Download Essay for Lesson 8 of GL230 (Roman Politics) Write an account on

Essay for Lesson 8 of GL230 (Roman Politics)
Write an account on the rise to power of either Caesar or Cicero. Evaluate their
effectiveness as a politician.
Julius Caesar was one of the most effective politicians in the ancient Roman world.
His rise to power was fairly tame and traditional (unlike some of his contemporaries,
for example Pompey), but he still came to hold substantial power in the Roman
political scene. He was an effective politician as shown by his skill in using methods
to get what he wanted and the fact that he eventually became one of the leading
politicians of his time.
Caesar’s early career was rather uneventful with him following the cursus honorum
strictly. However two positions he held were important in a furthering his political
career and gaining a reputation. As aedile in 65BC he hosted the year’s public games,
which showed him to be popular with the crowds, so much so that, according to
Plutarch, the shows Caesar had given jointly with his colleague, Bibulus, “are now
called ’Caesar’s shows’.” In 63 BC Caesar was elected pontifex maximus (high
priest), despite the fact that he did not believe in the Roman gods. He wanted the
position because it was a highly respected office and held much political influence, as
the high priest could manipulate religious ‘omens’ to suit his own agenda. These two
positions of aedile and pontifex maximus were significant because it displayed
Caesar’s ability to make himself popular with the people, and that he would hold any
office that had political power. These two traits would be instrumental in his later
career.
The next magistrate office Caesar held was that of praetor in 62BC, and the next year
he served as a propraetor in Spain. Here he proved himself to be a more than adequate
army general with many military victories, followed up by well-planned civil
management. “By these measures,” Plutarch writes, “he had acquired a great
reputation by the time he left his province.” A general gaining the loyalty of his army
had been a powerful method used to gain political dominance in the past,
demonstrated by generals such as Marius and Sulla using their armies to march on
Rome. In Spain, Caesar proved he could count on the support of his army, which
became a powerful tool for him later on in his career.
When Caesar returned from Spain, he wanted to stand for the consulship of 59BC,
and he also wanted a triumph for his victories in Spain. This proved problematic as
the two were mutually exclusive; a general awaiting a triumph could not enter Rome,
but a candidate had to be present at the elections. The optimate-dominated senate did
not want Caesar as consul, so they delayed approving the triumph. With such
opposition, Caesar realised that if he was ever going to win the consulship, he needed
powerful allies. There were two men in Rome who were angry with the senate at the
time: Pompey and Crassus. Pompey required the senate to ratify his settlement from
the war against Mithridates in the east, and to grant his veteran soldiers land
allotments. Crassus wanted the senate to make concessions for his equite friends who
had overbid for tax collecting in Asia. Both men’s requests were declined, and so they
were inclined to support Caesar, as they needed a friendly consul in office. Caesar
thought these men would be the powerful allies he desperately needed, as Crassus was
wealthy and Pompey had a large client base. The First Triumvirate was formed.
With the help of his new allies, Caesar easily came into power as consul. His actions
as consul proved that he was no weak politician; the bills he wanted passed usually
were. He did this by a combination of using force to pass laws (per vim), refusing to
consult the senate before presenting a law to the Assembly, or just plain ignoring
opposition. When Caesar’s consular colleague, Bibulus, tried to speak, he was
“pushed down the stairs”, as Dio Cassius reports. Some of the bills Caesar had passed
included giving land to Pompey’s veterans and granting concessions to Crassus’
friends. Caesar was so powerful as consul that the joke of the day was that the consuls
of the year were ‘Julius’ and ‘Caesar’.
Caesar also ensures that his power would not diminish after his term as consul by
changing his proconsular provincia from the lowly regions in Italy to the rich regions
of Illyricum, Transalpine and Cisalpine Gaul. These regions would enable him to
conduct a war against Gaul, and eventually add it as a province of Rome. Caesar’s
main motivations for this were the riches and prestige conquering Gaul would bring
him. However, if his power was not to be forgotten in Rome, he needed people he
could trust in office. Caesar helped his father-in-law, Piso, get elected as one of the
next year’s consuls, and another ally, Clodius, as tribune. In this way, Caesar ensured
that he still held power in the Roman political scene while he was in Gaul.
Throughout Caesar’s early career and his rise to power, he displayed some of the key
traits and skills that made him an effective politician and would prove instrumental in
his later career. Caesar at first followed the law, tradition, and the cursus honorum
strictly, but showed he could break these when he thought it necessary. His personal
characteristics coupled with his abilities and future events later led to him gaining
immense political power in Rome and him becoming one of the most well known of
the ancient Romans.