his sister Cleopatra. Initially, Caesar probably hoped to mediate in a dispute between brother and sister in order to extract the greatest benefit for himself and for the Roman state.

After Cleopatra secretly entered Caesar's camp (according to legend, the queen was brought to the palace wrapped in a carpet), Guy went over to her side. Surrounded by Ptolemy, they decided to take advantage of the small number of Guy's troops in order to expel him from the country and overthrow Cleopatra. Most of the inhabitants of Alexandria supported the king, and the general uprising against the Romans forced Caesar to lock himself in the royal quarter, exposing his life to great danger.

During the battle with the Egyptians, a fire started that spread to the Library of Alexandria.- the largest book collection of the ancient world. However, a large branch of the library in the Serapeum with copies of the scrolls survived, and most of the collection was soon restored.

In winter, Caesar withdrew troops from the besieged palace and, after uniting with the reinforcements that arrived, defeated the troops of Ptolemy's supporters. After Guy wins elevated Cleopatra and the infant Ptolemy XIV Theos Philopator II to the royal throne(Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator drowned in the Nile after a battle with the Romans), who traditionally ruled jointly.

Then the Roman commander spent several months with Cleopatra in Egypt, climbing up the Nile. Ancient authors considered this delay of the war caused by an affair with Cleopatra. It is known that the commander and the queen were accompanied by Roman soldiers, so Caesar may have been simultaneously engaged in reconnaissance and a show of force to the Egyptians. Before leaving in July 47 BC. e. Caesar left three Roman legions to maintain order in Egypt. In the summer of the same year, Cleopatra's son Caesarion was born, and the dictator is often considered the father of the child.

While Caesar was in Egypt, supporters of the defeated Pompey gathered in Africa. After leaving Alexandria, Caesar did not head to the west, where his opponents concentrated their forces, but to the northeast. The fact is that after the death of Pompey, the population of the eastern provinces and the rulers of neighboring kingdoms tried to take advantage of the situation in their own interests: in particular, Pharnaces II, the son of Mithridates VI, relying on the remnants of the Pontic kingdom that Pompey assigned to him, tried to restore the empire of his father, invading Roman dominions.

Having settled urgent matters in Syria, Caesar with a small force arrived in Cilicia. There he united with the remnants of the troops of the defeated Gnaeus Domitius Calvin and with the ruler of Galatia, Deiotarus, who hoped to be forgiven for supporting Pompey. Guy met Pharnaces at Zela, and on the third day defeated him. Caesar himself described this victory in three winged words: veni, vidi, vici (came, saw, conquered). After the victory over Farnak, Guy crossed over to Greece, and from there to Italy. After returning, Caesar managed to restore the location of several legions that had rebelled in Italy, speaking to them with generous promises.

Having brought the legionaries into order, Caesar set out from Lilybaeum for Africa in December, again ignoring the adverse conditions for navigation and sailing with only one legion of experienced troops. After transporting all the troops and organizing supplies, Caesar lured Metellus Scipio and the Numidian king Yuba (the latter Gaius once publicly humiliated by pulling his beard during the trial) to fight in the vicinity of Taps.

April 6, 46 B.C. e. the decisive battle took place at Tapsa. Although in Notes on the African War the development of the battle is characterized as swift, and the nature of the victory as unconditional, Appian describes the battle as extremely difficult. In addition, Plutarch cites the version that Caesar did not participate in the battle due to an epileptic seizure.

Many commanders of Scipio's army fled the battlefield, but contrary to the declared policy of mercy, they were caught up and executed at the direction of Caesar. Mark Petreus and Yuba committed suicide, but Titus Labienus, Gnaeus and Sextus Pompey fled to Spain, where they soon organized a new center of resistance to Caesar.

After the victory at Tapsa, Caesar moved north to the well-fortified Utica. The commandant of the city, Cato, was determined to hold the city, but the inhabitants of Utica were inclined to surrender to Caesar, and Cato disbanded the troops and helped everyone to leave the city. When Guy approached the walls of Utica, Mark committed suicide. After returning to the capital Caesar held four triumphal processions in a row - for victories over the Gauls, Egyptians, Pharnaces and Yuba. However, the Romans understood that in part Caesar was celebrating victories over his compatriots.

The four triumphs of Caesar did not end the civil war, as the situation in Spain remained tense: the abuses of the Caesarian governor of Further Spain, Quintus Cassius Longinus, provoked a rebellion.

After the arrival of the defeated Pompeians from Africa and the organization of a new center of resistance by them, the temporarily calmed Spaniards again opposed Caesar.

November 46 B.C. e. Guy decided to go to Spain personally to crush the last hotbed of open resistance. By this time, however, most of his troops had already been disbanded: there were only two legions of experienced soldiers in the ranks (V and X legions), all other available troops consisted of newcomers.

March 17, 45 BC e., shortly after arriving in Spain, the opponents clashed in battle of Munda. In the hardest battle, Guy won. According to legend, after the battle, Caesar declared that he “often fought for victory, now for the first time fought for life”.

At least 30 thousand Pompeian soldiers died, and Labienus was among those killed on the battlefield; Caesar's losses were considerably less. The dictator departed from his traditional practice of mercy (clementia): Gnaeus Pompey the Younger, who fled from the battlefield, was overtaken and killed, and his head was delivered to Caesar. Sextus Pompey barely managed to escape and even survived the dictator. After the victory at Munda, Caesar celebrated his fifth triumph, and it was the first triumph in Roman history in honor of the victory of the Romans over the Romans.

In the autumn of 48 B.C. e., after receiving news of the death of Pompey, Caesar's colleague in the consulate, Publius Servilius Vatia Isauric, organized the second absentee appointment of Gaius as dictator. This time, the justification for appointing an extraordinary magistrate was probably the conduct of war (the wording rei gerundae causa was used). The head of the cavalry was Mark Antony, whom Caesar sent to govern Italy during his stay in Egypt. According to sources, Guy received unlimited power for one year instead of the usual six months for a dictator.

In the autumn of 47 B.C. e. the term of the dictatorship expired, but Caesar retained proconsular powers, and on January 1, 46 BC. e. assumed the office of consul. According to Dio Cassius, Caesar also received the powers of a plebeian tribune (tribunicia potestas), but some researchers (in particular, H. Skallard) doubt the veracity of this message.

After the Battle of Thapsus, Caesar became dictator for the third time.

The new appointment had a number of unusual features: firstly, there was no formal justification for holding the position, and secondly, the position was granted for ten years, although, apparently, it had to be renewed annually. In addition to unlimited power, Guy's supporters organized his election to the special position of "prefect of morals" (praefectus morum or praefectus moribus) for three years, which effectively gave him the powers of a censor.

Since Caesar was already 54 years old at the time of his appointment, the ten-year magistracy of the dictator, given the low average life expectancy in antiquity, was actually considered as a lifetime.

In 45 BC. e. Guy, in addition to the powers of the dictator, became a consul without a colleague, which did not allow for the collegiality inherent in this magistracy, and only in October he abandoned the consulate, appointing two successors to his place - suffect consuls.

In the same year, Guy supplemented his name to include the title "emperor", used to refer to the victorious commander (henceforth, his full name became Imperator Gaius Iulius Caesar).

Finally, at the beginning of 44 BC. e. (no later than February 15) Caesar received another appointment to the post of dictator. This time he received an extraordinary magistracy for life (lat. dictator perpetuus).

Caesar began to use in a new way the magistracy of the dictator, which had previously been used in exceptional cases. Traditionally, the dictator was appointed for six months, and in the event of a faster resolution of the crisis situation, he was expected to resign early. Less than forty years ago, Sulla first awarded the magistracy for an indefinite period, but after the reforms he resigned and died a private man.

Caesar was the first to expressly declare his intention to rule indefinitely. However, in fact, Caesar led the republic by right of the strong, relying on the troops and numerous supporters, and his positions only gave the appearance of legitimacy.

Cult of personality and sacralization of Caesar:

Caesar consolidated his power not only by occupying new positions, reforming the political system and suppressing the opposition, but also by sacralizing his personality.

First of all, the legend about the relationship of the Julius Caesars with the goddess Venus was actively used: in accordance with ancient ideas, the descendants of the gods stood out from the general mass of people, and Caesar's claims as a direct descendant were even more serious.

Wanting to publicly show his connection with the gods, which goes beyond mere kinship, the dictator erected a luxuriously decorated temple of Venus in the Forum. It was dedicated not to Venus the Victorious (lat. Venus Victrix), as Caesar originally intended (such was his vow given before the battle of Pharsalus), but to Venus the Ancestor (lat. Venus Genetrix) - the legendary ancestor and Julius (in a straight line) , and at the same time all the Romans. He founded a magnificent cult in the temple and gave it one of the most important places in the hierarchy of Roman organized rituals.

The dictator also organized magnificent games at the temple and ordered them to be held in the future, appointing young men from noble families for this, one of whom was Gaius Octavius. Even earlier, on some coins minted by the moneyers from among the representatives of the Julius family, an image of the god Mars was placed, to which the family also tried to build their family, although less actively.

Caesar planned to build a temple to Mars in Rome, designed to popularize the lesser-known legend of descent from this god. However, the dictator did not have time to implement this idea, and Octavian put it into practice. Some attributes of sacred power came to Caesar through his office as Pontifex Grande.

From 63 B.C. e. Caesar not only enjoyed numerous priestly powers, but also enjoyed great prestige.

Even before the first triumph of Caesar, the Senate decided to grant him a series of honors, which began preparations for the sacralization of the personality of the dictator and the establishment of a new state cult. The successful implementation of this decision by the Senate was due to the flight of the majority of adherents of the Roman traditions with Pompey and the dominance of the "new people" in the Senate. In particular, the chariot of the dictator and his statue in the image of the conqueror of the world were installed in the temple of Capitoline Jupiter, and thus the most important temple of Rome became dedicated to both Jupiter and Caesar.

The most important source reporting this honor - Dio Cassius - used the Greek word for "demigod" (ancient Greek ἡμίθεος - hemitheos), which was usually applied to mythological heroes born from the connection of gods and people. However, the dictator did not accept this honor: soon, but by no means immediately, he canceled this decision.

The news of the dictator's victory at the battle of Munda reached Rome on the evening of April 20, 45 BC. e., on the eve of the holiday Parilii - according to legend, it was on this day (April 21) that Romulus founded Rome. The organizers decided to hold games the next day in honor of the winner, as if he were the founder of the city. In addition, in Rome it was decided to build the sanctuary of Liberty in honor of Caesar the Liberator (lat. Liberator). The Senate also decided to install on the rostral platform in the forum, from where the magistrates usually delivered speeches, a statue of Caesar, facing the people listening to the speakers.

Soon new steps were taken towards the deification of Caesar. First, after the dictator returned to Rome in May, his statue was placed in the temple of Quirinus, a deity identified with Romulus, the mythical founder of Rome. The dedicatory inscription on the statue read: "To the Undefeated God."

At public expense, the construction of a new house for Caesar began, and its shape had a significant resemblance to temples - the houses of the gods. In circus performances, the image of Caesar in gold and ivory was among the images of the gods. Finally, in 45 B.C. e. coins were minted with the image of Caesar in profile, although before that the images of living people had never been placed on the coins.

At the beginning of 44 BC. e. the senate, and then the popular assembly, inspired by Mark Antony, issued a series of decrees that endowed Caesar with new privileges and gave him new honors. Among them - title of the father of the fatherland (lat. parens patriae) with the right to place it on coins, the introduction for the Romans of the oath by the genius of Caesar, the transformation of his birthday into a holiday with sacrifices, the renaming of the month of Quintilius to July, the introduction of a mandatory oath to preserve all his laws for magistrates taking office.

In addition, annual sacrifices were introduced for the sake of Caesar's safety, one tribe was renamed in his honor, all temples in Rome and Italy were required to install his statues. A collegium of the Julius Luperci (junior priests; lat. Luperci Iuliani) was created, and in Rome the construction of the Temple of Concord was to begin in honor of the appeasement of the state. In the end, the Senate authorized the start of the construction of the Temple of Caesar and his Mercy (lat. Clementia) and created a new priestly position specifically for organizing the worship of the new deity, appointing Mark Antony to it.

The creation of a special office of priest of the highest level to honor Gaius placed him on a par with Jupiter, Mars and Quirinus. The other gods of the Roman pantheon were served by priests and colleges of lesser rank. The deification of Caesar completed the creation of a new state cult. Lily Ross Taylor believes that at the beginning of 44 BC. e. The senate decided to consider Caesar a god. His deification was finally confirmed posthumously by a special decree of the Second Triumvirate in 42 BC. e.

By 44 B.C. e. Caesar also received a number of honors that brought him closer to the Roman kings. So, he constantly wore the clothes of a triumphant and a laurel wreath, which also created the impression of a constant triumph.

Suetonius, however, notes that Caesar used the right to constantly wear a laurel wreath due to baldness.

In addition, he refused to get up from the throne when senators approached him. The latter circumstance caused particular indignation in Rome, since only absolute monarchs enjoyed such privileges. Nevertheless, he stubbornly refused the old Roman title of king (lat. rex), although this could be the result of a calculation.

February 15, 44 B.C. e. at the feast of Lupercalia, he rejected the diadem proposed by Mark Antony - a symbol of monarchical power. Already after his assassination, rumors spread that at a meeting on March 15 it was planned to declare him king, but only for the provinces - territories outside of Rome and Italy.

Perhaps Caesar didn't want to be restored royal power in its Roman form, since it assumed the election of a new ruler after the death of the former. Lily Ross Taylor suggested that Guy wished to create a system in which the transfer of power would be through heredity, as was customary in the Hellenistic monarchies.

In the process of sacralizing his power, the dictator was clearly guided by the one who adopted the traditions of governance from the conquered Persians. In addition, the first steps towards the deification of the Macedonian ruler appeared after a visit to Egypt, as in the case of Caesar, where both rulers could personally get acquainted with monumental evidence of the sacralization of the power of the pharaohs, although Gaius announced the final deification much more cautiously.

It is possible that for Caesarion, who was born from Cleopatra - the last living heir to the empire of Alexander, - Caesar had further plans that he did not have time to implement. However, the paternity of the dictator was questioned even in ancient times, and Caesarion was never declared the official heir to Gaius.

Reforms of Julius Caesar:

Using a combination of various powers and meeting no open opposition in the senate and popular assembly, Caesar introduced a series of reforms in 49-44 BC. e.

The details of the dictator's activities are known mainly from the works of the authors of the era of the Empire, and there is very little evidence of contemporaries on this issue.

In the field state structure Caesar increased the number of most colleges of curule (senior) magistrates. The number of praetors elected annually increased from 8, first to 14, and then to 16. The number of quaestors was increased by 20 people annually, and aediles by 2 due to aediles ceriales, who controlled the supply of bread.

The number of augurs, pontiffs, and members of the College of Quindecemvirs also increased.

The dictator arrogated to himself the right to nominate candidates for major positions: at first this was done unofficially, and then he officially received such a right. He removed unwanted candidates from the elections. Guy often nominated people of humble origin to high positions: it is known that more than half of the consuls elected under the patronage of Caesar were “new people” (homines novi), among whose ancestors there were no consuls.

The dictator also replenished the Senate, which was empty as a result of civil strife in the 50s BC. e. and civil war. In total, Caesar revised the lists of senators three times and, according to Dio Cassius, eventually brought their number to 900 people, but this number was hardly accurate and constant. Many of the people included in the senate did not belong to the old Roman families, but to the provincial aristocracy and the equestrian class. Contemporaries, however, spread rumors that both the children of freedmen and barbarians were included in the number of senators.

The dictator revised the system of staffing judges in the permanent criminal courts (quaestiones perpetuae), giving half the seats to senators and equestrians instead of the previous third of the seats, which became possible after the exclusion of the erary tribunes from the colleges.

Caesar legally supplemented the ranks of the patrician class, whose representatives traditionally occupied some important positions in the religious sphere. Most of the patrician families had already died out, and by the middle of the 1st century BC. e. there are only a few more than ten left.

Disbanded many public colleges (collegiae), a considerable part of which in the 50s BC. e. was used to recruit armed supporters of demagogues and to bribe voters in voting.

Estimates of Caesar's political reforms differ. A number of researchers see in his political activities the actual establishment of a “democratic monarchy” (Theodor Mommsen), a Hellenistic or Eastern type monarchy (Robert Yuryevich Wipper, Eduard Meyer) or a Roman version absolute monarchy(Matthias Gelzer, John Bolsdon).

In an effort to enlist the support of the inhabitants of the provinces, Caesar actively granted them various benefits and privileges. Residents of several cities (in particular, Gades and Olisipo) received full Roman citizenship, and some others (Vienna, Tolosa, Avennio and others) received Latin law.

At the same time, only the cities of the western provinces received Roman citizenship, while the Hellenized policies of Greece and Asia Minor did not receive such privileges, and the Greek cities of Sicily received only Latin law.

Physicians and teachers of the liberal arts living in Rome received full Roman citizenship.

The dictator reduced taxes from Narbonne Gaul, and also transferred the provinces of Asia and Sicily to the direct payment of taxes, bypassing tax-farmers. The dictator made adjustments to the process of distributing free bread, which took up a significant part of the state budget. Firstly, the lists of recipients of free bread were halved - from more than 300 to 150 thousand (this reduction is sometimes associated with a drop in the total population due to civil wars). Secondly, some of the former recipients were able to move to new colonies in various provinces of the Roman state. The demobilized soldiers of Caesar also received land plots and did not create an additional burden on the system of grain distributions.

Among other measures of colonization, Caesar repopulated Carthage and Corinth, destroyed by the Romans at the same time in 146 BC. e. To solve the important task of increasing the number of people fit for military service, Caesar took various measures to support fathers of many children.

In an effort to limit uncontrolled emigration to the provinces, Caesar forbade full residents of Rome and Italy aged 20 to 40 from leaving the Apennines for more than three years in a row, and the children of senators could only go to the province as soldiers or members of the viceroy's retinue.

To replenish the budgets of urban communities, Caesar decided to return to Italy trade duties on imported goods.

Finally, to partially solve the problem of unemployment, the dictator decreed that at least a third of the shepherds in Italy should be recruited from free people, not slaves.

The task of reducing unemployment was also pursued by Caesar's extensive building projects both in Rome and outside the capital. By 46 B.C. e. the construction of the new Forum of Caesar, which began during the Gallic War, was completed (only the ruins of the temple of Venus the Ancestor, which was founded according to a vow given before the Battle of Pharsalus, have survived to this day). The dictator undertook to rebuild the Senate building, which burned down in 52 BC. BC: Faustus Sulla, who was previously entrusted with this mission by the senate, was killed during the civil war.

As a punishment for a number of crimes, Caesar secured the exile, and ordered the rich to also confiscate half of the state.

He also issued new laws against luxury: the use of personal stretchers, pearl jewelry, purple-dyed clothes was prohibited, in addition to which the trade in fine products was regulated and the luxury of tombstones was limited.

Guy also planned to create in Rome a large library on the model of Alexandria and Pergamon, entrusting the organization to the encyclopedist Mark Terentius Varro, but the death of the dictator upset these plans as well.

Finally, in 46 BC. e. Caesar announced the reform of the Roman calendar. Instead of the previous lunar calendar, a solar calendar was introduced, developed by the Alexandrian scientist Sosigen and consisting of 365 days with one additional day every four years. However, in order to carry out the reform, it was first necessary to bring the current calendar in line with astronomical time. The new calendar was used throughout Europe for sixteen centuries, until the development, on behalf of Pope Gregory XIII, of a slightly refined version of the calendar, called the Gregorian.

Assassination of Julius Caesar:

At the beginning of 44 BC. e. in Rome, a conspiracy developed among the Roman nobles, dissatisfied with the autocracy of Caesar and fearing rumors about the future naming of him king. The plot was inspired by Mark Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus. In addition to them, many other prominent persons were involved in the conspiracy - both Pompeians and Caesar's supporters.

The conspiracy that developed around Brutus, apparently, was not the first attempt to kill the dictator: a conspiracy of 46 BC is known, although without details. e. and preparations for an assassination attempt by Gaius Trebonius. At this time, Caesar was preparing for a war with Parthia, and rumors spread in Rome about his future appointment as king and about the transfer of the capital to Troy or Alexandria.

The implementation of the plans of the conspirators was scheduled for a meeting of the Senate in the curia of Pompey near his theater on March 15 - the Ides of March according to the Roman time reckoning. Ancient authors accompany the description of the events preceding the Ides of March with a list of various signs and indications that well-wishers tried to warn the dictator, but, by coincidence, he did not listen to them or did not believe their words.

After the meeting began, a group of conspirators gathered around Lucius Tillius Cimber, who asked Caesar for forgiveness for his brother, and another group stood behind Caesar. When Cimbri began to pull off the toga from Caesar's neck, giving a sign to the conspirators, Publius Servilius Casca, who was standing behind, struck the first blow to the dictator's neck. Caesar fought back, but when he saw Mark Brutus, then, according to legend, he said “And you, my child!” in Greek (other Greek καὶ σὺ τέκνον).

According to Plutarch, Guy fell silent at the sight of Brutus and stopped resisting. The same author notes that the body of Caesar accidentally ended up near the statue of Pompey standing in the room or was deliberately transferred there by the conspirators themselves. In total, 23 wounds were found on Caesar's body.

After the funeral games and several speeches, the crowd burned the corpse of Caesar in the forum, using the shops and tables of market traders for the funeral pyre: “Some suggested burning it in the temple of Capitoline Jupiter, others in the curia of Pompey, when two unknown men suddenly appeared, belted with swords, brandishing darts, and set fire to the building with wax torches. Immediately, the surrounding crowd began to drag dry brushwood, benches, judicial chairs, and everything that was brought as a gift into the fire. Then the flutists and actors began to tear off their triumphal clothes, put on for such a day, and, tearing them apart, threw them into the flames; the old legionaries burned the weapons with which they adorned themselves for the funeral, and many women burned their headdresses that were on them, bullas and children's dresses ”.

According to Caesar's will, each Roman received three hundred sesterces from the dictator, the gardens over the Tiber were transferred to public use. The childless dictator unexpectedly adopted his great-nephew Gaius Octavius ​​and gave him three-quarters of his fortune. Octavius ​​changed his name to Gaius Julius Caesar, although he is better known in historiography as Octavian. Some Caesarians (notably Mark Antony) tried unsuccessfully to be recognized as Caesarion's heir instead of Octavian. Subsequently, Antony and Octavian formed a second triumvirate together with Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, but after a new civil war, Octavian became the sole ruler of Rome.

Shortly after Caesar's assassination, a bright comet appeared in the sky. Since she was very bright (her absolute magnitude estimated at - 4.0) and appeared in the sky during Octavian's solemn games in honor of Caesar, a belief spread in Rome that it was the soul of the murdered dictator.

Family and personal life of Julius Caesar:

Caesar was married at least three times.

The status of his relationship with Cossutia, a girl from a wealthy equestrian family, is not entirely clear, due to the poor preservation of sources about Caesar's childhood and youth. It is traditionally assumed that Caesar and Cossutia were engaged, although Gaius' biographer, Plutarch, considers Cossutia to be his wife.

The termination of relations with Cossutia occurred, apparently, in 84 BC. e.

Very soon, Caesar married Cornelia, daughter of the consul Lucius Cornelius Cinna.

The second wife of Caesar was Pompey, the granddaughter of the dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla (she was not a relative of Gnaeus Pompey). The marriage took place around 68 or 67 BC. e. December 62 B.C. e. Caesar divorces her after a row at the Feast of the Good Goddess.

For the third time, Caesar married Calpurnia from a wealthy and influential plebeian family. This wedding took place, apparently, in May 59 BC. e.

Around 78 B.C. e. Cornelia gave birth to Julia. Caesar arranged for his daughter's engagement to Quintus Servilius Caepio, but then changed his mind and married her off as Gnaeus Pompey.

While in Egypt during the civil war, Caesar cohabited with Cleopatra, and presumably in the summer of 46 BC. e. she had a son known as Caesarion (Plutarch clarifies that this name was given to him by the Alexandrians, not the dictator). Despite the similarity of names and time of birth, Caesar did not officially recognize the child as his own, and contemporaries knew almost nothing about him until the assassination of the dictator.

After the Ides of March, when Cleopatra's son was bypassed in the will of the dictator, some Caesarians (in particular, Mark Antony) tried to get him recognized as heir instead of Octavian. Due to the propaganda campaign that unfolded around the issue of Caesarion's paternity, it is difficult to establish his relationship with the dictator.

According to the unanimous testimony of ancient authors, Caesar was distinguished by sexual promiscuity. Suetonius gives a list of his most famous mistresses and gives him the following characterization: "For love pleasures, he, by all accounts, was greedy and wasteful."

A number of documents, in particular, the biography of the authorship of Suetonius, and one of the epigram poems of Catullus, sometimes allow Caesar to be ranked among the famous homosexuals.

Robert Etienne, however, draws attention to the extreme scarcity of such evidence - as a rule, the story of Nicomedes is mentioned. Suetonius calls this rumor "the only stain" on Gaius' sexual reputation. Such hints were made, including by ill-wishers. However, modern researchers pay attention to the fact that the Romans reproached Caesar not for homosexual contacts themselves, but only for a passive role in them. The fact is that in the Roman view, any actions in a “penetrating” role were considered normal for a man, regardless of the gender of the partner. Against, passive role men were considered reprehensible. According to Dio Cassius, Gaius vehemently denied all hints of his connection with Nicomedes, although he usually rarely lost his temper.

State: The Roman Empire

Field of activity: Politics, army

Greatest Achievement: He became the founder and emperor of the Roman Empire, thanks to his military and political successes.

Gaius Julius Caesar (100-44 BC), Roman general, statesman and a writer who created the conditions for the formation of the Roman Empire.

The early years of Julius Caesar

12 or 13 July 100 BC e. in Rome, in one of the most worthy Roman families of the Julia family, a son was born. His uncle, Gaius Marius, was an outstanding general and popular leader, through whom he met Lucius Cornelius Cinna, who was known to be a fierce opponent of the Optimate leader Lucius Cornelius Sulla. In 84 BC. e. he married the daughter of Cornelius, who bore him a daughter, and in the same year was appointed to the priesthood, which was the prerogative of the patricians.

After the appointment of Sulla as dictator (82 BC), he demanded that Caesar divorce his wife. However, Caesar managed to avoid this requirement. Later, he was pardoned thanks to the intercession of influential friends of Sulla. Caesar returned to Rome only after participating in several military campaigns in the East in Cilicia, in Asia Minor in 78 BC. e., after the resignation of Sulla. Then he tried to refrain from direct political participation, however, had to act as a prosecutor against several followers of Sulla, accused of extortion.

As Julius failed to secure a political appointment, he left Rome and traveled to Rhodes, where he studied rhetoric. In 74 BC. e. he interrupted his training to go to fight in Asia Minor against Mithridates. In 73 BC. e. he returned to Rome and became pontiff of the college of priests, since he was competent in matters of religion of the Roman State, he was able to exercise considerable political influence there.

Triumvirate

In 71 BC. e. Pompey returned in triumph to Rome, with numerous military merits and a victory over the rebels led by Sertor in Spain. A year earlier, Marcus Licinius Crassus, a wealthy patrician, had been accused of inciting Spartacus' slave rebels in Italy.

In 70 BC they were both elected consuls. In 68 BC. BC Caesar was a quaestor and in 65 after him was Adil, who knew how to gain popularity among ordinary people by organizing expensive gladiatorial games. To spend them, he borrowed money from Crassus. After the failure of the Catiline conspiracy, he advocated gentle treatment of the conspirators. In 60 BC. e. when Caesar returned from Spain to Rome, an alliance was made with Pompey and Crassus to ensure common interests: the first triumvirate (from the Latin "three men"). To further strengthen his position, Pompey married the daughter of Julius Caesar.

With the support of the triumvirate, Caesar crushed the resistance of the Optimat party in 59 BC. The following year he was appointed consul by special law. He was proconsul for five years, governing the provinces of Gaul Cisalpina, Illyricum and Gaul Narbonne, which enabled him to extend his power against the Senate. In later years he led the Gallic Wars, during which he conquered all of Gaul, crossed the Rhine twice and entered Britain. These wars were described by himself in his autobiographical work Notes on the Gallic War.

Dissolution of the alliance

In 56 BC. e. The triumvirate was renewed, in spite of the chill that had meanwhile appeared between Pompey and Crassus. At the same time, it was decided that Caesar should remain for another five years in Gaul, and Pompey and Crassus become consul and proconsul.

After this, Caesar left to put down a rebellion in Gaul. In 53 BC. e. ambitious Crassus, who had to fight in Syria, was defeated in a military campaign against the Parthians and was killed at the battle of Carrhae, and the year before that, the daughter of Julius Caesar, wife of Pompey, died. After their family relationship was severed, the break between Caesar and Pompey was a foregone conclusion, a final estrangement took place, and the triumvirate fell apart.

Civil War

In 52 BC. e. Pompey was elected consul, who received exclusive powers. This became necessary because of the exceptional situation in Rome, which was caused by the outrages of the emperor Claudius.

While Caesar was busy with the war in Gaul, his political opponents openly tried to compromise him and put him on trial in Rome. Pompey was trying to take advantage of favorable circumstances to eliminate his rival and secure his own personal rule, and for this he made a political proposal to the Senate. Finally, the Senate decided to depose Caesar after being asked in vain to disband his army. In addition, the Senate granted Pompey unlimited powers to fight against Caesar. The civil war began, at the beginning of 49 BC. e., when Caesar, according to legend, with the words: Alea iacta est (“the die is cast”) - crossed the Rubicon, a small border river that separated him from Italy the province of Gallic Cisalpina, and within three months he took control of almost all of Italy . Then, having conquered six Spanish provinces, in fact, without the support of Pompey, and, finally, after a six-month siege, he captured the port city of Massilia (Marseille).

Meanwhile, Caesar returned victorious to Rome, and in 48 BC. e. was elected consul. At the beginning of the same year, he pursued Pompey and finally defeated him at the battle of Pharsalus. Pompey fled where he was killed. Caesar captured Alexandria and settled the Egyptian throne dispute in favor of Cleopatra, daughter of the late king Ptolemy XI, who later bore him a son (Caesarion). In 47 BC he captured Asia Minor and returned to Rome victorious. His decisive victory over the minions of Pompey occurred in 48 BC. In 46 BC. e. Caesar's troops concentrated their forces in the African provinces, he won the battle of Taps. Then he returned to Rome, where he celebrated several triumphs and received the proper honors. After he dealt with in 45 BC. e. with Pompey's sons under Manda in Spain, he became absolute autocrat.

Caesar's dictatorship and death

Caesar's strength was based on his positioning as a dictator. This vocation accompanied his life (dictator perpetuus), although, according to the constitution of the republic, he was limited in power by exceptional situations. Although Caesar renounced the title of emperor, who was especially hated by the republican forces, his reign bore strong monarchical features. In 45 BC. e. he was elected consul, and for ten years had the following powers: he was the supreme commander of the army, he was allowed to wear the golden wreath of a victorious general, and he was recognized as a pontiff with authority to decide on all religious matters.

His reign included a broad reform program to reorganize the state and provinces. Among other things, he reformed the calendar, provided his veterans with land, and made it easier to acquire Roman citizenship.

Caesar's authority ran into opposition, especially in the opposition families of the Senate. In 44 BC. e. a group of republican senators, including Gaius Cassius Longinus and Marcus Junius Brutus, planned a coup and struck and killed Caesar on March 15 as he was about to enter the Senate building.

Personal life

After his death in 68 BC. Cornelia's first wife, Caesar married Pompey, Sulla's granddaughter, who belonged to the secret fertility cult of the Good Goddess, in which men were forbidden under the strictest conditions. When in the house of Caesar, where there was a feast in her honor, the dogmas of the cult of the Goddess were violated, because Clodius saw Pompey in women's clothing, there was a public scandal, as a result of which Caesar parted with Pompeii.

As no boys were born to him after his third marriage to Calpurnia (59 BC), he made his grandson Octavian heir, who later became the first Roman Emperor.

Caesar, a man of extensive literary education, is also known as a gifted writer with a simple style and classical style. He wrote seven books on the Gallic war, Notes on the Gallic War, in which he described his victory in Gaul, which is an important source of information about the early Celtic and Germanic tribes, as well as a three-volume work on the civil war (Notes on the Civil War).

Life of Gaius Julius Caesar

Estimates and ideas about the personality of Caesar are very controversial. Some position him as a ruthless tyrant seeking to cause certain problems, others recognize and appreciate precisely his intransigence, bearing in mind that the Republic at that time was already on the verge of death, and Caesar was faced with the need to find new form government to bring Rome to at least some stability and save from chaos.

In addition, he was clearly an excellent commander who knew how to motivate his soldiers and was distinguished by special loyalty. As one of the most impressive images of antiquity, it has been immortalized in numerous works of world literature, including the dramas Julius Caesar (1599) by Shakespeare and Caesar and Cleopatra (1901) by George Bernard Shaw or the novel The Ides of March (1948) by Thornton Wilder Brecht.

Family

Gaius Julius Caesar was born in Rome, in a patrician family from the Julius family, which played a significant role in the history of Rome from ancient times.

The Juliev family descended from Yul, the son of the Trojan prince Aeneas, who, according to mythology, was the son of the goddess Venus. At the height of his glory, in 45 BC. e. Caesar founded the temple of Venus the Ancestor in Rome, thus hinting at his relationship with the goddess. cognomen Caesar made no sense in Latin; the Soviet historian of Rome A. I. Nemirovsky suggested that it comes from Cisre, the Etruscan name for the city of Caere. It is difficult to establish the antiquity of the Caesar family itself (the first known one dates back to the end of the 3rd century BC). The father of the future dictator, also Gaius Julius Caesar the Elder (proconsul of Asia), stopped his career as a praetor. On the maternal side, Caesar came from the Cotta family of the Aurelius Aurelius family with an admixture of plebeian blood. Caesar's uncles were consuls: Sextus Julius Caesar (91 BC), Lucius Julius Caesar (90 BC)

Gaius Julius Caesar lost his father at the age of sixteen; with his mother he kept close friendly relations until her death in 54 BC. e.

A noble and cultured family created favorable conditions for its development; careful physical education served him later a considerable service; a thorough education - scientific, literary, grammatical, on the basis of Greco-Roman foundations - formed logical thinking, prepared him for practical activities, for literary work.

First marriage and service in Asia

Before Caesar, the Julii, despite their aristocratic origin, were not rich by the standards of the Roman nobility of that time. That is why until Caesar himself, almost none of his relatives achieved much influence. Only his paternal aunt, Julia, married Gaius Maria, a talented general and reformer of the Roman army. Marius was the leader of the democratic faction of the populares in the Roman Senate and was bitterly opposed to the conservatives of the optimates faction.

Internal political conflicts in Rome at that time reached such a sharpness that they led to civil war. After the capture of Rome by Mary in 87 BC. e. for a time the power of the popular was established. The young Caesar was honored with the title of Flamin Jupiter. But, in 86 BC. e. Marius died, and in 84 BC. e. during a mutiny in the troops, Cinna was killed. In 82 BC e. Rome was taken by the troops of Lucius Cornelius Sulla, and Sulla himself became dictator. Caesar, on the other hand, was connected by double family ties with the party of his opponent - Mary: at the age of seventeen he married Cornelia, youngest daughter Lucius Cornelius Cinna, companion of Marius and bitter enemy of Sulla. This was a kind of demonstration of his commitment to the popular party, by that time humiliated and defeated by the all-powerful Sulla.

In order to perfectly master the skill of oratory, Caesar specifically in 75 BC. e. went to Rhodes to the famous teacher Apollonius Molon. On the way, he was captured by Cilician pirates, he had to pay a significant ransom of twenty talents for his release, and while his friends collected money, he spent more than a month in captivity, practicing eloquence in front of the kidnappers. After his release, he immediately gathered a fleet in Miletus, captured a pirate fortress and ordered the captured pirates to be crucified on the cross as a warning to others. But, since they treated him well in their time, Caesar ordered to break their legs before the crucifixion in order to alleviate their suffering. Then he often showed leniency towards defeated opponents. This was the manifestation of the "Caesar Mercy" so praised by the ancient authors.

Caesar briefly participates in the war with King Mithridates at the head of an independent detachment, but does not remain there for long. In 74 BC. e. he returns to Rome. In 73 BC e. he was co-opted to the priestly college of pontiffs in place of the deceased Lucius Aurelius Cotta, his uncle.

Subsequently, he wins the election to the military tribunes. Always and everywhere, Caesar never tires of recalling his democratic convictions, connection with Gaius Marius and dislike for aristocrats. He actively participates in the struggle for the restoration of the rights of the people's tribunes, curtailed by Sulla, for the rehabilitation of the associates of Gaius Maria, who were persecuted during the dictatorship of Sulla, seeks the return of Lucius Cornelius Cinna, the son of the consul Lucius Cornelius Cinna and the brother of Caesar's wife. By this time, the beginning of his rapprochement with Gnaeus Pompey and Mark Licinius Crassus, on a close connection with whom he builds his future career, belongs.

Caesar, being in a difficult position, does not say a word in justification of the conspirators, but insists on not subjecting them to death. His offer does not pass, and Caesar himself almost perishes at the hands of an angry mob.

Spain Far (Hispania Ulterior)

(Bibulus was consul only formally, the triumvirs actually removed him from power).

The consulate of Caesar is necessary both to him and to Pompey. Having disbanded the army, Pompey, for all his greatness, turns out to be powerless; none of his proposals pass because of the stubborn resistance of the senate, and meanwhile he promised his veteran soldiers land, and this question could not be postponed. Supporters of one Pompey were not enough, a more powerful influence was needed - this was the basis of Pompey's alliance with Caesar and Crassus. The consul Caesar himself was in dire need of the influence of Pompey and the money of Crassus. It was not easy to convince the former consul Mark Licinius Crassus, an old enemy of Pompey, to agree to an alliance, but in the end it was possible - this richest man in Rome could not get troops under his command for the war with Parthia.

Thus arose what historians would later call the first triumvirate - a private agreement of three persons, sanctioned by no one and nothing but their mutual consent. The private nature of the triumvirate was also emphasized by its marriages: Pompey - to the only daughter of Caesar, Julia Caesaris (despite the difference in age and upbringing, this political marriage turned out to be sealed with love), and Caesar - to the daughter of Calpurnius Piso.

At first, Caesar believed that this could be done in Spain, but a closer acquaintance with this country and its insufficiently convenient geographical position in relation to Italy forced Caesar to abandon this idea, especially since Pompey's traditions were strong in Spain and in the Spanish army.

The reason for the outbreak of hostilities in 58 BC. e. in Transalpine Gaul there was a massive migration to these lands of the Celtic tribe of the Helvetians. After the victory over the Helvetians in the same year, a war followed against the Germanic tribes that invaded Gaul, led by Ariovistus, which ended in the complete victory of Caesar. The rise of Roman influence in Gaul caused unrest among the Belgae. Campaign 57 BC e. begins with the pacification of the Belgae and continues with the conquest of the northwestern lands, where the Nervii and Aduatuki tribes lived. In the summer of 57 BC. e. on the bank of the river Sabris held a grandiose battle between the Roman legions and the army of the Nervii, when only luck and the best skill of the legionnaires allowed the Romans to win. At the same time, a legion under the command of the legate Publius Crassus subjugated the tribes of northwestern Gaul.

Based on Caesar's report, the senate was forced to decide on a celebration and a 15-day prayer of thanksgiving.

As a result three years successful war, Caesar repeatedly increased his fortune. He generously gave money to his supporters, attracting new people to himself, and increased his influence.

That same summer, Caesar organizes his first, and the next, 54 BC. e. - the second expedition to Britain. The legions met here with such fierce resistance from the natives that Caesar had to return to Gaul with nothing. In 53 BC e. unrest continued in the Gallic tribes, who could not come to terms with oppression by the Romans. All of them were pacified in a short time.

After the successful Gallic Wars, Caesar's popularity in Rome reached its highest peak. Even such opponents of Caesar as Cicero and Gaius Valerius Catullus recognized the grandiose merits of the commander.

Conflict between Julius Caesar and Pompey

Ancient Roman coin with a portrait of Julius Caesar.

The brilliant results of the first expeditions colossally raised Caesar's prestige in Rome; Gallic money maintained this prestige no less successfully. Senate opposition against the triumvirate, however, was not dormant, and Pompey in Rome experienced a number of unpleasant moments. In Rome, neither he nor Crassus felt at home; both wanted military power. Caesar, in order to achieve his goals, it was necessary to continue his powers. Based on these desires in the winter - gg. a new agreement of the triumvirs took place, according to which Caesar received Gaul for another 5 years, Pompey and Crassus - a consulate for the 55th year, and then proconsulates: Pompey - in Spain, Crassus - in Syria. The Syrian proconsulship of Crassus ended in his death.

Pompey remained in Rome, where, after his consulship, complete anarchy began, perhaps not without the efforts of Julius Caesar. Anarchy reached such proportions that Pompey was chosen for 52 BC. e. consul without a board. The new rise of Pompey, the death of Pompey's wife, daughter of Caesar (54 BC), a series of his intrigues against the growing prestige of Caesar inevitably led to a rupture between the allies; but the revolt of Vercingetorix saved the situation for a time. Serious clashes began only in 51 BC. e. At the same time, Pompey figured in the role that he had long sought - in the role of the head of the Roman state, recognized by the Senate and the people, combining military power with civil power, sitting at the gates of Rome, where the Senate (Ancient Rome) was going to him, having proconsular power and disposing of strong seven-legged army in Spain. If earlier Pompey needed Caesar, now he could only be a hindrance for Pompey, which had to be removed as soon as possible, since Caesar's aspirations were incompatible with Pompey's position. The conflict, which had already matured personally in 56, was now mature politically as well; his initiative should have come not from Julius Caesar, whose position was incomparably worse politically and in relation to legality, but from Pompey, who had all the trump cards in his hands except the military, and the latter were few only in the first moments. Pompey put things in such a way that the conflict between him and Caesar was not their personal clash, but a clash between the revolutionary proconsul and the senate, that is, the legitimate government.

Cicero's correspondence serves as a documentary touchstone showing the authenticity of Caesar's own account of events in his political historical pamphlet entitled De bello civili. The 109th book of Titus Livius would have been of great importance if it had come down to us in the original and not in the extracts of Florus, Eutropius and Orosius. The basis of Livy's exposition was preserved for us, perhaps, by Dion Cassius. We also find a lot of data in a brief essay by an officer from the time of the emperor Tiberius, Velleius Paterculus; Suetonius gives a lot, something - the author of a historical poem from the time of the civil war, a contemporary of Nero, Lucan. Appian and Plutarch go back in their account of the civil war, probably to the historical work of Asinius Pollio.

According to the agreement of Caesar and Pompey in Lucca 56 and the law of Pompey and Crassus 55 that followed it, Caesar's powers in Gaul and Illyricum were to end on the last day of February 49; at the same time, it was definitely indicated that until March 1, 50, there would be no speech in the Senate about a successor to Caesar. In 52, only the Gallic troubles did not allow the gap between Caesar and Pompey to take place, caused by the transfer of all power into the hands of Pompey, as a single consul and at the same time proconsul, which upset the balance of the duumvirate. As compensation, Caesar demanded for himself the possibility of the same position in the future, that is, the union of the consulate and the proconsulate, or, rather, the immediate replacement of the procoxulate with the consulate. To do this, it was necessary to obtain permission to be elected consul for 48, without entering the city during 49, which would be tantamount to a renunciation of military power.

The plebiscite of 52, held in March by the entire tribune college, gave Caesar the requested privilege, which Pompey did not contradict. This privilege contained, according to custom, the tacit continuation of the proconsulship until January 1, 48. Julius Caesar's luck in the fight against Vercingetorix made the government regret the concession made - and in the same year a series of military laws were passed against Caesar. Pompey continued his power in Spain until 45; to eliminate the possibility for Caesar to immediately resume the proconsulate after the consulate, a law was passed prohibiting the departure to the province earlier than 5 years after the addition of the magistracy; finally, right at the abolition of the privilege just given, a decree was confirmed that forbade the pursuit of magistracies without being in Rome. To the already passed law, contrary to all legality, Pompey added, however, a clause confirming the privilege of Caesar.

In 51, the happy end of the Gallic wars gave Caesar the opportunity to again actively speak in Rome. He asked the Senate, seeking from him a formal recognition of the privilege, to continue the proconsulate at least in part of the province until January 1, 48. The Senate refused, and this put the question of appointing a successor to Julius Caesar on the queue. Legal, however, was the trial of this case only after March 1, 50; up to this time, any intercession of tribunes friendly to Caesar was formally completely thorough. Caesar sought to personally settle his relationship with Pompey; extreme in the Senate did not want to allow this; the middle ones looked for a way out, finding it in the fact that Pompey stood at the head of the army assigned to the Parthian war, urgently needed in view of the defeat and death of Crassus. Pompey himself was seriously ill and spent most of his time away from Rome.

In 50 g, things should have taken a sharper turn, especially since Caesar found himself an agent of genius in political intrigue - Curio, who was elected tribune for this year. Of the consuls, one - Aemilius Paul - was on the side of Caesar, the other - G. Marcellus - was completely against him, as the leader of the Senate ultra-conservatives. The goal of Curio was to quarrel the Senate and Pompey and force the latter to enter into relations with Caesar again. To this end, he opposed every decision of the senate on the provinces and demanded that legality be fully restored, that is, that both Pompey and Caesar renounce their powers. In the spring, Pompey became very ill; during his recovery, he agreed in writing to the conditions of Curio and, finally recovering, moved to Rome. He was accompanied by a solid triumph; meetings, prayers, etc., gave him confidence that all of Italy was for him. Despite this, even at Rome, he did not take back the consent he had given. It is very possible that at the end of 50 there was a new diplomatic campaign of Caesar, challenging Pompey to an agreement; Parthia was probably pointed out as a means of reconciliation. Pompey could be there in his realm and renew his eastern laurels. An indicator of Caesar's peaceful mood and the possibility of an agreement is that Caesar gave, at the request of the senate, two of his legions (one loaned to him by Pompey) and sent them to Italy in the direction of Brundusia.

In the autumn of 50, Caesar finally appeared in northern Italy, where he was met by a copy of the celebrations given to Pompey. In November he was again in Gaul, where a political demonstration, which had just taken place in Italy, was followed by a military one, in the form of a review of the legions. The year was drawing to a close, and the situation was still extremely uncertain. The reconciliation between Caesar and Pompey finally failed; a symptom of this is that the Caesarian legions, which had been sent in November to Brundusium, were detained at Capua and then waited for events in Luceria. In the Senate, G. Marcellus energetically sought to have Julius Caesar declared illegally in power and an enemy of the fatherland, for which there were no legal grounds. The majority of the Senate, however, was in a peaceful mood; the Senate most desired that Caesar and Pompey both resign their powers. Marcellus' main opponent was Curio. On December 10, he could no longer function as a tribune: on this day, new tribunes entered. But even now Marcellus did not succeed in capturing the senate with him; then, not wanting to transfer the matter into the hands of the new consuls, accompanied by several senators, without any authority, on December 13, he appeared in the Cuman villa of Pompey and handed over the sword to him to protect the free order. Pompey, having decided to go to war, seizes the opportunity and goes to the legions in Luceria. The act of December 13, Caesar quite rightly considers the beginning of the turmoil - initium tumultus - on the part of Pompey. Pompey's actions were illegal and were immediately (21 December) proclaimed as such in a speech by Antony, one of Julius Caesar's legates and tribunes of that year. Curio personally informed Caesar, who was at that time in Ravenna, about what had happened. The situation remained uncertain, but Pompey had two excellent legions in his hands, he enlisted the support of one of the people closest to Caesar - T. Labienus; Caesar, on the other hand, had only one legion of veterans in Italy and, in the event of an offensive, had to act in a country hostile to him - at least it seemed to Pompey - a country. However, even now Pompey probably meant to settle the final scores not in Italy, but in the provinces.

For Caesar, the most important thing was to gain time; the pretext for starting hostilities was already in his hands, but there were few forces for the war. In any case, it was to his advantage that the start of action should come as a surprise to his enemies. Curio delivered an ultimatum to Caesar on January 1 in the Senate. Caesar announced his readiness to lay down power, but together with Pompey, and otherwise threatened with war. The threats provoked open opposition from the Senate: Pompey should not relinquish power, Caesar should resign it before July 49; both were, however, quite legal. The tribunes M. Anthony and Cassius protested against the senatus-consultant. After that, however, discussions continued about how to find a modus vivendi without war. Caesar wanted the same. Until January 7, Rome received its new, milder conditions. Pompey was to go to Spain; for himself, Caesar asked for the continuation of power until January 1, 48, at least only in Italy, with an army of only 2 legions. Cicero, who appeared on January 5 under the walls of Rome after returning from his Cilician proconsulship, achieved a further concession: only Illyria and 1 legion were demanded by Caesar. Pompey, however, did not agree to these conditions either.

On the 7th of January the senate assembled and made every effort to get the tribunes to retract the intercession on the 1st of January. Antony and Cassius were unshakable. The consul then demanded their removal from the senate. After a heated protest by Antony, Cassius, Caelius Rufus and Curio left the Senate and, in the clothes of slaves, secretly, in a hired cart, fled to Caesar. After the removal of the tribunes, extraordinary powers were given to the consuls by the Senate, in order to prevent confusion. In a further meeting outside the walls of the city, in the presence of Pompey and Cicero, the decretum tumultus was voted, that is, Italy was declared under martial law; provinces were distributed, money was allocated. The commander-in-chief was actually Pompey, by name - four proconsuls. The whole point now was how Caesar would react to this, whether his grandiose preparations for war with him would intimidate him.

The news of the actions of the Senate, Caesar received from the fugitive tribunes on January 10. He had about 5,000 legion soldiers at his disposal. Half of these forces were stationed on the southern border of the province, near the Rubicon River. It was necessary to act as soon as possible in order to take the Senate by surprise, before the official news came about the Senate demands of January 1, finally carried out in a legal manner. On the day of the 10th, Caesar secretly devotes the necessary orders from everyone, at night - again secretly - with several relatives he rushes to the army, crosses the border of his province - the Rubicon - and captures Arimin, the key of Italy. At the same time, Antony, with another part of the army, goes to Arretius, who also captures with an unexpected onslaught. In Arimin, Caesar is caught by the envoys of the Senate recruiting new troops. Caesar answers them that he wants peace, and promises to clear the province by July 1, so long as Illyria remains behind him, and Pompey retires to Spain. At the same time, Caesar insistently demands a meeting with Pompey. Meanwhile, terrible rumors are spreading in Rome. The Senate, upon the return of the ambassadors, having forced Pompey's consent, sends them back to Caesar. There should be no meeting with Pompey (the senate could not allow an agreement between them); Caesar is promised a triumph and a consulate, but first of all he must clear the occupied cities, go to his province and disband the army. Meanwhile, on January 14 and 15, Ancona and Pisaurus were occupied by Caesar. The hopes of the Senate and Pompey that Caesar would give them time to prepare were dashed.

It was difficult for Pompey, with his recruits and two of Caesar's legions, to go on the offensive, and it was difficult to put everything at stake in defending Rome. In view of this, without waiting for the return of the embassy, ​​Pompey leaves Rome on January 17 with almost all of the Senate, sealing the treasury, in a terrible hurry. From now on, Capua becomes the main apartment of Pompey. From here he thought, taking the legions in Luceria, to capture Picenum and organize defense there. But already on January 27-28, Picenum, with its main point Aximus, found itself in the hands of Caesar. The garrisons of the occupied cities passed to Caesar; his army grew, the spirit rose. Pompey finally decided to abandon Italy and organize resistance in the East, where he could command alone, where there was less interference from all sorts of colleagues and advisers; the senators did not want to leave Italy. They left the treasury in Rome, hoping to return, against the will of Pompey. Meanwhile, the embassy returned from Caesar with nothing; there was no more hope for negotiations. It was necessary to force Pompey to defend Italy. Domitius Ahenobarbus with 30 cohorts locks himself in Corfinia and calls Pompey to the rescue. For the proceeds, the Senate promises the treasury demanded by Pompey. But Pompey takes advantage of the time while J. Caesar is besieging Domitius in order to concentrate forces in Brundusia and organize a crossing. In mid-February Corfinius was taken; Y. Caesar hurries to Brundusia, where everything is ready for defense. On March 9, the siege begins; On the 17th, Pompey deftly diverts the attention of the enemy, puts the army on ships and leaves Italy. From this point on, the fight is transferred to the provinces. During this time, the Caesarians managed to occupy Rome and establish some semblance of government there.

Caesar himself appeared in Rome only for a short time in April, seized the treasury and made some orders about the actions of his legates during his absence. In the future, it seemed to him two ways of action: either to pursue Pompey, or to turn against his forces in the west. He chose the latter, apparently because the eastern forces of Pompey were less terrible to him than the 7 old legions in Spain, Cato in Sicily and Var in Africa. It made it easier for him to operate in Spain and the fact that his rear was covered by Gaul, and success at the very beginning was especially important and expensive. The main danger was Spain, where Pompey's three legates commanded - Aphranius, Petreus and Varro. In Gaul, Caesar was detained by Massilia, who took the side of Pompey. Caesar did not want to waste time here; he left three legions to besiege the city, while he himself quickly moved to the river Sicoris, where his legate Fabius was waiting for him, camped against the fortified camp of the Pompeians near the city of Ilerda. After long and tedious operations, Caesar managed to force the Pompeians to leave their strong camp. With a quick march and a brilliant detour, he made the position of the enemy retreating to the Ebro so difficult that Pompey's legates had to surrender. Varro also had no choice. Here, as in Italy, J. Caesar did not resort to executions and cruelties, which greatly facilitated the possibility of capitulation of troops in the future. On the way back, Caesar found Massilia completely exhausted and accepted her surrender.

During his absence, Curio ousted Cato from Sicily and managed to cross over to Africa, but here, after ephemeral successes, he could not withstand the onslaught of the Pompeian troops and the Moorish king Yuba and died with almost all of his army. Caesar now faced a difficult task. Pompey's forces were, however, weaker, but on the other hand, he completely owned the sea and managed to thoroughly organize the quartermaster's unit. Big Advantage His strong cavalry, the allied contingents of the Macedonians, Thracians, Thessalians, and others also gave him. The land route to Greece, where Pompey established himself, was closed; G. Antony, who occupied Illyria, was forced to surrender with his 15 cohorts. It remained here, too, to hope for speed and surprise of action. The main apartment of Pompey, his main reserves were in Dyrrhachia; he himself was at Thessalonica, his army at Perea. Quite unexpectedly, on November 6, 49, Caesar sailed with 6 legions from Brundusium, captured Apollonia and Orik and moved to Dyrrhachium. Pompey managed to warn him, and both troops confronted each other at Dyrrhachium. Caesar's position was unenviable; the small number of troops and the lack of provisions made themselves felt. Pompey, however, did not dare to fight with his not very reliable army. Around spring, M. Anthony managed to deliver the remaining three legions, but this did not change the situation. Fearing the arrival of Pompey's reserve from Thessaly, Caesar sent part of his army against him, and with the rest he tried to block Pompey. Pompey broke through the blockade, and inflicted a severe defeat on Caesar. After that, Caesar had only to lift the blockade and leave to join his Thessalian army. Here Pompey overtook him at Pharsalus. The Senate party in his camp insisted that a decisive battle be given. The superiority of forces was on the side of Pompey, but training and spirit were entirely on the side of the 30,000th army of J. Caesar. The battle (June 6, 48) ended in the complete defeat of Pompey; the army almost completely surrendered, Pompey fled to the nearest harbor, from there to Samos and finally to Egypt, where he was killed, by order of the king. Caesar pursued him and appeared after his death in Egypt.

With a small army, he entered Alexandria and intervened in the internal affairs of Egypt. He needed Egypt as the richest country and attracted him with its complex and skillful administrative organization. He was also delayed by his connection with Cleopatra, the sister and wife of the young Ptolemy, the son of Ptolemy Auletes. The first act of Caesar was to install Cleopatra, who had been driven out by her husband, in the palace. In general, he ruled in Alexandria as a sovereign master, as a monarch. This, in connection with the weakness of Caesar's troops, raised the entire population in Alexandria to its feet; at the same time, an Egyptian army approached Alexandria from Pelusius, proclaiming Arsinoe queen. Caesar was locked up in the palace. An attempt to find a way out to the sea by capturing the lighthouse failed, to appease the rebels by sending Ptolemy - too. Caesar was rescued by the arrival of reinforcements from Asia. In a battle near the Nile, the Egyptian army was defeated, and Caesar became the master of the country (March 27, 47).

Late in the spring, Caesar left Egypt, leaving Cleopatra as queen and her husband, the younger Ptolemy (the elder was killed in the battle of the Nile). Caesar spent 9 months in Egypt; Alexandria - the last Hellenistic capital - and the court of Cleopatra gave him a lot of impressions and a lot of experience. Despite pressing matters in Asia Minor and in the West, Caesar from Egypt goes to Syria, where, as the successor of the Seleucids, he restores their palace in Daphne and generally behaves like a master and monarch.

In July, he left Syria, quickly dealt with the rebellious Pontic king Pharnaces and hurried to Rome, where his presence was urgently needed. After the death of Pompey, his party and that of the senate were far from broken. There were many Pompeians, as they were called, in Italy; they were more dangerous in the provinces, especially in Illyricum, Spain and Africa. Caesar's legates hardly managed to subdue Illyricum, where for a long time, not without success, M. Octavius ​​led the resistance. In Spain, the mood of the troops was clearly Pompeian; in Africa, all the prominent members of the Senate party gathered, with a strong army. Here were Metellus Scipio, the commander in chief, and the sons of Pompey, Gnaeus and Sextus, and Cato, and T. Labienus, and others. They were supported by the Moorish king Yuba. In Italy, the former supporter and agent of J. Caesar, Caelius Rufus, became the head of the Pompeians. In alliance with Milo, he started a revolution on economic grounds; using his magistracy (praetorship), he announced a deferment of all debts for 6 years; when the consul dismissed him from the magistracy, he raised the banner of rebellion in the south and died in the fight against government troops.

In 47 Rome was without magistrates; M. Antony was in charge of it, as magister equitum of the dictator Julius Caesar; Troubles arose thanks to the tribunes L. Trebellius and Cornelius Dolabella on the same economic grounds, but without the Pompeian lining. However, it was not the tribunes that were dangerous, but Caesar's army, which was to be sent to Africa to fight the Pompeians. The long absence of J. Caesar weakened discipline; the army refused to obey. In September 47, Caesar reappeared in Rome. With difficulty, he managed to calm the soldiers, who were already moving towards Rome. Having quickly finished with the most necessary matters, in the winter of the same year, Caesar is transported to Africa. The details of this expedition of his are poorly known; a special monograph on this war by one of his officers is obscure and biased. And here, as in Greece, the advantage was initially not on his side. After a long sitting on the seashore in anticipation of reinforcements and a tiring campaign inland, Caesar finally manages to force the battle of Tatssa, in which the Pompeians were utterly defeated (April 6, 46). Most of the prominent Pompeians perished in Africa; the rest fled to Spain, where the army sided with them. At the same time, unrest began in Syria, where Caecilius Bassus had significant success, seizing almost the entire province in his hands.

July 28, 46 Caesar returned from Africa to Rome, but stayed there only a few months. Already in December, he was in Spain, where he was met by a large enemy force led by Pompeii, Labienus, Atius Varus and others. A decisive battle, after a tiring campaign, was given near Munda (March 17, 45). The battle nearly ended in Caesar's defeat; his life, as recently in Alexandria, was in danger. With terrible efforts, the victory was wrested from the enemies, and the Pompeian army was cut in large part. Of the leaders of the party, only Sextus Pompey survived. Upon his return to Rome, Caesar, along with the reorganization of the state, was preparing for a campaign in the East, but on March 15, 44, he died at the hands of the conspirators. The reasons for this can be clarified only after analyzing the reform of the political system, which was initiated and carried out by Caesar in the short periods of his peaceful activity.

The power of J. Caesar

Gaius Julius Caesar

For a long time of his political activity, J. Caesar clearly understood that one of the main evils that cause a serious illness in the Roman political system is the instability, impotence and purely urban character of the executive power, the egoistic and narrow party and class nature of the power of the senate. From the first moments of his career, he openly and definitely struggled with both. And in the era of the Catiline conspiracy, and in the era of the extraordinary powers of Pompey, and in the era of the triumvirate, Caesar consciously pursued the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe centralization of power and the need to destroy the prestige and importance of the senate.

Individuality, as far as one can judge, did not seem necessary to him. The agrarian commission, the triumvirate, then the duumvirate with Pompey, for which J. Caesar held on so tenaciously, show that he was not against collegiality or the division of power. It cannot be thought that all these forms were for him only a political necessity. With the death of Pompey, Caesar actually remained the sole head of state; the power of the senate was broken and power was concentrated in one hand, as once in the hands of Sulla. To carry out all the plans that Caesar had conceived, his power had to be as strong as possible, perhaps unrestricted, possibly complete, but at the same time, at least at first, it should not formally go beyond the framework of the constitution. The most natural thing - since the constitution did not know a ready-made form of monarchical power and treated the royal power with horror and disgust - was to combine in one person the powers of an ordinary and extraordinary nature near one center. The consulate, weakened by the entire evolution of Rome, could not be such a center: a magistracy was needed, not subject to intercession and veto of the tribunes, combining military and civil functions, not limited by collegiality. The only magistracy of this kind was the dictatorship. Its inconvenience in comparison with the form invented by Pompey - the combination of a sole consulate with a proconsulate - was that it was too vague and, giving everything in general, did not give anything in particular. Its extraordinaryness and urgency could be eliminated, as Sulla did, by pointing out its constancy (dictator perpetuus), while the uncertainty of powers - which Sulla did not consider, since he saw in the dictatorship only a temporary means for carrying out his reforms - was eliminated only by the above connection . Dictatorship, as a basis, and next to it a series of special powers - that, therefore, is the framework in which J. Caesar wanted to put and put his power. Within these limits, his power developed as follows.

In the year 49 - the year of the beginning of the civil war - during his stay in Spain, the people, at the suggestion of Praetor Lepidus, choose him as dictator. Returning to Rome, J. Caesar passes several laws, collects comitia, at which he is elected consul for the second time (for the year 48), and renounces dictatorship. In the next year 48 (October-November) he received dictatorship for the 2nd time, on the 47th year. In the same year, after the victory over Pompey, during his absence he receives a number of powers: in addition to the dictatorship - a consulate for 5 years (from the age of 47) and tribune power, that is, the right to sit with the tribunes and conduct investigations with them - moreover, the right to name to the people their candidate for magistracies, with the exception of plebeian ones, the right to distribute provinces without lot to the former praetors [Provinces are still allocated to former consuls by the senate.] and the right to declare war and make peace. Caesar's representative in Rome this year is his magister equitum, the dictator's assistant M. Antony, in whose hands, despite the existence of consuls, all power is concentrated.

In 46, Caesar was both dictator (since the end of April) for the third time, and consul; second consul and magister equitum was Lepidus. This year, after the African war, his powers are significantly expanded. He is elected dictator for 10 years and at the same time the leader of morals (praefectus morum), with unlimited powers. Moreover, he receives the right to vote first in the Senate and to occupy a special seat in it, between the seats of both consuls. At the same time, his right to recommend candidates for magistrates to the people was confirmed, which was tantamount to the right to appoint them.

In 45 he was dictator for the 4th time and at the same time consul; his assistant was the same Lepidus. After the Spanish war (January 44) he was elected dictator for life and consul for 10 years. From the latter, as, probably, from the 5-year consulate of the previous year, he refused [In 45 he was elected consul at the suggestion of Lepid.]. The inviolability of the tribunes is added to the power of the tribunes; the right to appoint magistrates and pro-magistrates is extended by the right to appoint consuls, to allocate provinces to proconsuls, and to appoint plebeian magistrates. In the same year, Caesar was given the exclusive authority to dispose of the army and the money of the state. Finally, in the same year 44, he was granted lifelong censorship and all his orders were approved in advance by the Senate and the people.

In this way, Caesar became a full-fledged monarch, remaining within the limits of constitutional forms [For many of the extraordinary powers there were precedents in the past life of Rome: Sulla was already a dictator, repeated the consulate of Marius, disposed of in the provinces through his agents Pompey, and more than once; Pompey was given unlimited command by the people in cash states.]. All aspects of the life of the state were concentrated in his hands. He disposed of the army and provinces through his agents - the pro-magistrates appointed by him, who were made magistrates only on his recommendation. movable and real estate the community was in his hands as a lifelong censor and by virtue of special powers. The Senate was finally eliminated from the leadership of finance. The activities of the tribunes were paralyzed by his participation in the meetings of their collegium and the tribunal power and tribune sacrosanctitas granted to him. And yet he was not a colleague of the tribunes; having their power, he did not have their name. Since he recommended them to the people, he was the highest authority in relation to them. He disposes of the Senate arbitrarily, both as its chairman (for which he mainly needed a consulate), and as the first to give an answer to the question of the presiding officer: since the opinion of the almighty dictator was known, hardly any of the senators would have dared to contradict him. .

Finally, the spiritual life of Rome was also in his hands, since already at the beginning of his career he was elected the great pontiff, and now the power of the censor and the leadership of morals were added to this. Caesar did not have special powers that would give him judicial power, but the consulate, the censorship, and the pontificate had judicial functions. Moreover, we also hear about Caesar's constant arguing at home, mainly on questions of a political nature. Caesar also sought to give the newly created power a new name: it was the honorary cry with which the army greeted the winner - imperator. Y. Caesar put this name at the head of his name and title, replacing them with his personal name Guy. By this, he gave expression not only to the breadth of his power, his imperium, but also to the fact that from now on he leaves the ranks of ordinary people, replacing his name with the designation of his power and eliminating from it at the same time an indication of belonging to one clan: the head of state cannot be called like any other Roman C. Iulius Caesar - he is Imp (erator) Caesar p (ater) p (atriae) dict (ator) perp (etuus), as his title says in inscriptions and on coins.

On the power of J. Caesar, and especially on his dictatorships, see Zumpt, Studia Romana, 199 et seq.; Mommsen, Corp. inscr. latinarum", I, 36 et seq.; Gunter, "Zeitschrift fur Numismatik", 1895, 192ff.; Groebe, in the new edition of Drumann's "Geschichte Roms" (I, 404ff.); cf. Herzog, Geschichte und System. (II, 1 ff.).

Foreign policy

guiding idea foreign policy Caesar was the creation of a strong and integral state, with natural, if possible, borders. Caesar pursued this idea in the north, and in the south, and in the east. His wars in Gaul, Germany and Britain were caused by the need he realized to push the border of Rome to the ocean on the one hand, to the Rhine, at least on the other. His plan for a campaign against the Getae and Dacians proves that the Danube border also lay within the limits of his plans. Within the border that united Greece with Italy by land, Greco-Roman culture was supposed to reign; the countries between the Danube and Italy and Greece were to be as much a buffer against the peoples of the north and east as the Gauls were against the Germans. Closely connected with this is Caesar's policy in the East. Death overtook him on the eve of a campaign in Parthia. His Eastern policy, including the actual annexation of the Roman state of Egypt, was aimed at rounding off the Roman Empire in the East. The only serious opponent of Rome were the Parthians here; their affair with Crassus showed that they had in mind a broad, expansive policy. The revival of the Persian kingdom ran counter to the tasks of Rome, the successor of the monarchy of Alexander, and threatened to undermine the economic well-being of the state, which was entirely based on the factory, monetary East. A decisive victory over the Parthians would have made Caesar, in the eyes of the East, the direct successor of Alexander the Great, the rightful monarch. Finally, in Africa, J. Caesar continued a purely colonial policy. political significance Africa didn't; its economic importance, as a country capable of producing a huge amount of natural products, depended to a large extent on regular administration, stopping the raids of nomadic tribes and recreating the best harbor of northern Africa, the natural center of the province and the central point for exchange with Italy - Carthage. The division of the country into two provinces satisfied the first two requests, the final restoration of Carthage - the third.

Reforms of J. Caesar

In all of Caesar's reforming activities, two main ideas are clearly noted. One is the need to unite the Roman state into one whole, the need to smooth out the difference between the citizen-owner and the provincial slave, to smooth out the strife of nationalities; the other, closely related to the first, is the streamlining of the administration, close communication between the state and its subjects, the elimination of intermediaries, and a strong central authority. Both of these ideas are reflected in all of Caesar's reforms, despite the fact that he carried them out quickly and hastily, trying to use the short intervals of his stay in Rome. In view of this, the sequence of individual measures is random; Caesar each time took on what seemed to him the most necessary, and only a comparison of everything he did, regardless of chronology, allows us to capture the essence of his reforms and notice the harmonious system in their implementation.

Caesar's unifying tendencies were reflected primarily in his policy towards parties among the leading classes. His policy of mercy towards opponents, with the exception of irreconcilable ones, his desire to attract everyone to the state life, without distinction of party and mood, allowing him among his close former opponents, undoubtedly testify to the desire to merge all differences of opinion about his personality and his regime. . This unifying policy explains the widespread trust in all, which was the cause of his death.

The unifying tendency towards Italy is also clearly visible. We have come down to one of the laws of Caesar, concerning the regulation of certain parts of municipal life in Italy. True, it is now impossible to assert that this law was the general municipal law of J. Caesar (lex Iulia municipalis), but it is still undoubted that it immediately supplemented the statutes of individual Italian communities for all municipalities, served as a corrective for them all. On the other hand, the combination in the law of the norms governing the urban life of Rome and the municipal norms, and the significant likelihood that the norms of urban improvement of Rome were obligatory for municipalities, clearly indicates a tendency to reduce Rome to municipalities, to elevate municipalities to Rome, which from now on must was to be only the first of the Italian cities, the seat central government and a model for all similar centers of life. A general municipal law for the whole of Italy, with local differences, was unthinkable, but some general rules were desirable and useful and clearly indicated that in the end Italy and its cities represent one united whole with Rome.

Assassination of Julius Caesar

Caesar was assassinated on March 15, 44 BC. e. on the way to the Senate meeting. When friends once advised the dictator to beware of enemies and surround himself with guards, Caesar replied: “It is better to die once than to constantly expect death.” One of the conspirators was

Most modern people are familiar with the name of Julius Caesar. It is mentioned as a name for a salad, one of the months of summer, and in films and television. How did this conquer people, that they remember who Caesar is, even two thousand years after his death?

Origin

The future commander, politician, writer was from the patrician family of Yuliev. At one time, this family played a significant role in the life of Rome. Like any ancient family, they had their own mythical version of origin. The line of their surname led to the goddess Venus.

Guy's mother was Aurelius Cotta, who came from a family of wealthy plebeians. By name it is clear that her family was named Aurelius. The elder was the father. He belonged to the patricians.

Intense discussions continue regarding the dictator's year of birth. Most often called 100 or 101 BC. There is also no consensus on the number. As a rule, three versions are called: March 17, July 12, July 13.

To understand who Caesar is, one should turn to his childhood. He grew up in the Roman region, which had quite bad reputation. He studied at home, mastering the Greek language, literature, rhetoric. Knowledge of Greek allowed him to receive further education, since most scientific works were written in it. One of his teachers was the famous rhetorician Gniphon, who at one time taught Cicero.

Presumably in 85 BC. Guy had to lead the Yuliev family due to the unexpected death of his father.

Personality: appearance, character, habits

Quite a lot of descriptions have been left about the appearance of Gaius Julius, many of his sculptural portraits, including lifetime ones, have been made. Caesar, whose photo (reconstruction) is presented above, was, according to Suetonius, tall, with fair skin. He was well built and had dark, lively eyes.

The politician and military leader took good care of himself. He cut his nails, shaved, plucked his hair. Having a bald spot on the front of his head, he hid it in every possible way, combing his hair from the parietal part to his forehead. According to Plutarch, Caesar's physique was very frail.

Ancient authors unanimously agree that the dictator had energy. He reacted quickly to changing circumstances. According to Pliny the Elder, he communicated with many people through correspondence. If desired, the dictator could simultaneously read and dictate letters to several secretaries to different addressees. At the same time, he could write something himself at that moment.

Guy Julius practically did not drink wine and was very unpretentious in food. At the same time, he brought luxury items from his military campaigns, such as expensive dishes. He bought paintings, statues, beautiful slaves.

Family and personal life

Julius Caesar, whose biography is being considered, was officially married three times. Although there is also information that before these marriages he was engaged to Cossusia. His wives were:

• Cornelia is from the consul's family.
• Pompeia is the granddaughter of the dictator Sulla.
• Calpurnia is a representative of a wealthy plebeian family.

Cornelia and the commander had a daughter, whom he married to his colleague Gnaeus Pompey. As for his relationship with Cleopatra, they took place while Gaius Julius was in Egypt. After this, Cleopatra had a child, whom the Alexandrians gave the name Caesarion. However, Julius Caesar did not recognize him as his son and did not write him in his will.

Military and political activities

The beginning of his career was the position of Flamin Jupiter, which Gaius took in the 80s BC. To do this, he broke off the engagement and married the daughter of Cornelius Zinn, who nominated him for this honorary position. But everything quickly changed when power changed in Rome, and Guy had to leave the city.

To understand who Caesar is, many examples from his life allow. One of them is the case when he was captured by pirates, demanding a ransom. The politician was ransomed, but immediately after that he organized the capture of his captors and executed them by crucifying them on crosses.

Who was Julius Caesar in Ancient Rome? He held the following positions:

• pontiff;
• military tribune;
• quaestor for financial matters in Further Spain;
• the caretaker of the Appian Way, which he repaired at his own expense;
• curule edil - was engaged in the organization of urban construction, trade, ceremonial events;
• head of the permanent criminal court;
• pontiff great for life;
• Viceroy of Further Spain.

All of these jobs were very costly. He took funds from his creditors, who provided them with understanding.

First triumvirate

After a successful governorship in Farther Spain, the politician was expected to triumph in Rome. However, he refused such honors for reasons of career advancement. The fact is that the term (by age) came up when he could be elected consul to the senate. But for this it was required to personally register their candidacy. At the same time, the person who is waiting for the Triumph must not appear in the city ahead of time. He had to make a choice in favor of a further career, abandoning the honors that were due to the winner.

After studying who Caesar is, it becomes clear that his ambition was more flattered to take a seat in the Senate in the first year when it is legally permissible. At the time, it was considered very honorable.

As a result of long political combinations, the politician reconciled his two associates with each other, as a result of which the first triumvirate arose. The expression means "the union of three husbands." The year of its creation is not known for certain, since this union was of a secret nature. Historians suggest that this happened in 59 or 60 BC. It included Caesar, Pompey, Crassus. As a result of all the actions, Guy Julius managed to become a consul.

Participation in the Gallic War

With his triumvirate, Julius Caesar, whose biography is presented in the article, began to disappoint the citizens of Rome. However, because of his departure to the provinces, all discontent should have poured out on Gnaeus Pompey.

At this time, the province of Gallia Narbonne was formed on the territory of present-day France. Caesar arrived in Genava, on the site of which Geneva is now located, for negotiations with the leaders of one of the Celtic tribes. Under the onslaught of the Germans, these tribes began to settle in the territory of Guy had to fight for the lands of the province with the Gauls and Germans. At the same time, he led an expedition to Britain.

After a series of victories, Caesar succeeded by 50 BC. subjugate all of Gaul to Rome. At the same time, he did not forget to follow the events in the Eternal City. Sometimes he even intervened in them through his proxies.

Establishment of a dictatorship

Returning to Rome, the commander came into conflict with Gnaeus Pompey. In 49-45 BC. this led to the Civil War. Gaius Caesar had many supporters throughout Italy. He attracted a significant part of the army to his side and went to Rome. Pompey was forced to flee to Greece. The war unfolded throughout the republic. The commander and his legions alternated victories and defeats. The decisive battle was the battle of Pharsalus, the winner of which was Caesar.

Gnaeus had to run again. This time he went to Egypt. Julius followed him. None of the opponents expected that Pompey would be killed in Egypt. Here Gaius Julius was forced to linger. At first, the reason was the wind unfavorable for the ships, and then the commander decided to improve his financial situation at the expense of the Ptolemaic dynasty. Thus, he became a participant in the struggle for the throne between Ptolemy the Thirteenth and Cleopatra.

He spent several months in Egypt, after which he continued his campaign to restore the territory of Rome, which began to disintegrate due to the Civil War.

Caesar became dictator three times:

1. In 49 BC, for a period of 11 days, after which he resigned.
2. In 48 BC, for a period of a year, after which he continued to rule as proconsul, and later consul.
3. In 46 BC. became a dictator without formal justification for a period of 10 years.

All his power rested on the army, so the election of Caesar to all subsequent posts was a formality.

During his reign, Gaius Julius Caesar (photo of the sculpture can be seen above), along with his associates, carried out many reforms. However, it is quite difficult to determine which of them relate directly to the time of his reign. The most famous is the reform of the Roman calendar. Citizens had to switch to the solar calendar, which was developed by the scientist from Alexandria Sosingen. So, from 45 BC. appeared known to everyone today

Death and testament

Now it is clear who Julius Caesar is, whose biography ended rather tragically. In 44 BC. a conspiracy was formed against his autocracy. Opponents and supporters of the dictator were afraid that he would call himself king. One of the groups was led by Mark Junius Brutus.

At a meeting of the Senate, the conspirators implemented the plan to destroy Caesar. 23 were found on his body after the murder. The body was burned by the citizens of Rome at the Forum.

Gaius Julius made his nephew Gaius Octavian his successor (having adopted him), who received three-quarters of the inheritance and became known as Gaius Julius Caesar.

During his reign, he pursued a policy of sacralization and clan. Apparently, the success of his actions regarding the popularization of his own person exceeded his expectations. Perhaps that is why in the modern world Gaius Julius Caesar is known to both schoolchildren and representatives of the art world.