63
Athenian poet Menander, he
announced alea iacta est (“let the
dice roll”) and led his men onward.Caesar’s new order
In the ensuing civil war, Caesar
finally triumphed over Pompey’s
forces at the Battle of Pharsalus
in northern Greece in 48 bce.
The defeated Pompey fled to Egypt
for sanctuary, where he was later
assassinated. After crushing the
remaining pockets of resistance,
Caesar finally returned to Rome in
45 bce, to consolidate his political
position. In 46 bce he accepted the
dictatorship for 10 years; two years
later, he was granted the office for
life. Now in a position to begin the
monumental task of reconstructing
the Roman state and restoring
stability to the empire, Caesar
initiated far-reaching social and
political reforms. He extended
Roman citizenship; he enlarged
the Senate, bringing in allies from
among the provincial aristocracy;
he established colonies outside
Italy, to help spread Roman culture
and knit the empire together; he
spent lavishly on grandiose public
works and buildings; he cut taxes;
and he even reformed the Roman
calendar, introducing the system of
leap years that is still in use today.A murder plot
Caesar’s pragmatic solutions for
re-establishing unity in the empire
after years of chaos found favor
with many parts of society, yet
at the same time, his increasingly
autocratic attitude to power was
alienating fellow members of the
ruling class. They felt that Caesar
was trying to destroy the cherished
traditions of the Roman state, and
to undermine the prestige of the
nobility, and spread the rumor that
he was planning to make himself
king. Unfortunately, Caesar failed toquell the suspicions. He accepted
unprecedented honors, such as
assuming the title “Imperator”
(“Victorious General”) as a family
name; he also allowed temples and
statues to be erected in his honor,
and had coins minted bearing his
image. And when he adopted his
grand-nephew, Octavian, there
were fears that he was trying to
establish a dynastic succession.
Some members of the Senate
concluded that the only solution
to the problem was to assassinate
Caesar, and so they hatched a
conspiracy to carry it out.ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS
Representing those opposed to the
dictator’s reforms—and the leading
agent in the plot to murder him—
Gaius Cassius Longinus was a
general who had risen to political
prominence during a largely
disastrous campaign in Persia.
Ancient Roman historians argued
that Cassius’s involvement was
prompted by a combination of
jealousy and greed. He is also said to
have recruited the most important
conspirator, Marcus Junius Brutus, a
trusted colleague and confidante of
Caesar, opposed to the dictator’s
presumed monarchic ambitions. ❯❯Consuls
were chief
judges, who
chaired the
Senate and
commanded
t he a r my.Praetors
acted as judges
and commanded
armies in Rome
in the consuls’
absence.XXXAediles had
responsibility for
maintaining the public
buildings and temples,
and for ensuring the
city’s grain supply.Quaestor was the
first elected office.
They supervised the
use of state finances.Plebeian
aediles
had a lower
status than
patrician
aediles.Tribunes
protected
plebs from
abuses of
power by
vetoing
legislation or
judgments.Senators directed other
magistrates and controlled
the granting of public money.The Cursus Honorum was
the sequence of offices through
which Roman patricians aspiring
to power had to progress as they
aged in order to reach the
highest rank: consul.A separate series of ranks
governed offices for plebeians
(those not of noble birth). The
rank of aedile was the highest
plebeians could hope to achieve.US_058-065_Assassination_of_Caesar.indd 63 15/02/2016 16:40