Why Was Caesar Assassinated?

Throughout Caesar’s lifetime, there had been a growing divide in Roman politics, among a group called the optimates which mean ‘the best men’ in Latin, and the ‘populares’ which means ‘the famous’ in the meaning ‘of the people.' It can be seen as a product of a system whereby there are a limited number of political offices each year, a growing senatorial class and increasing competition among candidates, who tried more and more absurd things to win office. The Roman mindset valued military glory and praise above all else, and a political office was pretty much the only way to achieve that. The top post was consul, of which there were two each year, and every office was elected, not entirely democratically, with more weight given to voters with more wealth or property. The optimates were senators typically from families that had significant histories, and many ancestors had been consuls. Sons of optimates resisted change and any infringement on their power, seeing many functions as the sole prerogative of the Senate 1 . The populares, by contrast, sought to be elected to office by the people and attempted to put through legislation that would benefit the poor and perpetuate their popularity with the people 2 . Caesar was assassinated by the 23 senators and specifically, the patricians who opposed his policies which both increased his political power at the expense of theirs and decreased their wealth by his support and cooperation with non-patrician businesspeople and with his pro-plebeian policies.

Julius Caesar fell under this last category. His family was an old family that claimed descent from Venus through Aeneas, making his ancestor one of the founders of Rome, so that goes to show how old the family was. Some of his ancestors had been consul but really what brought his family to distinction was his aunt’s marriage to populares general Marius, a very successful military leader, who was a significant influence on Caesar 3 . Caesar necessarily took on a lot of populares methods, won office throwing the largest games around, completely overshadowing his colleagues in the office with his largesse and won the title pontifex maximus. Both because of his family’s relative obscurity and his populares leanings, he was not liked at all by the optimates, and some saw him as a bit of a flamboyant upstart. He also broke official rules, much like everyone else, and in particular, one of the optimates, Cato the Younger, was his personal rival. Cato, in particular, made a name for himself by styling himself on his famous ancestor Cato the Elder and represented old fashioned Roman values, was notoriously stubborn and intransigent 4 .

Caesar ended up being elected to the consul, but the optimates managed to get one of their men made consul as well. This Consul, Bibulus, was a weak, ineffective man; however, his task was to disrupt Caesar and his legislation that would further cement his popularity. They, therefore, sought to reduce the fame Caesar could gain by giving him the worst pro-consulship they could imagine, making him pro-consul of Italian trails and grazing pretty much. Caesar ended up using the tribunes of the plebs to override the Senate and get the laws passed, however, since Bibulus had been unable to contain Caesar; instead, he declared every day to have bad omens and so officially business could not be done on those days, rendering Caesar’s legislation technically invalid. Caesar ignored this, had the tribunes change his proconsulship to be governor of Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum 5 . 

When the Proconsul of Transalpine Gaul died, Caesar was made governor of that province, and he manipulated circumstances in Gaul to wage war and conquer Gaul. In the eight years in between, he became enormously wealthy through his conquests, hugely popular among the people of Rome, and dominated Roman politics along with Crassus and Pompey. His enemies in the optimates were unhappy mainly that Caesar was winning such glory, renowned, wealth and influence, and wanted to return to times when the senate’s power was absolute and not undermined by the tribunes of the plebs, so they planned to prosecute Caesar on his return. It would have meant death or exile, with his fortune confiscated. Caesar tried to negotiate with them, but this failed because of Cato mostly, his personal hatred of Caesar and his intransigence 6 .

Caesar, therefore, fought the optimates, whom Pompey had switched allegiance to, and since their senators were in power, the Republic by extension. Caesar won the civil war, pardoned many of his enemies and was awarded powers and titles to reestablish order in Rome, and to an extent, he succeeded. However, many senators gave Caesar ever grander titles and powers, some as means of flattery. Caesar could not well reject these all, since they were voted on and awarded by the Senate, and it would have been rude as if you were refusing birthday presents. Therefore, unable to defeat him militarily, they conspired against him, railing against his popularity and how it infringed on their careers and what they saw as their entitlements, undermined him in the Senate. They created rumors that he wanted to be king and so they could justify killing him, and then they assassinated him. They did it for their self-interest since they could not challenge him militarily and they could not wait for him to die. They had little prospect of his popularity and influence waning, particularly as it was on the verge of campaigning against the Parthians and would likely have won, increasing his status, fame, glory, and popularity meaning no one would get a look in basically. They felt they had little option to but to kill him, so they did 7 .

The power of Julius Caesar Death based on existing studies was believed to be at its peak. Caesar, for instance, had greatly infuriated the noble patricians with his close connection to Cleopatra, and at the same time, he had the plan to divorce his wife Calpurnia to marry her. The aspect that raised greater grievance among his people was his dictatorship. It this made a section of the old party Senate members agitated to an extended that they could hardly stomach that patrician sovereignty of Rome should be wasted. Throughout this period, his flatters offered him what was believed to be a royal crown and at the same time hailed himself as a king, a title that greatly stirred up bitter hatred. Julius Caesar was at the time preparing his army to march into the far East a place believed that no one had ever gone except Alexander. However, all his plans became known, and that if he came back victorious, then nobody would have a say over him. Therefore, the gracious Patricians of the Ancient Rome opted to react swiftly by taking drastic actions which were to assassinate Caesar during the Senate meeting.

The plotters for Caesar assassination decided to strike even before he set out. The chief conspirator of Caesar Death was Caius Cassius, a praetor. He was assisted by Marcus Junius Brutus who was a descendant of a person who had overthrown Tarquin and who was the husband to Porcia. The other conspirator was Brutus named Decimus who was one of the closest friends of Caesar and who had just been selected to the regime of Cisalpine Gaul. Together with twelve other individuals, they decided to kill Caesar around 15th of March. It was a period that was referred to as Ides of March, based on the Roman calendar when he had gone to the Senate house 8 . During this time, rumors were going on about the plot, and further, warnings were given to Caesar on a particular day. Further, it was reported that Caesar wife had a nightmare that Caesar was bleeding in her arm hence pleaded with him not to attend the meeting. While still shocked, Decimus one of the conspirators came and convinced him to attend the Senate meeting. On his wife to the Senate house, there was a man who approached and handed him a script and further requested him to read it at that time; however, Caesar did not look at it. After several steps, he was approached by one of the conspirators with a petition and immediately the rest of the conspirators joined. They clinked onto his robe and neck tightly until another person got hold of his toga pulling it roughly over his arms. As they were struggling with him, someone attacked him with a dagger causing to drop down dead at the foot of the Pompeius statute one of his greatest enemies 9 . In overall, Caesar suffered about 23 wounds caused from the stubs on that particular day. However, one of the stubs was the most severe which caught him near the breast that led to the death of Caesar at age 55-years old 10 .

If Caesar believed in Omen, then he would have been saved, and this was supported by various reasons that should have made him not attend the Senate meeting. First, it was reported that his horses especially those grazing around the banks of Rubicon were weeping. Secondly, there was a bird that flew into the Pompey’s theater with a sprig of laurel, but immediately it was devoured by another larger bird. Third, his wife, Calpurnia confessed to having had a terrible dream of his husband Caesar bleeding to death in her arms. The fourth sign was when a soothsayer by the name Spurinna warned Caesar to be aware of the danger before the Ides of March. However, Caesar ignored all these warnings because he had no faith in the omens. However, these warning significantly affected him where he hesitated for some time to attend the meeting or postpone it. However, Decimus one of the conspirator came and convinced him to participate in the meeting. On the way to the Senate House, he was still warned by Arte Mido Rus of the eminent danger before him by shoving a scroll to him; however, he was ignored 11 .

In conclusion, it has been shown that the Brutus had assumed that the death of Caesar would have brought the spirit of old Roman; however, this was not the case, and the entire city was in shock, and this made the people even more hostile. Caesar was regarded as a dictator and was jockeying to make himself emperor but at the same time he held the Roman Empire together after years of devastating civil war had ravaged the countryside and drained the treasury. Caesar helped the poor and unemployed with his policies; however, he did not live long enough to accomplish most of his plan because he was assassinated some months later after he was declared a dictator for life.

Bibliography

Appian, The Civil Wars 4.111-117

Cicero, Letters to Brutus i. 16 (the collection goes by the title Letters to Brutus but includes letters from Brutus to Cicero as well as from Cicero to Brutus; this is a letter from Brutus)

Charlesworth (eds.), The Cambridge Ancient History, vol. 9: The Roman Republic 133—44 B.C. , 691-740. Cambridge and New York, 1951.

Dio 44.1-11 (this ancient historian is sometimes known simply as Dio, but may also be called Cassius Dio or Dio Cassius)

D.F. Epstein, ‘Caesar’s Personal Enemies on the Ides of March’, in Latomus 46 (1987), 566-70.

F. E. Adcock, ‘Caesar's Dictatorship’, in S. A. Cook, F. E. Adcock and M. P.

L.R. Taylor, Party Politics in the Age of Caesar , 171-76. University of California Press, 1949.

Nicolaus of Damascus, Life of Augustus 19.58-27.106

Suetonius, Life of Caesar 76-79

Z. Yavetz, Julius Caesar and his Public Image , 185-213. Thames and Hudson, 1983.

1 L.R. Taylor, Party Politics in the Age of Caesar , 171-76. University of California Press,

1949.

2 Appian, The Civil Wars 4.111-117

3 Charlesworth (eds.), The Cambridge Ancient History, vol. 9: The Roman Republic

133—44 B.C. , 691-740. Cambridge and New York, 1951.

4 L.R. Taylor, Party Politics in the Age of Caesar , 171-76. University of California Press,

1949.

5 Suetonius, Life of Caesar 76-79

6 Cicero, Letters to Brutus i. 16 (the collection goes by the title Letters to Brutus but

includes letters from Brutus to Cicero as well as from Cicero to Brutus; this is a

letter from Brutus)

7 Dio 44.1-11 (this ancient historian is sometimes known simply as Dio, but may also be

called Cassius Dio or Dio Cassius)

8 , D.F. Epstein, ‘Caesar’s Personal Enemies on the Ides of March’, in Latomus 46 (1987),

566-70.

9 Nicolaus of Damascus, Life of Augustus 19.58-27.106

10 Z. Yavetz, Julius Caesar and his Public Image , 185-213. Thames and Hudson, 1983.

11 F. E. Adcock, ‘Caesar's Dictatorship’, in S. A. Cook, F. E. Adcock and M. P.