The Roman Republic and the Rise and Fall of Julius Caesar
The Founding Fathers of the United States used the Roman Republic as a model and viewed tyranny as an existential threat to democracy. As we follow in the footsteps of Rome, we must also remember, not only its glory and greatness, but how it rose and how it fell.
Rome has left its indelible footprints on the roads of Western Civilization. Yet there is one Roman that stands above all, and his name was Gaius Julius Caesar. According to legend, he was born by the procedure that bears his name (cesarean) and some say he was destined for greatness. His life and death were memorialized by Shakespeare, so much so, that it is hard to discern the true history from Shakespeare’s portrayal.
Roman leaders adopted his name, and his name lives on in the forms of Czar and Kaiser. Celebrated in monuments around the world, he is remembered not so much for how he lived but by how he died. Et tu, Brute, (Even you Brutus) were the Shakespearean words uttered by Caesar just before his demise. Yet, few understand the source or the reason why Brutus and his fellow conspirators betrayed and murdered Caesar.
The Roman Republic
When we think of Rome, we often think of an ancient empire that dominated the known world and the emergence of Christianity. As the scions of the Greeks and the conquerors of uncivilized Europe, Rome borrowed from others as much as it gave. According to folklore, Rome was a city that emerged from twin brothers Romulus and Remus abandoned on the Tiber River and raised by a she wolf. Like the biblical story of Cain and Abel, one brother would shed the blood of another. Romulus killed Remus and henceforth the city would bear his name.
Rome rose from a section of Italy called Latium. This section was occupied by the Etruscan kings who oppressed the Romans. It was from the Etruscans that the Greek culture was introduced to Rome. Rome rebelled against the Etruscans and eventually gained its freedom. However, the Etruscans would leave their indelible mark on Rome, through its inherited Greek culture and the remembrance of past oppressive Etruscan kings. It was from such seeds that the Roman Republic (509 BCE) blossomed into an empire (27 BCE) that lasted (in various forms) for more than a thousand years.
The founder of the Roman Republic was Lucius Junius Brutus. Under his leadership, the Roman Republic established an executive branch, judiciary and a legislator that jointly controlled the reins of power. It was the Roman Republic that defeated Hannibal during the Second Punic War in 202 BCE. It was the Roman Republic that the Founding Fathers of the United States wanted to emulate in their form of government.
In fact, America’s capital city would be designed with Roman architecture in mind, the nation and its states often have Latin mottos and like Rome, the eagle is the symbol of its greatness. The greatest triumph of the Roman Republic was the defeat of Carthaginians in the Punic Wars which established complete dominance in the Mediterranean region.
The Rise of Julius Caesar
The Roman Republic, despite its success against foreign foes, was besieged by a series of domestic civil wars, and this was the environment in which Caesar rose to power. He did not ascend to power alone, but rather through the formation of the first triumvirate composed of: Caesar, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey), and Marcus Licinius Crassus. By their nature, triumvirates are temporal and ultimately one man will emerge as the sole leader. Of the three, Caesar was viewed as the weakest and least experienced. Yet in the end, he would prove to be the strongest. He first excelled as a military leader, and it was through his European campaigns that he gained the trust and admiration of his men.
While Caesar was away on foreign campaigns, Pompey solidified power at home, and Crassus soon became an insignificant figure in Rome. But it was Caesar’s foreign success and local admiration that made the Senate and Pompey fear him. Although Pompey was married to Julia, Caesar’s only child, it was not enough to forge a relationship between two men whose egos and quest for power exceeded any familial bond. And so, the stage was set for the epic battle between Caesar and Pompey.
There was a long-standing law that generals must disarm their army before entering Rome and the Senate decided to enforce it as a political tool to control Caesar. When he crossed the Rubicon River, without disbanding his army, the “die had been casted” and war was declared on Caesar. Pompey’s military prowess was well renowned, and he was therefore tasked with defeating Caesar.
Caesar’s army was small in comparison to Pompey’s, but Caesar was swift and daring whereas Pompey was slow and hesitant. In the end, Caesar emerged as the sole survivor of the first triumvirate. As for Pompey, he was assassinated in Egypt and his decapitated head handed to Caesar as a means of currying favor with the new undisputed leader of Rome.
The Fall of Caesar
Lord Acton said: power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. As power began to coalesce around Caesar, the Senate became even more fearful of his consolidated power and thus began to form cabals that secretly challenged and plotted against his rule. In public they were a group of sycophants, constantly giving him gifts such as a golden throne, praising him, naming a month (July) after him and so forth. For instance, in 46 BCE, he was made dictator for ten years, and in 44 BCE he was granted the title Dictator Perpetuus or “dictator for life. But, in private, their disdain for him could hardly be controlled, particularly among those that had supported Pompey.
In February of 44 BCE, a staged crown offering celebration was held planned to test the waters and see if the public would accept Caesar as king. He declined the offer several times. But it was this event that evoked the specter of the Etruscan kings among the Roman elite, including some of Caesar’s loyal generals. It was seen as going too far and contrary to the ideals of the Roman Republic. Caesar had become more than a dictator; instead, he was now viewed by many as an uncontrollable tyrant.
The Romans traditionally celebrated March as the beginning of the new year and the ides of March was typically viewed as the first full moon of the new year and thus was celebrated as a holiday. Ironically, it was Caesar that introduced a new calendar based on the solar year that started on January 1st in 45 BCE and introduced a leap year every four years. It was on the ides of March (March 15, 44 BCE) that the cabal of senators gathered to meet Caesar for the last time.
Among them was a young Marcus Junius Brutus of whom Caesar had treated like a son. Legend has it that when Caesar saw that Brutus was among them, he stopped defending himself against the traitorous blows of senators some of them crazed with power, others with envy but all united in the goal of ridding Rome of its tyrant: (Sic Symper Tyrannis) Death to tyrants: Thus, the climactic scene of the play was over and the Shakespearean omen given to Caesar by a soothsayer (beware the Ides of March) became a reality. According to legend, Caesar was stabbed twenty-three times and ironically fell dead at the feet of the statue of his nemesis Pompey.
Caesar’s funeral was more of a trial than a memorial with both sides presenting their version of justice. The conspirators believed that his death was necessary to save the Roman Republic. They thought that the citizens of Rome would view them as liberators and Caesar as the traitor to the Roman Republic. It was less about what Rome was, and more about what it would become. At his funeral, Brutus spoke for the conspirators. His argument was simple: Caesar had become too ambitious and they killed him to save the Roman Republic. After all, Brutus was a descendant of, Lucius Junius Brutus, the founder of the Roman Republic and although he loved Caesar, he loved Rome and the Republic more.
Yet, Mark Anthony’s argument was more persuasive and perhaps more important, he had the last word. Anthony was one of Caesar’s top generals and he spoke with a heartfelt passion that showed that he loved Caesar. He appealed to the crowd as fellow citizens; and he was able to use Brutus’ words against him, while at the same time pointing to Caesar’s accomplishments, his betrayal and his murder at the hands of men he had helped and, in some cases, forgiven. He did not cast the conspirators as bad men, nor Caesar as a saint, but instead as a man with human frailties. The Shakespearean version is as follows:
“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones; So let it be with Caesar”
The death of Caesar was a seminal moment in Roman history, and it changed its trajectory. It was both the end and the beginning. It was the end of the Roman Republic and the beginning of the Roman Empire. Under Caesar’s adopted son and nephew, Augustus Caesar (Octavian), Rome became an empire. Augustus Caesar avenged Caesar’s death, deified Caesar as a god and pronounced himself as the son of god (divi filius); decades before the birth of Christ.
He established the Pax Romana (Roman Peace) which put an end to Rome’s civil wars and established Rome as the dominant power in the region. He created a literary and historical tradition that produced magnum opuses such as Vergil’s Aeneid and Livy’s The History of Rome. Without the leadership of Augustus, Rome may have collapsed after the death of Julius Caesar.
It was Caesar’s goal to create an Imperium Sine Fine (an empire without end). Although Rome did not survive forever, it bequeaths to Western Civilization a heritage, in the form of its foundation, its laws and military prowess that continues to live on.
The Legacy of Rome
In the final analysis, Rome, like ancient Egypt, was strong because of what it had endured over its long history. The rise and fall of Caesar was just one defining episode in its turbulent history: from the defeat of Hannibal to the fall of Constantinople. Therefore, there is much that we can learn from the triumphs, resilience and failures of Rome. Time and time again, it was able to resurrect itself and when it could no longer rise from its ashes, through its leadership and adherence to its principles; it fell into the abyss of fallen empires. Perhaps the historian Will Durant’s words serve as a warning to future empires:
“A great civilization is not conquered from without, until it has destroyed itself from within. The essential causes of Rome’s decline lay in her people, her morals, her class struggle, her failing trade, her bureaucratic despotism, her stifling taxes, her consuming wars.”
As we follow in the footsteps of Rome, we must also remember how it ended. Although Rome superstitiously placed its faith in the Sibylline Books, the Founding Fathers of the United States placed their faith in its Constitution to assure that their nation would not succumb to the pitfalls of Rome and other fallen empires. But instead, continue to endure and to strive toward a More Perfect Union. For over two centuries, America has basked in the reflective glory and grandeur of Rome, let us hope that it will heed the lessons of history and not succumb to the ill fate of Rome’s demise.
The Founding Fathers viewed King George like the Romans viewed the Etruscan kings and therefore took a strong stand against tyranny. George Washington is quoted as saying: “I didn’t fight George III to become George I.” The Framers’ safeguard against tyrants was impeachment by the House of Representatives and conviction by the Senate.
The greatest thing that Rome bequeathed to the Founding Fathers was the model of a Republic. But in the words of Ben Franklin: only if you can keep it.
