![]() Moreover, when one considers that Augustus appears to have tried to present a narrative of refusing the office of dictator, calling it “contrary to the traditions of our ancestors” in the Res Gestae (5-6 cf. As the office of dictator had been abolished in the aftermath of Caesar’s death (Cicero, Philippics 1.3-4), this depiction of Caesar as the holder of an abolished office, while Augustus occupied legitimate offices, might be interpreted as a comparison between the destroyer of the Republic and its saviour.Ī coin from 43 BC depicting Julius Caesar as Perpetual Dictator (The Trustees of the British Museum) A coin issued in 43 BC portrays Augustus as consul, pontifex, and augur, while Caesar is the perpetual dictator. Indeed, even in the immediate aftermath of Caesar’s assassination, it has been argued, Augustus (then Octavian) tried to distance himself from the dictator. Given that the Roman historian Cremutius Codrus was supposedly able to call Brutus and Cassius the ‘last of the Romans’ in the presence of Augustus without any repercussions (Suetonius, Tiberius 61.3 Cassius Dio 57.24.3), it appears that Augustus was content for Caesar’s memory to be disputed. In his second Philippic, he wrote that Caesar “brought a free city, partly by fear, partly by patience, into a habit of slavery” (2.116), which, to Romans, was a fate worse than death ( Philippic 10.19).Įven Augustus’ treatment of Caesar’s memory has been subject to debate for decades. Much of Cicero’s later writings are full of invective language expressing a strong dislike of Caesar. The memory of Caesar was rather divided even during the reign of Augustus. The Death of Julius Caesar (1806) by Vincenzo Camuccini Therefore, on this historic date, I feel we should question how we remember historic figures. However, if there were a man such as Caesar today, a man who overturned the legitimate government through force and installed himself as a dictator, he would be reviled. William Shakespeare brought him to the stage in The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, he appears alongside Cyrus and Alexander as rulers who used their funds liberally in Machiavelli’s The Prince (16), and he has featured in dozens, if not hundreds of novels, films, and television shows about ancient Rome. ![]() Indeed, he has been remembered throughout history. Thanks to the monumentality of his achievements, and the subsequent longevity of the Roman Empire, Caesar has been immortalized, even admired, in modern historical memory. As Cicero says, Caesar “had performed exploits in war which, though calamitous for the republic, were nevertheless mighty deeds” ( Philippic 2.116). There is no doubt that Caesar’s accomplishments were impressive. The Ides of March, however, was truly the death knell of the Republic, ushering in a destructive period of civil strife and discord, which ended only with the one thing the assassins of Caesar had tried to prevent – a monarchy in all but name. His assumption of the title dictator in perpetuum (‘perpetual dictator’), becoming the de facto monarch of the Roman world, was the beginning of the end of the Roman Republic. Gaius Julius Caesar’s assassination on the Ides of March in 44 BC is truly one of the most momentous events in history. The good is oft interred with their bones įrom William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Julius Caesar I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears
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