Shops in the Forum Julium, Caesar's answer to Pompey's theatre and porticoes. Begun in 51 B.C. to
provide a much-needed enlargement to the old Roman Forum, this complex introduced the formula
adopted by the subsequent imperial fora, i.e. a colonnaded piazza dominated at the rear, directly
opposite the main entrance, by a grand temple (here that of Venus Genetrix, the alleged ancestress of
the Julian family).
The reform of Roman government was a different story. It was hard for a man of fifty to think afresh
about the system that had so far determined his life: Caesar applied some traditional remedies, such as
the abolition of certain urban clubs, the revision of criminal statutes, the restriction of the tenure of
provincial commands. Accustomed to working at top speed in Gaul-he dictated letters to two secretaries
while on horseback-Caesar had lost patience with the niceties of political life: Cicero complained that
his own name was attached to senatorial decrees passed in his absence. Worse still, Caesar was about to
leave for an indefinite period, having been made dictator perpetuus ('dictator without term'): perhaps he
wanted to preclude any wrangles this time over his tenure of command, but it looked as if he had lost the
will to restore the Republic. As dictator, he had shown no sign of relinquishing his stranglehold on the
political machinery, designating governors, appointing many of the magistrates, and exercising personal