artsykat
Junior Member
Hello, I'm Kateri, nice to meet you~!
Posts: 51
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Post by artsykat on Dec 1, 2016 3:22:23 GMT
Reading this we again see the greatness of Caesar. The conquests of Gaul and Britain made the Roman Republic the most powerful in the world. He also made tax reforms and established term limits for governess. To think that centuries ago there was a republic that was formed and put into action is proves a great deal of what the Romans were. He was also extremely popular with the people as well as his army. While he really did a ton for the Romans, he didn't seem to care about the other countries that he effected. The fact is that the Romans always wanted glory and power, and when one has a charming, brilliant leader and general, it's not hard to understand why Romes became the way they did.
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Post by Christopher Martin on Dec 2, 2016 15:39:15 GMT
I worry that the above statement is a bit to generally about Caesar, as opposed to Plutarch's "life of julius caesar." Would you mind re-framing a discussion about how Plutarch viewed Caesar? For example: why did the people love him, and why did his enemies (in Rome) grow to hate him? What does this say about both Rome, as well as the Romans?
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artsykat
Junior Member
Hello, I'm Kateri, nice to meet you~!
Posts: 51
|
Post by artsykat on Dec 3, 2016 3:08:26 GMT
The people loved him because of his charismatic and strong leadership skills, also the fact that he was just and knew how to serve the country, in the eyes of the people. The army loved him because he was a great general and natural commander. The senate turned against him because, after all the success Caesar was earning and receiving, Caesar started to take his position of dictator for granted and decided that he would be, in a sense, a king. That was everything the Republic did NOT want. His constant want for power was what drove the senate against him, and later to his assassination.
"But the chiefest cause that made him morally hated was the covetous desire to be called king: which first gave the people just cause, and next his secret enemy's honest color to bear him ill-will.
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Post by Christopher Martin on Dec 5, 2016 14:14:29 GMT
Pretty good! Caesar understood that, in order to have anything like a legitimate reign as "king," then he needed popular support. Whether he was planning such a coup from his early days as a Roman consul, we don't know, but at the very least, he strikes us as smarter than the average bear: seeing an opportunity where the Roman senate had failed to deliver reform, and thereby capitalizing on the people's malcontent with them.
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