I Came, I Saw, I Blogged Part 1

Julius Caesar: Fates Chosen Son
(Years covered: 100BC - 59BC)

Confession, for as far back as when I first became aware of such a thing as the Roman Empire I have been a Julius Caesar fan boy. The conquests, the bravado, the strategic mind, leadership, and social visionary, makes for quit a figure of inspiration. So I feel compelled, nay, obligated to make one of my first posts about this man I consider a titan of western history.

 The Roman world from right before Caesar's birth to his death

Gaius Julius Caesar is a man who had no business becoming who he did. From his birth to the height of his power the odds were stacked against him in what would normally be insurmountable ways. To sound even more hyperbolic, it is as if fate would not be deterred in making its chosen son a great man. But lets rewind just a bit to set the stage. The Roman Republic, through years of conflict controlled Hispania (Spain), Greece, Anatolia (Eastern Turkey), and the northern costs of Syria. On top of that they finally conquered their arch enemy Carthage by defeating it's elephant riding Supreme General Hannibal, and utterly destroyed the hated city so it would never rise again (I mean tore the city down brick by brick and salted the area so no one could ever farm the ground. Ouch, harsh!). This gave the Romans control of much of the North African coast from modern day Tunisian to the borders of Egypt. But now with its external enemies gone Roman leadership looked at each other for new conflicts. Senators, Consuls, Pro-Consuls, Tribunes, all vied for control of their fledgling empire. For most of its existence power swayed in Rome between the patricians (those who could trace their family linage to the founding and Romulus's first Senate) and the plebeians or "plebs"(everyone else who was at least a certified Roman citizen). But as time went on the lines between the two blurred economically. There were rich and powerful plebs and marginalized and destitute patricians, vice verse and everywhere in between. The patricians still controlled the Senate, by law you had to be a patrician to be a senator; but many other political offices could be occupied by the plebs including the very powerful consulships. Also the laws had been changing little by little, allowing plebs to reach higher and higher ranks in the legions, the Roman military. Now the path to power rested on having degrees of support from three essential groups: 1) the people, the down and dirty common folk who could potentially be used to gum up the works of everyday life in Rome if driven into a protesting mobs; 2) the Senate, the old guard that still held much of the money and through governorships of the outlying territories controlled much of the trade throughout the empire; and 3) the legions, those soldiers who knew full well the power of their occupation being in a society founded and to some extent run on concepts of militarism.

 Sulla and Marius

Into this tripod political landscape enters two men, Sulla and Marius. Both military men who split the legions between them in support for their ambitions, but each controlled a separate leg of the aforementioned power pyramid. They also represented that odd blurring talked about earlier. Sulla was born a pleb, but was quite wealthy and ironically held the support of the Senate. Marius was a patrician of meager funds to start but used his charisma and populism to create a cult of personality to gain the love of the common people. Without getting too much more sidetracked in the details in this rivalry that lasted a number of years (seriously, whole books have been written about these two for setting the stage for the downfall of Rome as a republic), by the time young Julius Caesar reaches adulthood (15), the sometimes hot sometimes cold civil war was in full swing. Eventually Marius will be dead, Sulla will be named dictator (an actual political office conferred by the Senate) and will use his new found power to preform some purges of his political enemies and their families. This does not bode well for Caesar coming into his own as Marius was his uncle by marriage and he was son-in-law to Cenna, another of Sulla's political rivals.

So after that brief (yea, not so much) detour lets get back to the man of the hour. Caesar was born into a very old patrician family known as the Julia (legend has it to be descendants of Venus herself), hence Julius. BTW, Roman names can be long and confusing and repetitive, as each names their children after other members the family over and over again and places the family name were ever they please (front, back, middle). Add on top of that later in life many Roman men would add names to honor their achievements and victories. Thankfully, our subject remains Gaius Julius Caesar, making the popular and humbling choice to not do this, always insisting his victories are as much his mens' as his. But again I digress. The Julia were, unlike most patrician families, a bit disjointed and scattered. Each branch, while still maintaining familiar bonds for hospitality purposes, kept each's finances and holdings separate. The family had no real central patriarch either. Even after his fathers death, Caesar was technically head of the house hold but held no real sway. The closest the family had to a central authority was his aunt Julia, Marius wife, who was seen as such a paragon of Roman womanly virtue that Sulla would not be able to include her in his purges without invoking the wrath of the Senate or people. But even then, she could not bring the family to much under her thumb, still being a woman. 

Caesar grew up in a tenement building in the slums of Rome, the last piece of property owned by his branch of the family. Not much else is known about his early childhood. Even his birth is a matter of contention among historians. One particular unconfirmed tale, though I like to believe is true, is that his mother had been pushed into the river by an unknown assailant hoping to score points with the Sulla faction. She was rescued, but the trauma had sent her into labor and an emergency C-section was preformed right there on the river banks. And while it is confirmed fact he was not the first to be born by that procedure, it is why its called Caesarean. The other unconfirmed aspect of his early childhood, but highly agreed upon by consensus of historians, is that he must have been tutored by his aunt Julia and to some extent uncle Marius, as his leadership and manipulation tactics, political stratagems and public polices and reforms very much mirrored those of Marius.

Cornellia, 1st wife of Caesar

When Sulla finally does come to sole power, sixteen year old Caesar's name comes up on the Sulla's lists of potential enemies. He is stripped of his priesthood to Jupiter, and all other titles, and duties conferred upon him by the old regime of his uncle Marius. Also his dowry from his wife's family is taken away as anything that had to do with Cenna was confiscated by Sulla. The final blow was Sulla's demand the Caesar divorce his wife Cornellia, daughter of Cenna. Caesar refused as he actually loved his wife, uncommon in an age and class that saw marriage as a political duty. So unbelievable in fact that Sulla saw it as a lie and the reason for the defiance was purely to spit in the dictators face. The young couple fled the city right before they were declared enemies of the state. BTW, being declared "Enemy of the State" in Rome meant that every single person within the borders of the empire, citizen, commoner, or slave, was obligated by law to kill you. You can start to see why I stated he had no business getting anywhere near as far as he did; a difficult birth, grew up in down and out poor family, has what little money and prestige he gains stripped from him, and now marked for death across the whole of the Mediterranean. 

His mother and his aunt Julia, using what little influence they had left pleaded with the Senate to change Sulla's mind. Sulla called for Caesar to be brought before a special session of the Senate, clearly vexed that the body that had supported him during the civil war was going to second guess him on the word of the wife of his hated rival. Caesar for his part had no incentive to accept the invitation as their was no guarantee he would leave the city alive. But as would be a motto describing the rest of his life, the old Latin proverb, "Fortune favors the bold", he went to face Sulla's judgment. While there are no minutes to the actual proceeding it is said all stood in the Senate chamber in silence as Sulla looked up and down at this teenage boy who held his head high. Finally, after minutes of stillness, Sulla rescinded the death sentence, but in a bit of foreshadowing says to the Senate, "he has much of Marius in him, you all may come to regret this day." Caesar was free, but he took no chances Sulla may change his mind. He left the city and set up his home in the countryside before leaving his family there to join the military. Besides Sulla's moment of prognosticating, Caesar joining the military would be a smack of irony. It is within military life that Caesar will gain his power, fortune, prestige, and popularity, a career that would not be opened to him if Sulla had not stripped him of his priesthood.

Caesar would distinguish himself in the service. He expertly walked the tightrope of comradery between the common soldiers and the elitist officers, and while as a junior officer hanging out with the foot soldiers manged to always keep an air of dignity befitting his patrician heritage without offending or alienating anyone. He even managed to become one of the youngest to earn the military honor of the Civic Crown for his role in the Siege of Mytilene; using his diplomatic skills he secured and successfully utilized a fleet of ships loaned to the Romans from King Nicomedes of Bithynia, turning a neutral party into an ally. Word had reached him of Sulla's death and he felt it was time to safely go home and reestablish is household within the city proper. However, before going home he would become flush with with cash in a twist of fate no one could see coming, except perhaps Caesar himself.

 

Civil Crown and Mytilene

 If you recall from my first post I hinted at a story of a young man captured by pirates and turned his fortune around. Yup, that was Caesar! As he sailed across the Aegean Sea his ship came under attack, all but a few slaughtered. Caesar, having his usual air of dignity and the finery of an officer, was taken as hostage to be ransomed. The pirates were about to release one of the captives to spread word of their demand of 20 Silver Talents ($25 million) for his release. Caesar halted the captive from getting on the boat to shore, and scuffed at the pirates sum. He declared that they obviously do not know who they have in their custody, a son of the house of Julia, descendant's of the goddess Venus, and that the amount of 20 Talents is an insult to his honor!  If you hadn't guessed, Caesar has a flare for the dramatic. In fact so powerful of an orator he was considered almost as great a speaker as his contemporary, Cicero,...almost (Cicero being considered one of the best speech givers ever to walk to earth). But back to the pirates. Caesar demanded the pirates increase the ransom to 50 Talents  ($62.5 million), and that such an amount would need to come from multiply sources of family members, so all the captives would need to be released to collect from various locations. Remember, when it comes to Caesar, "Fortune favors the bold!" Wash, rinse, repeat those words as you read the rest of this post. The pirates, befuddled and amused, set the rest of the captives free and would await this once in a lifetime score. No one really knows Caesars intent or thinking in this; was he trying to help free his fellow captives or did he really believe in his own words.

Months went by, and Caesar refused to be treated as just any old captive. He convinced the captains to treat him as an honored guest. He feasted with them, gambled with them, engaged in sports with them, if he demanded quite because he was trying to sleep it was granted, if a crew member disrespected him they were thrown overboard. And throughout his stay he half jokingly promised that when he was free he would return and slaughter them all very painfully, except the captains who he would grant a quick death for their hospitality. The pirates of course laughed at all this. Finally the day came when the ransom was delivered in its entirety. The pirates amazed at the amount was real, let Caesar go and as he rowed for shore he reminded them of his promise. Again, the pirates, with riches in their eyes waved him off, farewell. When he had gotten to shore he quickly organized a small raiding party of about 20 to 30 men over the next couple of days. Having spent so much time among the pirates he learned of their routes and harbors and easily tracked them down. He fell upon the pirates while they were drunkenly asleep, surrounded by not only his families fortune but also other treasures. With little resistance he subdued the pirates and to his word had the crew crucified, baking on the beach under the hot summer Mediterranean sun. As for the captains, he keep his promise to them as well, a quick death by slitting their throats. When he got home collectors were already knocking on his door, his family as well as others were demanding to be compensated for the money put toward his ransom. Caesar refused and successful argued in court the money as a whole was spoils of war and his by right of conquest. That technically the Senate never rescinded their declaration of war on piracy years before, even though General Pompey Magnus had successfully eradicate all but a few handful of pirate crews in the Med, the great general himself declaring victory. That Caesar having not yet stepped foot on Italian soil when he defeated the pirates, was still at that point a military officer, and thus was entitled to their plunder. Caesar was now the richest man of his family, and used it to solidify his role as sole patriarch of the Julia.

He spent the next couple of years using his wealth to boost his political career, make allies, and support his mild public works. Eventually his good will and bribing brought him into debt. A fact he hid when he was named Quastor (treasury officer and auditor) for the provinces in Hispania. To his credit there is no indication or proof he abused this position to pay of any of his debts. With his mother, his aunt Julia, and his wife, all dead by this point, broke in a far off province, Caesar was again at a low point. It was then that Caesar had encountered a statute of Alexander the Great, it was a cathartic moment for him as he lamented that Alexander had achieved so much by the time he was Caesar's age. Caesar vowed no matter what he was going to make his mark, have a legacy as large as the great Greek ruler, not be forgotten as yet another middling rank Roman Bureaucrat. Instead he would carve his name in the history of Europa. Fortune favors the bold.

Against the better judgment of now Consul Cicero, Caesar gained the governorship of Hispania Ulterior (southern coast of Spain). It was at this time he allied himself with Marcus Licinus Crassus (of Spartucus revolt fame), one of if not thee wealthiest men in the empire. Crassus saw in Caesar a front-man for his own ambitions. He had all this money, but it was for nothing as he had no prestige or military glory to call his own, thanks in part to the unscrupulous propaganda of Popmey Magnus, who was now a golden boy in the eyes of the Senate. Crassus had been residing in Spain in an unofficial quasi-exile from Rome, the Roman elites seeing the rich man as a laughing stock, again thanks to Pompey. Crassus paid off Caesar's debts and funded his short and effective campaigns against two local tribes expanding Roman control of Hispania. These victories coupled with his local laws concerning relieving debt (again helped by funding from Crassus), and his previous public works, started to bring the name of Caesar on the lips of many. The propaganda machine in full swing to make Caesar a household name, the two men's next target was to have Caesar elected Consul.

Crassus (top left), Cicero (top right), Pompey (bottom Left), Cato (bottom right)

The office of Consulship was shared by two individuals, one having to be a pleb by law, and acted as the co-presidents of the Senate. Cicero's term was up and so his seat to serve along side the pleb Marcus Biblus (though a pleb, a tool of a faction of old guard patrician senators lead by Cato) was up for grabs. Caesar would be running against Cato, an old hand in the senate, experienced statesman, and seen by many as a paragon of what a good Roman Senator should be; Cato the Elder, Cato the uncorruptable. Cato saw Caesar's (and Crassus') bid for power with contempt. Neither had his pedigree, never seemed to hold the old traditions in high regard, to him they were both base populist who steer the people away from following their rightful and experienced betters. Outsiders who dare encourage the people to question the noble patrician Senate! Sounds awfully familiar, but I won't go there. But not even Cato's vaunted reputation and experience could stem the dual tide of Crassus's money and Caesar's growing cult of personality (btw, Cato was one of the senators that took up Julia's cause in appealing to Sulla, can any one say Marius part 2, just as predicted). Caesar won the election and made a life long enemy in Cato and his followers. As a side note it is in this time that Caesar started to have an open affair with a patrician widower named Servilla, and treated her tween boy as his own son, one Marcus Brutus (I see those wheels a turning in your head). It was an open secret that he continued to see her through both of his remaining marriages, again refusing to abandon love in favor of politics.

As consul he had tried to push through several large scale and expansive laws on trade (for Crassus's benefit), public works (for his reputation and popularity), on slavery and labor (for his own moral compass), and on military issues (for the good of the empire and to grease the wheels for his next move). Sometimes it worked, sometimes not, but no matter the outcome Caesar was steadfastly polarizing the empire into two camps, Cato's conservatives and Caesar's radicals; the moderates, lead by Cicero, were shrinking in number, fast. One of those moderates was Pompey Magnus. As I said before Pompey was a favored man among the Senate, despite his low born up bringing. His tales of his victories against the Spartacus revolt (undeserved) and his eradication of piracy (very deserved) along with other scrimmages throughout the empire made him the poster boy for the Senate. "Look at this man, look how good your empire is. Pompey the great started as a lowly solider and through hard work and virtue rose to prominence" (with the help of your benevolent Senate of course). It wasn't all smoke and mirrors, the legions really did love Pompey, having one of their own rise to such heights instilled a true sense of loyalty for the old man. The propaganda just helped propel those feelings to the common people. But Pompey wanted more, and with more power and prestige to the legions meant more of the same for him (see where Caesar is going with this).

Now remember the power pyramid we talked about earlier: the people, the Senate (money), and the military, well Caesar was coming close to hitting the trifecta. Crassus's money and connections with the outer provinces took care of one leg (bypassing the Senate), Caesar's growing cult of personality was bringing the common people more and more to his fold, but neither had the power within the legions. As said before Crassus is seen as bit of a laughing stock in the legions (mostly thanks to the machinations of Pompey) and Caesar, while having a good reputation as an able solider and commander, did not yet have an empire wide reverence from the legions. So just as Crassus was starting to think he had found a good and able puppet, a knock came on the door in the night. There was Caesar with Pompey by his side, there for a clandestine meeting that would shape Romes future forever. Caesar comments in his memoirs at the look of sheer horror and outrage on Crassus's face when his long time rival, the man that had him laughed out of the Senate and Rome itself was brought to his home. But Caesar knew full well what he needed next for his ambitions to move forward, he needed support from the legions, even if it meant letting the cat out of the bag that he had been playing Crassus this whole time Crassus thought he was the one in control. Through wit and force of will Caesar hammered out an agreement between the three. Crassus would continue to be behind the scenes for now with a promise of a consulship and a lucrative governorship to retire to later. Pompey would continue to see his own popularity within the legions rise with more and more pro solider legislation. He too was promised a consulship, something he suspected the Senate was holding back from him insisting he makes a better military consultant to the Senate then politician, a source of resentment that has lead him to this moment, willing to betray his benefactors. To seal the deal Pompey was to wed to Caesar's daughter Julia, and Caesar was wed to the daughter of a Senate friend of Crassus, his 3rd wife Calpurnia (he divorced his 2nd wife Pompia after she was caught up in a salacious scandal, Caesar declaring "Caesar's wife must be above suspicion"). And so the First Triumvirate was born.